This vegan nacho cheese dip reminds me of the stuff you get at a concession stand at a sporting event, you would never know it was dairy free. It is creamy, spicy, and tastes so good with chips and soft pretzels. This recipe uses a high powered blender and a few fun ingredients that may surprise you.
You will need diced potatoes, a medium carrot for color, and firm tofu to create this creamy, cheesy dip.
To get that spicy salty flavor you will need canned diced jalapenos, green chilis, and salt. Then you will use turmeric for color and nutritional yeast is optional, just to add a little more of that cheesy flavor.
Start by boiling the potatoes and carrots to get them soft, then add everything to a blender and blend until totally smooth. However, please note that you need to be careful with your blender with this step. Potatoes create a glue like stickiness when blended at high speeds, so just start slow and work your way up to high speed. You may need to add a little extra water if it sounds like it is not blending well, depending on how much cooked off the carrots and potatoes.
Serve right away or keep in the fridge for about one week. The top may set up a little bit due to the starch in the potato, but just give it a little stir and it will be back to creamy nacho cheese texture.
Ingredients
1 medium carrot peeled and cut into coins
1 cup diced and peeled potatoes (I used frozen diced hash browns to save on time)
1 cup water for boiling carrots and potatoes
1/2 of a 14 ounce block extra firm tofu (do not press)
1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (or you can leave this out if you don't like the flavor)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp diced green chilis from the can
2 Tbsp diced jalapenos from the can (or to taste, they do add a kick)
1/4 cup of water for blending (may need to add a little more depending on how much cooked off while boiling the carrots and potatoes)
Directions
Start by peeling and cutting up the carrots into coins and dicing the potatoes small.
Put both the carrots and potatoes into a small saucepan and add about 1 cup of water, or enough to cover with a touch more. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to medium and simmer until carrots and potatoes are soft when poked with a fork. Your potatoes may turn to mush by the time the carrots are done, that is okay.
While those simmer, cut up your half a block of tofu into about 4 pieces.
Measure out all the rest of your ingredients and add everything to a high powered blender.
When the carrots and potatoes are done, take them off the burner and set aside to cool for about 5 minutes. After that, add them to the rest of the ingredients in the blender.
Now put on your lid and start the blender at low, working your way up to high slowly. Be careful with this, I learned the hard way that blenders turn potato starch into a glue like substance if you try to blend it too quickly without enough liquid. Just be sure to add a little extra water if your blender sounds like it is working harder than usual.
Once you reach the higher speeds, blend for about one minute until totally smooth and the mixture looks like the texture of canned nacho cheese. If it looks lumpy or mashed potato like, you will need to blend at a higher speed for longer.
Once you have finished blending, serve right away with chips, soft pretzels, or even on tacos. The top may set up a little bit due to the starch in the potato, but just give it a little stir and it will be back to creamy nacho cheese texture. Store in the fridge and use within one week.
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