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Enjoy a nutritious and delicious cheese dip with this 100% plant-based queso recipe that comes together quickly and heats nicely.

Prep: 10 minutesTotal: 30 minutes (includes 20 minutes soak time)
Servings: 2 cups 1x

Ingredients

  • 1 cup raw cashews
  • Boiling water
  • 1 10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles (do not drain)
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ¾ teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Place the cashews in a small bowl; pour boiling water over top to cover cashews and cover bowl with a small plate; set aside to let cashews soak at least 20 minutes or up to 1 hour.
  2. Drain the bowl of cashews. In a high-speed blender (or the blender container of a food processor), place drained cashews, diced tomatoes with green chilies (including any liquid from can), nutritional yeast, cumin, chili powder, turmeric and salt; cover and blend for 30 seconds. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down sides and blend again for another full 30 seconds to 60 seconds (when you think you’ve blended it long enough, blend it some more!) until you get a creamy smooth consistency.
  3. If you prefer queso warm, heat it in the microwave for 10-second increments at a time, stirring between each time. It may take 4 to 6 times (40 to 60 seconds total) to reach desired warmness. Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator up to 5 days, stirring well before serving. Can be reheated multiple times.

Notes

The sodium amount in this recipe is on par with what you’d get in a similar-size serving of purchased dairy-free cheese dip and 25% less than a purchased cheese-based dip. For salt sensitivity, you can easily further reduce the sodium by using no-salt-added diced tomatoes and/or reducing the salt to 1/4 teaspoon. Doing both measures would reduce sodium to 115 mg per 1/4-cup serving.

Nutrition Information

  • Serving Size: 1/4 cup
  • Calories: 111
  • Fat: 8
  • (Sat Fat: 1)
  • Sodium: 432
  • Carbohydrate: 8
  • (Fiber: 1
  • Sugar: 1)
  • Protein: 4
  • Cholesterol: 0

Dietary

© The Real Food Dietitians
Recipe By: Jessie Shafer