Simple Creamy Vegan White Sauce
This super simple vegan white sauce recipe will make any dish creamy, smooth and decadently rich. Perfect to top your bakes, incorporate into your pasta dishes, and enhance veggie recipes.
When I first became vegan, one thing that I was worried about was that I wouldn’t be able to have a white sauce in anything ever again. I know this sounds dramatic, but it kind of was for me.
The smooth, rich texture of cheese melting in my mouth with whatever I was eating it with was a feeling I thought wouldn’t be part of my future.
It took me a good part of a year when I became vegan back in 2014, to realise that I could make a vegan version of a creamy white sauce and make it taste great!
I knew that nutritional yeast was a vegan type of “cheese” to sprinkle on so many different things instead of dairy cheeses. But it was not cutting it for me.
How I use this vegan white sauce recipe
Today I’ll share the base of some of my favourite recipes on this website. Her’s a few different ways that I use it!
- As an addition to the leek and mushrooms in my Creamy Vegan Leek and Mushroom Pasta
- As the sauce in my super delicious Vegan Cauliflower Bake
- As the topping for this creamy Easy Vegan Baked Ziti
If you want a dynamic sauce to use when you want to make something quick and easy, tasty and creamy, this sauce is wonderful. You can then add different herbs and spices to change things up depending on what you’re making.
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Cashews as a base
One thing that surprised me, pleasantly I must say when I started on this plant-based journey, was that cashews are a great neutral base for so many things.
I would have never had thought that you could use cashews to make a creamy sauce. It’s also a very popular ingredient in raw desserts, in particular, raw cheesecake. It’s a versatile nut that is a staple in my home.
Alternatives to cashews
If you’re allergic to nuts, you could replace the cashews with sunflower seeds, silken tofu or white beans. Although I haven’t tried this recipe with those alternatives, I’m sure it will work fine.
What you’ll love about this vegan white sauce
There’s so much to appreciate about this sauce. Here’s a quick summary:
- Gluten-free
- Oil and vegan butter-free
- Just 5 ingredients
- Accessible ingredients in bulk thus reducing your waste
- Easy to make – throw the ingredients in a high-speed blender. Done!
Once you’ve finished the sauce, you can add it to whatever dish you’re making. By cooking or baking it, it will thicken up and become nice and oozy and creamy. Don’t worry about how thin it is when you make it, trust me, it will thicken in no time!
If you want it a little thicker (don’t plan on cooking it for long), reduce the amount of water you use.
Other recipes you’ll love:
- Creamy Vegan Cauliflower Bake (7 Ingredients)
- Leek and Mushroom Vegan White Sauce Fettuccine
- Vegan Smokey Baked Mac & Cheese
- How to Make Vegan Béchamel Sauce
- Savoury Cashew Cream
- Marinated Vegan Bocconcini (Mozzarella Cheese)
If you try this recipe, let me know! We’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest.
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Creamy Vegan White Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
Description
Enjoy this creamy vegan white sauce recipe to apply to your casseroles, bakes, pasta dishes and whatever else you can think of!
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 140g raw cashews (can be soaked prior but not essential)*
- ⅓ cup / 18g nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cracked pepper
Instructions
- Place all ingredients plus 1½ cups / 375ml of water in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
- Add to your dish for further cooking.
Notes
*If you don’t have a high-speed blender, soak the cashews in cold for at least 4 hours or boiled water for 20-30 minutes before adding to the blender. Make sure you drain that water first.
If you’d like something a little thicker that can act in place of sour cream or yoghurt, you can try our savoury cashew cream.
- Diet: Vegan
My go-to white sauce recipe for creamy mushroom pasta, canneloni, veg bake, mac n cheese, cauliflower cheese etc. Definately soak the cashews beforehand, even for an hour in hot water. Makes the sauce creamier.
Greetings from Tasmania!
Thanks for sharing, Mia! Glad you like the sauce. It’s such a great staple 🙂 Would you mind leaving a rating with your review in the future? It helps more people see the recipe. Thanks so much! x
This sauce is so good & so versatile!! We’ve been blending with tapioca starch, as per your baked ziti recipe, & using as a pizza topper instead of vegan mozzarella. This is so much healthier and cheaper, and love the rich garlic flavour.
What is nutritional yeast and where can I find it? Will this sauce be very different without it? Thank you!
Nutritional yeast is deactivated yeast that’s sold as flakes or powder. It’s used in many vegan recipes for a ‘cheesy’ flavour. It depends where you live but I can find it pretty much everywhere – local health food stores, supermarkets, bulk shops. The nutritional yeast is a key component of this white sauce recipe so unfortunately, you can’t leave it out.
Actually you can leave it out (yeast of any kind is not Kosher for Passover week). A teaspoon or so of Dijon mustard, or 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon of mustard powder and a couple of tablespoons of white wine, and a tablespoon or two of lemon juice make a very acceptable substitute.
This is a really good ‘béchamel’ for no-oil vegan lasagne! perfect consistency and complimentary taste.
Hi, do you think this would work well as a lasagna topping? Thank you.
Yes! I’ve had it many times 🙂 Alternatively, you can try my bechamel sauce on this lasagna recipe – https://heartfultable.com/vegan-lentil-lasagna/
Omggg I used this as a fettuccine sauce omg omg except I also add some non dairy milk like oat milk and wow it’s soooooo similar to the original fettuccine recipe. Def try it
So glad you loved it, Mery! Love your enthusiasm 😊
Can this sauce be frozen?
I haven’t tried it, but it should be fine!
I absolutely loved this sauce! I can’t believe how easy it was to make. I added some onions, spinach, basil, and minced garlic and served it over pasta with vegan crab cakes. It was amazing!
Sounds like you added some great additions! The beauty of having a simple sauce that you can make your own 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it!
It’s delicious!!! I followed your instructions to the letter and it turned out GREAT. My search is over. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Oh so happy to hear that Lucía! 🙂
Great recipe for white sauce. But would you consider giving metric or imperial equivalents for your cups? Many thanks for the recipe any way.
Hi Michael, we’re so glad you enjoyed the white sauce! Also, thanks for your feedback—we have some plans to make our recipes more accessible and universal, so we’ll keep that in mind!
Loved it. Absolutely loved it in my pasta.
I added some chilli and oregano to it.
Yum! They sound like delicious additions 🙂 Next time if you could please leave a rated review, that would be really helpful for us and other readers. Thanks!
I love your vegan recipes! I became vegan a few months ago and I’m enjoying it.
Can you please give me a recipe for vanilla frosting? Thank you.
Judy
Thanks, Judy! Congrats on making the switch, trust me when I say that it gets easier and easier 🙂 I don’t really use frosting on my cakes but if I did it would be something with vegan butter, icing or powdered sugar or xylitol, a splash of plant-based milk and vanilla extract. Or if you want something healthier, you can switch out the butter and sugar for raw (pre-soaked) cashews blended with maple syrup and the latter two ingredients. Hope that helps!