The most delicious Vegan Poblano Pepper Cream Sauce to use on vegan Mexican recipes like burritos, enchiladas, tacos, over vegan buddha bowls, veggies and it’s even delicious on pasta! Oil-free and only 6 main ingredients!
VEGAN POBLANO PEPPER CREAM SAUCE
One of my very favorite all-time ingredients is poblano peppers. I use them quite often. I love them raw for their fresh taste and amazing crunch that they add as garnishes to buddha bowls or on top of Vegan Chili. I also love them roasted, as it softens them beautifully and enhances their natural smoky flavor in the most delicious way.
Poblano peppers can greatly vary in their spiciness. Some are so mild, they aren’t much different than a bell pepper. Then some are extremely spicy. But their unique flavor is good all around, but it may vary in intensity in this recipe based on the kind you have. Either way, the sauce is delicious and if yours isn’t that spicy, you could always add some cayenne to the sauce. Or even some jalapenos.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
(full recipe and measurements are listed on the recipe card below)
- Raw cashews: I chose to soak mine in hot water even though I have a vitamix, so it is better for digestion and blends easier. You can skip this if you like. However, if you don’t have a powerful blender like a Vitamix, definitely soak overnight in hot water so your sauce turns out smooth and not gritty.
- Large poblano peppers: These can vary greatly in how spicy they are. Mine were quite spicy, so I only needed 3, but some poblanos are very weak in their heat level, so you made need all 4.
- Garlic cloves: Roasted garlic adds wonderful depth of flavor to this sauce.
- Ground cumin: Smoky cumin adds a wonderful rich flavor to this sauce.
- Fresh lime juice: Lime juice is a wonderful compliment to spicy poblanos and in Mexican food in general. It also helps to balance out the heat and make it come alive in the sauce drizzled on any food.
- Pure maple syrup: This helps balance the acidity and the spice, so don’t omit.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN POBLANO PEPPER CREAM SAUCE
Step 1: Soak the cashews overnight in a bowl of water if you don’t have a high powered blender, then drain and rinse.
Step 2: Add the poblano peppers and garlic cloves (still in their skins) to a large pan lined with parchment paper. Roast 15-20 minutes until looking charred. It is ok if they aren’t fully charred all over.
Step 3: While the poblanos are roasting, add the cashews, 1 cup water, lime juice, syrup, cumin and salt to a high-powered blender or food processor. Set aside and do not blend yet.
Step 4: Remove charred poblanos and garlic from the oven and let cool a bit before handling. LOOK how gorgeous they are! Can you say FLAVOR?
Step 5: Pull off the stems and scrape out all of the seeds.
Step 6: Add the peppers and garlic to the blender of the cashews and other ingredients. Blend on high until 100% smooth and no longer gritty from the nuts. Taste and add the 4th poblano pepper if more heat is desired and salt if needed.
Honestly, this Vegan Poblano Pepper Cream Sauce is so delicious, I kept eating it straight from the bowl.
WAYS TO SERVE THIS SAUCE
Honestly, there isn’t much that wouldn’t taste delicious with this roasted Poblano Pepper Cream Sauce! Haha. But here are some ideas:
- Over pasta is always delicious. Topped with any veggies or anything you liked, or even plain with just the sauce! I like to mix the poblano sauce with pasta and top with my Smoky Chipotle Chickpeas. The meal is wholesome, plant-based, filling and 100% oil-free.
- Drizzled over these Vegan Breakfast Burritos would be FABULOUS.
- Layer on this sauce over Vegan Enchiladas.
- Drizzled over any type of Mexican or Southwest style bowls. Like these Vegan Mexican Burrito Bowls.
MORE VEGAN READER FAVORITE DIPS AND SAUCES
- Vegan Refried Bean Dip
- Vegan Buffalo Hummus
- Best Vegan Queso
- Avocado Hummus
- Vegan Mexican Cheese Dip
- Smoky Jalapeno Black Bean Dip
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Vegan Poblano Pepper Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup (150g) raw, unsalted cashews
- 1 cup water
- 3-4 large poblano peppers (depending on how spicy your poblanos are, you may need just 3 or all 4)
- 4 large garlic cloves (with the skins still on, DON'T peel them!)
- 1/4 cup (60g) fresh lime juice
- 2 teaspoons (14g) pure maple syrup (this helps balance the acidity and the spice)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
- I use this scale.
- I use this Vitamix model.
NOTE
- This recipe is wonderful and makes a lot! 3 cups of sauce! This is so there is plenty to go around for a family and have leftovers. What you don't use within the week, you can freeze.
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in a bowl of warm water overnight if you don’t have a high powered blender like a Vitamix, then drain and rinse.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a pan with parchment paper. Add the poblano peppers to the pan, as well as the garlic cloves (with the skins still on!). Roast for 15-20 minutes until they are looking charred like in the photos. TIP: If your poblanos are taking longer than 15 minutes, go ahead and remove the garlic, as they can burn if they go the full 20 minutes. It is ok if the poblanos aren't fully charred all over.
- While the poblanos are roasting, add the cashews to the blender or food processor if you don't have a powerful blender. A food processor works better than a weak blender to blend up cashews.
- Add the 1 cup water, lime juice, syrup, cumin and salt. Do not blend yet.
- Once the poblanos are done roasting, remove from the oven and allow them to cool enough to handle. Slice each pepper open and pull off the stems and scrape out the seeds of each one and discard the seeds.
- Add the poblano peppers, starting with just 3 poblanos, skins and all (lots of flavor there!) to the blender or food processor that has the cashews and other ingredients. Peel the skin of the garlic cloves and add those as well.
- Blend on high for a few minutes until 100% smooth and no more bits of nuts remain.
- Taste and if you'd like it spicier, add the 4th poblano pepper. Mine were really spicy and large, so I only added 3. This will vary depending on yours. I only used 1/2 teaspoon salt, but taste and add more if desired. Use on burritos, Mexican bowls or enchiladas or anything you like. It will liven up any dish!
Notes
- Over pasta is delicious. Topped with any veggies or anything you liked, or even plain with just the sauce! I like to mix the poblano sauce with pasta and top with my Smoky Chipotle Chickpeas. The meal is wholesome, plant-based, filling and 100% oil-free.
- Drizzled over these Vegan Breakfast Burritos would be FABULOUS.
- Layer on this sauce over Vegan Enchiladas.
- Drizzled over any type of Mexican or Southwest style bowls. Like these Vegan Mexican Burrito Bowls.
And I just picked up 4 Pablano peppers!!
Yay!
What a great sauce with so much flavor! It looks super “creamy” too 🙂
Thank you so much Mary!
I used to work in a full-service upscale restaurant & we had a creamy poblano pasta dish that I LOVED. This recipe is SPOT ON & I’m so excited that it’s in my fridge right now! Will keep this on my regular rotation. Amazing, thanks!
Oh wow, that’s so amazing to hear!! Yay, so glad you loved it!
Amazing flavor!! This sauce is the cherry on top for a burrito bowl or taco! Made this last night and I’m still thinking of the sauce and how much it added to the burrito bowl. I can imagine this sauce would taste great drizzled over pasta as well…just an overall great sauce with so much potential! As always, your recipes don’t disappoint! Thank you for creating and sharing:)
I’m so thrilled to hear how much you loved this Jennifer, thank you so much for making it and sharing on Instagram!
I do NOT see any garlic mentioned in the ingredients but read about them in the instructions
Hi Mary Jean, it’s on there but it was listed under NOTE by accident (a few ingredients down), but I’ve fixed it now!
SO delicious!
Could you add garlic to the list of ingredients? Luckily I had that in my pantry and was able to throw them in.
This made a whole quart jar full of delicious sauce.
I’m curious if I can substitute roasted cauliflower for half or all of the cashews to decrease fat (mainly so I can eat WAY more). 🙂 Have you ever experimented with that substitution?
Hi Amy! So happy to hear you loved it! Yes, the garlic was there already, just accidentally listed under the NOTE, instead of above it, but I had it fixed. I’ve personally never tried making it with cauliflower, so I can’t say if it would work well or not, but you can always try! It will make it more watery and less creamy/rich, but it may still be good!
This is DELICIOUS!! I made it to share with friends over tacos and it was a hit. Thank you for sharing
I made this today and it is delicious! Thanks for continued great recipes!
This sauce is delicious! Next time I will try it with 4 peppers (I only had 3) and 3/4 tsp salt(I used 1/2). I used this as a salad dressing but could easily eat this on anything!! Thank you for this recipe 😊
Oh goodness!!! This looks like the perfect way to dress up our tacos next week! It’s so easy for me to get stuck in a routine of the same old toppings, but this sounds like it would add such a wonderful flavor to veggie tacos or veggie bowls! I’m adding poblano peppers to the shopping list! Can’t wait to try 🙂
Hope you’re having a great weekend!!
Josh and I are OBSESSED with this sauce!!!!! First of all, the flavor is so bold with just the right amount of heat and it is wonderfully creamy! I kept sneaking a taste of it while I was waiting for dinner to be ready 🙂 So far we’ve used it on tacos, veggie bowls, and last night we drizzled some on homemade pizza! It really brings such a great flavor to any dish! While I love poblano peppers, I often forget about them and very rarely buy them…so, thank you for giving me a great reason to add it to the shopping cart! I’ll definitely be making this again very soon!
Yay!! So glad y’all loved it my friend! Thank you so much for making it and letting me know! Hope you are doing well! I love poblano peppers so much and eat them weekly!
This sauce is amazing! I’ve made it twice already and love it! Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!
I made this last night and it was easy and delicious! I served it over brown rice pasta with a can of black beans and lots of chopped roma tomatoes. Would have added cilantro if I’d had it. My only problem, and it’s quite a big one, is that two of my (large) garlic cloves exploded inside my oven within the 15 min timeframe. The first one was not as loud and I thought it was my gas oven “poofing” when it phased back on. The second one was like a gunshot and when I opened my oven there was garlic debris splattered everywhere inside, which proceeded to burn while the poblanos finished cooking. It’s really ridiculous how much garlic sprayed everywhere, and my oven will need a full cleaning before I can use it again. It’s been decades since I’ve cleaned an oven, mine never get dirty – I’ll have to research how! 😂
Oh wow, I’ve never had garlic do that in all my years of roasting garlic! So weird! Just wrap the garlic cloves in foil next time and that should prevent it. But glad you loved the sauce!!
I used this as my pizza sauce, I cheated and bought a crust. I have to tell you it was absolutely amazing. I put some tomatoes on the pizza, I sliced them thin and then patted them with a paper towel. I put sautéed peppers, mushrooms and onions on the pizza. I like a little heat and this just checked all the boxes on greatness. I can’t thank you enough for posting your recipes, please don’t stop because you make eating vegan delicious.
Oh wow, such a fabulous idea Theresa!! And thank you so much for your kind words!
Hi! I was wondering if you have a substitution suggestion for the cashews? My kids are allergic. Maybe coconut milk/cream? Thanks! Recipe sounds delicious!
You can try sunflower seeds! Not quite as smooth and creamy but should work ok in this sauce.
Can it be canned
Hi Jim, I’m sorry I don’t know, as I have no experience or knowledge in canning.
This sauce is the best sauce I have made in a long time. I only used 2 large peppers because that was all I had. Thank you for this recipe. Will be trying a lot of your recipes since this turned out so well.
Really delicious! I made it with lemon juice because I didn’t have limes and it worked great. This one is going to become a staple for me for sure.
So wonderful to hear that Andrea!
I don’t have any maple syrup but do have coconut syrup and date syrup. Can either of those be substituted since it’s such a small amount? I have 4 poblanos that are ready for this recipe. 🙂
I would try coconut syrup, you might need more since it’s less sweet. Just add to taste!
How far in advance can you make this?
I’d say 3 days.
OMG soooooooo good! We made this with poblanos from our garden so they were quite small. We ended up using 6 and it was perfect!! We are new to the vegan/plant based lifestyle and it is recipes like this that make it possible for us!! We ate this served over zoodles with black bean “burger” meatballs. Super yum!!!
Woohoo! That’s amazing to hear!!
Is there a substitute for cashews. I’m alregic.
You can try sunflower seeds, but keep in mind they are more butter and thicken sauces up more, so maybe use 1-2 tbsp less of sunflower seeds. More lime juice if needed.
Could I add cilantro to this? If so how much would you suggest?
Yes you could! Depends on how strong you want it. Just add a tiny amount and taste as you go!
This is sooo good! Threw it over my arepas with black beans for dinner. Can’t wait to put it on everything!