Best Vegan Queso (Quick + Easy Recipe) - The Simple Veganista (2024)

FAQs

What is vegan queso made of? ›

Rich, tangy, gooey, and spicy vegan nacho cheese made with toasted cashews and puréed potatoes provides the creamy base. Crispy, pan-fried vegan chorizo gives the dip some meaty texture. You can use either a can of Ro*Tel tomatoes or diced tomatoes and a can of chopped chiles.

Place cheese, milk, and butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir until cheese is melted. Add green chilies, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper; stir until smooth. Thin with more milk if sauce is too thick.

Evaporated milk helps to keep this dip extra creamy as it's thicker than other dairy products thanks to its lower water content. Another incentive to use evaporated milk is that it helps prevent the dip from congealing– especially when combined with cornstarch.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm. If the queso is too thin, return to medium-low heat and simmer until thicker. If too thick, thin out out a few splashes of almond milk.

A: Velveeta is a processed cheese which is not vegan. It's made with milk and whey, both come from cows. A great alternative is this vegan nacho cheese.

As vegan blog Wag Free Food notes, coconut oil, coconut milk, and coconut cream are popular ingredients to make vegan cheese. The high-fat content of coconut makes it easier to create a creamy, decadent, cheese-like product.

I've also successfully made this queso with a thick, unsweetened, plain alternative milk (specifically, Forager brand's cashew milk). Cream cheese: Cream cheese makes this dip thick and ultra creamy. It also offers a bit of tang.

Cornstarch. My queso is slightly thickened with a bit of cornstarch before we add the cheese. This helps encourage a smooth melt and silky consistency.

Usually, when cheese melts, the fat and proteins begin to separate, but sodium citrate “binds them together so that when they melt, they do it evenly and hom*ogeneously,” Vaculin explains. Keeping the mixture hom*ogenized ensures that this queso fundido can stand the test of time.

If you're wondering what is queso made of, you needn't look much further than the name. It's mostly cheese. Beyond that, there is usually tomato, onion, and jalapeños or chiles for some added heat. Add in evaporated milk and cornstarch for thickening, and viola!

Why do you put cornstarch in queso? ›

For a cheese dip or sauce, the addition of cornstarch serves a similar function: Starch molecules absorb water and expand, not only thickening the liquid phase of the sauce, but also physically preventing the proteins from binding into long, tangled strands and the fats from separating out and pooling.

Those starch molecules thicken the sauce, while the concentrated milk proteins from the evaporated milk add that signature dairy flavor, without all the water you'd get from cream or regular milk. Translation? Smooth, shiny, perfectly emulsified cheese that doesn't clump, taste floury, or break into greasy pools.

In order for the cheese to stay beautifully stringy and melty, the protein needs to stay evenly dispersed with the rest of the moisture and fat (an emulsion). Thing is, once cheese is heated too far beyond its melting point, the proteins firm up and squeeze out moisture—the same way protein does in meat.

Can You Fix Grainy Queso? In the hopes of achieving a smooth, creamy texture, remove the cheese sauce from the heat and let it cool. Vigorously whisk in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or a little cream to detangle protein molecules and eliminate the clumps.

Making a slurry with cornstarch and cold milk is how you will thicken your queso. A traditional slurry is a 1:1 liquid to cornstarch ratio, but for our queso purposes I used 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of milk.

What Ingredients Are in Vegan Cheese? Vegan cheeses are 100% animal-free and made using vegetable proteins. Usually, they're made from soy; nuts, such as cashews and macadamias; and vegetable oils, such as coconut oil. You can also find cheeses that derive from agar, tapioca, peas and arrowroot.

But many vegan cheeses are made with coconut oil and other saturated fats that do affect cholesterol — and switching up one saturated fat for another isn't likely to result in a healthier lifestyle.

Easy Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce is made with soaked, raw cashews, blended with water, nutritional yeast and spices; and warmed on the stove until it reaches nacho cheese perfection! Optional but good: Add Sriracha to taste or keep it mild for kids with sensitive palates.

Classic Queso Dip: This is the basic and most common type of queso dip, made from melted cheese (such as cheddar or Monterey Jack) mixed with milk, cream, or other dairy ingredients. It's often seasoned with spices and sometimes diced tomatoes or green chilies for added flavor.