I got a craving for quesadillas after seeing a recipe for them in the current Vegetarian Times—which is odd because I don’t think I’ve ever had a quesadilla. Like a lot of popular foods (buffalo wings is another that comes to mind), quesadillas didn’t come on the scene until after I’d become a vegan. So on the one hand, I don’t really miss what I never had, but on the other, I’m never quite sure what all the fuss is about. And the existence of all these post-vegan foods can leave me feeling pretty old: Like counting the rings to figure out the age of a tree, you can determine the age of a vegan by counting the foods she’s never had!
While it was strange that I was craving a quesadilla, I was fairly sure I knew how one would taste; after all, it’s just melted cheese in a tortilla, both of which I have had. To make a fairly authentic-tasting vegan version, I could simply use one of the packaged vegan cheeses that are becoming more widely available. I’ve sampled several (Teese, Sheese, Daiya, and Follow Your Heart, to name three), and I’ve found them pretty tasty. But if you turn the package over and read the nutritional info, you’ll find that all of them contain a humongous amount of fat. The mozzarella from Follow Your Heart, the only brand I can buy locally, contains 8 grams of fat in one ounce. I’m guessing that I would need at least 8 ounces of cheese to make these quesadillas, bringing the total fat just from the cheese to 64 grams, or 16 grams per serving. That’s pretty ridiculous for something that’s essentially a snack.
So, I did my arteries a favor, skipped the packaged cheese, and made my quesadillas with a nutritional yeast-based cheese. My no-queso quesadillas didn’t really taste like cheesy ones, but I thought they were great, melty and full of flavor, and daughter E gave them 4 out of 5 Num-Crumbs on her new rating system. But please don’t go out and make these for your non-vegan friends. I’m afraid that you’ll be disappointed in their reaction and they’ll come away with the impression that vegan food is even weirder than they thought it was. But, if you like nutritional yeast sauces, I think you’ll find these as tasty as I did.
No-Queso Quesadillas
I think these quesadillas taste best when they’re filled with something in addition to the cheesy sauce. I made them both plain and with spinach, but you can experiment with other fillings. Just don’t add too much or the whole thing may fall apart as you flip it. And be sure to pre-cook any vegetables that you don’t want crunchy.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup lowfat soymilk
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon stoneground mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon tahini (optional)
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons salsa
- 4 6-inch whole wheat tortillas
- optional fillings: spinach, mushrooms, olives, peppers, onions, potatoes, black beans, etc.
Instructions
- Put all sauce ingredients (water through tahini) into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into a medium non-stick saucepan, add the salsa, and stir as you bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue to cook, stirring, for at least 2 minutes after boiling. Sauce should be thick and smooth. Set aside.
- Heat a large, non-stick skillet. Place 1 tortilla in the skillet and cook until brown spots begin to appear on the bottom. Flip over. Spread half of the “cheese” over the tortilla. (If you are adding any other fillings place them on top of the cheese.) Cover with another tortilla. Cover pan and cook for a minute or two, until the bottom tortilla is golden brown. Carefully flip the whole thing over and cook until the bottom tortilla has browned. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into four triangles with a pizza cutter.
- Repeat with remaining sauce and tortillas.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s) | Cooking time: 15 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
Nutrition (per serving): 164 calories, 37 calories from fat, 5g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 475.5mg sodium, 70mg potassium, 24.2g carbohydrates, 7.8g fiber, 1.5g sugar, 14.6g protein.
Note: The tortillas I used–Tumaro’s Multi Grain–contain 60 calories and 2 grams of fat each. If using other tortillas, adjust fat content accordingly. Tahini provides 21 calories and 1.8g fat per serving.
There are a lot of good vegan quesadilla recipes that don’t try to imitate cheese at all. Here are a few that look delicious:
- Roasted Garlic Mashed Potato Quesadillas from Show Me Vegan
- kidney bean, spinach, & potato “quesadillas” from happyveganface
- Vegan Quesadillas from Bok Choy Bohemia
- Refried Black Bean and Rice Quesadilla from Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings
- Butternut Squash Quesadillas from La Belle Vegan
Gracie says
I recently bought the UnCheese cookbook in hopes of experimenting with different cheese sauces. But I'm finding that every recipe has oil in it, usually several tablespoons.
With baked goods I've found suitable substitutes for oil, but I'm not sure what to try to substitute for the oil in these recipes. Any suggestions?
Vanessa says
Maybe I haven't been cheese-free long enough (only a year…) but UCK! I have yet to find anything that replaces cheese in any recipe, or in any grocery store. I tried to like this but I just couldn't…Even when I fried the tortilla with Earth Balance spread…
Z says
Try Daiya Vegan Cheese. It taste good, melts and stretches. I love it on my grilled cheese sandwiches and baked potatoes.
acai berry cleanse says
I will definitely try it, it looks so delicious. Thanks for providing such good and nice information. I am i will come again.
Absolute Acai Berry UK says
Yeah sure, Vanessa you may be right but not all of the people se it that way.. think vegans.
Nichole says
This was right on! Made this for lunch today and it was awfully good: http://veganniche.blogspot.com/2010/02/no-queso-quesadillas.html
Thanks for the great recipe!
Natalie says
When I first went vegetarian, I ate vegetable quesadillas for every meal! I stopped eating them for a while after I went vegan because I don’t like to use much fake cheese, but have started making them again recently with a small amount of fake cheese (generally one ripped up slice between 2 tortillas), a sprinkling of black beans, some cilantro and mashed sweet potato. They’re definitely not authentic, but they are very delicious and easy to make if you have spare cooked beans that need to be used up. I’ve also made the yucca version in Veganomicon, which was very tasty. In any case, if you’re not 100% sure about this cheese filling on its own, try pairing it with some of these fillings and it may blend more instead of being the obvious main ingredient.
Kim says
Susan,
I was just curious what type of whole wheat tortillas you use.
Kristen says
I have recently found 2 amazing types of “cheese” that I wanted to share with everyone. One is a speadable cheese from the Wayfare Foods Inc, I believe it is a newer vegan company, anyway they use oatmeal as their base for the cheese. The product is called “We Can’t Say It’s Cheese” and they have different flavors. Here’s the link to their website…http://www.wayfarefoods.com/
The next cheese is Dayia which I’m sure you all have heard of. You can get this in Whole Foods. But putting both of these cheeses together makes an awesome grilled cheese sandwich!! I’m just so happy that I’ve found them. 🙂
geneveive says
Whole Foods had the Dayai cheese shredded in their salad bar, and under the ingredient list there was a note saying that it contained soy and wheat…so it must be one of the hidden ingredients. There is an Italian eatery near me that has an entire vegan menu, but i have had a gluten reaction after eating there and i’m now sure it’s because they use the Dayai cheese…too bad, because it is good!
genevieve says
oddly, i just checked Dayia’s website and they claim they are gluten-free…
genevieve says
…but Whole Foods had some shredded in the salad bar and under the ingredients there was a note that it contained soy and wheat…
Corinne says
This looks great. I’ve had nutritional yeast in my cupboard for well over a year but I’ve been too afraid to use it. I think I’ll have to give this one a go! I love the comment about not giving it to your nonvegan friends 🙂
CarrieAnn says
Oh gosh….deliciousness!
Carolyn says
We love so many of your recipes… unfortunately this was a flop with my kids. We’ve only been off dairy for a month or two so they clearly remember what cheese tastes like and this wasn’t close enough for their taste buds. I enjoyed it though.
De'Jah Turner says
What a good looking quesadilla! I have discovered that Daiya cheese is very trustworthy! You should try it.
Caryn says
I love this cheese! We added salsa to make queso … M yummmmmmmm!
adam stevens says
These were delicious!!!! Had a bit of trouble getting the yeast, but it’s well worth it and actually tastes much better than processed cheese. Thanks.
Lila Wells says
To me, one of the best parts of my homemade quesadillas is/was the pico de gayo. The cheese just held it all together. I’m going to try these and see what happens!
Alice says
I made these yesterday when I had a quesadilla craving. True, vegan cheese never has the same flavor as animal products, but it is still tasty when you miss a former comfort food. The cheese sauce whips up in a snap, and I am very impressed with how easy and delicious this recipe is. Thank you for making all of these wonderful recipes available for free!
Malinda says
I was absolutely craving cheese sauce today, but didn’t have a lot of time or ingredients on hand. These were perfect and hit the spot! Will definitely be basking again! 🙂
Malinda says
*making
Naomi says
I am a big fan of filling ‘dillas with hummus and dipping them in salsa. It’s so easy and tastes amazing!
Carol says
I am fom AZ, hubby from CA….you can make quesadillas with creamy refried beans and a bit of salsa, or roasted onions and peppers…likewise even a bit of avocado or butternut sqush gives creamy illusion with a tiny sprinkle of a shredded “mock cheese”. I like mine toasted in the oven folded in half, but it can be done on a skillet, just hard not to burn without oil. Enjoy.
Judy says
I made these tonight , the “cheese ” sauce it was excellent. I used soy curls that had been prepared with the ” no-chicken” bouillon inside as well, a side of avocado and it made a wonderful meal. Thanks again
DAFNE says
This is delicious and fast. I tried with blue corn tortilla and fried beans…yoummi…
Sam says
Susan,
Hats-off to you.
I am lact0-vegetarian and trying to be a Fat-Free vegan like you but struggling and /or wrestling in the kitchen with my wife on a daily basis. I guess you can come up with innovation and help me out.
I can’t convince my wife to cook without oil. I wonder how do use Apple Sauce?
Also, you should look at all the Indian Sweets where we use a lot of Ghee (Purified Butter) and Milk and Sugar to make sweet dishes/ deserts but you need to show your creativity to convert them into healthy sweets without Milk and Ghee and Sugar. It would be a big help to the community.
Thank You. Have a nice evening.
Regards,
SD
Con says
Eating these right now with black beans and spinach in, will make again 🙂