Have you ever heard of “cheese” sauce that is made with “oats”? Here are three reasons why this is a winner in my book:

1 – Much cheaper than cashews (which was the nut of choice for making “cheeze” sauce).

2 – Extremely low-fat. About 1.5 grams for the entire 6 cups!┬á By today’s standards, that’s really “no-fat”, but we know that all food groups contain some amount of fat, even fruits.

3. It’s delicious!

This is definitely my new “goto”, UPGRADED “cheese” sauce. I am updating this recipe to reflect the additions that I made to the original recipe.┬á

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic granules (or 1 roasted garlic clove – my addition)
• ┬á2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/2 tsp paprika (my addition)
• 1 12-oz. jar Roasted Red Bell Peppers in water for the lowest fat possible
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon Pecan or Apple liquid smoke (optional, I didn’t use this)
• 4 cups warm water

Note: Make sure to cook the cheese sauce until it’s steamy to create the thickest sauce.

Tip to make this more TEX-MEX: The first time I made this I substituted salsa for some of the roasted red bell peppers. Or you can simply add to the “cheese” sauce once done.

Directions:

1. Dump all the ingredients into a high-speed blender (that can cook contents).
2. Blend until steam forms and the machine will sound like it has completed the job. (The sound changes from blending to like it’s just spinning its wheels). This takes about 5 minutes depending on how warm/hot the water is that you start with.
3. Voila! You are done. Pour into a bowl or jar that you can easily scoop out of. It will thicken even more as it cools.

I used this “cheese” sauce in a Tex-Mex casserole. (See the recipe.)

I’m not sure how I came across “Jill’s 5-minute Game Changer [Vegan] Cheese Sauce “! I had my doubts for sure, but in her video, she was so confident that I had to give it a try and boy am I glad I did. My video shows TEX-MEX varieties. Adding salsa truly makes this a game-changer cheese sauce.