Mighty Cheez Sauce

An incredibly creamy cheezy pourable sauce that you can use on top of baked potatoes, steamed vegetables, taco bowls, nachos, or a deluxe pot of mac ‘n cheez!

Who doesn’t love cheese?

I dare you to name one person. Well, name one person besides me….. Yeah, I’m sorta strange – I don’t care for most cheese. I don’t like it on my pizza at all. But you probably already know that. I do love a good grilled cheese sandwich – my favorite cheese slice is Follow Your Heart’s smoked gouda. Yum.

But I do love this Mighty Cheez Sauce. Wanna know why? It probably has something to do with the fact that it doesn’t contain any cheese at all. None. I promise.

Instead, it contains some pretty awesome plant-based ingredients. And I think it tastes way better than that canned nacho stuff you get at the movie theater or ball park. And it’s a lot healthier, too. Nobody would guess that it contains potatoes and carrots. But that’s where it gets its pretty cheezy color and stretchiness. These are very versatile vegetables.

The creaminess comes from cashews. You get some tasty umami satisfaction from sun-dried tomato, lemon juice, alcohol-free beer or cooking wine, and nutritional yeast. Throw in a few more flavorful spices to round things out. Then, after a short stint in the Vitamix, you have what I affectionally call a Mighty Cheez Sauce.

This Mighty Cheez Sauce is awesome! It kicks everything up a notch! Even the most simple foods like baked potatoes and vegetable bowls. And I use it in so many recipes, including my Super Nachos, my Crunchy Bean Tostadas, my Creamy Tex-Mex Pasta, my Garden Veggie Quesadillas, my Grilled Fiesta Bowl, and my Layered Fiesta Stack. It just adds so much flavor, character, color, and creamy goodness! It really is a Mighty Cheez Sauce.

My husband loves all of these dishes; but his absolute favorite is Baked Mac ‘n Cheez. It’s all absolutely delicious and 100% vegan, thanks to this incredible plant-based cheezy sauce.

I hope you enjoy this Mighty Cheez Sauce as much as we do.  I’m just starting out and would love to see your results. Please leave a comment and rate it down below, tag a picture @pebblesandtoast and #pebblesandtoast on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!   Enjoy!!   

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Ingredients

• ½ cup raw cashews, soaked in hot water
• 1 sun dried tomato, soaked in hot water
• 2½ cups diced Yukon gold potatoes
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 Tbsp vegan butter (optional)
• 1-2 Tbsp white wine or light beer *see Notes below
• 1 cup plant milk
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp siracha
• Salt to taste (optional)

Instructions

1. Soak raw cashews and sun-dried tomato in hot water at least 1 hour. Drain.
2. Boil potatoes and carrots in saucepan until fork tender, about 10 minutes.  Drain.
3. Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender.  Mix on high speed for 1-2 minutes, until very smooth. You may need to add a little more plant milk if the sauce is too thick.
4. Use immediately or pour into a jar or container.
5. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Notes

This recipe makes about 4 cups of Mighty Cheez Sauce.

Depending on your potatoes, this sauce can get a bit thick. Start with 1/2 cup of plant milk and add a little more as needed to thin it down to the thickness you prefer.

The white wine or beer enhances the cheezy flavor in this sauce. Trust me.  We  white cooking wine or Heineken 0.0 alcohol-free beer.  Any light wine or beer works.  If you prefer, you can also use unsweetened unflavored plant milk, drained potato-carrot water, vegetable broth, or water. But trust me, this provides a huge flavor boost to this cheez sauce.

You can use another variety of potato, but I think Yukon gold potatoes are the best. Other potatoes may not lend the stretchy-starchy texture we’re going for. Feel free to add 1-2 tablespoons of tapioca starch and a little more milk. This will help with the elastic cheezy texture and consistency.

This recipe is adapted from Oh She Glows. Over the past two years, I have modified the original quite a bit, to what is posted today.