Let’s take a look at some of my favourite foods, Mexican food for starters. I love healthy Mexican food. Now queso or more fully chili con queso is not really a true Mexican dish, it’s a hybrid, a Tex-Mex dish, but ain’t it yummy!
The problem with regular queso is that it is practically just melted cheese with some flavour enhancements added to it. So you get a good dousing of fat, saturated fat and cholesterol to set your arteries on fire.
My vegan queso recipes have all the yumminess, way less of the fat and all of the robust, creamy, tangy and if you like, spicy flavour you could ask for. Oh yeah, did I tell you how easy these queso recipes are to make?
But first, if you don’t want to make your own, there are some good commercial vegan queso products on the market. This one by Nacho Mom has high marks especially from VegNews.
So the two versions of vegan queso that I’m offering are made with unbleached wheat flour which helps to thicken it, but you can use potato starch flour and/or rice flour to get the thickening effect you’ll want. I’d start with a 1 to 1 ratio of the gluten free flour in place of the wheat flour.
Our first recipe uses nutritional yeast which is nice because it adds vitamin B12 to our diets. The second one uses Daiya cheese which makes it easier. Both nutritional yeast and Daiya are gluten free.
I’d make them both to determine which one is your fav. I like them both equally.
Queso con yeasto
0.66 cup of nutritional yeast
0.25 cup unbleached all purpose flour
chopped/minced chipotle peppers to taste (try a teaspoon of them seeded) or use chipotle tabasco
0.25 tsp of both garlic powder and onion powder
1 cup water
1 cup salsa of your choice
2 tablespoons margarine (optional)
I have found the margarine to be optional though it does help to make it creamier.
In a saucepan add all the dry ingredients i.e. yeast, flour, pepper/tobasco (okay that might be wet ;)), garlic and onion powder and water.
Cook over medium heat while stirring or whisking continuously. This is ensure that the ingredients mix together nice and smoothly.
When fully combined and well mixed add in the salsa and the margarine if you choose to use it. Mix until well combined and hot.
Serve with tortilla chips, pita bread, slather over your own quesadillas or put on top of yummy vegan tacos. Just eat it by the spoonful. I don’t care it’s yummy and pretty healthy!
Queso con vegan cheese-oh
1.5 cup of Daiya cheese(s) I like to mix both moza and cheddar for this queso
1 cup water or broth or plant milk
0.25 cup unbleached flour
1 tsp to 2 tbsp chopped and seeded jalapeño or other peppers
0.5 cup roasted tomatoes (rehydrated in a bit of hot water if you can’t find wet ones)
2 tbsp vegan margarine if desired
With this one, if you’re using margarine you can sauté the jalapeño peppers in the margarine over medium heat for a few minutes and then add the rest of the ingredients mixing and stirring consistently to get to the thickness you desire.
If not using margarine, just chuck everything into a pot and cook over medium heat while stirring consistently.
Serve the same way as you would queso con yeasto. You can also add in a half cup of refried beans or black beans as well to mix it up. Add them at the same time you add everything together.
Beans work well for both this vegan queso recipe and the first vegan queso recipe. That my friends, is how you make easy, tasty and quick vegan queso that your non-vegan friends will adore.