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This is the best vegan queso recipe EVER. Ready to eat in less than 10 minutes, it tastes so much like the real thing you won’t believe it! Rich cashew cream, a little potato, and a touch of nutritional yeast blend together with traditional Mexican flavors for a dairy-free vegan queso you’ll fall in love with.
🧀 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- It’s a foolproof copycat. Seriously, it tastes so much like real queso you might worry you’re actually eating dairy.
- It’s really easy to make. A quick blend in a Vitamix gives you a smooth, hot dip that’s ready to eat in less than 10 minutes!
- It’s low-calorie and low-carb, which means you can eat as much as your heart really desires.
- It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so you can make it ahead of an event or on meal prep Sundays. Store it in an airtight container, and add a little unsweetened almond milk when you reheat it if it’s too thick.
👩🏼🍳 Chef’s Tips
- Tapioca starch is an optional ingredient in this recipe, so don’t worry if you don’t have it. It does make a difference, though. It gives this queso a gooier texture than other vegan queso recipes, making it more like real queso.
- If you don’t have a high-speed blender (like a Vitamix) that’s okay! You’ll just need to soak your cashews overnight in hot water to help them blend more easily. Simply pour hot water over the cashews and let them sit – don’t worry about changing out the water after it cools off. After blending, you’ll need to transfer the queso to a saucepan and heat it through over medium-low heat.
- If you don’t want to use coconut milk, you can leave it out! Increase the cashews to a total of 1.5 cups and use 1.75 cups of water or stock to make up for it.
- For vegan queso blanco, leave out the turmeric and the can of tomatoes and chiles. Still use the small can of green chiles, though!
🌱 More Vegan Recipes You’ll Love
- The Best Vegan Alfredo Sauce
- Vegan Chili
- The Best Avocado Chocolate Mousse (Vegan, Dairy Free)
- Vegan Nutella
- Quick Creamy Vegan Coconut Chickpea Curry
- Seitan Grilled Chicken with Vegan BBQ Sauce
- Vegan Crème Brûlée
- Crispy Vegan Chicken Sandwich
- Vegan Enchiladas
Best Vegan Queso (Ever)
The best vegan queso recipe ever, it tastes so much like the real thing! Made with potatoes, cashews, and nutritional yeast, this magical combination does not taste dairy-free, paleo, or vegan – but it is!
servings
Equipment
- standard blender high-speed preferred, see Notes
- medium saucepan optional
- Large wooden spoon optional
- serving bowl
Ingredients
For the Vegan Queso
- 1 cup boiled, cubed potatoes approximately 2 medium red or yellow potatoes
- ¾ cup raw cashews soaked if needed, see Notes
- 4 cloves garlic peeled, roughly chopped
- 1 4-ounce can diced green chilies with juice
- 1 4-ounce can chopped pickled jalapeños juice reserved, ¼ cup jalapeños reserved
- 1 tablespoon pickled jalapeño juice reserved from 4-ounce can of jalapeños
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 cup unsweetened, full-fat coconut milk from can not carton
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt more or less to taste
Optional (But Recommended) Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
- 1 dash turmeric for color
- 1 10-ounce can diced tomatoes & green chilies drained
To Serve
- ¼ cup chopped pickled jalapeños reserved from 4-ounce can of jalapeños
- chopped fresh cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Add 1 cup boiled, cubed potatoes, ¾ cup raw cashews, 4 cloves garlic, 1 4-ounce can diced green chilies, 1 4-ounce can chopped pickled jalapeños (excluding reserved ¼ cup jalapeños), 1 tablespoon pickled jalapeño juice, 1 cup vegetable broth, 1 cup unsweetened, full-fat coconut milk, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon cumin, and 1 teaspoon salt to blender. Add 1 teaspoon tapioca starch and 1 dash turmeric if using.
- Blend ingredients until mixture is very smooth and all ingredients are fully combined.
- If blender does not heat queso mixture while blending, transfer mixture to medium saucepan. Heat saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring queso constantly, until mixture reaches desired temperature.
- Taste queso and stir in additional salt if desired.
- Transfer queso to serving bowl. Add ¼ cup chopped pickled jalapeños and 1 10-ounce can diced tomatoes & green chilies, and gently stir until ingredients are well incorporated.
- Garnish queso with chopped fresh cilantro if desired and serve warm.
Video
- Cashews: If you don’t have a high-speed blender, you’ll need to soak the cashews first so they’ll blend completely. Place them in a bowl and pour 3 cups of hot filtered water over them. Place the bowl in the fridge and let the cashews soak 6-8 hours.
- Vegetable Broth: If you’re not strictly vegan, you can use chicken broth instead if you want.
- Make it Paleo: If you’re on a strict Paleo diet, or if you must avoid nightshade, swap the potatoes for 1 cup mashed, steamed cauliflower.
- Leftovers: Store leftover queso in an airtight container in the fridge up to 5 days.
- Reheat: Add unsweetened almond milk if the consistency of the queso is too thick. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until just heated through.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 171calProtein: 5gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 7gSodium: 725mgPotassium: 353mgTotal Carbs: 12gFiber: 3gSugar: 4gNet Carbs: 9gVitamin A: 370IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 30mgIron: 2mg
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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What brand of canned pickles jalapeños do you use?
Any kind we have find from the store! We like to shop organic if possible!
Ummm where has this been all my life?!!!! This was so incredibly good! I’m happy I went all in and tripled the recipe.
I have made this recipe several times now and I absolutely LOVE it!!! I would say as the recipe is written, it could be a bit thicker for my taste, so I usually end up adding closer to 1 Tbsp tapioca starch, also, I have found that the second day is when the consistency is the best – so this is a good dish to do some make-ahead prep for guests and then just re-heat on the stove to serve the next day. But everyone I have made this for has loved it. My pop-tart, pizza and junk food eating step son and his buddies even loved it and ate the whole bowl!! We eat it just as a dip with chips, spread on nachos, baked into burritos, or even put over black bean burgers…yum. I have made a lot of vegan cheese recipes and this one by far is the best…..and it’s so easy! Thank you for sharing and creating it.
Thanks for sharing your experiences! All of that sounds amazing. 🙂
With so many positive comments, you hardly need mine too, but I had to leave a comment anyway. This is incredible! It is so delicious, I want to find ways to use it. I think it would be great on a baked potato with roasted broccoli. I’m using it tonight to take to a friend’s birthday party. I’m the only vegan there and wanted to make something everyone would enjoy and wouldn’t think was ‘different.’ I’m serving it with pretzel bites and I think I need to only take half of the batch I was planning on taking and leaving the rest home for my husband and I to eat later. No–probably can’t do that, but I’ve sure thought about it. Thank you for such a great recipe!!!
Great ideas! Thanks for the kind words. 🙂
Absolute best and easiest vegan queso ever! Earned a place in my recipe box.
Proud to make it into there, Shennandoah!
Planning on making this and I was wondering if I could use corn starch instead of tapioca starch?
Sure! The tapioca starch is optional, anyway. 🙂 It just creates a gooey texture.
Wow, thank you for satisfying a craving I’ve had since becoming a vegan. Honestly, most vegan cheeses are not good, even store-bought options. You hit the mark with this recipe and I’m now excited to try more. Thanks again!
I’m glad you loved it! Thanks for the great review!
This vegan queso is AMAZING! Why would anyone want the cheesy queso?!
I’m glad you loved it! I definitely could eat either one pretty much all day, every day. ?
Can this be nut free? What would be a good sub for nuts?
Hi! You can try to sub with 3/4 cup of steamed cauliflower. 🙂
Hi! I am looking forward to trying this recipe. Does it hold up well in a crockpot for a larger group?
Absolutely! Keep it on low or warm depending on your Crockpot setting options and be sure to stir regularly, especially to the bottom of the pot and along the sides.