This sweet potato dairy-free cheese sauce is creamy and delicious. It’s great for pouring over pasta and makes an excellent vegan dipping sauce, too.
From cauliflower to butternut squash, I love adding vegetables to plant-based “cheese” sauces. In autumn, I especially enjoy making pumpkin pasta.
Throughout the year, I tend to reach for a sweet potato when I’m making a vegan version of one of my favorite comfort foods, mac and cheese. Not only does it give the dish its signature color, but it also adds lots of vitamins and minerals.
Plus, I love a good blender recipe that’s quick and easy to make. I imagine this nourishing sweet potato dairy free cheese sauce will be a childhood favorite for my kids. My infant, Wilder Baby, had a second serving at lunch today.
Ingredient Notes
Ideally, soak the cashews overnight with a pinch of salt to boost nutrition and remove phytic acid. If you’re trying to make this sweet potato dairy free cheese sauce in a pinch, you can boil the cashews for about thirty minutes.
Alternatively, instead of using raw cashews, you can substitute cooked white beans. The taste will be slightly different, but it will still be creamy and delicious.
I prefer to use non-fortified nutritional yeast and mellow white miso paste, but you can use whatever you have on hand.
I like the flavor the white pepper imparts; however, you could omit this ingredient and use fresh cracked black pepper to taste.
If you don’t have tapioca flour, you can use non-gmo cornstarch.
How to Make Sweet Potato Vegan Cheese Sauce
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with parchment paper, if you choose to use it.
Chop the sweet potato into cubes and quarter the onion.
Put the cubed sweet potato, quartered onion, and unpeeled garlic clove on the baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and bake for about 20 minutes.
If you’re using this as a plant-based pasta sauce, now is a great time to boil the noodles or prepare any additional ingredients. I highly recommend lion’s mane mushrooms; they taste like lobster and are incredibly nutritious. Brussels sprouts and broccoli pair beautifully with this vegan cheese sauce as well.
When the potatoes are fork tender, remove the tray from the oven.
Peel the garlic, and put the roasted vegetables, along with all the remaining ingredients, into a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy.
Pin this simple recipe for later.
We enjoy this sweet potato dairy-free cheese sauce with pasta — einkorn noodles are my favorite. What’s your favorite way to use vegan cheese sauce? Let me know in the comments.
Hope you love this plant-based cheese sauce as much as we do!
Sweet Potato Dairy-Free Cheese Sauce
This sweet potato dairy-free cheese sauce is creamy and delicious. It's great for pouring over pasta and makes an excellent vegan dipping sauce, too.
Ingredients
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 1 cup unflavored plant milk
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 yellow or white onion
- 1 clove of garlic, unpeeled
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked (or cooked white beans)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt + more to taste
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegan butter (optional)
- 1 tablespoon tapioca flour
- 1 tablespoon miso paste
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with parchment paper, if you choose to use it.
2. Chop the sweet potato into cubes and quarter the onion.
3. Put the cubed sweet potato, quartered onion, and unpeeled garlic clove on the baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and bake for about 20 minutes.
4. When the potatoes are fork tender, remove the tray from the oven.
5. Peel the garlic, and put the roasted vegetables, along with all the remaining ingredients, into a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy.
6. Enjoy!
Notes
- Ideally, soak the cashews overnight with a pinch of salt to boost nutrition and remove phytic acid. If you're trying to make this sweet potato dairy free cheese sauce in a pinch, you can boil the cashews for about thirty minutes.
- Alternatively, instead of using raw cashews, you can substitute cooked white beans. The taste will be slightly different, but it will still be creamy and delicious.
- I prefer to use non-fortified nutritional yeast and mellow white miso paste, but you can use whatever you have on hand.
- I like the flavor the white pepper imparts; however, you could omit this ingredient and use fresh cracked black pepper to taste.
- If you don't have tapioca flour, you can use non-gmo cornstarch.
Leave a Reply