After having tried to live a zero waste lifestyle for about 8 years now, I have found my way in doing zero waste groceries. Therefore,I know exactly what’s hard to find and what’s not. Today I want to share a recipe for one item that’s impossible to find zero waste: vegan cheese sauce. If something’s impossible to find, there’s one option left: making it yourself. I’ve tried many vegan cheese sauce recipes, so this took me a while. The first few tries were not that good, but now I’ve finally found the perfect recipe for zero waste vegan cheese sauce.
The ingredients for 1 serving
Here’s what you need for the zero waste vegan cheese sauce, to make one serving (beware: this is not the amount you see on the picture below, I made a lot that night):
- 75 grams of raw unsalted cashews
- 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
- Kurkuma
- Smoked paprika powder
- Mustardseed powder
- Water
Recipe
The recipe is very straightforward. You only have to soak the cashew nuts in boiled water for about 15 minutes. After that, it’s a matter of throwing all the ingredients in the blender and that’s it. I didn’t list the amounts needed for the spices and water. I think that’s totally up to you. For example, the more water you add, the thinner the sauce gets, so it’s up to whatever you prefer. Just add a little bit of water at first and add more to your taste. Same goes with kurkuma, that’s up to how yellow you’d like the sauce to be. The smoked paprika powder is a little spicy, so the more you add the more spicy it gets.
Zero waste & organic
This recipe itself is not zero waste, because if you buy all ingredients in plastic it’s not zero waste. However, I call the recipe zero waste because it’s an option to buy everything zero waste. The cashews and herbs can be bought zero waste at local zero waste shops or at Pieter Pot. And the nutritional yeast can only be bought zero waste and organic at Pieter Pot. For store bought vegan cheese sauce this is not the case, ever. It’s always in plastic. Therefore, this recipe helps me reduce waste. Whether you can buy the cashew nuts and herbs zero waste ánd organic depend on your local zero waste shop. Remember, buying organic is more important than buying zero waste. So, if you have to choose, choose organic over zero waste.
Purposes
I mostly use this recipe for nachos. It’s not the healthiest dish, but from time to time I love to make loaded nachos, based on the recipe from Wateetjedanwel.nl. Nachos with beans, chili sauce, corn, guacamole and this vegan cheese sauce. It’s also the dish you see on the picture above. But you can also use this recipe for grilled cheese sandwiches (which I’ve done too) and the topping of lasagna’s. I don’t think you can use this recipe as a sauce for mac and cheese or as the base sauce for pasta’s, but who knows, I haven’t tried that myself yet. For now, I like the recipe most for nachos, because it is a topping for the nachos, not the entire base of the recipe.
It’s been a journey
It took me some time to find a good vegan cheese sauce recipe. There are a lot of recipes out there. Like I said, I personally liked this one best. But maybe you don’t. Then it’s good to know that are many variations and options. Give them a try and pick whichever one you love. But I hope you start with this recipe, because I think it’s the best one out there haha.
Yours sincerely,
Romee