Vegan Queso

4.10 (16)
⏱ 20 mins 🍽 Serves 4 🏷 Vegan

This recipe creates a rich and flavourful vegan queso using raw cashews as the base. The cashews are simmered with spices, then blended with tomatoes, nutritional yeast, and other seasonings to achieve a smooth, creamy texture. The finished dip is gently heated until thick and scoopable, then garnished with fresh jalapenos and cilantro. It's an ideal dairy-free alternative for snacking, ready to enjoy with tortilla chips in just 20 minutes.

Vegan Queso

Ingredients

  • One 10-ounce (280g) can diced tomatoes with green chiles
  • 140g raw cashews
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Kosher salt
  • 15g nutritional yeast
  • 1 tablespoon chopped jarred roasted red peppers, drained
  • 1/2 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons hot sauce
  • 1 small jalapeno, thinly sliced, seeds removed if desired
  • 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves
  • Tortilla chips, for serving

Method

  1. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a large measuring jug. Empty the can of diced tomatoes with green chiles into the sieve and press down with a spatula to extract all the liquid. Place the drained tomatoes into a separate small bowl and reserve.
  2. Pour the reserved tomato liquid into a 9-inch cast-iron skillet. Add the raw cashews, ground cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, and 3/4 cup water. Place the skillet over high heat and bring the contents to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring now and then, until the cashews have softened. This should take about 10 minutes.
  3. Carefully transfer the skillet's contents to a high-powered blender. To the blender, add the nutritional yeast, chopped jarred roasted red peppers, distilled white vinegar, hot sauce, 2 tablespoons of the reserved tomatoes, and 1 cup of water. Blend the mixture thoroughly until it becomes completely smooth and creamy, pausing to scrape down the blender's sides if necessary.
  4. Pour the blended mixture back into the same skillet. Warm it over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it thickens to a scoopable consistency. This process will take about 10 minutes.
  5. Top the warm queso with the remaining reserved tomatoes, the thinly sliced jalapeno, and the cilantro leaves. Serve immediately alongside tortilla chips.

Nutrition (per serving)

Nutrition data not available.

Recipe details

CategoryVegan
AuthorFood Network Kitchens