I’ve had cheesy vegan quesadillas on my mind for awhile now. I know this sounds a little crazy, but sometimes I will have recipe ideas in the middle of the night or when I wake up in the morning! I guess it’s just such a big part of my life right now, I’m constantly thinking about plant based food. Don’t worry, I have a life outside of food, too. 🙂 Well, I had been ruminating on this recipe for a while, when I finally decided to just give it a try. I really did not want to rely on store bought vegan cheese shreds. They don’t taste all that great, they can’t be good for you and they are expensive. I had this crazy idea of processing cashews until they were almost like a ‘cashew butter’ and then adding some Mexican spices and seasoning in. Well, let me tell you. It worked. It worked so much better than I could have dreamed! The Cheesy Vegan Quesadilla of my dreams has arrived.
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How do you make the Mexican Cheese?
First add your cashews to a food processor and process for a full 3-4 minutes, until they start to turn to cashew butter (upper right photo). This really takes some time, so be patient! It will happen. Once that happens, stop the food processor and add the nutritional yeast, spices + salt and salsa. Process again, and it will quickly turn into delicious, creamy, Mexican cheese (bottom right). The cheese will be quite thick, which is what you want, but if it seems dry and doesn’t look like the photo, simply add more salsa until the desired spreadable consistency is reached.
What else goes in Cheesy Vegan Quesadillas?
Add in a sprinkle of black beans and vegetables of choice. I went with: Zucchini Yellow summer squash Tomatoes & Mushrooms
Can I make these without oil?
Yes, you can. Just use a large, quality skillet and cook them with no oil. If you don’t use any oil, make sure the heat isn’t too high so they don’t burn. Low and slow is the way to go when not using oil!
I hope you LOVE these Cheesy Vegan Quesadillas with Black Beans and Vegetables as much as we did. They will be a staple for summer when it’s too hot to turn on the oven but I still want delicious food to eat! They are Gooey with Mexican vegan cheese Flavorful but not overly spicy Filled with vegetabes Healthy & Kid approved
If you make this recipe, let me know how it goes! Rate it, leave a comment and tag a photo @noracooksvegan on Instagram. Enjoy!
