By KRISTY CHONG

Vegan Queso

Queso is one of those foods that I can never resist.

The golden goodness is so addictive, delicious and such a crowd pleaser!

Although I could easily eat a pile of chips and queso without even thinking about it, my stomach isn’t always the biggest fan of all that dairy to digest.

Behold … a queso that is easily digestible, healthy and full of wholesome ingredients.

Yup, you can now have all the creamy dreaminess of queso and have your body love you for it too.

How to Make Vegan Queso:

This recipe is divided into two parts: The first part requires you to saute everything in a pot and the second part requires you to blend everything in a food processor or high powered blender. Other than that, it is super simple.

First, saute your onion, diced potato, cashews and garlic in a medium-sized pot until the potatoes are tender and cooked through. The slightly toasted cashews and garlic changes the game for this queso. The potato is also added to create that “cheese pull” effect and makes an even creamier mix.

Toss everything in your pot into a food processor or high-powered blender and add in your spices, dairy-free yogurt, chicken stock, milk, tomatoes and vinegar.

Some notes about this recipe: I found that omitting the yogurt, and milk still created a great queso. So feel free to disregard these in the recipe.

Blend on high for about 2 minutes until smooth!

Serve immediately with a mountain of chips or store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can easily reheat this in the microwave to enjoy later as well.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 medium-sized potato, peeled and diced
• 1 onion diced
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• 3 tbsp pickle juice
• 1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
• ¼ cup unsweetened almond yogurt optional
• ¼ cup almond milk to thin sauce out to desired consistency
• ½ cup salsa
• ½ cup canned diced tomatoes plus more to garnish

Instructions

1. In a medium-sized pot over medium heat, saute onion, diced potato and cashews with olive oil until potatoes are tender.
2. Toss all pot ingredients into your food processor or high powdered blender. Add all ingredients, from smoked paprika to tomatoes, into your food processor and blend for 2 minutes until smooth.
3. Garnish with extra diced tomatoes, chives and paprika. Serve warm!

Notes

Ingredient List Notes:

The almond yogurt and milk are optional for this recipe. These ingredients add extra creaminess, but the sauce thickens up because of the potato starch anyway. so it isn’t necessary to add these.

The almond milk is to thin out the sauce if you find that the queso is too thick post processing.

KRISTY CHONG is a self-taught home baker and cook with a background in documentary photography. She currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland, where she works out of her home studio creating food, developing recipes and styling photo shoots. Her recipes are inspired by her travels as well as culinary traditions brought on by friends and family. Her culinary mantra is to make recipes that inspire confidence in the kitchen and to make foods that are mostly nutritious, but always delicious. You can check out more of her recipes on her blog or on her Instagram page.

…Oct. 26, 2020