Chickpea-Cashew Vegan Cheeze Sauce

I have a confession to make: I love cheese. Simply adore it...always have. In fact, it was my love of cheese that was the hardest barrier to get over when I went vegan. Luckily for me, there are some good vegan cheeses on the market, and tons of vegan cheese recipes to be found on the internet. I really fell in love with the potato-carrot cheeze sauce (my variation can be found in the Cooking & Recipes section of this website) which is good for so many things. I also have a fondness for cashew cheeze sauce, because cashews. 

Recently, I found inspiration for making a chickpea pasta sauce and I fell in love with that too. I was craving some pasta, chickpeas, and cheeze sauce so I decided to play around with making a chickpea-cashew cheeze sauce. What I came up with was perfect and delicious, and there's no need to soak the cashews first!

The finished cheeze sauce.

The cheeze sauce lovingly embracing a bed of pasta and veggies.

Here's how I made it.

Chickpea-Cashew Vegan Cheeze Sauce

Ingredients:

1 15-oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 c. vegetable broth

1 c. water divided in half

1 c. cashews

1/2 c. nutritional yeast

1 t. each granulated garlic, granulated onion, smoked paprika, turmeric, and pepper

1 1/2 t. salt

1 T. steak seasoning

1 T. lemon juice

1/4 c. olive oil

Instructions:

1. In a saucepan, bring the chickpeas, vegetable broth, and half of the water to a boil.

2. In a blender, add all the other ingredients except the other half of the water.

3. After the chickpeas have been lightly boiling for about 7 minutes, remove from heat and let cool for a minute.

4. Add the chickpeas, including all the liquid, to the blender and puree until smooth.

5. Scrape down the sides, add the other half of the water, and puree again for about 5 minutes on a medium-low speed until smooth and creamy.

And that's it! It's that easy, and it's very delicious. Put it on your favorite pasta, burritos, lasagna, or whatever you like cheeze sauce on. Enjoy!

2015: All rights reserved. H.A. Larson - Author