I could eat this Loaded Vegan Queso Dip every single night! But since balance is important, I won’t. This dip is creamy, gooey, meaty, spicy and loaded with flavor.
The Best Basic Vegan Cheese Sauce
This recipe starts with a whole food base of cashews, garlic, butternut squash, nutritional yeast and oat milk. This is a version of my favorite customizable basic vegan cheese sauce. It’s healthy and easy and turns out so creamy and delicious. I use versions of this for other dips, casseroles and mac & cheese. While delicious on its own, for this dip we’ll add some shredded cheese to really up the creamy, gooey, cheesy factor.
To make the cheese sauce boil garlic, cashews and butternut squash until the cashews are soft. This will take about 20-25 minutes. Then process in a high speed blender until smooth, adding nutritional yeast and milk. The end result will be thin but with a little help from a cornstarch slurry and the shredded cheese it will thicken up as we cook the rest of the dip.
Let’s Load Up The Vegan Queso
This dip is packed with slightly spicy seasoned ground meat. I’ve made this recipe with both Impossible and Beyond Beef. I enjoy it equally with either and usually just grab whichever is on sale. As a note however, Impossible packages are only 12 ounces while Beyond are 16. If using the Beyond the dip will be VERY meaty. If I’m using that brand I like to take a scoop or so of the cooked and seasoned meat out of the pan to set it aside for a lunch or another recipe later in the week. You can also use the full 16oz and have an even heartier dip.
Stirring green chilies and salsa into the queso adds a zippy, peppery flavor. I use a medium picante sauce and mild chilies to keep the spice level a little lower. If you want a dip that packs flavor and heat, use the hot versions.
Diced red onions, fresh jalapenos and tomatoes along with a few sprigs of cilantro top of the Loaded Vegan Queso Dip.
Serve and enjoy this Queso immediately for the best flavor!
Looking For Other Tasty Dips? Try these :
Loaded Vegan Queso
Ingredients
- 1 cup Raw Cashews
- 3-4 Garlic Cloves peeled
- 1/2 cup Butternut Squash peeled and evenly chopped *
- 1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast
- 2 cups Unsweetened Plain Oat Milk
- 12 oz Vegan Ground Beef
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/2 tsp Chili Powder
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 tbsp cornstarch mix with 2 tbsp water to make a slurry
- 8 oz Vegan Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- 4 oz Canned Green Chilies mild
- 1 cup Picante Sauce medium
Toppings
- Red Onion
- Fresh Jalapenos
- Tomatoes
- Cilantro
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add squash, cashews and garlic
- Boil until the cashews are soft, about 20-25 minutes
- Drain and set aside to cool for a minute or two
- While the cashews are boiling heat a large saute pan over medium heat
- Once the pan is hot add ground meat
- Season meat with garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper
- While meat is browning add cashews, squash and garlic to a high powered blender along with nutritional yeast and oat milk
- Blend until smooth, this will be the base of the queso
- When the meat is cooked through, pour the cheese sauce base into the pan with the meat and stir
- Mix cornstarch with water to create a slurry and stir into queso
- Working in batches stir shredded cheese into the sauce until all of the cheese is added and melted completely
- Bring queso to a simmer then turn heat down to medium low
- Stir in green chilis and picante salsa
- Taste and adjust any seasonings if necessary
- Pour queso into a serving bowl and top with finely diced red onion, jalapenos, tomatoes and cilantro
Notes
- Squash freezes well, once chopped you can put remaining squash in a jar and freeze for about 3 months
- This dip can be cooled and reheated, but tastes best served immediately
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