So, my original plan was to post waffles today because, if you have been keeping up with me on Instagram, you will see I’ve been making a ton of waffles. I have both a Chai Waffle recipe and a Chocolate Waffle recipe. However, I realized that several of my posts lately have all been sweet…um, oops….and due to the excitement over this recipe I shared on this Facebook post, I knew I needed to publish this one first. But don’t you worry, those Chai waffles are next. I’ve received countless waffle recipe requests since so many prefer them over pancakes. So, hold tight. 😉
This Vegan Cheesy Mexican Tortilla Bake was another spur-of-the-moment dinner idea that turned out incredible. Incredible. It’s truly hard to believe that this whole dish, with as delicious as it is, is only 8 ingredients (+salt and water). My daughter absolutely looovvved it. In fact, I’ve made it 3 times since I shared the teaser pic on Facebook. So many of you have been messaging asking when it is getting posted and yay, today is the day! Let me just say, it takes awhile to film a video with all the layers and prepare everything for the post, so that is why it took me several days to get it together.
We polished off this Cheesy Mexican Tortilla Bake in no time. Also, it’s SO easy to make. Another exciting thing? The Mexican Vegan Cheesy Sauce is made with no nutritional yeast! So many people hate nutritional yeast or are allergic, as well as many months ago I discovered it was a trigger for gout pain in my husband. Ever since then, I’ve been remaking recipes subbing out the nutritional yeast. For this recipe, I went to my #1 cheese sauce on the blog that soooo many of you say it has changed your life, the Mexican Cheese Sauce. BUT, that recipe uses a good amount of nutritional yeast. So, I had to think how to mimic that cheesy flavor without it.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I did it, lol. The shocking part is that I love this one better. It tastes even cheesier.
VEGAN CHEESE SAUCE IN 10 MINUTES
You don’t need to cook any veggies or do a million steps to make a homemade cheese sauce. This is SO easy to make and I swear, has the most real cheesy taste that I’ve tried yet to date and I’ve tried a lot of recipes. It’s simple, fast and delicious.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I don’t like long recipes with a lot of ingredients. It just flat out stresses me out and this recipe is so incredibly delicious and the fact it’s ready in under an hour and just 8 basic ingredients is kind of crazy.
To remake my original cheese sauce without the nutritional yeast, I used a good amount of dairy-free soy (or coconut) yogurt. It provided an amazing tang, wonderful body and texture and honestly, tasted better to me than with the nutritional yeast. That combined with all the natural vinegar in the salsa, makes for one delicious cheesy bite.
I don’t give two hoots if it is “real cheese” or not…when something tastes good, it tastes good. Period. No matter what. And unlike dairy cheese, this one isn’t full of cholesterol.
It will be going on nachos next! Mmmmmmm.
All you need to make this recipe is 8 simple ingredients (+the usual salt and water):
- Cashews or White beans
- Salsa
- Dairy-free Yogurt
- Cumin
- Smoked Paprika
- Black Beans
- Corn
- Corn Tortillas
I hope you all love this Vegan Cheesy Mexican Tortilla Bake as much as I do. Please watch the video tutorial below, as it really makes the process easier to understand when seeing the visual.
MORE VEGAN DINNER RECIPES
- Vegan Stuffed Ricotta Shells
- Barbecue Lentil Loaf
- Oil-free Zucchini Fritters
- Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
- Vegan 20 Minute Alfredo
- Vegan Chickpea Tomato Ragu
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 Cheesy Mexican Tortilla Bake
Ingredients
FOR THE CHEESE (Makes 2 1/2 cups)
- 1 cup (150g) raw unsalted cashews (See NOTES below for subs and lower-fat option)
- 1 cup (240g) mild heat runny/not too chunky salsa (I love Trader Joe's or Sprouts Mild, you can use a medium heat if you don't mind the dish being on the spicy side, not recommended with kids)
- 3/4 cup (180g) PLAIN dairy-free yogurt (I used Silk Soy yogurt found at Kroger OR SO Delicious "Unsweetened" Plain coconut yogurt)
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (75g) water
- 1 1/4 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
- 3/4-1 teaspoon fine salt (this will vary depending on the salsa used. Start with 3/4 and keep in mind the final taste after baked you want to stand out)
FOR THE CASSEROLE
- 9 small corn tortillas, cut into fourths
- Two 15 oz cans low-sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup (240g) salsa for middle layer
- 2 cups (293g) sweet corn (I used frozen)
- Optional: Green onions for garnish
NOTE
- The yogurt CANNOT be subbed here for milk, that will RUIN the recipe. The yogurt is thick, creamy and tangy and using a milk will not only make it bland, it will make the rest of the dish watery and soggy. Follow the recipe for the correct results.
Instructions
- First, prepare your cheese sauce by adding all of the ingredients listed under "cheese sauce" to a high-powered blender. I did not soak my cashews since I have a Vitamix, but if you do not have a strong blender, you will need to soak your cashews overnight, drain and rinse. Otherwise, your sauce will be gritty. Taste it and tell me how darn cheesy that tastes! The cheese sauce tastes insanely delicious and cheesy straight out of the blender, but gets even cheesier after it's baked! If you are just wanting to use the cheese sauce for nachos or another recipe, I would add it to the stove and heat it just to thicken it up slightly. It is delicious on nachos!
- Preheat your oven to 375°F and lightly spray a 8 1/2 by 8 1/2 square casserole dish like ceramic or stone with nonstick spray. Layer about a 1/3 of the cheese sauce on the bottom and spread out with a spoon. REFER TO VIDEO for easy visual tutorial. Lay on top of the cheese sauce 6 of the cut tortillas per each row for 3 rows.
- Add 1 can of the beans on top of the tortillas and spread out. Add the other 1 cup of salsa and spread out over the beans. Layer 1 cup of the corn. Layer another 1/3 of the cheese sauce on top of the corn and spread out. You will notice there is only 1 layer of salsa in the middle. This is just to add another layer of flavor and moisture, it definitely didn't need 2 layers of salsa.
- Repeat the steps by adding the remaining tortillas, then the beans, corn and remaining cheese sauce. Cover everything well and top with a piece of foil gently covering the dish. This is so the cheese sauce doesn't bake up and harden too quickly.
- Bake with the foil on for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 5-10 minutes until the cheese is getting a nice firm orange-brown look on the edges. I baked it for about 8 minutes without the foil but if you prefer the cheese to be more firm, just bake it a bit longer. Just keep in mind that the longer you bake it, the drier the top cheese layer becomes after it is removed from the oven.
- Garnish with fresh green onions. I loved the crunchy, fresh element of the green onions to the warm cheesy flavor.
- This dish reheats very well also. I just reheat leftovers in the microwave and mmmmmm, delicious.
Notes
If you make this recipe, please do not repost it in full on your site, please link to me instead giving proper credit. I work very hard to create my recipes and share them for free, so please be respectful and link properly. If you are inspired by this recipe, again, please give proper credit and do not simply post it on your site and ask before reprinting any of my recipes.
One of my favorite recipes even carnivorous love it! I make it frequently, the only changes I make is to soften the tortillas with a little sprinkle of water and warm them in the microwave. I also add cilantro and some chopped onions to my store bought salsa. Those two things really makes a difference
That is awesome, thank you so much Ria for the review!
This recipe is so easy and delicious! I thought I had my “go-to” cheese sauce, but this recipe comes out on top. It has minimal ingredients, and is soooo good. I will definitely be making this again!
I love hearing this Sam!!
Still love this recipe! Found a piece in the freezer a few weeks ago and knew I had to make it again. So creamy and delicious 🤤
I love this recipe! I want to make it ahead of time, freeze it, and then use it for a weeknight meal. How well would this freeze and what reheating instructions would you suggest?
So happy you love this recipe Kathryn! Honestly, I have never tried freezing it! I would think it would be ok, but I just can say for certain. Not sure if the tortillas would get soggy with the frozen moisture. I would just suggest to seal it really well and heat it on 325°F until warmed throughout. I guess it would probably take 20-30 minutes to warm through.
This is one of my go to dishes when I need comfort food. It’s a great dish to bring to a potluck that always gets compliments.
That is wonderful to hear Kay, thank you so much for sharing!!
we love this recipe – it is a family favorite! Wondering if anyone has substituting out the yogurt? I was thinking of using homemade vegan sour cream but that would be adding more cashews. What else would get that sour yummy taste in there?
A vegan sour cream I imagine would taste great. Only thing is if it is cashew-based, it may cause the cheese to thicken up even more, possibly too much, because 3/4 cup is a lot of yogurt. You might try 1/2 cup and then adding a touch of white vinegar, to taste, if needed to reach the tanginess.
Thank you!
I have made this recipe MANY times and always follow as written. The cheese sauce is sooo good! But today I did not have yogurt so I subbed firm tofu instead and it turned out almost as tasty!! So that might be a good substitution for those who don’t have unsweetened yogurt on hand.
Awesome to hear Brenda, thank you!
Yummy! I added a little fresh cilantro and a few black olives. Definitely a keeper!
While I’ve made great strides changing my husbands diet, he still wants his chicken. Because of this I pretty much follow the recipe, but roll the tortillas so I can add a little chicken inside his half. He will even forgo real cheese in the effort to compromise. Let’s face it. No vegan cheese sauce is going to taste or bake like the real deal, but when it’s as tasty as this, it really doesn’t matter what you call it. It’s just plain yummy! I love that so many of your recipes are versatile when you get the main components that make it so easy and delicious. Sometimes we prefer a green salsa, or like to add roasted peppers and/or onions. The star of the show here is your cheese sauce. Did I mention how good it is? Once again, thank you so much for all your creative, research and development. You are a blessing to us all.
This was wonderful feedback, thank you so much Donna for your kind words!!!
Try Soy Curls and don’t tell him – he would be hard pressed to know it wasn’t chicken! Soak the dry Curls in a strong broth and proceed with your recipe.
The hack for creamy cashews is use cashew butter if no high speed blender available.
This was realllllly good! I didn’t have a ceramic dish so I used a Pyrex. It wasn’t fully cooked through even after cooking it 10 minutes longer. Next time I think need to raise the heat. Have you cooked this in Pyrex?
So happy you enjoyed it! I’ve never had trouble it cooking through, but I know some people have so definitely can cook it longer if needed. No, I always use ceramic.
Yes, I have experienced this problem too. It’s not even close to being done, so I cook it longer and have even put it in the microwave after baking until it’s hot inside. I make it in a 9×13 pyrex increasing the recipe to 1.5x. I use Trader Joe’s corn tortillas which are thicker and hold up better in a casserole. That said, it’s really a beautiful recipe.
One of my favorite recipes of all time!! The cheese sauce is great on its own too!
Yay, I’m so glad!
I love all of the things I have made for my family from this site! You are awesome and just wanted to say thank you or all that you have done to create really good food for non meat and dairy people like us. Please keep up the work and never stop1 Stay safe! Have a Great year. Thanks again
Awww Lacy you made my day with this feedback!!
This recipe was a huge hit last Christmas ( 2022) and my son just reminded me to please make it for this years Thanksgiving! My niece wanted to take home all the leftovers for herself. I had made 2 dishes worth. No one else was plant based, but they sure dug into this dish!
I am so grateful for Brandees creativity and deliciousness in her recipes. I’ve used several and love them all!
This is soooo good I’ve made it several times and agree the all cashew version is best.
Thank you!!
Can you substitute the cashews with hempseeds and would I use 1 cup or more?
I have never tried subbing it with hemp seeds. Sunflower seeds would be a better option.
I use hemp-hearts in place of cashews all the time. Use the same amount. So if the recipe calls for 1 cup of cashews I would use one cup of hemp-hearts.
This looks amazing! Do you think it would freeze well?
I’ve not tried freezing it, so I’m not sure!
Could I sub vegan sour cream for the yogurt? I have it on hand I was hoping to make tonight without a trip to the store. 😉
Question: could this be made ahead and frozen? It looks delicious – definitely planning on making it either way.
I have never tried it, so I’m not sure if it would be soggy or not. Please let me know if you try it!
Thoughts about throwing some other veggies in there as well? Like maybe peppers or zucchini or broccoli?
Bell peppers would be nice but I wouldn’t do zucchini or broccoli. Zucchini will add too much moisture and broccoli I just think would taste odd in a Mexican casserole dish.
I’ve recently switched to a plant-based diet and have been trying so many new recipes that have turned out to be less than they were hyped up to be. This was such a great surprise!! It’s so good!! I live in a house of omnivores and just served it without saying it was vegan (I added extra salsa on top and lots of green onions and olives so they couldn’t examine the “cheese” too closely). Everyone loved it! Thank you so much for this!
Yay I love that!
I’m wondering if the corn tortillas can be substituted with flour tortillas?
I’ve never tries it so I don’t know if they’d be soggy or taste as good.
I’ve made this a few times & love it. When I reheated some leftovers today, I tossed in some leftover taco meat with it & that just took it up a notch! I’m going to have to start adding taco meat to these layers in the future! (For reference, I used Light Life ground with my own taco seasoning.)
Sounds delicious!
Easy and full of flavor. I could have drank the cheese sauce!
SO GOOD!
Made this a few nights ago, as I was craving Mexican.I made a few. I or changes (just to add more veggies), it was AMAZING! Even BETTER the second night!!!
The only changes I made were to add diced peppers, onions, jalapeños. Also added some I olive on top second night, made it even more decadent!
Thank YOU for a keeper recipe!
Sounds SO AMAZING!! So glad you loved it!
How can I make this over the stove?
Hi this is a casserole so it does need to be baked! If you don’t have an oven, then I guess you can just try mixing the ingredients like a taco or buddha bowl.