Nutritional Yeast Cheese Dip/Sauce

[Pangelat]

Cheeseless Christ!
This is one great recipe. I tend to add a bit of turmeric and usually put in salsa at the end too. It's great in a lot of recipes or as a stand-alone dip, with tortilla chips.
I didn't think I'd have the pleasure of enjoying something so close to the flavour of cheese again. Thanks!

[indygirl77xoxo]

Wow! Fantastic and easy!!! This comes out to be a wonderful thick creamy texture. It will be easy to incorporate into any dish requiring a creamy or soft cheese!

[Vegan_ Means_ Life]

This is an excellent recipe. I have been making this sauce for quite some time now and everyone I make it for loves it. I add a little turmeric as well.

[uhblondie]

Mmmmm...so incredibly tasty. I made this one to compare to another I'd made recently, and this one wins: it keeps the flavor but has half the margarine. I used Earth Balance, subbed soymilk for the water, used 4x the amount of garlic, and since I was making "nacho cheese" I added oregano, onion powder, chile powder, Mrs. Dash, red pepper, and a drained can of Rotel tomatoes (the kind with green chiles). Just a note: if anyone else adds spice like I did, keep in mind that the flavor gets more intense overnight, so make it a little less spicy and less salty. In fact, I'd recommend using only 1/2-3/4 tsp. salt. Anyway, very tasty, thanks!!!

[WeeLittleBuddy]

ahh....i tried this recipe and it didn't turn out too good....I followed it, but i used water instead of soymilk like some of the others did. Maybe thats what makes the difference.  When i tried it, it tasted nothing like i thought it would (compared to the reviews) maybe I should try it again??
Any more tips to add flavor to this and make it more "cheese like"?

[janeyboo]

Weelittlebuddy, I used water too (mainly bc I forgot the soymilk suggestions ) and I agreed with you - it was creamy but tasted kind of chalky. I tore through my spice rack until I came up with the perfect thing - CUMIN. DEFINITELY add cumin, esp the people who have already tried this recipe - it makes it sooo good. It adds that cheesyness that I was missing. Or at least, give it a try once. Just a few dashes. I've been tearing at that pot of "cheese" with a bowl of nachos lol. Yum.

thanks for the recipe!!

[Maryno]

I'm not crazy about yeast sauces, but this one is seriously my favorite. I used it in a Philly cheeze steak sandwich, poured over "roast wheat" and onions in a sandwich roll. It was better than the real thing, because i never loved Philly cheese steak as a omni. I highly recommend using Red Star variety of nutritional yeast.

[janeyboo]

Hi again I whipped this up (with cumin! dont forget!) for some english muffin pizzas. I put it on underneath the sauce and the consistency was PERFECT, oh man. Of course it was a little too chedder and not enough mozzerella. Any suggestions for seasoning to get a little closer??? I dont like using processed soy cheeses and if I can get a tiny bit closer to tasting like mozzerella I'd be happy Thank you!!

Also mixed in the extra sauce with a jar of salsa and it was deeelicious. I'll definitely whip some of this up when I am craving nacho cheesy salsa dip again

[VeganUnderground]

Great recipe, hands down. Way better than "Chreese" brand stuff, which the best I could find in stores. I just whipped up my first batch, and even for my first attempt it was easy and came out well.

I started right off with an accidental over-pouring of yeast, so I decided to double the whole recipe and it still turned out well. A little thick, but I didn't want to thin the flavor so I left it as it was, and it was fine. I spooned it onto chips with some "Go Lean" beef-style fake meat stuff, some hot sauce and green onions, and it made for the best "nachos" I've had in years.

The rest is in a tupperware in the fridge. Tomorrow we'll see how it stands up to being stored and reheated. I'll let you know.

[threehz]

wow, i posted that recipe on the old site years ago, looks like it made it's way over...

very glad to see everyone enjoying it so much.  i whipped it up as an alternative to overpriced (and not as good) macaroni and "chreese". 

a quick note:  now, i never use willow run.  earth balance or soy garden work best and are much healthier.  i also think it tends to be better with less salt, as little as half.  the soy milk suggestion is good as well (as long as its plain, of course).

good luck...

[laurosaur]

So I was making this recipe and I saw that people used soy milk, so I thought I would do the same. People said use plain soymilk, my soymilk carton said "plain soymilk," so I poured away. When the sauce was heating, though, I noticed that it had a kind of sickly sweet smell to it, which I ignored, and when it was hot and ready i gave it a little try, and it tasted like delicious cheesy sauce... with a horrible awful really not pleasant sweet aftertaste.

When I was questioning the taste of all you lovely people who praised this sauce so highly, I realized that my soymilk was plain as opposed to vanilla, but not plain as in made of just soybeans, water, and like salt or something. I flipped the carton over and saw all sorts of things, including sugar. I smacked myself in the head.

Anyway, I put the sauce over some pasta with brocolli, mushrooms, and onions, and it still tasted gross, but I don't throw food out when it is still mainly edible, so I put it in the fridge and decided to eat it the next day.  I brought it to work for lunch, to my most delighted surprise, the weird sweet taste was gone! My boyfriend said it was something about refridgeration breaking down sugars, but I scrunched my nose at him and listed off like thirty things that people typically keep in the refridgerator that stay sweet. *My* hunch is that hanging out with the onions all night probably merried away the sweetness. So anyway, use plain plain PLAIN soymilk for this sauce, but if you don't, get it to make friends with some tough, manly flavors (and maybe refridgerate it overnight for good measure) and you'll be in like flynn.

[uhblondie]

First of all, I think your post is very cute, Laurosaur. Second, I always use unsweetened (Silk) soymilk, and I highly recommend it. It took some getting used to, but now I think the Plain is too sweet for most things, cooking in particular. I think that would solve your problem! :-)

[wideeyedlookout]

This was great! It didn't quite taste like cheese, of course, but it had the saltiness and creaminess of cheese, which is what I'm really after when I'm craving it, anyway. Authenticity aside, though, it was very good!
I used soy milk instead of water, and added about 1/2 cup extra to thin it out some. I also added extra garlic, ~1/8 tsp cumin, and ~1/8 tsp turmeric just for a stronger flavor, but it tasted very good without the changes as well.
Thanks!

[lavandula]

I love this cheese sauce - I tried it with a philly cheese steak sandwich and in some enchiladas, it was great with both!  I also added a little cumin, tumeric, red pepper flakes, and chili powder.  Replacing the water with soymilk worked really well.  Yum Yum!