Looking for a way to make a creamy vegan sauce to use in place of heavy cream, sour cream, and more? This all-purpose creamy cashew sauce is it! It's made with only TWO ingredients, and there are so many different ways to use it.
Updated: This post was originally published in February 2020 and has been updated with new photos and additional content.
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🤔 What is Cashew Cream?
Cashew cream is a sauce made by blending raw cashews with water until it's smooth and creamy. It's primarily used as a replacement for dairy products in vegan cooking and recipes.
You can adjust the consistency to make it a good substitute for heavy cream or flavor it to make a vegan sour cream. It works great to use in recipes or on its own.
💚 Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Quick and easy solution! Simple ingredients and whips up quickly!
- Better than storebought. Skip all the "extra" additives found in packaged products, AND there's no jar or packaging to dispose of after opening!
- Budget-friendly. Buy your cashews in the bulk bin and make cashew crema at home to save some money.
- This easy cashew sauce is so versatile. Explore different ways to use it in recipes and how to add flavor to make it work in so many different ways.
🛒 Ingredients
All you need are THREE different ingredients to make homemade cashew crema. I feel fairly certain you already have two of them! Here's what you need:
- Cashews: Choose unsalted, raw cashews to make a creamy sauce with cashews.
- Water: No need for anything special, and you can use whatever water you usually drink.
- Salt: I generally use quality sea salt to make creamy cashew sauce.
💧How to Soak Cashews
You want to start making creamy cashew sauce with soaked cashews. The process of soaking the cashews softens them so blend up creamy.
TOP TIP: This step isn't required but recommended. If you have a high-powdered blender such as a Vitamix, the cashews may blend up enough to be silky smooth.
- Overnight soaking method: Place the cashews in water and soak them overnight.
- Quick soak method: If you forget to soak them the night before. Pour boiling water over the cashews and let them sit for at least an hour. They will soften up in less time, but the longer you can allow them to soak, the better.
After soaking, make sure to drain off the water and throw it out. Then you can continue with making the cashew sauce.
✅ How to Make Cashew Cream
It doesn't get any easier than this to make a tasty cashew cream. It's ready in just minutes.
- Place the cashews, salt, and water in a high-speed blender and mix until creamy.
- Add more water to create the consistency you are looking for in your cashew cream.
- Blend until smooth and creamy. Pour into a container, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.
🍽️ How to Use Cashew Cream
Our all-purpose cashew sauce recipe is just that, a "basic" vegan cream that can be used for many purposes!
What's terrific about this creamy cashew sauce is there is no right or wrong way to use it.
You can change the viscosity of flavor simply by making it sweet, savory, tangy, cheesy, umami, spicy, or nutty with any of these additional ingredients added.
Here are some ideas and inspiration:
- Sweet: dates, maple syrup, vanilla, fruit puree
- Savory: garlic cloves, herbs, greens such as spinach or arugula, olive oil
- Tangy: lemon, dijon, capers, apple cider vinegar
- Umami: tamari, sea salt, nutritional yeast
- Spicy: hot sauce, hot peppers, horseradish
- Nutty: sunflower seeds, pine nuts, hemp, almonds
There is no stopping your creativity with all-purpose cashew crema! Just be conscious of the consistency you desire. You can always add more liquid ingredients or water to thin it out or more cashew to make it thicker.
You can incorporate it as a topping or simply extra flavoring to be stirred into a soup, sauté, or sauce.
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
- Split the batch in half. That way, you can create one part sweet and one part savory to complement the rest of your weekly recipes.
- For the creamiest consistency, soak the cashews ahead of time.
- Use unsalted and untoasted cashews for a neutral, mild flavor.
- Experiment with different seasonings and flavors to see how many different ways you can use this sauce.
- Soaking the cashews overnight softens the cashews. If pressed for time, with a high-speed blender like a Vitamix or equivalent, you can still get a creamy consistency without soaking.
❓FAQs
Cashew cream stores for up to 5 days, covered and refrigerated, or you can store it in the freezer for 1 - 3 months. When you are ready to use it again, defrost it in the refrigerator and whip it up again in a blender.
Soaking the cashews longer tends to make creamier cashew cream. An hour minimum is recommended, but an overnight soak is the best for really creamy cashew cream.
You will know the cashews are properly soaked when they break apart easily pressed between 2 fingers.
In a pinch for time? A high-speed blender will save you some time and still produce creamy cashew cream.
🌎 Are Cashews Sustainable?
Nuts are a great protein alternative for foodies who are mindful of their environmental footprint and want to reduce their animal product consumption. However, not all nuts are created equal.
When debating the sustainability of nuts, their water footprint, carbon footprint, and the health and safety of the laborers harvesting them need to be taken into consideration.
Cashews specifically have a high water footprint requiring 1,704 gallons of water to produce one pound of cashews. That is over 1000 gallons more than what is needed to produce one pound of walnuts.
There are also human rights concerns because their production creates dangerous working conditions.
The fruit that surrounds cashews contains a potent skin irritant, anacardic acid. Most workers are not provided protection for their skin and often suffer serious injuries that go ignored by their employers.
As a result, Human Rights Watch has put stress on big companies to put their support behind suppliers that adhere to humane production practices.
There is still much work to be done to ensure that all businesses follow suit, but in the meantime, here is what you can do to help-- support brands that offer certified fair trade cashews, such as Uprise Foods and beyond.
➕ More Easy Sauce Recipes
If you made this recipe, please leave a star 🌟 rating on the recipe card right below! You can also drop a review in the comment section. Your feedback is appreciated! And don’t forget to tag @themindfulfork so we can see your creations.
📖 Recipe
Creamy Cashew Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews soaked overnight *see notes
- ½ cup water or less
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt optional
Instructions
- Drain the soaked cashews, toss the soaking liquid, and rinse the cashews.
- Place the cashews, salt, and water in a high-speed blender and mix until creamy.
- Add more water, if desired
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