This Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken is even better than takeout! Incredibly rich in flavour and all one pot, this is great for meal prep all week long!
You guys may or may not know this but Indian food is my favourite cuisine. For almost every celebration we go out for Indian food, and I’ve officially lost track of how many times we’ve ordered Indian food in. As much as I love Indian food takeout, I love challenging myself to recreate my favourite dishes at home. That way I can enjoy them whenever (at a fraction of the cost) and you guys can too! This Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken was definitely inspired by that notion. Let me tell you friends – it TASTES like takeout that the chef made personally for you at home. Spoiler alert: it’s a winner.
Seriously, this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken was probably the easiest meal we have made for the year so far. It’s also been one of the best meals I’ve had for the year so far. I was a bit skeptical since I didn’t pre-marinate the tofu, but I am so happy to say that the flavours truly do season the tofu and seep deep into it too. It tastes like it was marinating for 24 hours first! The sauce is incredibly creamy, rich in flavour, and so delicious. Also, I know many of you are still experiencing snow, so I can comfort that not only is this comforting and delicious, it is also heart-warming and perfect for all types of weather.
I discovered something while making this. I love my slow cooker and I definitely don’t use it enough. I’m about to tell you why, and how this post solved that problem.
Fun fact: I’m excited to partner with Reynolds Kitchens for this post! If you’re like me, you’ve probably been using Reynolds Kitchens in your house for forever. My mom would stock up on their aluminium foil paper as well as their parchment paper.
I was really excited to get to use their Slow Cooker Liners for this post. Their Slow Cooker Liners do exactly what they sound like – they line the slow cooker first, then you proceed as usual. I love these for a couple of reasons. Number one – it’s BPA-free! Secondly, I was so excited to have my slow cooker clean in literally 8 seconds ! While my slow cooker is brand new, if you have an older slow cooker (like I did) then you know the struggles of food sticking to your slow cooker. You know what it’s like to have to soak your slow cooker overnight. Not fun, right?Also, you probably know that feeling of by the time you finish cleaning it, you don’t want to go through that all over again even though slow cooker meals are so handy!
That’s where the Slow Cooker Liners step in. This truly makes cleanup a breeze. Like, I wish I could apply that 8 second cleanup to everything else in life! After cooking, we put our food into our Tupperware containers, we pulled the slow cooker liner out and bam – that was it! I mean, I knew it would be easy, but it was also such a delight to do.
The Slow Cooker Liners also come in two different sizes, so whether you have a 1-3 QT or a 3-8QT slow cooker, you can grab the right size for you.
All the reasons for you to love this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken:
- It’s slow cooker so very easy to prepare (while the tofu is prepping, just prep the ingredients!)
- Perfect for warming up in freezing cold weather
- Works all year round too
- Incredibly easy to make – no pre-cooking
- It’s a one pot
- The flavour beautifully seeps into the tofu
- Tastes even better the next day
- It freezes beautifully.
- It serves 6-8 people one time! Hello leftover heaven!
Can I freeze this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken?
Yes you can freeze this! It thaws beautifully in the fridge overnight, then reheated on the stove top even in the microwave.
How long will this last in the fridge?
This dish should last about a week in your fridge!
I’m looking forward to having this for dinner over and over again until it finishes. I hope you not only give it a try, but grab a package of Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker liners for it too! Eat up and enjoy friends!
P.S. if you love Indian recipes you will also love my Coconut Chickpea Curry and my Aloo Gobi Masala .
Ingredients
- 2 ½ tablespoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/2 red onion , diced (135g)
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 2 14 oz each cans of coconut milk (28 ounces total)
- 12 ounces tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek , optional
- 2 1lb blocks firm tofu , pressed for 30 minutes* (2 lbs in total)
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar , or brown sugar optional
- juice of two limes
Instructions
- After the tofu is finished pressing, cut the pressed tofu into cubes, or tear into cube size pieces for extra texture.
- Turn your slow cooker on and to warm. Line your slow cooker with one Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker Liner according to the box’s directions.
- Into the Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker Liner, add all of the ingredients into the slow cooker except the tofu, coconut sugar and the lime.
- Whisk and mix together the ingredients and incorporate until the tomato paste is almost or completely mixed into the sauce.
- Add in the tofu, and stir gently, incorporating completely.
- Set the slow cooker to high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours (for high, monitor the last 30 minutes and for low, monitor the last hour). At the end, stir in the lime juice and the coconut sugar. While the coconut sugar is optional, I found that it helped to really bring out some hidden flavours!
- Serve alongside naan bread and basmati rice and enjoy!
This Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken is even better than takeout! Incredibly rich in flavour and all one pot, this is great for meal prep all week long!
You guys may or may not know this but Indian food is my favourite cuisine. For almost every celebration we go out for Indian food, and I’ve officially lost track of how many times we’ve ordered Indian food in. As much as I love Indian food takeout, I love challenging myself to recreate my favourite dishes at home. That way I can enjoy them whenever (at a fraction of the cost) and you guys can too! This Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken was definitely inspired by that notion. Let me tell you friends – it TASTES like takeout that the chef made personally for you at home. Spoiler alert: it’s a winner.
Seriously, this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken was probably the easiest meal we have made for the year so far. It’s also been one of the best meals I’ve had for the year so far. I was a bit skeptical since I didn’t pre-marinate the tofu, but I am so happy to say that the flavours truly do season the tofu and seep deep into it too. It tastes like it was marinating for 24 hours first! The sauce is incredibly creamy, rich in flavour, and so delicious. Also, I know many of you are still experiencing snow, so I can comfort that not only is this comforting and delicious, it is also heart-warming and perfect for all types of weather.
I discovered something while making this. I love my slow cooker and I definitely don’t use it enough. I’m about to tell you why, and how this post solved that problem.
Fun fact: I’m excited to partner with Reynolds Kitchens for this post! If you’re like me, you’ve probably been using Reynolds Kitchens in your house for forever. My mom would stock up on their aluminium foil paper as well as their parchment paper.
I was really excited to get to use their Slow Cooker Liners for this post. Their Slow Cooker Liners do exactly what they sound like – they line the slow cooker first, then you proceed as usual. I love these for a couple of reasons. Number one – it’s BPA-free! Secondly, I was so excited to have my slow cooker clean in literally 8 seconds ! While my slow cooker is brand new, if you have an older slow cooker (like I did) then you know the struggles of food sticking to your slow cooker. You know what it’s like to have to soak your slow cooker overnight. Not fun, right?Also, you probably know that feeling of by the time you finish cleaning it, you don’t want to go through that all over again even though slow cooker meals are so handy!
That’s where the Slow Cooker Liners step in. This truly makes cleanup a breeze. Like, I wish I could apply that 8 second cleanup to everything else in life! After cooking, we put our food into our Tupperware containers, we pulled the slow cooker liner out and bam – that was it! I mean, I knew it would be easy, but it was also such a delight to do.
The Slow Cooker Liners also come in two different sizes, so whether you have a 1-3 QT or a 3-8QT slow cooker, you can grab the right size for you.
All the reasons for you to love this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken:
- It’s slow cooker so very easy to prepare (while the tofu is prepping, just prep the ingredients!)
- Perfect for warming up in freezing cold weather
- Works all year round too
- Incredibly easy to make – no pre-cooking
- It’s a one pot
- The flavour beautifully seeps into the tofu
- Tastes even better the next day
- It freezes beautifully.
- It serves 6-8 people one time! Hello leftover heaven!
Can I freeze this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken?
Yes you can freeze this! It thaws beautifully in the fridge overnight, then reheated on the stove top even in the microwave.
How long will this last in the fridge?
This dish should last about a week in your fridge!
I’m looking forward to having this for dinner over and over again until it finishes. I hope you not only give it a try, but grab a package of Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker liners for it too! Eat up and enjoy friends!
P.S. if you love Indian recipes you will also love my Coconut Chickpea Curry and my Aloo Gobi Masala .
Ingredients
- 2 ½ tablespoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/2 red onion , diced (135g)
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 2 14 oz each cans of coconut milk (28 ounces total)
- 12 ounces tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek , optional
- 2 1lb blocks firm tofu , pressed for 30 minutes* (2 lbs in total)
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar , or brown sugar optional
- juice of two limes
Instructions
- After the tofu is finished pressing, cut the pressed tofu into cubes, or tear into cube size pieces for extra texture.
- Turn your slow cooker on and to warm. Line your slow cooker with one Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker Liner according to the box’s directions.
- Into the Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker Liner, add all of the ingredients into the slow cooker except the tofu, coconut sugar and the lime.
- Whisk and mix together the ingredients and incorporate until the tomato paste is almost or completely mixed into the sauce.
- Add in the tofu, and stir gently, incorporating completely.
- Set the slow cooker to high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours (for high, monitor the last 30 minutes and for low, monitor the last hour). At the end, stir in the lime juice and the coconut sugar. While the coconut sugar is optional, I found that it helped to really bring out some hidden flavours!
- Serve alongside naan bread and basmati rice and enjoy!
This Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken is even better than takeout! Incredibly rich in flavour and all one pot, this is great for meal prep all week long!
You guys may or may not know this but Indian food is my favourite cuisine. For almost every celebration we go out for Indian food, and I’ve officially lost track of how many times we’ve ordered Indian food in. As much as I love Indian food takeout, I love challenging myself to recreate my favourite dishes at home. That way I can enjoy them whenever (at a fraction of the cost) and you guys can too! This Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken was definitely inspired by that notion. Let me tell you friends – it TASTES like takeout that the chef made personally for you at home. Spoiler alert: it’s a winner.
Seriously, this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken was probably the easiest meal we have made for the year so far. It’s also been one of the best meals I’ve had for the year so far. I was a bit skeptical since I didn’t pre-marinate the tofu, but I am so happy to say that the flavours truly do season the tofu and seep deep into it too. It tastes like it was marinating for 24 hours first! The sauce is incredibly creamy, rich in flavour, and so delicious. Also, I know many of you are still experiencing snow, so I can comfort that not only is this comforting and delicious, it is also heart-warming and perfect for all types of weather.
I discovered something while making this. I love my slow cooker and I definitely don’t use it enough. I’m about to tell you why, and how this post solved that problem.
Fun fact: I’m excited to partner with Reynolds Kitchens for this post! If you’re like me, you’ve probably been using Reynolds Kitchens in your house for forever. My mom would stock up on their aluminium foil paper as well as their parchment paper.
I was really excited to get to use their Slow Cooker Liners for this post. Their Slow Cooker Liners do exactly what they sound like – they line the slow cooker first, then you proceed as usual. I love these for a couple of reasons. Number one – it’s BPA-free! Secondly, I was so excited to have my slow cooker clean in literally 8 seconds ! While my slow cooker is brand new, if you have an older slow cooker (like I did) then you know the struggles of food sticking to your slow cooker. You know what it’s like to have to soak your slow cooker overnight. Not fun, right?Also, you probably know that feeling of by the time you finish cleaning it, you don’t want to go through that all over again even though slow cooker meals are so handy!
That’s where the Slow Cooker Liners step in. This truly makes cleanup a breeze. Like, I wish I could apply that 8 second cleanup to everything else in life! After cooking, we put our food into our Tupperware containers, we pulled the slow cooker liner out and bam – that was it! I mean, I knew it would be easy, but it was also such a delight to do.
The Slow Cooker Liners also come in two different sizes, so whether you have a 1-3 QT or a 3-8QT slow cooker, you can grab the right size for you.
All the reasons for you to love this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken:
- It’s slow cooker so very easy to prepare (while the tofu is prepping, just prep the ingredients!)
- Perfect for warming up in freezing cold weather
- Works all year round too
- Incredibly easy to make – no pre-cooking
- It’s a one pot
- The flavour beautifully seeps into the tofu
- Tastes even better the next day
- It freezes beautifully.
- It serves 6-8 people one time! Hello leftover heaven!
Can I freeze this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken?
Yes you can freeze this! It thaws beautifully in the fridge overnight, then reheated on the stove top even in the microwave.
How long will this last in the fridge?
This dish should last about a week in your fridge!
I’m looking forward to having this for dinner over and over again until it finishes. I hope you not only give it a try, but grab a package of Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker liners for it too! Eat up and enjoy friends!
P.S. if you love Indian recipes you will also love my Coconut Chickpea Curry and my Aloo Gobi Masala .
Ingredients
- 2 ½ tablespoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/2 red onion , diced (135g)
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 2 14 oz each cans of coconut milk (28 ounces total)
- 12 ounces tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek , optional
- 2 1lb blocks firm tofu , pressed for 30 minutes* (2 lbs in total)
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar , or brown sugar optional
- juice of two limes
Instructions
- After the tofu is finished pressing, cut the pressed tofu into cubes, or tear into cube size pieces for extra texture.
- Turn your slow cooker on and to warm. Line your slow cooker with one Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker Liner according to the box’s directions.
- Into the Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker Liner, add all of the ingredients into the slow cooker except the tofu, coconut sugar and the lime.
- Whisk and mix together the ingredients and incorporate until the tomato paste is almost or completely mixed into the sauce.
- Add in the tofu, and stir gently, incorporating completely.
- Set the slow cooker to high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours (for high, monitor the last 30 minutes and for low, monitor the last hour). At the end, stir in the lime juice and the coconut sugar. While the coconut sugar is optional, I found that it helped to really bring out some hidden flavours!
- Serve alongside naan bread and basmati rice and enjoy!
This Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken is even better than takeout! Incredibly rich in flavour and all one pot, this is great for meal prep all week long!
You guys may or may not know this but Indian food is my favourite cuisine. For almost every celebration we go out for Indian food, and I’ve officially lost track of how many times we’ve ordered Indian food in. As much as I love Indian food takeout, I love challenging myself to recreate my favourite dishes at home. That way I can enjoy them whenever (at a fraction of the cost) and you guys can too! This Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken was definitely inspired by that notion. Let me tell you friends – it TASTES like takeout that the chef made personally for you at home. Spoiler alert: it’s a winner.
Seriously, this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken was probably the easiest meal we have made for the year so far. It’s also been one of the best meals I’ve had for the year so far. I was a bit skeptical since I didn’t pre-marinate the tofu, but I am so happy to say that the flavours truly do season the tofu and seep deep into it too. It tastes like it was marinating for 24 hours first! The sauce is incredibly creamy, rich in flavour, and so delicious. Also, I know many of you are still experiencing snow, so I can comfort that not only is this comforting and delicious, it is also heart-warming and perfect for all types of weather.
I discovered something while making this. I love my slow cooker and I definitely don’t use it enough. I’m about to tell you why, and how this post solved that problem.
Fun fact: I’m excited to partner with Reynolds Kitchens for this post! If you’re like me, you’ve probably been using Reynolds Kitchens in your house for forever. My mom would stock up on their aluminium foil paper as well as their parchment paper.
I was really excited to get to use their Slow Cooker Liners for this post. Their Slow Cooker Liners do exactly what they sound like – they line the slow cooker first, then you proceed as usual. I love these for a couple of reasons. Number one – it’s BPA-free! Secondly, I was so excited to have my slow cooker clean in literally 8 seconds ! While my slow cooker is brand new, if you have an older slow cooker (like I did) then you know the struggles of food sticking to your slow cooker. You know what it’s like to have to soak your slow cooker overnight. Not fun, right?Also, you probably know that feeling of by the time you finish cleaning it, you don’t want to go through that all over again even though slow cooker meals are so handy!
That’s where the Slow Cooker Liners step in. This truly makes cleanup a breeze. Like, I wish I could apply that 8 second cleanup to everything else in life! After cooking, we put our food into our Tupperware containers, we pulled the slow cooker liner out and bam – that was it! I mean, I knew it would be easy, but it was also such a delight to do.
The Slow Cooker Liners also come in two different sizes, so whether you have a 1-3 QT or a 3-8QT slow cooker, you can grab the right size for you.
All the reasons for you to love this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken:
- It’s slow cooker so very easy to prepare (while the tofu is prepping, just prep the ingredients!)
- Perfect for warming up in freezing cold weather
- Works all year round too
- Incredibly easy to make – no pre-cooking
- It’s a one pot
- The flavour beautifully seeps into the tofu
- Tastes even better the next day
- It freezes beautifully.
- It serves 6-8 people one time! Hello leftover heaven!
Can I freeze this Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken?
Yes you can freeze this! It thaws beautifully in the fridge overnight, then reheated on the stove top even in the microwave.
How long will this last in the fridge?
This dish should last about a week in your fridge!
I’m looking forward to having this for dinner over and over again until it finishes. I hope you not only give it a try, but grab a package of Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker liners for it too! Eat up and enjoy friends!
P.S. if you love Indian recipes you will also love my Coconut Chickpea Curry and my Aloo Gobi Masala .
Ingredients
- 2 ½ tablespoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/2 red onion , diced (135g)
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 2 14 oz each cans of coconut milk (28 ounces total)
- 12 ounces tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek , optional
- 2 1lb blocks firm tofu , pressed for 30 minutes* (2 lbs in total)
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar , or brown sugar optional
- juice of two limes
Instructions
- After the tofu is finished pressing, cut the pressed tofu into cubes, or tear into cube size pieces for extra texture.
- Turn your slow cooker on and to warm. Line your slow cooker with one Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker Liner according to the box’s directions.
- Into the Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker Liner, add all of the ingredients into the slow cooker except the tofu, coconut sugar and the lime.
- Whisk and mix together the ingredients and incorporate until the tomato paste is almost or completely mixed into the sauce.
- Add in the tofu, and stir gently, incorporating completely.
- Set the slow cooker to high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours (for high, monitor the last 30 minutes and for low, monitor the last hour). At the end, stir in the lime juice and the coconut sugar. While the coconut sugar is optional, I found that it helped to really bring out some hidden flavours!
- Serve alongside naan bread and basmati rice and enjoy!
Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 2 ½ tablespoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/2 red onion diced (135g)
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 2 14 oz each cans of coconut milk (28 ounces total)
- 12 ounces tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek optional
- 2 1lb blocks firm tofu pressed for 30 minutes* (2 lbs in total)
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar or brown sugar optional
- juice of two limes
Instructions
- After the tofu is finished pressing, cut the pressed tofu into cubes, or tear into cube size pieces for extra texture.
- Turn your slow cooker on and to warm. Line your slow cooker with one Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker Liner according to the box’s directions.
- Into the Reynolds Kitchens Slow Cooker Liner, add all of the ingredients into the slow cooker except the tofu, coconut sugar and the lime.
- Whisk and mix together the ingredients and incorporate until the tomato paste is almost or completely mixed into the sauce.
- Add in the tofu, and stir gently, incorporating completely.
- Set the slow cooker to high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours (for high, monitor the last 30 minutes and for low, monitor the last hour). At the end, stir in the lime juice and the coconut sugar. While the coconut sugar is optional, I found that it helped to really bring out some hidden flavours!
- Serve alongside naan bread and basmati rice and enjoy!
Nutrition
Slow Cooker Tofu Butter Chicken (Vegan) https://jessicainthekitchen.com/slow-cooker-tofu-butter-chicken/ March 4, 2019
This is the best vegan cheese sauce that’s rich, creamy, and super cheesy thanks to nutritional yeast . I’ll show you how to make it in 15 minutes! It’s perfect as a dip, or you can use this plant-based sauce in recipes for nachos, mac and cheese, and so much more!
Growing up, I always loved cheese, and dipping my chips and fries in cheese sauce was one of the first things I missed when I went vegan! I’ve perfected the ultimate vegan cheese sauce that’s a) super creamy with great cheesy flavour and b) uncomplicated to make. Of all the versions I’ve tried, this is the BEST plant-based sauce to use in everything from nachos to mac and cheese. It literally goes with everything. You’ll see!
Why You’ll Love This Vegan Cheese Sauce Recipe
- Easy ingredients. This vegan cheese sauce is a triple threat made from nutritional yeast , carrots, and cashews. Three easy plant-based ingredients that together make a silky cheese sauce with loads of flavour.
- Quick. You can make a batch of homemade cheese sauce in 15 minutes or less. Simply saute the veggies, and add everything to the blender with soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, and a few flavourful seasonings.
- Versatile. Vegan cheese sauce is incredibly versatile. Use it for dipping, spreading, and drizzling over EVERYTHING. I share some of my favourite ways to use it further in the post!
Notes on Ingredients
This plant-based cheese sauce doesn’t need any funny ingredients, which is another thing I love about making it from scratch. Here are some notes on what you’ll need. Scroll to the recipe card for a printable list of ingredients along with the full recipe details.
- Nutritional yeast – Nutritional yeast gives plant-based recipes like my vegan parmesan cheese , homemade vegan tofu feta , and this cheese sauce their distinctly “cheesy” taste. My favourite is the nutritional yeast from Bob’s Red Mill (more on this below).
- Oil – This can be olive oil or coconut oil.
- Carrot and onion – Chopped or diced. You’ll saute the veggies with a little garlic to soften them for blending.
- Cashews – You’ll need to soak your raw cashews in water overnight, and then drain and rinse them before you blend. If needed, my vegan heavy cream substitute covers how to soak cashews if you’ve never done it before.
- Seasonings – Salt, pepper, dry ground mustard, and paprika. I also include fresh lime juice and tamari or coconut aminos (capers also work!) to enhance the umami flavours. It might sound like a weird combination, but trust the process!
- Almond Milk – Or your preferred plant-based milk. You’ll end up with a slightly thicker sauce if you use cashew milk or soy milk.
What Is Nutritional Yeast?
If you’re new to vegan cooking, you might be wondering what nutritional yeast is, and what it does exactly. I go into the nitty-gritty of nutritional yeast in my e-book, It’s That Easy . In a nutshell, nutritional yeast is an inactive yeast made from sugarcane and beet molasses. Because it’s inactive, you can’t use it in baking. However, nutritional yeast is gluten-free, vegan, and has a cheesy taste that adds flavour to all sorts of recipes, especially vegan cheeses.
For this vegan cheese sauce recipe, I used Bob’s Red Mill Nutritional Yeast . Let me count the ways I love this nutritional yeast. It’s the best quality nutritional yeast I’ve found, and the packaging makes it very easy to scoop out (thanks to the zip top). It’s just as easy to sprinkle right onto cheesy stovetop popcorn . Plus, a lot comes in the package, so it lasts quite a while.
We use our nutritional yeast aka our ‘nooch’ quite often in vegan pasta , salad dressings, and so much more, and our first bag for the year still has a little bit left.
How to Make Vegan Cheese Sauce
The key to making the best vegan cheese sauce is to take the steps to develop the flavour while making sure that the cheesy taste stands out above the rest. It takes 15 minutes and all you need is a skillet and a blender.
Start by sauteeing the onion and carrots in a pan. The vegetables help to thicken, color, and flavour the sauce. Once that’s ready, the veggies go into a blender with nutritional yeast and soaked cashews, plus the seasonings, nut milk, and lime juice. Hit blend, and enjoy!
Tips for Success
- Use good quality ingredients . The better your ingredients, the better your cheese sauce will be. This means fresh carrots, quality cashews, and fresh nutritional yeast. Keeping nutritional yeast in the fridge helps it stay fresher for longer.
- Let the cheesy flavors shine. When it comes to your “supporting ingredients”, I recommend mild yellow onions instead of sweeter red onions, and unsweetened nut milk. The sweetness takes away from the tangy cheesiness.
- Soak your cashews. Soaking your cashews ensures the smoothest texture possible, even with a high-powered blender. I usually soak them overnight for the best results. In a pinch though, you can soak them in hot water for at least an hour, and blend for two blend cycles.
Ways to Use Vegan Cheese Sauce
One taste of this vegan cheese sauce and you’ll see what the hype is about! This recipe makes a good 1 ¾ cups of sauce. It’s great as an appetizer dip, and we love it as an alternative to pretzel dip with pretzel bites and homemade soft pretzels ! If you’re looking for more inspiration, try these easy ideas:
- Dip. Cheese sauce is great for dipping cooked vegetables, like broccoli and cauliflower. It’s also delicious with tortilla chips, corn chips, and other chips and crackers.
- Nacho cheese. Make a big platter of vegan nachos drizzled with homemade cheese sauce. Just add jalapeños, bell peppers, and any fixings you like. We also love these loaded vegan nacho fries !
- Mac and cheese. This sauce makes the best baked vegan mac and cheese ever. Or, try “cheesy” cauliflower mac and cheese for a low-carb option.
- Tex-Mex. Vegan cheese sauce makes the perfect finishing drizzle for tacos and enchiladas. I also use it as a filling in my homemade vegan crunchwrap supreme .
- Baked potatoes. Use cheese sauce as a topping for baked potatoes or loaded potato skins .
How to Store
This vegan cheese sauce lasts in the fridge for up to 5 days when stored airtight. It depends on your ingredients, of course. Using the freshest ingredients will ensure that it lasts longer. You’ll probably eat it before then anyway, since there are so many ways to use it!
Can I Freeze Vegan Cheese Sauce?
You can freeze this sauce in an airtight container or even in a zip-top bag. Thaw it in the fridge overnight. You may need to re-blend it with a little more nut milk, vegetable broth or water since it will get very thick after thawing.
More Vegan Dips and Sauces
- Vegan Whipped Feta Dip
- Vegan Sour Cream
- Homemade Vegan Tartar Sauce
- Vegan Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup Bob’s Red Mill Nutritional Yeast
- 1 tablespoon olive oil , or coconut oil, 12.5g
- 1 large carrot , 112g, chopped
- 1 small yellow onion , 72g, halved and chopped
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 cup raw cashews , soaked in water overnight, then drained and rinsed OR just easily boiled for 5 minutes*
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dry ground mustard
- Juice of one lime , 1 tablespoon
- ½ tablespoon tamari sauce , liquid aminos or capers
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk , or preferred nut milk
Instructions
- In a pan over medium heat, heat the oil add in the carrots, onions and the garlic, stirring to combine. Cover with lid and allow to steam/roast until carrots are tender, about 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
- In a large high speed blender add the carrot mixture, cashews, salt and pepper, ground mustard, lime juice, tamari, nutritional yeast, paprika, and almond milk.
- Blend together in a high powered blender for about 2 minutes on a strong speed, until sauce is completely smooth and incorporate. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Enjoy!
Notes
- *You can easily boil your cashews with just enough water covering them for 5 minutes. Drain, let cool, and proceed! This way you can make the recipe the same day.
- You can prep the ingredients while your carrots and onions are cooking down.
- Substitute almond milk for any other nut milk. Soymilk and cashew milk will yield a slightly thicker sauce.
