It isn’t too often that nachos are present in our house, but when they are, we like to do them up supreme style. We’re talking vegan cheese, zesty black beans, fresh avocado, jalapenos, tomatoes, cilantro and diced red and green onion. You know, the works. As I have been posting lightened up Super Bowl foods over the past few days, I figured there was no better time then now to do a nachos post, since nachos and football go together like peanut butter and jelly. With no dairy, no gluten and no fat-filled refried beans, you may think that there is no way these nachos could even be good, but these nachos even got the Ben stamp of approval which is not easy to get, especially if I mention the word ‘vegan.’ He’s a picky man when it comes to his food. He likes his beer and he likes his nachos, so him liking these reassured me that just about anyone will like these. Maybe keep the fact that they’re vegan between us, and I doubt anyone would even notice the difference. In all honesty, these are pretty convincing imposters.
I think everyone can unanimously agree that the most important part of nachos is the cheese, because what are nachos without cheese? Well, they aren’t nachos, but my vegan queso dip won’t leave you missing a thing. The recipe for the queso makes a pretty large batch, but just serve the remainder as a dip with chips, and watch it disappear. Ben ate a bowl of it WITH his nachos, so I promise, it’s good! It is delicious on its’ own, and far, far healthier than the other fake cheese most commonly used in regular queso. The queso dip will also save well in a sealed container for 2-3 days. Just reheat when ready to use.
Recipe: Vegan Queso
Summary: A dairy-free vegan queso that will blow your mind
Ingredients
- 1 cup nutritional yeast flakes, not the powder.
- 1 can cannelloni beans; drained
- 1.5 cups unsweetened original almond milk + more to thin to desired consistency
- 1 Tbsp. arrowroot starch
- 2 Tbsp. vegan butter (Earth Balance)
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp. tahini
- 1 cup organic salsa
- 1 Tbsp. hot sauce of your choosing
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp. vegan butter and add in almond milk. Whisk together.
- Whisk in 1 cup of nutritional yeast flakes and mix until thoroughly combined.
- With heat on high and whisking consistently, add in 1 Tbsp. arrowroot starch. Do not stop whisking until mixture is completely smooth or it will clump.
- Turn heat to low and and add in your dijon mustard and drained cannelloni beans. Do not rinse prior to use.
- With an immersion blender, blend beans until sauce has a completely smooth consistency.
- When finished, add in all seasonings and tahini. Whisk to mix thoroughly.
- Add in salsa and hot sauce and whisk to mix thoroughly.
- Remove sauce from heat and let stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Serve and Enjoy.
Cooking time: 10 minute(s)
My rating
Now that you have your vegan queso, it’s time to assemble your nachos. I think using a cheap aluminum pie tin is perfect for this because you are going to place your nachos in the oven to bake, and it also just makes a fantastic nacho serving dish with super easy cleanup! This Vegan Nacho Supreme recipe will make enough nachos to serve 1-2 people, maybe even 3, but it is really easy to double, or even triple this recipe in order to feed a bigger crowd.
- 1 aluminum pie tin (optional)
- 1 can (15 oz.) organic black beans; drained and rinsed
- Around 4 cups gluten free tortilla chips (I use Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn GF Tortilla Chips)
- Vegan cheese of your choosing or my recipe for vegan queso
- 1/4 cup green onions; finely chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro; chopped
- 1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes; halved
- 1/4 cup red onion; finely chopped
- 1/2 a ripe avocado; cubed and drizzled in lime juice
- 1 jalapeno; seeded and thinly sliced into rings
- 1/2 a yellow, red or orange pepper; seeded and chopped
- 1 lime; juiced
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- In a colander, drain and rinse black beans. Shake to remove excess water and drizzle beans with the juice of a lime.
- In your aluminum pie tin or a lined baking sheet, lay out your tortilla chips and top with a layer of vegan cheese.
- Top vegan cheese with jalapeno rings and black beans.
- Top with an additional thin layer of vegan cheese.
- Top vegan cheese with red onion, tomato halves and chopped pepper.
- Top with a little additional vegan cheese if you would like.
- Place your nachos in your preheated oven and bake for about 8 minutes.
- When finished, remove nachos from oven and top with green onions, cilantro and avocado cubes.
- Serve and Enjoy!
Melissa @ nourishbymelissa.com
January 20, 2014 at 11:19 am (10 years ago)looks great! What vegan cheese would you recommend? I’m not vegan but I don’t do well with dairy and try to avoid it. While I replace my milk and yogurt with almond milk/yogurt I’ve been hesitant to try some of the vegan cheeses out there…any recommendations?
Danielle
January 20, 2014 at 11:25 am (10 years ago)Hi Melissa! I actually just used my vegan queso dip recipe for the cheese which I included in the recipe, but if you are looking for a store bought variety of vegan cheese, you could try Daiya’s Pepperjack shreds, or another one I have heard that is good that I have yet to try is Teese Brand vegan cheese.
Melissa @ nourishbymelissa.com
January 20, 2014 at 11:23 am (10 years ago)looks great! What vegan cheeses would you recommend? I’m not vegan but I don’t do well with dairy and try to avoid it. I use almond milk/yogurt but I’ve been hesitant to try some of the vegan cheeses out there….any suggestions?
Melissa @ nourishbymelissa.com
January 20, 2014 at 11:24 am (10 years ago)wow…my computer decided to tell me the comment hadn’t posted and now it’s posted twice, sorry! :/
Danielle
January 20, 2014 at 12:09 pm (10 years ago)No worries!
Mari
March 1, 2014 at 4:33 pm (10 years ago)I loved this recipe! I followed it to a t, and my 6 yr old daughter wents for your queso sauce, as did I. Thank you for sharing
Mari
March 1, 2014 at 4:38 pm (10 years ago)Sorry, looks like my tablet left out “nuts” in my above comment lol my husband who is a scaredy cat of different food, decided he wasn’t ready to part with his storebought cheese, so he sat out with a lonely looking bowl. I brought out these nachos, and his eyes were like saucers lol I said, ” now THESE are nachos!” He loved the additions
Danielle
March 1, 2014 at 4:44 pm (10 years ago)I am so glad that this recipe was a success for you, Mari! My fiance seems to be pretty similar to your husband from the sounds of it, as far as being leery toward different foods, so I know how big of a deal it is to get them to like something new! It is always great when a healthy swap turns out to be a success