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For me, nothing beats really good melty cheese and it’s the hardest thing for me to give up while focusing on plant based eating. For vegans this Vegan Nacho “Cheese” Sauce is a fantastic substitute. Not gonna lie, I still like “real” cheese best, but this works well as a cheese sauce substitute…even my son liked it!
I tired a couple different vegan nacho cheese sauce recipes I found online, mostly made with potato and carrots, or coconut milk. They were fine, but just not exactly something I was overly excited about. Then I came across recipes that use oats and jarred roasted red bell peppers. Turns out, it’s the closest I’ve come to a nacho cheese sauce. Quite tasty and a great substitute for non cheese eating folks. You can spice it up a bit with some roasted green chiles or your favorite taco seasonings instead of bottled hot sauce if you’d like. Or, if you don’t like spice, leave it out, however I think that adds a lot to the flavor of this sauce.
Use as a dip with chips, on your favorite tacos, enchiladas and burritos. I also made a quick Mac ‘n Cheese with this sauce…
Vegan Nacho “Cheese” Sauce
Ingredients
1 C. oats
1/4 C. nutritional yeast
2 Tbls. cornstarch
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. salt
6 oz. jar fire roasted red peppers in water*
1 Tbls. cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 tsp. bottled hot sauce (I used Cholula Chipotle)
1/8 tsp. liquid smoke
2 C. hot water
Instructions
Combine ingredients in high speed blender (Vitamix, Nutribullet) and blend for 5 minutes. It will get hot and thicken. Serve immediately.
Store leftover in airtight container in refrigerator. Reheat in saucepan, adding a little water if necessary to get desired consistency.
Notes
*I blended a 12 oz. jar of roasted red peppers, then measured out half and saved the rest for another use.