The most amazing Vegan Cheese Sauce that is Nut-free and Oil-free, as well as fat-free! It has no nuts and no cashews! It is also is the perfect sauce to make vegan Mac ‘N’ Cheese. This cheese sauce is healthy, creamy and made from potatoes and zucchini.
*This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure policy here.
NUT-FREE VEGAN CHEESE SAUCE
Are you ready for this? Are you ready for a to-die-for creamy vegan cheese sauce that tastes rich, thick and silky smooth? This is so darn delicious over mac ‘n’ cheese too. There is no nuts, no oil and totally healthy, as it’s made from vegetables like potatoes and zucchini.
In case you are wondering, this one is totally guilt-free. It is even coconut-free and gluten-free. When I’m not stuffing my face with this Vegan Cheesy Mexican Tortilla Bake, I like to enjoy this lighter, lower calorie version.
The majority of vegan cheese recipes are made with nuts/cashews or tofu, etc. Since so many of you readers cannot have nuts, I wanted to create a nut-free and fat-free cheese sauce that we could all enjoy with absolutely zero guilt. It’s totally kid-approved too, my daughter gobbles it up.
CHEESE SAUCE MADE WITH VEGETABLES
To create a whole foods cheese sauce made with vegetables, I took inspiration from 2 of the recipes on my blog that were creamy sauces without containing any nuts. My Low-Fat Nut-Free Creamy Parsley Sauce which is made from potatoes and my Spicy Zucchini Pepper Soup which is made from zucchini! Both are incredibly creamy, so I combined the two for a magic cheese sauce.
Lastly, another key ingredient that really drives home the cheesy flavor is soy sauce. It gives a depth of flavor that salt alone doesn’t give. I tried just lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and salt and none of them gave that cheesy flavor as great as soy sauce. I mean seriously, this entire recipe is basic ingredients that I just got at my local grocery store. So easy.
HOW TO MAKE A NUT-FREE VEGAN CHEESE SAUCE
First, you will need to gather these 8 ingredients (+salt and water):
- zucchini
- yukon gold potatoes
- nutritional yeast
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- smoked paprika
- soy sauce or liquid aminos
- lemon juice
Prepare the zucchini by preheating an oven to 415°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Peel all the green skin off the zucchini and slice into 1/4 inch slices and salt and pepper well. Bake for 15 minutes.
Next, cook your potatoes either by roasting, steaming or in the microwave. Mash them with a fork and measure out 1 cup.
Add the cooked zucchini and potato, along with all of the remaining ingredients (start with 3/4 cup water and add as needed, stopping at 1 cup) to your blender and blend until smooth. You will need to stop and scrape a couple of times from the bottom during. Do not be too eager to add extra water until you’ve really blended it up a couple of minutes on high to get it completely smooth. It will seem too thick at first, but it will start to turn very smooth from all the water from the zucchini.
Whether you use it as a dip or a vegan mac ‘n’ cheese, it’s delicious!
OTHER VEGAN CHEESE SAUCE RECIPES TO TRY:
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Vegan Cheese Sauce (Nut-free and Oil-free)
Ingredients
- 1 small zucchini, peeled and sliced, THEN weigh 130g
- 1 lightly filled cup (220g) cooked/mashed yukon gold
- 3/4 cup -1 cup water (as needed to reach desired thickness (I ALWAYS use 1 cup, so keep that in mind in regards to other ingredients)
- 1/4 cup (20g) nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular if you don't like smoked
- 2 teaspoons liquid aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce or tamari, do not omit, this is what gives the cheesy flavor, do not use coconut aminos, it will not yield the correct flavor!)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
NOTE
- It's important to weigh the zucchini and potato, so the flavor turns out correct, too much zucchini and it could have an off taste.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 415°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Peel all the green skin off the zucchini and slice into 1/4 inch slices and salt and pepper well. It's imperative to peel the zucchini, otherwise your sauce will be an ugly green. Bake about 15 minutes until tender.
- I cooked the potato in the microwave for about 5 minutes until very soft. Do not boil them as they will get water logged and make the sauce more runny.
- Mash the potatoes with a fork and measure out 1 cup. If you followed the correct weight measurement, you should get just about 1 lightly filled cup of mashed potatoes. Update: Using a food processor will make this too gooey, make sure to use just a blender.
- Add the zucchini, potato and remaining ingredients (start with 3/4 cup water and add as needed, stopping at 1 cup) to the blender and blend until smooth. Stop and scrape a couple of times from the bottom during. Do not be too eager to add extra water until you've really blended it up a couple of minutes. It will seem too thick at first, but it will start to turn very smooth from all the water from the zucchini. If after blending it's too thick for you, add just a TINY amount just to blend it. If it's a bit thinner than you like, heat on the stove to thicken.
- Taste and add any extra lemon juice and/or salt/spices if necessary. Add any desired toppings such as red pepper flakes, chopped tomatoes, sliced jalapenos. I like a kick of heat to my cheese so I added red pepper flakes.
- To make it as a mac 'n' cheese, add cheese sauce to cooked pasta. You can either warm the cheese by running it awhile in the blender or gently warming over the stove. It gives such an incredible cheesy, thick and stick-to-pasta result.
This cheese sauce is so creamy and delicious–I can’t believe that it’s fat free as well! Your healthy recipes are seriously amazing. Thanks for everything you do!
Thank you so much Penny for the awesome review!
My Vitamix arrived yesterday in the mail, and this is the first recipe I tried. It is delicious!! My husband and daughter loved it too.
That is so wonderful to hear Diane, thank you so much for the lovely review! I really appreciate it!
I’m curious if you have tried incorporating this cheez sauce into soups? I’ve come across other recipes for vegan broccoli cheez soup that uses a sauce along with broth & veggies. This looks amazing! I’m going to have to experiment!
Hi Andrea, no I haven’t yet! I have been meaning to, but haven’t I actually have an incredible broccoli cheese soup that is in my upcoming cookbook, but it’s entirely different than this recipe.
Can I use butternut squash or sweet potatoes in place of potatoes? Thanks!
Technically it will work but I don’t know how it will affect the taste, so I can’t say! You can try it!
I just made this recipe and it turned out wonderfully! Thank you for publishing it for a vegan who recently went oil-free and is trying to avoid nuts!
That is so wonderful to hear Stefanie, thank you!
I’m not sure if this has been asked, but can you just sub a yellow summer squash and avoiding needing to peel? I can’t wait to try this!
Yes, I think that should work fine! Haven’t tested it personally but let me know how it comes out!
Hi Brandi, I am just loving your blog. I just discovered it and can’t stop myself from powering through each recipe. I am explaining this because you might have seen some questions from me and I don’t want you to think I am being rude. I have picked out several to make this week, but needed to ask some questions first. I don’t want to bother you, as you mentioned you have little ones and they need mommy. My question, your cheese sauce looks wonderful!, I was wondering where it gets it’s cheesy color. Again, I hope I am not being a bother.
Thank-you,
Suzie
Suzie, I promise, you will NEVER bother me, so ask as much as you like! That’s why I blog, to help, so don’t ever feel like you are bothering me 🙂
This cheese sauce gets it’s color from nutritional yeast and the paprika. It gives it that classic cheese color 🙂 Also, this cheese sauce is a big hit with readers and great for mac ‘n’ cheese, but an even bigger hit (if you can eat cashews) is this Mexican one. It’s my favorite! And a ton of non-vegans devour it too.
https://thevegan8.com/easy-vegan-mexican-cheese-sauce/
Thank-you Brandi, again for getting back to me. I am so excited by your recipes. I am going to make this cheese sauce for mac and cheese tomorrow. Then I have printed the other cheese sauce you recommend for Friday night movie night. Thank-you again so much for all the time you put into your blog. Suzie
I’m snacking on this with tortilla chips as I’m typing. This reminds me of a chipotle queso or a chili con queso with the smoked paprika and the soy sauce giving it its distinct smokey, southwestern flavor. I like it! I was worried that I wouldn’t because I’m not a fan of nutritional yeast but I took your recommendation of using the Sari Brand, and to me, that made all the difference. That will be my go to brand for recipes involvong nutritional yeast from now on.
This is my first time on your site and I can’t wait to try more. So often, it’s hard to cook vegan recipes because there are quite a bit of ingredients required. Thanks for making the plant-based lifestyle more accessible and tasty for everyone.
Thank you so much Joy for the wonderful feedback! I’m so happy you are new to my site and loved this recipe! I know…isn’t that Sari brand SO different? I cannot stand the other ones ever since discovering that one. Not to mention, the other synthetic ones would often make me nauseous. Thank you again!
Hi Brandi,
I’ve eaten a vegan diet for ~5 years for health reasons, and in that time have missed cheese more than anything else. No problems giving up meat, no missing of milk or eggs. Cheese, though, was and continues to be a tough loss. In all this time, I’ve tried a variety of processed cheese substitutes. In addition to high fat content, weird tastes, and dubious cheese-like qualities, they’re often expensive.
In all this time, I’ve never found a cheese replacement that I don’t hate. I stumbled across this recipe about a year ago, and have continued to make it and experiment since. Today, I made a batch and added cayenne pepper in equal proportion to the paprika, which produced a very nice nacho flavor (good, because I made a double batch, since I find I always go through it too quickly for my liking).
This isn’t cheese. It’s not a perfect facsimile for cheese either. What is IS, though, is the absolute best plant-strong, no-fat cheese replacement I have encountered.
In my time as a vegan, I’ve come to accept that I’m never going to get something exactly like cheese. Casein and other proteins are responsible for cheese’s taste, texture, meltiness, etc., and not including them means not being able to have that exact mixture of qualities. This, however, is as close as I’ve experienced.
Thanks for sharing the fruits of your labor, Brandi! Your recipes make being a converted vegan who is also a dude raised on meat and cheese easier!
Hi Kevin! Thank you so very much for such a kind and amazing comment! I’m so happy to hear how much you love this cheese sauce! So glad this is the best you’ve tried as well. I actually have another cheese sauce that is my favorite and a huge hit with readers and non-vegans that I think you may like even better and is much more similar to the cheese texture and taste. It is not fat-free though, so not sure if that is any issue, but I encourage you to try it!
Here is the link! https://thevegan8.com/easy-vegan-mexican-cheese-sauce/
omgosh, THANK YOU! a friend recently discovered a 90% blockage and had a stent placed. that was a wake up call to me to get back to a vegan diet, lest I have a similar discovery down the road. this was the first recipe I found in my search, and it looked good enough to try. it is WONDERFUL! better than I remember my old mock cheese recipes from back in the 90s that were largely tofu or bean based. you are a culinary genius, and I can’t wait to try more of your recipes! congratulations, this one really knocked it out of the park for us!!!
Yay! This review made my day, thank you Heather for the awesome feedback!!
This sauce is amazing!!!! I was really craving Mac & Cheese… I used Brown rice noodles from Aldi omg soooo good. We were so happy!!! I will definitely be making this again. Thank you so much!!!
Wonderful Julie! So glad you loved this so much, thank you for the feedback!
This was delish!!! I added 2 T of tapioca flour to it, but otherwise followed it. The texture was amazingly smooth. The best yet!
So awesome to hear that Angie, thank you so much for the wonderful feedback!
I’ve made this twice and both times with jalapeño and it is fantastic! I love it. I’ve used it on sweet potato nachos. Mmmm, mmmmmmm 😋. I’ve tried another recipe for nut free cheese, and it was okay but not nearly as delicious. Thanks for the awesome recipe.
This review made my day, thank you so much Mim for the wonderful feedback! So glad it was such a hit!
Made this. Amazing! Ooey gooey goodness!
Yay! So happy to hear that Brooke, thank you!
What I noticied with most of the Vegan “Mac and cheese” sauces is that they don ‘t fair well the next day or for bringing to work. I brought some to work and the macaroni was soggy with basically no sauce left on the macaroni. It also changes the flavor. It was good at home, but lacking and horrible at work.
Any suggestions?
Hi AmberEm, so glad you loved it when it was made fresh! I actually would suggest not mixing all of the pasta with the sauce the first night because noodles are never good reheated, they tend to just get soggy and gross. That’s just the nature of pasta. I’ve actually heard the opposite this cheese sauce still reheating perfectly the next day, right back to it’s natural smooth state, which is how it is for me too. But since you had yours mixed with pasta, it probably got all too sticky together. Since it’s made from potatoes, it thickens up a lot in the fridge, but smooths back out once reheated. I would just keep your pasta separate and maybe wait to add it the morning of before you take it to work? Or try reheating the sauce and pasta separately.
Could brewer’s yeast be used in place of nutritional yeast?
Hi Janet, no brewer’s yeast is entirely different. It has to be nutritional yeast, which it will say exactly on the bottle. Nearly every grocery store carries it these days in the health food section. I have also linked above in the recipe to the one I use. I order it from Amazon and use for my “cheese” recipes because it is the best tasting in recipes with no synthetic vitamins added.
Brandi,
I can’t remember if I have left a comment before or not. I made this once a while ago (and it was delish!) and then saw you post about it on your Facebook page today so I decided to try it again! This time I used almond milk instead of the water and omg YUM!!! I made it with pasta and broccoli. You’re a genius!! Your page is my favorite page to get vegan recipes! I also can’t wait to try your new pumpkin chili recipe! Thanks for doing all that you do!
Made this for my 3 grandchildren last weekend when they slept over. All 3 plates were thoroughly enjoyed & the eldest asked for seconds 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that Jane, thank you so much for the wonderful feedback!
Hi Brandi,
Just printed out your recipe and want to go to Trader Joe’s and get my organic golds and zucchini soon. Love a good veggie cheeZ ! I can taste it now. And fat free ? Yippeee
Can white beans and their juice replace the squash ?
Hi Nina! I have not tried white beans in this sauce, only the potato and zucchini, so I can’t say if it would work or not and I wouldn’t know how much to use. I can only vouch for what’s listed above, so that is what I would recommend for best results 🙂
Hi Nina! I have not tried white beans in this sauce, only the potato and zucchini, so I can’t say if it would work or not and I wouldn’t know how much to use. I can only vouch for what’s listed above, so that is what I would recommend for best results 🙂
Another big hit for us, Brandi!! I had just “indulged” with your new Creamy Chili Sauce recipe using GF pasta, so I decided to pair this sauce with my favorite sauteed veggies on top of spaghetti squash. SO GOOD! My daughter smelled the sauce and began stealing some for her GF V pizza, carrot hot dogs, etc. Guess I’ll just need to make another batch! 🙂
Since I’m allergic to soy, I was so happy another reviewer asked about using pickle juice in place of the soy sauce b/c that’s exactly what I did. I wish more people would read the Q&As before repeating questions, but you are always SO gracious, Brandi. Thank you so much for taking the time to share these wonderful recipes with us, and for your patience! It is truly appreciated!!
Thank you so much Colleen, you are the best! I’m so happy you are loving the recipes so much and I genuinely look forward to reading each and every one of your feedbacks! Yes, I totally forgot about the pickle juice, it is what worked so well in my cream cheese and broccoli cheese soup and potato soup too, so yes, so glad to hear that worked here too in place of the soy sauce! Thank you Colleen!
Thank you so much Colleen, you are the best! I’m so happy you are loving the recipes so much and I genuinely look forward to reading each and every one of your feedbacks! Yes, I totally forgot about the pickle juice, it is what worked so well in my cream cheese and broccoli cheese soup and potato soup too, so yes, so glad to hear that worked here too in place of the soy sauce! Thank you Colleen!
Doesn’t quite remind me of a cheese sauce but that’s more than ok! I would call this a southwestern dip as the spice really came through in my attempt. I also added a touch of hickory smoked salt to give an extra punch. Highly recommended!
So glad you enjoyed it Kay, thank you!
Hi… I was excited to try this, but some members of our family are allergic to soy. We normally substitute coconut aminos for soy sauce, but I see in your directions you say it can’t be substituted. What CAN we use instead? Thanks!
Hi Karen, unfortunately there is not a replacement for the soy sauce in this recipe. The coconut aminos doesn’t give even remotely the same cheesy flavor. Instead, I would make this cheese sauce recipe. It is one of my most popular recipes and tastes wonderful and cheesy.
https://thevegan8.com/easy-vegan-mexican-cheese-sauce/
If you are needing the fat-free cheese, I guess you could try some miso instead of the soy sauce or more salt and nutritional yeast, but honestly I cannot vouch for any subs other than the soy sauce or results without it since that is what I found produced the best result.
Brandy where do I find tapioca starch? I need it for your oatmeal raisin cookies Thank you