Cashew Cream Recipe | For Pizza, Mac & Cheese, Nachos, and More!

I’ve been making a variation of this cashew cream recipe for probably 8-9 years now and every time I make it I still think, “Dang, this stuff is GOOD.” It’s endlessly versatile -- you can use it on pizza, nachos, mac and cheese, as a chip dip, drizzled on a grain bowl, however your little cashew loving heart desires, really! It’s straight up just the bomb diggity. I realize no one says that anymore but it’s what my heart and soul and tummy all wanted to say.

Recipe here, and more information after the jump. I’ve been on the internet long enough to know that the most common gripe with food blogs and online recipes is that the blogger rambles on for too long before sharing the recipe. But if you happen to enjoy rambles, there will be some below!

📖 Recipe

Cashew Cream Recipe

Endlessly customizable and perfect for homemade pizzas, macaroni and cheese, nachos, drizzled on grain bowls, and more. This cashew cream recipe will quickly become a mealtime staple!

5 from 1 vote

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Course Side Dish

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup raw cashews soaked for at least 2 hours or even overnight
• ¾-1 cup water start with ¾
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon mellow white miso
• ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic
• Optional: Couple dashes turmeric if you want a bit of a yellow color for that down and dirty fake nacho cheese vibe.

Instructions

 

• Strain cashews and add all all ingredients to a high powered blender -- starting with the lower end of the water recommendation and adjusting until you achieve desired consistency.
• Blend until creamy, with zero remaining cashew pieces. Depending on the strength of your blender this could take 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Now I know I’ve promised a full step-by-step post about my homemade pizza recipe, and that’s coming soon but I wanted to have this cashew cream as a standalone post first. Honestly, it’s deserving of that sort of placement! It’s a staple in my meal planning and I think it’ll become one for you, too. If you've seen my Spicy Cashew Dressing you might notice some similarities between the two, and you're not wrong. This cashew cream recipe is a great base to start with and play around with flavor combinations. One of my favorite tweaks? Using this recipe and adding about ¼ cup of chiles in adobo sauce (seeds removed unless you like it extra spicy). I'll use that as a cheese base of a burrito or as a topping for taco night.

I initially found a cashew cheese recipe years and years ago from the vegan queen herself, Isa Chandra Moskowitz in one of her cookbooks, both of which are splattered with food and falling apart at the binding because of how much I use them. Linking them both here (affiliate links):

• Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week
• The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook: Entertaining for Absolutely Every Occasion

The cheese was wonderful but over the years I've adjusted it -- more nutritional yeast, some garlic, but the gist is very similar. She calls hers Swirly Pizza Cheese, and that's how I started out using it before branching out and putting it on so. many. things. I like to adjust the water in the recipe depending on what I'm making. As pizza cheese or for a grain bowl? A bit more water so it's easy to drizzle on. As a dip for chips? Much less water for ultimate scoopability. Play around with it and get a feel for the consistency your blender delivers. I make this in my ride or die Vitamix (affiliate link) that I've had since 2012 and it makes short work of cashews even when I forget to soak them. Which is most of the time!

Once you get the hang of this cashew cream recipe you won't even measure anymore. It's that easy! Mix it in with some cooked pasta for an easy and dairy-free macaroni and cheese. I truly cannot say enough good things about this recipe...you're just gonna have to give it a whirl and let me know what you think.