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I have the perfect game day appetizer for you today. Your friends and family will be excited to eat their fill of this homemade vegan queso. You will be thrilled because they are actually digging into a big bowl of creamy veggies!
Cauliflower is the surprise main ingredient along with carrots, cashews, and nutritional yeast. The cashews are what make this queso as creamy as the non-vegan version.
If you’re looking for a fancier vegan queso be sure to take a look at my Vegan Torchy’s Queso Copycat Made with Potato and Homemade Rojo Sauce!
The main ingredients of this queso are cauliflower, carrots, cashews, RO*TEL Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies, and nutritional yeast. Pretty healthy, right?
I did my cooking in my Instant Pot, but you could also cook the cauliflower, water, carrots and cashews together on the stove. Just cook until the veggies are tender, then pour into a strainer over the sink to drain the extra water. Mostly you are softening the cashews and veggies so they will blend smooth and creamy.
Put the drained mixture along with the liquid drained from the canned tomatoes, nutritional yeast, and spices into your blender.
It will blend into a smooth and creamy dip that no one will guess is mostly veggies. From here, stir in the drained RO*TEL Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies plus fresh chopped bell peppers and onions if you want to use them. My favorite mix-in is minced cilantro.
To make clean-up easier and chopping speedier, use your small food processor to do all the work on the fresh peppers and onions. Just pulse until everything is minced up the way you like it. Be sure to pay attention though or you’ll end up with veggie puree!
Vegan Queso with a Surprise Healthy Ingredient
Ingredients
For cooking:
- 4 cups cauliflower florets 1 small head of cauliflower
- 2 cups water
- 1 1/2 cups thick cut carrot coins 3 small carrots
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
For Blending:
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- liquid drained from 2 cans 10 ounce/283 g RO*TEL diced tomatoes and green chilies
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon jalapeno powder optional
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
Mix-ins:
- veggies from 2 cans 10 ounce/283 g RO*TEL diced tomatoes and green chilies
- 1 cup chopped bell peppers optional
- 1/4 cup minced red onions optional
- 1/2 cup minced cilantro
Instructions
- Add the cauliflower, water, carrots and cashews to your Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes, then carefully do a quick pressure release by moving the valve to release the pressure. Or add to a large saucepan and cook on the stove over medium heat until you can pierce the carrots easily with a fork.
- Pour the cooked mixture into a strainer over the sink and drain the extra water.
- Put the drained mixture along with the nutritional yeast, liquid drained from the canned tomatoes, smoked paprika, salt, chili powder, jalapeno powder, and mustard powder into your blender.
- Scrape out the blender contents into mixing bowl and stir in the tomatoes and green chilis and any other veggies you're adding in.
- You can serve it room temperature or keep it warm in a slow cooker
Nutrition
heather @french press says
January 12, 2016 at 10:54 amthis looks SO creamy and delicious, I never would have known it was vegan
Nichole says
January 12, 2016 at 11:20 amThis looks so rich! We try and eat clean/paleo, etc most days and I have always wanted to make a similar dip – i love that you used a staple like Rotel for a little kick. I seriously can’t wait to make this!
Lynn says
January 12, 2016 at 12:20 pmthis looks fantastic!
Terri Cole says
January 12, 2016 at 12:54 pmThis makes A LOT! Will it freeze, or should I make a half recipe?
Kathy Hester says
January 13, 2016 at 8:54 amI’m eating it faster than I thought I would. I think it would freeze ok, but I suspect the cauliflower flavor will be stronger if you do. In other words, make a 1/2 batch. ????
Kristina says
January 12, 2016 at 5:58 pmthis looks fantastic, Kathy – the consistency is perfect! I can already guess how GOOD this tastes…
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
January 12, 2016 at 10:57 pmWow, the texture looks perfect! I’ve been wanting to try making a dip or sauce with nutritional yeast, I bought some several weeks ago and still haven’t gotten around to it. I’ve heard it adds an excellent flavor. I may just need to try this recipe! 🙂
Kathy Hester says
January 13, 2016 at 8:53 amYou are going to fall in love with nutritional yeast!
Megan Manson says
January 12, 2016 at 11:40 pmCauliflower was $6.99 a head for conventional here in Nebraska. Any reason I should not use frozen florets?
Kathy Hester says
January 13, 2016 at 8:52 amYou can totally use frozen cauliflower. It hasn’t gotten that high where I am yet.
Deb Adams says
January 13, 2016 at 5:49 amThis recipe looks perfect! Easy, full of vegetables, and lots of flavor! Will be making this for the weekend! Thanks for sharing!!!
Kim - Liv Life says
January 13, 2016 at 3:41 pmTotally can’t wait to try this recipe!! My son can’t have any dairy and queso is something that he misses. We’ve tried a couple of versions, but just haven’t found a good one. This look like it might be IT!
Dianne says
January 13, 2016 at 4:07 pmThis looks delicious! I love how sneaky the veggies are!
JL Fields says
January 13, 2016 at 4:22 pmWhoa. I want to put this on everything!
Levan says
January 13, 2016 at 4:31 pmI’ve never had vegan queso before! Guess what I’m gonna be making this weekend? 😀
Kimberly Ann @ Bake Love Give says
January 13, 2016 at 6:48 pmI have been known to polish off entire bowls of queso on many occasions. I’m completely fascinated that the consistency of this looks just as amazing as the original inspiration! This looks fabulous.
Natalie Tamara says
January 14, 2016 at 7:57 amThis looks so good – I always love the idea of making cheese sauce with fresh ingredients and knowing exactly what is in there!
Shelby @ Go Eat and Repeat says
January 14, 2016 at 4:14 pmJust by looking at this I would have never guessed this was Vegan! Awesome job! Looks delish!
Amber | Quite Good Food says
January 14, 2016 at 9:39 pmYum I need to try this! Looks delicious and perfectly creamy.
Julia (@Imagelicious) says
January 15, 2016 at 9:39 amI am not vegan, but I love vegan recipes and this one looks and sounds delicious. Pinning.
Kristen says
January 15, 2016 at 1:54 pmOkay so I have made cashew queso before but cauliflower??? this is awesome!!! what a way to make it lower in calories. I am in love!!!!
Janet LaFara says
January 16, 2016 at 5:31 pmI made a half batch today and it came out delicious! I used the cooking water in a pot of black bean chili and served the chili with a dollop of queso of top. My taste buds went crazy – thank you!
Clyde says
January 16, 2016 at 8:26 pmThis looks really good. I can eat this all day without feeling guilty.
Vegan Traveler - Dory says
January 23, 2016 at 11:04 amThank you for sharing such awesome recipes. Can you tell me where you get these two ingredients? Lemon Oil for the cheesecake recipe and jalapeno powder for this recipe. I love using quality ingredients when I can.
Kathy Hester says
January 23, 2016 at 11:50 amYou can get the lemon oil at Sur La Table or on Amazon here . The jalapeño powder can be found at www,myspicesage.com and an Amazon here .
I use both of those often. Once you add some jalapeño powder to guacamole you’ll be hooked!
Snickerdoodle says
February 28, 2016 at 2:36 pmDoes this keep well? I have a queso recipe that I love, but I can only make whatever I plan to use right then because it basically turns to cheesy jello if I put it in the fridge for the next day. This recipe yields 8 cups and I don’t see myself eating 8 cups of queso, no matter how good it is. I don’t mind making a smaller amount if that’s the case, but I don’t want to wind up throwing that much out! 🙂
Kathy Hester says
March 1, 2016 at 9:48 pmWe ate it on everything for about 4 days, but you can easily cut the recipe in half.
Zoe EatsLeeds says
August 19, 2016 at 5:30 amThis looks delish, I’m not even vegan but I LOVE cauliflower, so I might give this a go anyway!
John says
October 21, 2016 at 1:45 pmMade this last weekend as a compliment to vegan tacos and it was incredible! It was just for 2 of us, so I cut everything in half other than the spices. Next time I will probably also use the full 2 cans of rotel. We had more than enough to go with dinner, lunch the next day and more to spare. (Came out really great, much better than I expected honestly!) Will definitely be making this again.
Kiera Martin says
February 6, 2017 at 8:21 pmJust made this tonight! My grocery store was out of raw cashews and I couldn’t wait for them to restock to make this. Not sure if it effected the consistency. I used cashew milk to thin it out a bit and used only one can of rotel. The color wasn’t yellow like a traditional cheese based queso it was more orange in color. For not following the recipe exactly I am still pleased with how it turned out. It tastes really good (not like carrots or cauliflower). I added a bit of red pepper to give it an extra kick.
Sara says
August 30, 2017 at 9:03 amLooks great!
But my son has a nut allergy.
Can I subtitute cannelini beans or sunflower seeds or something else for the cashews?
Or just skip them?
Thanks!
Kathy Hester says
September 2, 2017 at 8:47 pmYou can just skip them. It makes it a little creamier, but it’s fine with no nuts at all!
Jean says
November 24, 2017 at 7:16 amWhat is the best way to reheat and not effect the flavor of the queso? Microwave ok? or stovetop better? It is delicious!
Gayla says
June 9, 2019 at 12:18 amI microwave it and that words great. It stores for much longer than you would think and tastes the same fresh or reheat.
Kathy Hester says
June 18, 2019 at 11:59 amThanks for letting me know!
Gayla says
June 9, 2019 at 12:16 amI have made this recipe many times. It is so quick and easy and it is always a hit. I am vegan but my cheese eating friend never suspect unless I tell them.
This stuff is as healthy as a salad.
Kathy Hester says
June 18, 2019 at 11:59 amI love it too!
Amber says
July 4, 2019 at 10:26 pmHow important is the tomato juice? Are there any substitutes that would work? I’m curious to try making this for a family gathering, but my mother is allergic to tomatoes.
Amber says
July 4, 2019 at 10:27 pmWell, “juice” isnt the right word… the tomato liquid, I mean.
Kathy Hester says
July 4, 2019 at 11:36 pmYou can leave it out, you may need to add some water or nondairy milk to get it to blend.
Kathy Hester says
July 8, 2019 at 10:05 pmYou can use any liquid, like nondairy milk or water, instead.