one green planet
one green planet

Fat-free vegan cheese may sound like a dream to you, but I assure you, this recipe is very much real. You're going to want to pour this on all of your veggie bowls from now on because this fat-free vegan cheese sauce is delicious and easy to make. Who says that you need dairy, loads of fat, and tons of sodium to make the perfect cheesy sauce for dipping, mac, and cheese, or baked potatoes? If you have a nut allergy, then this fat-free vegan cheese sauce made from zucchini (yes, zucchini), potatoes, and spices is perfect for you. Drizzle it over grain bowls and vegetables, use it for dipping nachos, and add it to burritos for that delicious cheesy flavor. Ooey, gooey and oh-so-cheesy, without any dairy, nuts, gluten or fat. Sign us up!

Fat-Free ‘Cheese’ Sauce [Vegan]

$2.99
Save Trees. Print Less. But if you must, we charge $2.99 to encourage less waste

Serves

2 1/2 cups

Ingredients

  • 1 small zucchini, peeled and sliced (you will need about 1 cup sliced zucchini)
  • 5 small Yukon gold potatoes (this type of potato is necessary)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular if you don't like smoked
  • 2 teaspoons liquid aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
 

Preparation

  1. First prepare the zucchini by preheating an oven to 415°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Peel all the green skin off the zucchini and slice into 1/4 inch slices and salt and pepper well. Bake for about 15 minutes until tender.
  2. Meanwhile, cook your potatoes in your preferred method. If you are concerned about getting the sauce smooth, peel them before cooking.
  3. After the potatoes are cooked, mash them with a fork and measure out 1 cup. If you followed the correct weight measurement, you should get just about 1 lightly filled cup of mashed potatoes. If your potatoes are large, you may need less. Add them to your high-speed blender or a food processor.
  4. Once the zucchini is done, add it along with all of the remaining ingredients to your blender and blend until smooth. You will need to stop and scrape a couple of times during. Do not be too eager to add extra water until you've really blended it up a couple of minutes on high to get it completely smooth. It will seem to thick at first, but it will start to turn very smooth from all the water from the zucchini. If necessary, add just a tiny amount of water just to blend it.
  5. Taste and add any extra lemon juice and/or spices if necessary. If you are using Worcestershire sauce instead of liquid aminos, you will likely need to add more salt.
  6. To make it as a mac 'n' cheese, just simply boil your pasta and pour cheese sauce over the pasta. You can either warm the cheese by running it awhile in the blender or gently warming over the stove.

Notes

If you are allergic to soy, you can substitute the soy sauce for liquid coconut aminos. It will give a similar flavor, but you will need to add more salt to make up for the lack of saltiness depth that the soy sauce provides. This recipe is only 8 ingredients (+ salt & water), so each ingredient is crucial to the final flavor result, so subbing or eliminating an ingredient can greatly alter the result.

Nutritional Information

Total Calories: 668 | Total Carbs: 146 g | Total Fat: 0 g | Total Protein: 24 g | Total Sodium: 66 g | Total Sugar: 7 g Note: The information shown is based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.


About The Author

photourl

Brandi Doming

See My Recipes

I'm Brandi and I started my blog, The Vegan 8, in October 2013. I create all recipes to be vegan, gluten-free, oil-free and eight ingredients or less, not necessarily including salt & water. I love to share that easy, healthy and decadent recipes don't need to be more than eight ingredients! I focus on whole foods that are decadent, but so much healthier than traditional recipes.

Comments

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    1. Did you sub an ingredient?? I\’ve had dozens and dozens of people make this (all reviews on blog and IG) and all with amazing feedback, even stating the best the\’ve had so I\’m very curious as to what happened on your end, it is far from terrible. It tastes very similar to cheese!