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Vegan Cauliflower Cashew Cheese Sauce

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This smooth and creamy vegan cheese sauce uses the humble, yet mighty cauliflower, along with protein-packed cashews! You’ll get a triple hit of cheesy flavour with not only 2 packs of vegan cheese, but also miso paste (for an umami play on the tastebuds) and our favourite nooch (nutritional yeast) just for kicks (oh, and that all-important b12)! Pair this sauce with mac for classic comfort food, pour-over scalloped potatoes, and bake until the edges go crispy, or add as a punchy layer to lasagne…no missing out in our kitchen! See below for more examples.

  • Author: Wicked
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 2 cups of cheeze 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/2 large head cauliflower, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 C (62 grams) raw cashews, soaked at least an hour or over night.
  • 7 cloves garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • enough water to cover to boil
  • 2 T nutritional yeast
  • 1 T miso paste
  • 2 t smoked paprika
  • 1/2 t coarse sea salt
  • pinch ground black pepper
  • 2 packages of Follow Your Heart PepperJack Slices (or your favourite vegan cheese)
  • 1 C (230 ml) of your favorite unsweetened, plant-based milk, plus a little more, if needed

Instructions

  1. Add the first 5 ingredients to a small saucepan and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until cauliflower is soft and easy to pierce with a fork.
  2. Remove from heat.
  3. Pour pot contents through strainer, reserving some water for the blending, and add contents to a high-speed blender.
  4. Add about ½ cup (125 ml) of reserved cooking liquid to the blender, then add nutritional yeast, miso paste, smoked paprika, salt, pepper.
  5. Start blender on low and slowly increase the speed to high.
  6. Use the tamper to push all the ingredients into the blade.
  7. With the blender running, break up the packages of cheese and add to the mixture.
  8. As everything comes together, it will form a pretty thick mass.
  9. Slowly add plant-based milk to the blender, tamping down, and keeping close eye on the consistency.
  10. When the texture is smooth, creamy, and pourable, the cheeze sauce is done.
  11. Enjoy.

Notes

It’s all about nailing the textures, flavors and bringing that familiar, comfort food feeling filled with memories and safety back to our plate.  For us, that’s a warming Queso, fondue or creamy, melty, sticky cheese sauce for fries, pizza, jacket potatoes, and Mac & Cheese.  This is definitely on the Wicked side of things, however, it is healthier than any dairy product out there and it can be done with no oil if you’re watching calories so keep that in mind.

Over the years we’ve worked with several chefs and recipes to create mock cream sauces and this one is a great base and staple to make often.  We call it the Wicked Awesome Sauce, cause it is just that, awesome!  If you search our site you’ll find a couple of versions of ‘cheeze’ sauces that are similar, some more healthy than others, all of them delicious and can be switched out for this one in any recipe.

Let’s dig in.

This Wicked Awesome Sauce is creamy, dreamy, and on point. Remember the recipe is a guide, it’s not gospel.  Make it a couple of times, get used to it, and then play around with it.  Try switching the cauliflower out with Butternut squash, sweet or regular potato.  The miso for Tahini or the PepperJack V-cheese for your favorite V-cheese that you can get near you.

Find it online: https://wickedkitchen.com/vegan-cauliflower-cashew-cheese-sauce/

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