Sweet Potato Nacho “Cheese” Dip

53 Comments

This Sweet Potato Nacho "Cheese" is dairy-free, vegan, paleo . Recipe by Ashley of MyHeartBeets.com

This is nach-yo average cheese, you guys! It’s a dairy-free “cheese” that also happens to be nut-free, gluten-free, paleo, and vegan. It has an unbelievably cheesy flavor. Yes, it ACTUALLY tastes like cheese. You will love this sweet potato nacho “cheese” dip because not only does it have that cheesy nacho flavor, it’s also easy to make and calls for a simple list of ingredients.

My sweet potato “cheese” dip is so good that my junk food loving husband finished the leftover nacho cheese that I was saving for myself! How dairy, right?! (dairy = dare he…)

What’s cool about this dairy-free cheese is that it’s nut-free. I feel like most dairy-free cheese is almost always made with cashews. Don’t get me wrong; I love a good dairy-free cashew cheese (I have a recipe for cashew paneer). But I think it’s nice to have a nut-free “cheese” sauce for those who might have a nut allergy. If you can tolerate nuts, you might be thinking that’s nacho problem… BUT a cashew-less cheese is good for everyone because the cost of cashews can definitely add up.

Yep. I’m going to try and insert the word nacho in this blog post as much as possible. If you haven’t caught on by now, I’m a pretty cheesy person. I’m probably definitely more “eye-roll and groan” funny than I am “actual funny.”

Want to know a secret? At one point in my life (high school), I honestly wanted to be a standup comedian. Everyone around me told me my jokes were no gouda and basically crushed my dreams. In hindsight, I’m glad they did because I would have been awful. I’d be THAT comedian that got booed off the stage. Or worse, maybe people would throw tomatoes at me. Although, if they were organic tomatoes, maybe I wouldn’t mind? AH. See? I did it again. Made a bad joke. You can roll your eyes at me now.

This Sweet Potato Nacho "Cheese" is dairy-free, vegan, paleo . Recipe by Ashley of MyHeartBeets.com

You want to know another secret? When I used to eat processed food, one of my favorite guilty pleasure snacks was from 7-Eleven: nacho chips, smothered in cheese sauce, chili and jalapeños. This is where I’d enter an embarrassed emoji smiley face (if I could figure out how to download emojis to my laptop). I kind of want to try and re-create that now…

The possibilities for how to use this sauce are endless. Keep it simple and serve it with tortilla chips (recipe for those will be on the blog tomorrow! Update: here they are!). Or add some salsa for a spicy cheese dip! Add a little hot water to thin out this sauce, and then pour it overtop zoodles or paleo-friendly pasta or on a baked potato! Add some broccoli and coconut milk to this, and you’ve got broccoli and cheese soup!

Think that a “cheese” dip made out of sweet potatoes is nacho thing? Don’t knock it until you try it!

And finally. I’m sorry for how cheesy this post was. I hope you’ll keep reading my blog ’cause I’m really fondue ya.

Omg. I can’t stop…

This Sweet Potato Nacho "Cheese" is dairy-free, vegan, paleo . Recipe by Ashley of MyHeartBeets.com

Sweet Potato Nacho “Cheese” Dip

Sweet Potato Nacho “Cheese” Dip

4.5 from 12 reviews
Pin Recipe Print Recipe

Ingredients
 

Instructions
 

  • Add the sweet potatoes and water to a saucepan. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft. Allow this to cool.
  • Pour the contents of the saucepan into a blender along with the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
  • Add the sauce back to the saucepan over medium heat and stir for 3-4 minutes until hot.
  • If you want a thinner consistency, add water to the pan and stir.
  • Serve warm.

Notes

If you prefer a thinner consistency you can add more hot water to the sauce.
Did you make this recipe?Tag @myheartbeets on Instagram and hashtag it #myheartbeets!

Pin This Recipe

Like this recipe? Pin it to your favorite Pinterest board now so you will remember to make it later!

Pin Recipe Now0

Related Recipes

Cookbooks

Find out more about my cookbooks Indian Food Under Pressure and South Asian Persuasion.

About Ashley

Hi, I’m Ashley. Thanks for being here! I truly believe that food brings us closer together. Gather around a table with good food and good people, and you’ll have the ingredients you need to create some happy memories. My hope is that you find recipes here that you can’t wait to share with family and friends.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get our latest content by email. We won't send you spam. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment & Rating

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. Sarah says

    5 stars
    Hey Ashley,

    I made another batch of this last week and had the idea to use it in your vegan mac & cheese recipe after realizing that I didn’t have pumpkin thawed. It came out really well with a bit of extra nooch added! I have some frozen now and am going to try it again after it thaws. Such a versatile recipe 🙂

  2. Kayley says

    3 stars
    This is only good if you add something like 9 or 10 more teaspoons of ACV to cut the sweet potato flavor, way more garlic and some more salt, mustard powder, and nutritional yeast. 3 cups sweet potato and only 1-1/2 c liquid is too much sweet potato for this recipe. You get a paste, not a cheese consistency, and my Vitamix was having a hard time blending it. I also added chili powder and put this over noddles and some mixed veggies.

  3. Rena Hale says

    Don’t use canned sweet potatoes I guess or maybe I used too much potatoes. I had high hopes for your cheese recipe .i kept doctoring it up with more of the spices and it is just ok. I will try to use it as a base in a vegetable soup.
    Any suggestions as to what ALL I do wrong. I will try to make it again with high hopes. I would appreciate any and all suggestions.

  4. Cynde Route says

    5 stars
    This is great! I was in a hurry, so I microwaved the sweet potatoes, scooped them out, and added water to the blender. It was so good, my daughter said there was no reason for even non-vegans to use regular cheddar!

  5. Whitney says

    I hate giving bad reviews but this is terrible. You can’t mask the sweetness of the sweet potato. I’ve been vegan for years and have tried lots of cheez recipes, this is probably my least favorite one.

    • kayley says

      Add more ACV, spices, and nutritional yeast. I was able to cut the sweet potato flavor down doing this (and also adding at least another cup of water.

  6. Cindy Shoemaker says

    Do you have to have the nutritional yeast in this? And appx how many sweet potatoes? Thanks so much, can’t wait to try it!

  7. Stephanie says

    5 stars
    This was a perfect recipe, thank you so much! I adjusted slightly to suit my tastes (halved the nutritional yeast & vinegar) but otherwise it’s definitely a keeper. 🙂

  8. Allison says

    Does anyone have any ideas how to omit or replace the tapioca starch? My son’s allergic to it and arrowroot starch.

    Thanks!

    • Deborah Bening says

      5 stars
      I didn’t have tapioca so used quinoa flour instead. I doubled the amount of nutritional yeast and topped some steamed vegetables with it (brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini and asparagus. I think it would be good over potatoes too.

  9. Airyfairycelt says

    I used to say gleefully MINE!
    Well this has tempted husband into new terrirory and he loves this as well now, I think I will have to make bigger batches. We like ours over pasta, or drizzled cold over salad too so…. We do get a bit carried away!

  10. Rachel says

    This is a great idea. I ate a dish at a vegetarian restaurant that had somehow replicated the sweet potato into a cheese element. It was not puréed though. That dish was my inspiration for my search. Glad I found you, I laughed and laughed at your jokes. Thanks for the recipe can’t wait to try it.

  11. Emma Heagy says

    5 stars
    Hi Ashley! This is Emma, the girl that did your makeup the other day at Sephora! The funniest thing happened. I went back home to my mom’s house for the night, and my brother made dinner, which included a cheese dip. This morning, I was telling him how I did your makeup, while we looked at your blog and he said this was the recipe we had for dinner! How weird is it that I met you, and ate your recipe accidentally in the same day? Anyway, it was delicious and I can not wait to go through your vegan recipes and try them all! It was wonderful meeting you the other day, I hope to see you more often!

  12. Sarah says

    5 stars
    Hi Ashley,

    I just made this along with your tortilla chips- both were excellent! In regards to Amanda’s comments, I often wonder if nutritional yeast (and other dietary tricks of the trade ) are often too far left of central for those without dietary restrictions. Luckily, my fiancee is the perfect barometer as he can eat everything, but often has to taste-test my gf/df recipes.
    He is already a complete convert of your naan and naan-inspired recipes, and when I put the dip down in front of him, he gobbled it up. There have been recipes with nutritional yeast that he hasn’t liked in the past (can’t recall where or when those were from), but that seems to be the fault of the recipe, not the yeast. I think he ruined his dinner tonight eating most of the chips and dip, but given the nutritional ingredients, I am okay with that 😉 I suggest Amanda try out a few nutritional yeast recipes to see if it is simply that ingredient that she can’t handle, so she can avoid those recipes in the future. I don’t like cilantro, not matter how hard I try..food is a strange beast for sure.

    Thanks again for all of your recipes!

    • My Heart Beets says

      Hi Sarah, I’m so glad you and your fiancee liked this recipe!! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂 And yes, I completely agree – not every recipe or ingredient is for every person!

  13. Amber H. says

    1 star
    I want to start out by saying that I consider myself an adventurous cook and often find myself loving a dish I never thought I would actually enjoy. I LOVE using vegetables to make fun and unusual dishes but there are some combinations I just don’t enjoy. This dish is one of them. I made this recipe the other week and I’m so sorry to say it but I am not a fan. I couldn’t stand the way it smelled or tasted. I know that some things taste better the next day so I put it in the fridge over night and warmed it up the next day and tried it again. Still couldn’t stand the taste or smell. This was my first ever recipe using nutritional yeast and it could just be that I don’t like the taste or smell of nutritional yeast. I know that this is not a great review giving you 5 stars but I hope you still post it. I always read recipe reviews before deciding to make a dish for the first time. I would not recommend this to someone trying out nutritional yeast for the first time. I may try making this again in the future to see if my taste buds have come around to it. Unfortunately I think my taste buds are just in love with the real thing and have a hard time adjusting to a non-dairy version.

    • Amanda says

      I agree. The recipe tasted so much of yeast that even with fresh veggies, taco meat, and salty chips (we aren’t paleo, just trying out healthy recipes) the yeast taste still overpowered everything.
      I am curious why it called for so much yeast? Is there a reason or could i cut it down from 1/2 cup to maybe a tablespoon?

  14. Mary says

    5 stars
    Amazing! I have 2 sons, 20 and 18, who unfortunately were not raised eating paleo. They have generally been great, but they approached this recipe with extreme skepticism, suggesting that we would have to add some goat cheese or something. We’re all hooked!!! We made it a little more spicy, and it truly does taste like nacho cheese. So yummy!!

  15. mimi says

    5 stars
    love your recipes!! so yummy making this tonight thanks for sharing.
    please share your coconut naan pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! im begging!
    thanks!

      • leena says

        I just popped some in the freezer as an experiment! Since my husband doesn’t like sweet potatoes, it was going to be up to me to finish it all & I wasn’t sure I could do it in enough time.. how long does it store in the fridge? I will let you know if it seemed to freeze well or not, once I thaw it to use it again 🙂

        Your site is so fun!! I love the name of it – very fun & creative! ..as are your recipes & commentary!! You are absolutely gorgeous & photogenic as well!! Congratulations on everything you’ve built & I wish you much continued success 🙂

        • My Heart Beets says

          Leena, thank you!! You’re so sweet to say all of that 🙂 I’m so happy to have you as a reader!!

          The sweet potato cheese should last in the fridge for at least 2-3 days. Can’t wait to hear how it thaws! Hope you love it 🙂

          • leena says

            Ok, so here’s the follow-up on whether it freezes well.. yes, it does! It’s been in the freezer since August, so almost 3 months. I transferred it to the fridge a couple days ago & heated it up in a pan on the stove today – it’s as good as new! 🙂

paneer lababdar

Ashley's Secrets

INDIAN FOOD

MADE EASY

Favorite tips & tricks to

easy & delicious Indian cooking

FREE EMAIL BONUS