Creamy Versatile Instant Pot Cheese Sauce

I’ve tried a lot of different “cheese” sauces, and this is my favorite. It’s becoming a staple in our house. We use it on vegetables, baked potatoes, Mexican dishes, and even as queso with chips. It’s really versatile. I’ve also used this in mac and cheese and thickened small batches up with tapioca starch for grilled cheese sandwiches!

This recipe is for the basic version. If you’re looking for something spicy, like for nachos, add diced jalapeños or some chipotle spice.

This makes about 5 cups.

Creamy Versatile Instant Pot Cheese Sauce

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Course: Sauce

Cuisine: American, Mexican

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 10

You don't have to peel the potatoes, so if you're looking to save time (or you're just lazy like me) feel free to keep the skin on. You'll just have some random brown specks in the cheese after it comes out of the blender. If you're not too anal about the way it looks then you just saved a few minutes!

What you'll need

• 2 cups white potatoes, peeled (optional) and cubed
• 1  cup  diced onion
• 1  cup  carrots, peeled and diced
• ½  cup  raw cashews
• 2  cups  water
• ⅓  cup  nutritional yeast
• 1  tbsp Dijon mustard
• ¼  cup  lemon juice
• 1  tsp  salt
• ½  tsp  smoked paprika

How you'll do it

• Add potatoes, onions, carrots, cashews, and water to the Instant Pot.
• Set steam release to Sealing.
• Press Manual and set time to 3 minutes.
• While you wait for the Instant Pot, add all other ingredients to blender -- nutritional yeast, mustard, lemon juice, salt, and paprika.
• When the Instant Pot is finished, press Cancel to turn off the Keep Warm automatic setting and wait 10 minutes while pressure releases naturally. After 10 minutes, move steam release to Venting and allow all steam to vent. Once all steam is released and float valve drops down, it's safe to open the Instant Pot. It's hard to believe this is about to become cheese, but it is!
• Transfer cooked vegetables and cooking liquid to blender. Blend on high until the cheese sauce is creamy and well blended.

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