Vegan Cheese Sauce

This cheese sauce is one of my favourite things to make. It tastes great as a mac and cheese or drizzled on top of cooked veggies. Or anything else that you enjoy cheese sauce on, really!

Because I use it mainly for mac and cheese, this recipe is measured to mix with 500g of pasta.

Why do I love this cheese sauce so much?

It’s creamy.

A couple tips I have found for making a creamy cheese sauce is to use a tablespoon of vegan butter, and use oat or soy milk. The vegan butter gives the sauce a bit of extra flavour and richness that you find in standard cheese sauce. Using oat or soy milk works best because these plant milks are a bit thicker than, for example, almond milk. 

I haven’t tried using any other plant milk aside from oat, soy, and almond, but I found that almond milk was too thin for my liking. If you try a different kind of plant milk, please let us know how it worked for you in the comments below!

It’s not made with cashews.

Not that there’s anything wrong with cashews, but I find cashew cheese sauces to be a bit rich sometimes. If you are sensitive to cashews, or allergic, then you will want to try this recipe.

It’s flavourful.

Aside from the vegan butter adding to the flavour, the spices are what add to the sauce. Garlic powder is the main spice, but I also add a pinch of Spanish smoked paprika every once in a while to give it an extra kick.

The nutritional yeast is a key component because it gives the sauce a cheesy, zesty flavour.

Finally, it’s easy to make! 

The ingredients are simple - you most likely have all the ingredients in your pantry (minus the nutritional yeast if you’re new to veganism, which in that case, go buy some!).

The recipe takes only about 15 minutes to make, so it is a great, low-maintenance dinner staple.

Vegan Cheese Sauce

Makes 6-8 servings if mixing with 500g package of pasta

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

5 TBSP cooking oil

1 TBSP vegan butter

⅓ cup flour

3 cups oat or soy milk*

(Add right away after whisking flour and oil until smooth)

(Turn up heat to medium high)

(Stir frequently to avoid sticking)

(Once heated, add the following):

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

Process

1. Add the cooking oil and vegan butter to a medium-sized pot, medium heat.

2. Once the butter is melted, add the flour. Whisk until smooth.

3. Add the plant milk and turn up the heat to medium high.

4. Keep whisking frequently to prevent the flour from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Whisk until the mixture is hot.

5. Add the nutritional yeast, salt, and garlic powder, and whisk until mixed in. Add a pinch of Spanish smoked paprika if you want a bit of a smokey flavour!

6. Remove the sauce from heat and let it sit for a few minutes until it thickens a bit more.

Notes

* I only use oat or soy milk for this recipe because they are thicker. Almond milk was too thin when I tried using it.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments below.