This dish gets its creaminess from cashews and is loaded with flavor from garlic, jalapenos, paprika, and more! Just put all the ingredients in a high-powered blender and you’ve got yourself a vegan cheese sauce!
It gets its yellow color from turmeric — food coloring that boosts the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant content of the food? We’ll take it!
We used bean noodles instead of regular grain-based noodles. 😉
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups raw cashews*
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened almond milk (or neutral dairy free milk of choice)
- 1 jalapeño, chopped (you can deseed if you are sensitive to spice)
- 3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 3/4 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound shell pasta (we used bean noodles!)Â
- To garnish: Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- *To make the cashew cheese sauce: soak the cashews in 4 cups of water for at least 2 hours. You can easily speed up the process by adding the raw cashews to a pot with water and placing over high heat. Bring water to a boil, then immediately turn off the heat; let the cashews sit for 30-45 minutes in the warm water, then drain.
- Once the cashews have finished soaking you’ll be ready to make the sauce: add drained cashews, garlic, nutritional yeast, almond milk, jalapeno, turmeric, paprika, onion powder, dijon mustard, salt and black pepper to a high powered blender. Blend until a thick sauce comes together. If you want a thinner sauce, add a bit more almond milk. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.
- Cook the noodles according to the directions on the package, until they are al dente. Drain noodles, then add back to pot and stir in your cashew cheese sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. You may need more salt! Garnish with freshly ground black pepper. Enjoy!
Recipe from Ambitious Kitchen.
