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.
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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.
LIz
I can’t remember if I commented on this before or not, but since I’ve made the recipe like 500 times, I figure it deserved another comment (and 5 stars!). I LOVE THIS RECIPE!!! I’ve used it mainly for mac-n-cheese, but have also made it for queso dip. Delicious, smooth, creamy, cheesy, and healthy! I ain’t gonna lie, sometimes I put some Earth Balance in it, but I try to stick to your healthy version! (by the way, I don’t know why this old photo of me, with hot pink hair, is still showing as my profile pic, I can’t locate where it’s coming from!)
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
500 times, haha awesome!! Thank you so much Liz! I’m ecstatic you love this recipe so much, your comment made my day! P.S. I love your hot pink hair!
Billie
Tried this recipe for the first time today. It is delicious. I have tried a lot of vegan cheese sauces – But, I’m in love with this cheese recipe. Quick and simple. Soy free and fat free. I’m not avoiding soy. But if I can have my soy in yogurt, or YoFranks all the better.
Since this recipe has no squash, sweet potatoes or carrots, it doesn’t have that undesirable, slightly sweet taste that some recipes have.
This is a winner and my new staple. You have to add your own heat because there is no heat in the basic recipe. I just dropped in some toasted chilis that I had on hand. It added a little kick and a little smoke flavor.
Try it out, I think you will love it.
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
I’m so happy to hear you loved it so much Billie, thank you so much for such a thoughtful and kind feedback! I’m really so grateful. I loved reading it, thank you so much for making it!! Great idea for the toasted chilis, yum!!
Christina
As you know Brandi I absolutely love this recipe and I make it all the time. However the soy in it makes me not feel the best so sometimes I actually do make it with coconut aminos cause I don’t want to deal with the reaction. I know you say coconut aminos is a no no but I think it is still good with it. Not exactly the same but still good. But anyway I was wondering do you think dill pickle juice will work in this recipe in place of the tamari? I thought of it from your broccoli cheese soup recipe and it worked so well in that I thought maybe it would here too. But I don’t know cause I don’t have a good understanding of how different ingredients go together. But it would be cool to find an alternative to the soy that gives the same results as you originally wrote it. Although I still do enjoy it with the coconut aminos. Anyway, if you think the pickle juice would work would I keep it at 2 tsps?
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
Hi Christina! So funny you mention that because I’ve been testing another cheese sauce already with pickle juice since it works so well in my cream cheese! And even funnier, because I have totally added pickle juice to this sauce as well, so it will definitely work. I don’t remember how much I added, but since it’s not as salty as soy sauce, then you may need up to 1 tbsp or more. I’d start with 2 teaspoons and just keep adding until you like the flavor! 🙂
Chelsea
I tried this with yam instead of potatoes and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe ^_^
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
Oh wonderful, so glad to hear you loved it Chelsea, thank you so much for the feedback!
Katie
Love this! Does it melt? Thinking of making a vegan lasagne x
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
Hi Katie! It’s already in sauce form so it would work fine with a lasagna. I’ve seen readers make lasagna with it. It’s not a firm cheese that melts, it’s a sauce. Hope that helps!
Cat Wilson
I just made this, and it is excellent. I’m glad I found your blog!! I love great food made with real ingredients. Thank you!!
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
I’m so very happy to hear that Cat, thank you so much for the feedback! So glad you found me!
Kenya
I just made this recipe tonight & had to come write a review as soon as I got done eating! This recipe was DELICIOUS Brandi! 🙂 I’m definitely going to be making this more and more down the line. I couldn’t even tell it wasn’t cheese (this is coming from a previous cheese fanatic). Thank you again Brandi for all of the hardwork you put into these recipes. 🙂
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
Yay! I’m thrilled to hear that Kenya, so happy you loved this so much! Thank you so much for leaving feedback!
Lisa
I bookmarked this as “Best Cheese Sauce”. So creamy & delicious. You nailed it. Thank you for sharing!
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
Yay yay yay!! So happy to hear it! Thanks for the feedback!
Jane Christensen
Do you know if it’s freezable?
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
Hi Jane! I have never tried freezing it because we got through it so fast, but I would assume it would be fine. Just reheat it over the stove on low heat.
Debra
Would it work to bake the mac and cheese off in the oven or will the sauce fall apart or dry out? Although I do like the idea of just stirring it together with the pasta and being able to serve. Trying this tonight.
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
Hi Debra! I have never tried baking it before, I just mix the sauce in with cooked pasta and heat it a bit to thicken it and that’s it.
Kerstin Decker
Brandy where do I find tapioca starch? I need it for your oatmeal raisin cookies Thank you
Karen
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!
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
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.
Kay Raykiewicz
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!
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
So glad you enjoyed it Kay, thank you!
Colleen
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!!
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
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!
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
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!
Nina
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 ?
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
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 🙂
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
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 🙂
Jane
Made this for my 3 grandchildren last weekend when they slept over. All 3 plates were thoroughly enjoyed & the eldest asked for seconds 🙂
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
I’m so happy to hear that Jane, thank you so much for the wonderful feedback!
Lindsay
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!
Janet
Could brewer’s yeast be used in place of nutritional yeast?
brandi.doming@yahoo.com
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.