15 Best Vegan Sauce Recipes

Number one in our vegan sauce recipes: cashew cream sauce! This silky, creamy sauce is made from blended cashews and it works as a stand in for vegan sour cream or mayonnaise. Dollop on chili, stir into soups to make them creamy, or use as the basis for other sauces like pale green Cilantro Sauce, Vegan Nacho Cheese, or Vegan Alfredo. It's endlessly versatile and tastes so rich, it will be your new go-to after the first taste.

Try it on: 3-Bean Healthy Chili

Next up: vegan pesto sauce! Traditional basil pesto has a bit of Parmesan cheese to give it that signature savory flavor. But who says pesto needs cheese? This one is every bit as flavorful, but without the dairy. Our secret? White miso, which brings a complexity of flavor that mimics the Parmesan quite nicely. Also try Vegan Cashew Pesto, which subs cashews for the traditional pinenuts (they're easier to find and cheaper).

Try it on: Vegan Pesto Pasta

Why buy BBQ sauce when you can make it at home? This vegan BBQ sauce is so tangy and savory that it will make you into a believer. Even better, it’s seriously easy to make: it’s just a matter of tossing a few things into a pot and simmering for 10 minutes. Most of the ingredients are things you’ll already have in your pantry!

Try it on: BBQ Soy Curls

Here's an intensely creamy and tangy all-purpose green sauce that you'll want to bathe in! (Really.) It's a cashew-based sauce, blended with lime and cilantro until light green and thick. It's perfect for drizzling over roasted sweet potatoes, grain bowls, or tacos. Or as a dipping sauce for fries! The sky's the limit.

Try it on: Mexican Sweet Potatoes, Greek Nachos, or Vegan Lentil Tacos

This one’s for when you say: “Man, this would be good with sour cream!” Enter: vegan sour cream. It’s rich, creamy, and made with only 5 whole food plant based (WFPB) ingredients. And the texture and flavor? Weirdly similar the real thing. It’s perfect for dolloping chili or baked potatoes. Really, what isn’t better with a little sour cream? 

Here’s a fun healthy alternative to mayo: this vegan avocado mayo! It’s made from real avocados, which gives it a brilliant green color. You get all that beautiful avocado flavor and a creamy sandwich spread at the same time. It’s easy to make: here are a few tricks to make it super creamy!

Looking for a great vegan alfredo sauce? Look no further: your noodles are destined for greatness with this one. It’s creamy and luscious, but full of nutrient-rich cauliflower and protein-packed cashews. Another advantage to this vegan alfredo sauce is that it’s gluten-free as well! Many alfredo sauce recipes have flour because it’s used to make the “roux” that thickens the sauce. So it works for many diets.

Try it on: Fettuccine noodles!

You're going to want to put this vegan tahini sauce on everything! As a tahini dressing for grain bowls or main dish salads. On sweet potatoes. On sandwiches and veggie burgers. Really anything that tastes good tastes better with lemon tahini sauce. It’s so easy to make! (PS What is tahini? It’s a paste made of sesame seeds, typically used in Middle Eastern or Mediterranean dishes.)

Try it on: Mediterranean Couscous Bowls or Raw Falafel Buddha Bowls

This chipotle sauce recipe is vegan, and this time the creamy factor doesn't come from cashews. The magic ingredient? Tahini. It's combined with lemon, Mexican hot sauce, olive oil, cumin, and adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chilis. Mix it together and it's a tasty spicy sauce to drizzle on tacos and dinner salads!

Try it on: Chipotle Quesadilla with Avocado or Tofu Tacos with Chipotle Sauce

A really good red sauce is hard to come by! Many recipes take hours to simmer on the stove, and they don’t turn out that great. We wanted to make one that was tangy, super flavorful, and also takes about minutes to make. Meet our best ever easy marinara sauce! It’s heavy on the tangy sweet tomato flavor, a little garlicky, and perfect for a simple pasta.

Try it on: Spaghetti!

This vegan homemade teriyaki sauce takes only 5 minutes to make, and is incredibly flavorful! It tastes better than store-bought teriyaki sauce, and is a healthy spin with none of the added salt, sugar and preservatives. There’s also no refined sugar, instead relying on maple syrup. You won't believe the flavor possible with only a handful of ingredients. It's perfect for stir fries and painting on veggie burgers.

Try it on: Teriyaki Vegetable Stir Fry

It’s creamy and thick, full of savory mushrooms. It’s got just the right bite from a good dose of black pepper. Yes, this vegan mushroom gravy is so darn good you’ll want to pour it on just about everything! It’s a country gravy that Alex and I originally made for some flaky biscuits, but you could serve it on mashed potatoes or fries as vegan poutine.

Try it on: Best Vegan Biscuits and Gravy

Ready for one of the simplest, gourmet tricks in the book? It’s a homemade vegan balsamic reduction, and it’s calling your name! This sticky, tangy sweet glaze amps up all sorts of recipes. Got a caprese salad? Drizzle it with balsamic reduction to make it pop. A strawberry spinach salad? Infinitely better with a drizzle of balsamic reduction. 

Try it on: Balsamic Tomato Salad

Let's not forget enchilada sauce! This homemade enchilada sauce is so tasty and takes just 25 minutes! It’s all natural with no preservatives, and it’s vegan and gluten-free, too. Turns out, it takes just a handful of ingredients to get huge flavor. This full-bodied sauce is zingy, zesty, and you’ll never want to stop eating it.

Try it on: Vegan Enchiladas

Here's one of the only sweet vegan sauce recipes: blueberry sauce! This sauce is luxurious, thick, syrupy, bright purple, and tastes like eating 1 million blueberries at once. And it’s made with only 5 ingredients! And there’s no refined sugar: it’s naturally sweet, too. It's perfect for pancakes or vegan vanilla ice cream.

Try it on: Vegan Blueberry Pancakes

Take a taste, and…well, you’ll be amazed by the flavor in this easy pizza sauce! It's only 5 ingredients, and takes just 5 minutes to make. Every time I make it, when I dip my spoon into that beautiful red sauce after blending it, it’s beyond my wildest dreams. We’ve had countless people tell us that it’s the best pizza sauce they’ve ever had.

Try it on: Our Best Vegan Pizza

And last but not least in our vegan sauce recipes...vegan nacho cheese! This cheese sauce is so creamy and flavorful that you'll swear off that plastic processed nacho cheese forever. TO bring it all full circle, the creamy base of this sauce is blended cashews! They're combined with green chiles, mustard and a load of spices to make a seriously flavorful sauce. Dip in tortilla chips and be amazed!

Try it on: BEST Vegan Nachos