Last night, my husband wanted stuffed baked potatoes.  He can have the cheese melted on it, no problem. But the kids and I are dairy free.  No cheese sauce for us!  But I thought stuffed baked potatoes sounded yummy, and by golly, I wanted cheese sauce.

The problem is, I have not been impressed with many cheese substitutes.  Considering I wasn’t impressed with cheese much to begin with, I’m a hard palate to please. So, how hard could it be to make a substitute vegan cheese sauce? I figured it must be possible (I assume that if I can think of it, it can be done), so I searched the internet for a vegan cheese sauce recipe. I found something that is pretty yummy!  Oh, and NO SOY!  Of course, I changed it up a little to make it work for us.  Here it is:

Vegan Better-Than-Cheese Sauce

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
  • 1/3 cup gluten free flour
  • 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 tablespoon sun-butter (the original recipe called for 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes, I think anything with an umame (aka meaty) flavor can be substituted… and adjusted to taste)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1.5 teaspoons salt
  • 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
  1. Cook carrot in 2 cups of water
  2. Puree carrot and water in blender. (Note, blending hot things can be explosive, BE CAREFUL! Go slow.)
  3. Add remaining ingredients and blend thoroughly.
  4. Return puree to cook on the stove until thick and bubbly, stirring often to prevent scorching.
  5. Serve over pasta, veggies, potatoes, etc.

Leftover vegan cheese sauce can be flash frozen for future meals as well.  Just pour into an ice cube tray and freeze.  Then pop them into a freezer bag for longer term storage.