Creamy Mushroom Sauce with Cashews
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This creamy mushroom sauce is pure magic! It’s a lightened-up dairy-free sauce with earthy mushrooms and creamy cashews, perfect for pasta, potatoes, and more. It’s quick and easy to make, and it’s ready in 25 minutes!
While the mushrooms in this sauce won’t make you feel funny, it does taste quite magical. It’s a dairy-free mushroom sauce that tastes like it has whipping cream, but it doesn’t. It’s so rich, creamy, and delicious that you may not even know the difference!
It’s an easy vegan sauce that’s perfect for quick and easy weeknight meals. Toss it with pasta, pour it over mashed potatoes, or add in some chunks of tempeh and serve it over brown rice for a completely vegan meal.
To make it, simply brown some mushrooms in a pan with olive oil then transfer some to your blender along with the soaked cashews, garlic, salt, pepper, and water. Blend it all until smooth and creamy. Add the sauce back to the pan with the remaining mushrooms and warm it over the stove. That’s it!
One thing to keep in mind is that the cashews need to soak either overnight or using our quick-soak method. You’ll also need a good blender for that extra smooth texture.
Magic mushroom sauce ingredients
You only need a few simple ingredients and most of them you’re likely to have on hand. Here’s what you need to make this mushroom sauce:
- Cashews – look for raw un-roasted and unsalted cashews for this recipe. They need to be soaked either overnight, or using our quick-soak method (see below).
- Olive oil – for sautéing the mushrooms. You can also use a vegan butter alternative if you prefer.
- Mushrooms – we use a mix of cremini mushrooms but you can use button mushrooms or a mix of your favorites.
- Garlic – because garlic and mushrooms belong together, and because garlic adds lots of flavor to the earthy mushrooms.
- Sea salt + pepper – for seasoning, to taste.
The cashew quick-soak method
Don’t worry if you didn’t plan ahead and soak your cashews overnight. This easy quick-soak method is here to save the day!
Here’s how to quick-soak cashews in just two simple steps:
- Place cashews in a heat-safe bowl or dish.
- Cover them with boiling water for at least 1 hour. That’s it! Now they will be soft enough to blend into a creamy sauce.
Ideas for serving this mushroom sauce
There are so many delicious ways to enjoy this cashew mushroom sauce. Here are some simple ideas to get you started:
- Use it in a casserole. It’s the sauce we use to make our vegan green bean casserole, and it tastes great in tuna noodle casserole, or baked pasta dishes, too.
- Pair it with potatoes. Serve it with mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, or any other kind of potatoes you can think of.
- Make a grain bowl. Serve it with some tempeh or cooked chicken chunks and spinach over brown rice for a complete meal.
- Toss it with pasta. Fusilli, spaghetti, penne, you name it. Use gluten-free pasta if needed, or veggie noodles for a lighter meal.
- Turn it into soup. In our cashew cream of mushroom soup, we add vegetable or chicken broth to thin it and some thyme and black pepper for flavor. In just 20 minutes, you can wrap your hands around a mug of this not-from-a-can mushroom soup.
Creamy Mushroom Sauce with Cashews
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashews (soaked)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ lb crimini or button mushrooms (sliced)
- 1 large garlic clove (minced)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are brown, about 15 minutes.1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 ½ lb crimini or button mushrooms
- Add the soaked cashews, garlic, sea salt, pepper, 1 ½ cups of water and a scoop of the cooked mushrooms to a food processor or blender and blend on high until smooth.1 cup cashews, 1 large garlic clove, 1 teaspoon sea salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper
- Pour the sauce into the pan with the rest of the mushrooms. Bring the sauce to a boil then remove it from the heat.
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
This looks amaaaazing. I don’t have a food processor OR a blender at this point but I do have an immersion blender. Any chance that would do the trick?
That will definitely work! Just be careful to keep it submerged in the sauce (you will probably need to transfer it to a tall container) so it doesn’t make a big mess. 🙂
We can’t use cashews, can I use sunflower seeds as a replacement?
Sunflower seeds should work fine, but they might alter the taste a little. I would opt for raw (not roasted) sunflower seeds. 🙂
Would this work as “cream of mushroom soup” for a green bean casserole?
Absolutely it would! I actually have a recipe using it in a green bean casserole. 🙂
Would this be good with black bean pasta?
It definitely would!
Hi, wanna try this,,,do you use raw or roasted cashews?
I use raw cashews. 🙂
for the 1 cup cashews, soaked in water for 4-24 hours .how much water do you put in it. is
1 cup or less?
As long as they’re covered, the amount of water doesn’t matter. I usually put them in a 2 cup mason jar and then fill the jar up with water. 🙂
Doing this for thanksgiving. First time I have had vegans over, but excited to try. I want to cook this ahead of time but am concerned the breadbrumbs will absorb moisture and get soggy. Should I keep the topping and beans separate until day of ? I would reheat the beans, add topping, and serve? Thanks.
If you’re making the vegan green bean casserole ahead of time, I would leave the breadcrumbs off until just before it goes into the oven. You can assemble the rest of the casserole and just keep it covered in your fridge. Happy Thanksgiving!
Just made this and added water to make it a creamy mushroom soup. Fantastic! I”ve been curious about recipes using the soaked cashews and now I know how amazing it is!
It’s so good , isn’t it?! I’m so happy to hear you like it, too!
Just made this for my Mom and I. Great recipe! Skipped the oil, used porcini mushroom stock instead of water, grilled the button mushrooms instead of frying. Turned out fantastic! Just what I wanted!
Good call on the porcini mushroom stock and grilling the mushrooms! Yum!!
I am making this later today as your description and pictures have me sold! I am curious to know how long the sauce keeps. Can it be frozen or best kept in the fridge?
Thank you! ?
I’ve never tried freezing it so I’m really not sure how it would hold up. If you give freezing it a go I’d love to hear how it turns out. It would be super handy to always have some on hand!
AWESOME recipe!!
Magic is the perfect name for it because my non-vegan husband and son scoff at the word vegan but eat and love this every time I make it ; )
I was so curious about freezing this so I doubled the recipe and froze half for 2 months. After defrosting in the fridge for a day it was very watery and separated. I heated a serving in the microwave and it had lost some flavor and was still slightly watery/separated. Then next serving I heated in the oven and it was not watery, however, it tasted slightly better.
All in all, I would definitely freeze it again and reheat in the oven.
Thanks for making our taste buds happier!!
Thank you so much for letting us know the best way to defrost this! We always do it on the stovetop but will try the oven method!
Made this tonight as part of a shrimp stir fry. Heavenly!
I’m so happy to hear you liked it! It’s one of my fav sauces. 🙂
This does look really good. I just tried to duplicate a cashew cream onion sauce that I had at our local indiad restaurant. It didn’t taste like their’s, but it was good over lots of fresh veggies. I think I sent this to my son in law also, as he was trying to cook gluten free for me when I was visiting them. I will have to try this now, I love mushroom soup.
A cashew onion cream sauce sounds amazing. I’ll have to try that!
Cathy, what about making a onion mushroom cream sauce? YUM
You should! It really is delicious!!
I’ve got that on my pizza sauce list for my next pizza party. 🙂
Ha ha it would be a total trip. Can you imagine the dinner party after serving this? 🙂
You so need to try a cashew sauce. It’s crazy how identical it is to the real thing!
Can this be made w/soaked walnuts?
I haven’t tried it with walnuts yet, but I suspect it would work. It would have a stronger nut flavour, which could be quite tasty. 🙂