Fat-free Vegan "Cheese" Sauce

• Produce

  • 1/2 tsp Garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp Onion powder
  • 5 Yukon gold potatoes (220 g, small
  • 1 Zucchini, small

• Condiments

  • 1 tbsp Lemon juice, fresh

• Baking & Spices

  • 1/4 cup Nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 tsp Sea salt, fine

• Liquids

  • 1 3/4 cup Water

• Other

  • 2 teaspoons liquid aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce or tamari, do not omit, this is what gives the cheesy flavor, do not use coconut aminos, it will not yield the correct flavor!
  • 1/2-3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular if you don't like smoked, add to taste keeping in mind the water amount

Found on thevegan8.com

Description

Ingredients

• 1 small zucchini, peeled and sliced (130 g, you will need about 1 cup sliced zucchini before cooking, make sure you weigh the correct amount or you will get an off taste of zucchini!)
• 5 small yukon gold potatoes (220 g, use any yellow or buttery potato, but not russet! Weigh your ingredients!, you should end up with 1 lightly filled cooked/mashed potato)
• 3/4 cup -1 cup water, as needed to reach desired thickness (I ALWAYS use 1 cup, so keep that in mind in regards to other ingredients)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (20 g)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2-3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular if you dont like smoked, add to taste keeping in mind the water amount
• 2 teaspoons liquid aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce or tamari, do not omit, this is what gives the cheesy flavor, do not use coconut aminos, it will not yield the correct flavor!)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
• Optional toppings: red pepper flakes, chopped tomatoes, sliced jalapenos
• Note: This recipe is only 8 ingredients (+ salt & water), so each ingredient is crucial to the final flavor result, so subbing or eliminating an ingredient can greatly alter the result. The weight in grams is provided for accurate results.

Directions

• First prepare the zucchini by preheating an oven to 415 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Peel all the green skin off the zucchini and slice into 1/4 inch slices and salt and pepper well. Its imperative to peel the zucchini, otherwise your sauce will be an ugly green. Bake for about 15 minutes until tender.
• Meanwhile, cook your potatoes either by roasting, steaming or in the microwave. Since I wanted a fast dinner, I just cooked them in the microwave for about 5 minutes until very soft. Do not boil them as they will get water logged and make the sauce more runny. I left the skins on since I have a Vitamix, but if you are concerned about getting the sauce smooth, peel them before cooking.
• After the potatoes are cooked, mash them with a fork and measure out 1 cup. If you followed the correct weight measurement, you should get just about 1 lightly filled cup of mashed potatoes. If your potatoes are large, you may need less. Its important to measure the mashed potatoes for accurate results. Add them to your high speed blender. Update: Using a food processor will make this too gooey, make sure to use just a blender.
• Once the zucchini is done, add it along with all of the remaining ingredients (start with 3/4 cup water and add as needed, stopping at 1 cup) to your blender and blend until smooth. You will need to stop and scrape a couple of times from the bottom during. Do not be too eager to add extra water until youve really blended it up a couple of minutes on high to get it completely smooth. It will seem too thick at first, but it will start to turn very smooth from all the water from the zucchini. Trust me, it will get super thick and creamy this way, dont add water unless you blend it up a few minutes and If necessary, add just a TINY amount of water just to blend it. If its a bit thinner than you like, you can reheat it over the stove to thicken it up some.
• Taste and add any extra lemon juice and/or salt/spices if necessary. Add any desired toppings such as red pepper flakes, chopped tomatoes, sliced jalapenos. I like a kick of heat to my cheese so I added red pepper flakes but will totally blend up some jalapenos next time in the sauce. Sauce makes 2 1/2 cups.
• To make it as a mac n cheese, just simply boil your pasta and pour as much (a lot!) cheese sauce over the pasta. You can either warm the cheese by running it awhile in the blender or gently warming over the stove. It gives such an incredible cheesy, thick and stick-to-pasta result. It really reminded me of mac n cheese growing up. Considering this is totally fat-free and good for you, Id say thats huge!

Nutrition