When we lived in Texas for a few years I remember walking into our local Target (other grocery stores are available) after committing to a new vegan lifestyle and thinking “wow where do we even start”. And stood there, empty shopping basket in hand in the middle of the produce section we decided to go and browse the vegan cheese brands, dips, and sauces on a corner display. It was there that we found Good Foods plant based queso style dip, and I’m not sure there was a trip back to that store where we would leave without it, it’s an amazingly delicious dip.

Good Foods dips are great, but to find a decent dairy-free queso style one was so good as we were really into our Tex-Mex at the time. Our questionably excessive purchasing of this amazing creamy almond-veggie dip came to an end though when we returned to live in the UK (we didn’t want to pay that delivery fee). However, this did mean that we saw a brilliant opportunity to add to our growing list of delicious recipes and make our own vegan queso dip.

Some of the core ingredients of Good Foods queso-style dip are almonds, cauliflower, and almond butter. Other than a lot of wholesome goodness those ingredients are going to be the reason that it’s such a smooth texture. Well, let us tell you that for our creamy cashew-veggie dip, you can get the perfect texture just by using warm soy milk and raw cashews. Similar to the plant-based creation geniuses at the Good Foods group, we opted to use ground cumin for some warmth, along with a spoon of chipotle paste and a dash of chili powder. Whereas Good Foods uses red bell peppers, cayenne pepper, and ground turmeric, feel free to mix up our recipe a bit too, you never know you might make your own amazing dip.

Plant-based queso-style dip made from cashews and soy milk with nutritional yeast served in a bowl with tortilla chips.

But how have you managed to get the right cheesy flavor profile we hear you ask? With just one simple ingredient that’s how. A few tablespoons of nutritional yeast when combined with our chosen spices and the creamy blended cashews is all you need for the perfect taste. Trust us, some of the best vegan cheeses and non dairy dips we’ve had use nutritional yeast. We think that this is just one of those fun recipes, it’s easy to make and has an incredible flavor (if we don’t say so ourselves, you can use it as a dip or smother your favorite Mexican-style food with it, just like we did in our homemade chalupas recipe.

The quantity of ingredients we’ve used in this recipe will yield a bowl big enough for a couple of people to dip their way through a bag of tortilla chips. While we appreciate this isn’t exactly a family size vat of queso, it’s easy enough to scale up, for four people just multiply everything by two.

Plant Based Queso Style Dip Ingredients

1 cup raw cashews

3/4 cup hot soy milk

1 tsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp chipotle paste (or hot sauce)

3 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp sea salt

How to Make a Plant Based Queso Style Dip

Start by heating the soy milk in a microwave for 30 seconds at a time until it is hot. Alternatively, you can heat it over a stove in a small pan (heating but not boiling the milk).
Add all of the cashews, hot milk, and all of the other ingredients to a small blender. Then blend them until you have a smooth creamy texture.
You can easily adjust the thickness of your queso-style dip, just add another 1/4 cup at a time of soy milk, blend again, and continue until you’re happy with it.
Garnish with a great pairing like sliced green chilies, or jalapeño peppers as an optional extra for some added heat. Alternatively for a milder taste (for you cilantro lovers) just finish with some fresh herbs.