With just eight ingredients, you can have yourself a bowl of warm, dip-worthy give-me-a-kick vegan sweet potato nacho cheese. Steamed sweet potatoes, filtered water, zippy lemon juice, cheesy nutritional yeast, garlic, arrowroot powder, salt, and cayenne pepper are blended to silky smooth perfection. Then, the nut-free nacho cheese is warmed in a saucepan until thick and bubbly. The final touch? A can of green chilis to add spicy warmth and a pop of tangy flavor.
It's not yo' cheese.
Just kidding. It's absolutely yo' cheese.
Dip-able.
Creamy.
Spicy.
Snackable.
Thick.
Dreamy.
Nacho cheesy.
I've mentioned this before but when I first went vegan, I mourned the loss of dairy cheese for quite some time. Those close to me know that cheese was one of my absolute favorite treats, and I ate it almost daily. Little did I know that vegan cheeses, homemade or store-bought, are so good that they wholly and completely fill the void.
Vegan cheeses not only taste amazing, they're also incredibly creative and awe-inspiring. Cheese made from eggplant? Cheese made from cashews? Cheese made from almonds? Cheese made from squash? Cheese made from carrots?
What?! Mind blown.
The first vegan nacho cheese recipe I tried was made from cashews and seriously impressive. The kicker? I fell in love with it about six months before I even went vegan. It was so awesomely delicious, that an entire nacho recipe was built around it. I wish I could take credit for that nacho cheese recipe, but it's the brilliant work of Kid Tested Firefighter Approved. I love that recipe like crazy, but I wanted to come up with a nut- and cornstarch-free alternative.
Given that sweet potatoes already have that lovely nacho-cheese hue, I figured it was worth playing around with a recipe that relied on them as the base. It took me a few tries to perfect this recipe, but the finished product is downright addictive and football-season approved.
With just eight ingredients (salt included), you can have yourself a bowl of warm, dip-worthy nacho cheese. To make it, you'll add steamed sweet potatoes, water, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic, arrowroot powder, salt, and cayenne pepper to a blender, and blend the mixture until it's perfectly smooth. Then, you'll transfer the cheesy goodness to a saucepan and whisk it for just five minutes until it's thickened. The final touch is stirring in a can of green hatch chilis to add spicy warmth and a pop of tangy flavor.
You can keep things simple and serve it alongside tortilla chips or other nacho-cheese-devouring vehicles or you can create a monster nacho pile with all the fixings.
📖 Recipe
Give-Me-A-Kick Vegan Sweet Potato Nacho Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 ½ tablespoons arrowroot powder
- ¾ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt or to taste
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 (4-ounce) can hatch green chiles
Instructions
- Steam the sweet potatoes for 25-30 minutes or until very tender. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Add the steamed sweet potatoes, water, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic, arrowroot powder, sea salt, and cayenne pepper to a high-powered blender. Blend on high for 2 minutes or until the mixture is completely smooth.
- Pour the mixture into a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
- Whisk continuously for five minutes or until the mixture has thickened.
- Turn off heat and stir in the green hatch chilis.
- Pour into a bowl and serve alongside tortilla chips.
- Refrigerate leftovers.
Notes