There is virtually no comparable experience to dipping your crispy tortilla chips in a warm, gooey queso dip. This sometimes spicy and always creamy delight adds extra tingle to your tastebuds when paired with tacos, nachos, or quesadillas.
Following a vegan lifestyle should not deny you this savory treat. There are more than enough exceptionally delicious recipes to choose from, so we have assembled this list of easy vegan queso recipes to make life a little easier.
1. 5-Minute Vegan Cashew Queso by Minimalist Baker
You’ll probably already know and love the Minimalist Baker site for its commitment to ease and speed. If you’ve ever frantically Googled something vegan, easy, and quick to make for dinner, the Minimalist Baker has almost certainly shown up in your search.
You’ll find all the necessary flavors to make a creamy, spicy, tangy queso in this cashew queso. It calls for cashews, water, garlic, nutritional yeast, cumin, chili powder, salt, and harissa.
Any way you want to make it, you’ll have delicious vegan queso ready to be inhaled in just five minutes, so you absolutely cannot go wrong.
2. Vegan Nacho Cheese by Hot For Food
Though this one is technically named a nacho cheese sauce, it’s still perfect for all of your queso needs. In fact, this recipe is one of the most viral, most well-loved recipes Hot For Food has ever published.
Lauren’s version of this tasty dip or sauce calls for white potatoes, carrots, vegetable oil, nondairy milk, lemon juice, pickled jalapeño slices, jalapeño pickle brine, tomato paste, arrowroot flour, garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast, and sea salt.
This one calls for a bit more ingredients and does take a bit more time, but because every step of the process is quite simple, it’s still one of the easiest vegan queso recipes.
Boiling the potatoes and carrots is the most time-intensive part of this process, but the final product ends up tasting so unique that it’s worth the extra little bit of time.
3. Vegan Queso Sauce by Rainbow Plant Life
Rainbow Plant Life claims this to be the best vegan queso you’ll ever eat, and we have to agree wholeheartedly. It’s creamy and decadent, and it’s easy too.
One of the most interesting and memorable parts of this recipe is that it uses unsweetened, plain coconut yogurt to up the creaminess. The recipe calls for cashews, vegan coconut yogurt, salsa, water, cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, black pepper, nutritional yeast, pickled jalapeños, and their brine, and salt.
This queso has great, bold flavors that work well with all Mexican-themed meals and beyond. The tang and creamy consistency from the coconut yogurt just work so well!
4. Best Vegan Queso Dip by The Edgy Veg
Combining a little bit of both of the vegan queso-making methods in this recipe, the Edgy Veg provides us with a best-of-both-worlds type of queso.
You can find endless recipes using either potatoes or cashews to make their creamy, dreamy vegan queso, but it’s a bit more difficult to find one who uses both!
Here’s what the Edgy Veg includes in her queso recipe: potato, cashews, soy milk, vegetable broth, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, mustard powder, pickled chilies and their juice, salt, tomato, and a pinch of cayenne.
In just under 20 minutes, and without having to prep too much or put in a lot of effort, you’ll have yourself a tasty, spicy, unique vegan queso for all your dipping and topping needs.
5. 5-Ingredient Vegan Queso by Nora Cooks
In this straightforward, no-cook recipe, you’ll find a standard, reliable vegan queso that you can serve up in 5 minutes or less.
You only need to soak your cashews in hot water for a few minutes before you can begin throwing each of the ingredients in the blender.
To make this quick and easy recipe, you’ll need cashews, water, lemon juice, salt, nutritional yeast, canned Ro-tel tomatoes and green chiles, and some optional cilantro for topping.
6. Creamy Vegan Queso by Cookie and Kate
Cookie and Kate’s fantastic vegan queso recipe is the first on this list to call for both onion and fire-roasted tomato—two additions that we think are more than welcome in this yummy queso.
In total, the recipe contains olive oil, yellow onion, russet potato, garlic, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, cashews, water, nutritional yeast, sun-dried tomatoes, hot sauce, white wine vinegar, fire-roasted tomatoes, and pickled jalapeños.
Though this recipe takes the longest so far (about 30 minutes in total), the overall process is still fairly easy and low-effort. Everything comes to a boil in a pan, and then it all goes into the blender.
7. Best Vegan Queso by Loving It Vegan
Another 5-minute option, the vegan queso that Loving It Vegan makes, is one of the most flavorful of the quicker recipes here. Thanks to the canned tomatoes, it feels special.
By putting cashews, garlic, nutritional yeast, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, canned tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, and vegetable stock into a blender, you’re already ready to serve up a creamy, cheesy vegan queso.
If you want your queso warm, you could boil the vegetable stock first, add it to the blender, and carefully blend everything.
If you’re okay with your queso at room temperature, this recipe takes maybe 2 minutes to put together, making it a shining star in our book!
8. Vegan Nut-Free Queso by Vegan8
A lot of people have nut allergies, and that can make a lot of cheesy or creamy vegan recipes difficult to replicate. But if that’s you, don’t worry! We’ve found this delicious nut-free queso for you to try instead.
This recipe uses sunflower seeds, water, salsa, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup or agave, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, smoked paprika, turmeric, salt, and pickled jalapeno slices.
The sunflower seeds provide the same thick and rich creaminess that you would get from cashews, but they’re allergy-friendly. Using the maple syrup or agave will also help to balance out some of their bitterness.
Best of all, this vegan queso comes together quickly and easily, with no cooking required.
9. Vegan Queso by The New York Times
The New York Times even knows how fabulous and delicious vegan queso is! They jumped on board the trend and made their own complex and unique rendition of vegan queso.
Because this recipe is a bit more gourmet and flashy, it does require extra time and effort. However, this can all be put together in 30 minutes, so we would argue it’s still rather simple.
The New York Times adds a delightful tomatillo salsa to their recipe, using it as a topping/garnish for the standard queso underneath. They also toast their cashews for a fuller, deeper flavor.
To make this specialty queso, you will need to first make the salsa with tomatillos, chile, shallot, garlic, salt, and cilantro. Then, the queso is filled with cashews, chipotle pepper in adobo, unsweetened almond milk, turmeric, and salt. Everything gets topped with onion and cilantro.
10. 10-Minute Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce by Vegan Richa
In another nacho cheese sauce spin on the classic queso, Vegan Richa takes a new approach to the standard vegan queso ingredients. You won’t find cashews or potatoes in this recipe. Instead, to make it creamy and thick, she uses flour!
In total, the recipe calls for oil, garlic, onion, green bell pepper, all-purpose flour, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, dried oregano, chipotle pepper powder, onion powder, ground mustard, unsweetened non-dairy milk, salt, nutritional yeast, and soy sauce.
The result is a thick, gooey, and creamy delight, perfect for your nacho night or even topping a burrito.
11. Melty Stretch Gooey Vegan Nacho Cheese by It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken
Two nacho cheese recipes in a row? Don’t worry; they’re pretty different from each other, and they’re also both perfect for queso night.
Once again, we see an exciting recipe here with one stand-out ingredient. That ingredient is tapioca starch! This is the secret behind It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken’s gooey-ness is this starch that is famous for its thickening properties.
To make this cheese, you’ll need cashews, water, tapioca starch, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, white miso paste, paprika, maple syrup, onion powder, turmeric, and garlic powder.
The result is a delicious nacho cheese or queso that is strikingly similar to the fake cheese you would sometimes get on stadium nachos. Or, in other words, the best kind of queso.
12. Vegan Queso by Tasty
Did you know the Tasty app has an entire vegetarian side full of easy, delicious meals? On that side of their app, they have a vegan button function where you can ask to only be shown vegan recipes. How cool is that?
It’s no surprise, then, that Tasty jumped on this vegan queso trend to make their own version to add to the list of best recipes.
This one is fairly standard, and it calls for cashews, water, olive oil, onion, garlic, carrots, serrano pepper, cumin, chili powder, vegetable stock, nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper, and non-dairy milk.
Tasty also has a tips section filled with users who made the recipe and have suggestions to make it better. The most common suggestions for this recipe were to add more spice and more non-dairy milk.
13. The Ultimate Chunky Vegan Queso by From My Bowl
This recipe is another fantastic option for those with nut allergies because it is completely nut-free. This one also packs in way more vegetables than the others on this list, making it high in nutrients.
To make this vegan queso, you’ll want to have russet potatoes, carrots, zucchini, red bell pepper, nutritional yeast, tahini, water, pickled jalapeño brine, salsa, and pickled jalapeño slices.
This easy recipe only requires some boiling of the vegetables and then blending everything in the blender. It should come together in only 10 minutes; not bad at all for nutritious, delicious vegan queso that everyone will love.
14. Best Vegan Queso (Ever) by 40 Aprons
This recipe has everything! It combines almost every approach to making vegan queso and throws it all in the blender. The result is one of the creamiest options on this list.
Why stick with one method when you could use all of the above?
To make this hodge-podge vegan queso, make sure you have potatoes, garlic, garlic powder, cashews, vegetable broth, lemon juice, coconut milk, mild chiles, nutritional yeast, pickled jalapeños and their juice, cumin, tapioca starch, turmeric, salt, and canned tomatoes and green chiles.
As you can see, we aren’t exaggerating when we say this one has it all. Cashews, potatoes, coconut milk, tapioca starch? These are all markers of dreamy, creamy vegan queso.
15. Vegan Cheese Recipe by Love and Lemons
Love and Lemons try something new and unique here by adding not just potato but also a sweet potato.
This recipe calls for a potato, sweet potato, garlic, cashews, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt, extra-virgin olive oil, and water. To make it spicier or more smokey, Love and Lemons suggest optionally adding chipotle peppers, pickled jalapeños, or smoked paprika.
Overall, this one is an easy-to-love, easy-to-make go-to option for all your vegan queso needs.
16. The Best Vegan Queso Dip by Delish Knowledge
Adding vegan butter instead of olive oil to the queso is Delish Knowledge’s best idea ever. This small change makes the queso both creamier and also more flavorful, so this one is a must-try.
To make it, you’ll need non-dairy butter, garlic, all-purpose flour, unsweetened almond milk, yellow bell pepper, nutritional yeast, cashews, cumin, chili powder, salt, and chunky salsa.
Run, don’t walk to make this outstanding vegan queso dip for your next Mexican-themed meal.
17. Vegan Queso Sauce by Forks Over Knives
Forks Over Knives is so many vegans’ favorite vegan resource, but did you know that they also create amazing recipes on their website to help inspire your next vegan meal?
They don’t disappoint with this one, following the trend of adding a surprise star ingredient to make their vegan queso stand out. This time, it’s the rolled oats and roasted red peppers. Their addition is surprisingly delightful and very welcome in this recipe.
The recipe calls for rolled oats, nutritional yeast, cornstarch, salt, roasted red peppers, onion, lemon juice, and hot sauce. After blending all of this together, you have thick, tasty vegan queso.
18. Vegan Queso by Well Plated
Are you ready for another surprise star ingredient? Well, Plated’s vegan queso recipe has cauliflower in it! You wouldn’t think it would make sense in queso, but the cauliflower adds an unparalleled smooth creaminess.
Made with cauliflower florets, garlic, onion, extra-virgin olive oil, taco seasoning, cashews, unsweetened almond milk, nutritional yeast, salt, canned tomatoes, and green chilies, you’ll absolutely love this take on vegan queso.
Don’t forget, by adding the cauliflower, you’re packing in an extra big nutritional punch to this delicious dip!
19. Daiya 4 Cheese Tex-Mex Queso Recipe by Live Kindly
And last but certainly not least, we have a super easy, super low-effort vegan queso recipe from Live Kindly. We love this one because instead of having to blend anything, you melt down some Daiya shredded cheese instead.
This one is easy. You simply put everything in a pan and watch it come to life. We already know it will be tasty because who doesn’t love Daiya’s new Cutting Board 4 Cheeze Blend?
To make this recipe, you’ll need vegetable oil, onion, salt, garlic, Daiya Mexican 4 Cheeze Style Blend Shreds, plant-based milk, and plant-based butter.
Easy Vegan Queso Recipes, Final Thoughts
Each of these easy vegan queso recipes is unique in its own way, certifiably delicious, and reasonably quick and easy to make.
We know how important it is to have a good vegan queso recipe on-hand for all your Mexican needs, so we hope this list is everything you’ve dreamed of and more.