Name: Vegan white sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1 cup raw cashews (soaked or boiled, see note); ¾-1 cup water; 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 1 small clove of garlic; 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

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This 4-ingredients vegan white sauce is such a delicious basic creamy sauce for any simple pasta dish. The cashews make this sauce super rich and luscious, you won't believe it is dairy-free!

There is a large shallow white bowl with farfalle pasta mixed with a vegan white sauce and roasted pepper and zucchini. On the side, these is a black and white hand towel, a small white bowl with red pepper flakes, lemon wedges and another bowl with more pasta.

Having a basic creamy white sauce is a great addition to your recipe repertoire. I make this recipe often and it never stays in the fridge for very long. It has a rich & silky consistency with mild flavors that can be used in so many meals.

This creamy sauce is so delicious simply poured over cooked pasta, but it's also a perfect go-to replacement for heavy cream in savory meals.

It actually reminds me of a creamy Alfredo sauce. I prepare vegan cauliflower Alfredo or a flour-based creamy spinach pasta recipe regularly, but I keep this cashew sauce recipe for when I need something a little richer.

There is a see through jar containing a vegan white sauce with a spoon inside. In the background, there is nutritional yeast in a white bowl, raw cashews and a white and black hand towel.

What's to love about this vegan white sauce

Easy & quick to prepare
Versatile
Creamy and rich
Only 4 ingredients
No added butter or oil

Close up on a white bowl containing farfalle pasta with a vegan white sauce and roasted pepper and zucchini.

It's a totally dairy-free vegan white sauce!

The secret to reaching such a creamy sauce without any dairy is the cashews!

Raw cashews become soft and plumped after soaking in water. This makes them more blend-able and can be used to create a uniformly smooth textured sauce. And depending on how much water you add to the blender, you can adjust how thick you want your sauce to be. I even use soaked cashews to make thick sweet cashew creams, just like in this vegan blueberry cheesecake.

Ingredients to make this vegan white sauce

Raw Cashews
Nutritional yeast ( I love this nutritional yeast from Bragg)
Fresh Lemon
Fresh garlic
Water + Salt

There a few white bowls containing water, raw cashews, nutritional yeast, a clove of garlic, half of a lemon and salt.

How to make this vegan white sauce

First, soak the cashews in plenty of cold water for 8-12 hours. If in a pinch, then boil water, remove from the heat and add the cashews to let them soak in the hot water for about 30 minutes. (pssst, you can even boil the cashews for 10 minutes for an extra speedy version). Drain the cashews and rinse them.

Then, blend all the ingredients until very smooth. This could take 30-60 seconds. And that's it!

Then, add to your dish to warm the sauce up.

Raw cashews being that were soaking in water are being drained in a fine mesh colander.

Showing is the inside of a blender that contains a white-yellowish creamy pasta

There is a see through jar containing a vegan white sauce with a spoon showing the texture of the sauce. In the background, there is nutritional yeast in a white bowl, raw cashews and a white and black hand towel.

Watch how to make it

Tips when making this vegan white sauce

I like this sauce quite thin, especially when I want to pour it over pasta. You can see the consistency easily if watching the video. If you want to use this sauce to stuff pasta shells or use as a white filling sauce for lasagna, then you could easily make this sauce thicker. To do this, use a little more cashews (about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ cup). Or check out this cashew ricotta cheese for a perfect lasagna filling.
Taste along the way as you blend the sauce and adjust how much salt, nutritional yeast and lemon juice you want. If you are new to nutritional yeast, then you can start with a little less first and taste.
If making this sauce using a regular blender (opposed to a high-speed blender), then make sure you soaked your cashews long enough first and you might need to blend for a little longer. Also, stop the blender a few time to scrape the side of the blender to ensure all the cashews bits are crushed.

Serving suggestions

This basic vegan creamy white sauce is a great base for any pasta dishes and so flavorful on its own. My favorite way to enjoy it is to generously pour it over cooked pasta with veggies and sprinkled with vegan parmesan cheese or vegan TVP bacon bits for a carbonara style. I use this sauce whenever making a vegan white lasagna and also amazing with butternut squash ravioli! I even use it to make bean and rice enchiladas! But here are other ideas for creamy pasta dishes:

Make a herbed white sauce: combine this sauce with walnut pesto.
Make a loaded white sauce: cook veggies like onion, mushroom, pepper, green peas and combine with this sauce.
Make a rosé sauce (pink sauce): combine with prepared tomato or marinara sauce (or check out this creamy tomato pasta for the best pink pasta!)

Simply warm the sauce with the other ingredients of your dish.

You can use this sauce when making vegan pasta casseroles, vegan taco casserole, dairy-free vegetable gratins, vegan chickpea enchiladas, and creamy soups. Also delicious simply poured over steamed cauliflower or broccoli or use it to garnish vegan bean taquitos!

How to store this vegan white sauce

Keep the sauce in a air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

The sauce might thicken as it rest. If this happens, simply thin it out with a splash of water or vegan milk.

Other creamy pasta dishes you might like

I hope you will love this vegan creamy pasta sauce as much as we do! If you try it, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe to let us know how it was.

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