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This is way more delicious than it has any right to be! I could seriously eat it solo, with a spoon, but like a normal person, chose to top Buddha bowls with it.
RWE8002
Oh glory be. 👼
That right there is a big bowl of wonderful that is going to change your vegan life.
Wait, not vegan? Me neither. CARRY ON EVERYONE.
This is a luscious vegan cashew sauce that can sub for just about anything thick and creamy and dairy-based that you might need in a recipe… and it can be made in five minutes. Soooo, like, why are we still here right now?
Flip back through a few posts and you will see the blazing truth: I like dairy-based cream sauces a lot. Probably too much. Probably to the point of weird much.
So when the internet started teaching me that this was a thing – cashews? in a sauce? – even as a dairy lover, I became totally enchanted by the idea of something so creamy and wonderful being nothing more than simple CASHEWS. Blended up. Eaten on everything.
Remember creamy spinach sweet potato noodles with cashew sauce? That was my first encounter with this magic, and fortunately the way I wrote that recipe left me with a little bit of extra cashew sauce for the fridge, so I’ve had plenty of opportunity to make use of this deliciousness over the last week. Super hard work, but someone’s gotta do it.
I like to think of this as a blank canvas food. You soak cashews and blend them up with a little water, garlic, and salt, and that’s your BLANK CANVAS time.
It’s kind of a basic, simple, non-committal-flavor base sauce that could stay as-is and still be wonderful (dat garlic!) or could be used as a starting point for many a tasty combos involving a range of spices or flavors.
But as it stands, it’s a wide-open blank canvas waiting for you to make it into anything you want above and beyond the existing cashew + garlic + salt trifecta.
And with the push of a button on your food processor, just like that, you have a sauce that can serve many purposes ranging from a simple creamy pasta sauce, to vegan nacho-cheese-esque sauce, to an alternative sour cream drizzle, to a spicy dip for chips ♥️, to a direct spoon to mouth situation.
Speaking of food processor, do you have one? YOU NEED ONE. I love mine so much that I wrote a full post showing off 12 magical ways that I use my food processor. Must must must. Go now.
Things you could add to the sauce / excuses for eating this sauce 24/7/365:
- Sriracha
- Nutritional Yeast
- Chipotle Peppers
- Pesto or Fresh Herbs
- Squash/Carrots/Spinach
- Sugar! (remove the savory elements of garlic and salt // replace with sweet stuff like peanut butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla… BRB gotta go try that)
- NOTHING – because it tastes really yummy as-is 👌
That’s 5 minute cashew sauce, my friends!
If you are a clever vegan or just a general cashew sauce lover and you already do something amazing with cashew sauce that I have not thought of, I am expecting a full report in the comments. Srsly now.
Five Minute Cashew Sauce
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: makes about 2 cups 1x
Description
Cashew Sauce! Just four easy ingredients: cashews, garlic, salt, and water! Perfect base sauce recipe for pasta, dips, or cheesy sauce alternatives. Vegan.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cashews
- 1 1/4 cup water or broth
- 1–2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place cashews in a bowl. Cover with water and soak for about 2 hours. Drain and rinse thoroughly.
- Place soaked cashews in the bowl of a food processor or blender with the water, garlic, and salt. Puree until very, very smooth. Thin out with more water to desired consistency. Store in fridge for 3-4 days or freeze.
Notes
Add extra ingredients to change the flavor! chipotle peppers, pesto, chili paste, etc.
DO NOT SOAK CASHEWS OVERNIGHT. The texture gets watery and chunky. It should stay smooth and creamy as pictured. 🙂
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Category: Sauce
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: cashew sauce, vegan sauce, cashew recipe
I used my food processor for this recipe – and I love it so much that I wrote this post showing off 12 Magical Ways To Use A Food Processor! ✨ I loooove that thing.
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our Sauces That Make Everything Better roundup. Check it out!
Amazing recipe for cashew sauce!! It’s amazing on baked potatoes instead/with sour cream and other toppings!
I love your cashew sauce and so easy.I even use it to replace béchamel sauce on pizza; also appreciate not needing to add flour, thanks for the recipe
I used it in macaroni cheese tonight instead of the white sauce I usually use. It was delicious. Thank you.
Great simple sauce, I added some soy sauce a little marmite and some fresh lime. Went really well with my spicy tofu kebabs 😀.
Came out awesome ! Used on top of an enchilada casserole .
New to this stuff – are the cashews raw or roasted? And if raw, where to buy??
We used raw, but roasted work too. You should be able to find raw cashews in most grocery stores. Enjoy!
Lindsay thank you! Since having my gallbladder removed this along with nutritional yeast helps me get the nutrition I need. It tastes sooo good, I use with pasta, nana bread, & add herbs for dressing on my salads. Thanks again!!
I am surprised by how amazing this tastes!! I’ve recently gone dairy-free and this is a game changer! 😀
This recipe was a lifesaver – so easy and delicious! I used it for creamed pearl onions. I omitted the salt and added about a teaspoon of Better than Bouillon (vegan chicken flavor), and I bet it would be amazing with the mushroom flavor too. I think I also added a little nooch but it’s kind of a blur – the insanity of cooking an entire Thanksgiving meal by yourself, so I’m not sure about the nooch lol. The omnivores loved it – it’s honestly even better than the dairy version (from what I can remember). I froze half of it and I added a little more water when reheating as it thickened up considerably in the fridge. Oh I also used a blender (I have a Vitamix) and it did a great job – the sauce was silky smooth with no lumps or bits of cashews.
This recipe will be my go to for this staple white sauce! : )
Your cashew sauce recipe, is BEYOND YUMMY!!!!!!! I pour it over noodles, mixed with roasted veggies. Once in a bowl, I put lots of crispy pan fried tofu, over the top. SO GOOD!!!!! I make this meal, once per week. THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Hey there!! I’ve been making this sauce for a few years now and my favorite way to make it is with cashews, salt, lime and seeded jalapeños! I call it Jala cash 😆 it’s one seeded jalapeño per one cup of cashews. Lime and salt to taste. I’m going to give basil a try today!
I really enjoy looking at ur recipes & looking forward to making them & using them in my own food!
The recipe really should specify what kind of cashews are to be used here – roasted, salted or unsalted, or maybe raw?
We usually use roasted and unsalted!
Wow! I made this to go inside my vegetable calzones. Delicious!
I didn’t see the note at the bottom about not soaking the cashews overnight. I soaked them overnight in the fridge and also roasted the garlic before adding it to the blender and you know what, it came out AMAZING!!! Great recipe and a base for so many other yummy cashew cheese sauces! Definitely making this again and again.
I soaked the cashews overnight too – the sauce turned out perfect! 👍
Well, I replaced the garlic with ginger for someone with IBS and also added lime, cayenne, paprika, nutritional yeast, and a small dose of Brandy & Benedictine. This should be interesting. Definitely took more than 5 minutes to make, though.
Hi, do you think this cashew sauce can last more than 2 weeks?
It should last up to a week.
This was so simple and delicious! I increased the garlic and added basil at the end (per another review)—mixed it with some pasta, peas and leftover Easter ham. It definitely can stand in for alfredo sauce easily. So good! Thanks for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed it, Amy!
My fam loved it. It was a bit too garlicky for me. I did have to add more water to get it smooth. Interested in trying the other variations.
I used 1 cup of light coconut milk instead of water and it was a-ma-zing!!!
If you accidentally put twice as much liquid in, is there a way to thicken it up?
(I love this sauce, usually don’t mess it up)
We suggest adding in more cashews!
I actually made this, plain, as the recipe calls, and used it as the cream for a mushroom, steak, stroganoff kind of sauce. Served it tossed together with pasta and it was a winner! Bonus is I have leftover cashew cream with a hint of garlic for future meals. Thanks!
I’ve read most comments looking for this point but didn’t see it. In the recipe you say, “Drain and rinse thoroughly.” Then you say, “Place soaked cashews in the bowl of a food processor or blender with the WATER, garlic, and salt.” . . . . I drained away the soak water and got rid of it. What water are you talking about that goes into the food processor?
Hi Jackie! Great question. You should discard the water you soaked the cashews in and use a fresh 1 1/4 cup water or broth when blending in the food processor.
Can you use raw cashews?
Yes! Raw cashews will work.
I made this tonight. I used a little Miso broth with the water. The broth is has way too much sodium to use on it’s own. I’m wondering how it would taste if I added coconut milk in lieu of the water. I’ll make it again with lots of spices.
We haven’t tried with coconut milk! We’d love to hear back if you give it a try!