Vegan Cheese Fondue

For Christmas Eve this year, we decided to have a Fondue night. We made 2 different cheese fondues- 1 vegan and 1 traditional cheese. The vegan Fondue turned out amazing, but I found I have quite a bit to learn about making regular (dairy) cheese fondue… mostly that too much heat is your enemy. So- it was basically un-edible (curdled) by the time I got it off the stove… but more on that in another post. I’m going to try making fondue another night to try to perfect the other recipe, and (fingers crossed) will be able to post it in a few weeks.

The vegan Fondue was so amazing, though, that I wanted to be sure to post it before I lose the recipe & forget how I made it. I’ve tried other homemade vegan cheese dips before, and have thrown them out they were so bad…but this one- wow!- I ate it every night for dinner until it was gone. And now I’m sad that it’s gone- lol.

I made a loaf of homemade French Bread to go with the fondue. It was a perfect pairing with it. We also steamed some baby carrots & broccoli to go with it, but realized that raw veggies are much better with fondue than steamed veggies! Next time I would definitely make some roasted potato slices to go with it also.

This recipe is made with a dry white wine. I do not drink alcohol at all, so I was a little leery about cooking with wine, and it turns out that I had good reason to be. While I do think that part of the amazing flavor probably was from the wine, I also realized that alcohol does not really cook out of dishes as much as I’ve been led to believe that it would. I was a bit light headed after just having what was probably about 2-3 ounces of wine in the fondue (yes, I’m obviously a super light-weight- lol)…so I googled whether alcohol cooks out or not, and it turns out that after 15 minutes of simmering, 40% of the alcohol still remains in a dish.

Next time, I might try subbing Vegetable Broth for the wine to see if it drastically changes the flavor (and will update the post after I try it). However, if I do use wine again, I think I would simmer it much longer than I did this time. I was afraid that the wine would boil down too far if I simmered it too long, so I only simmered it for about 5 minutes to try to burn off the alcohol. Honestly, though, I think most of the alcohol was still in the fondue at that point. (Something to keep in mind if you are making this for kids.)

Texture-wise this vegan fondue was spot on. I’m not sure if it tasted like a real cheese fondue or not. I think it did…but, honestly, it’s been a long time since I’ve had “real” (dairy-based) cheese fondue…but it was super yummy! The tapioca starch in the recipe really gives it the same type of stretch that you get from regular cheese.

One thing that I found is that you need to taste the fondue as it is simmering at the end, and then add additional spices to your taste. I added a bit more salt & lemon juice, and I also added some Flat Iron brand “Sweet Heat” crushed red pepper to amp up the flavor a little.

Vegan Cheese Fondue

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Servings 4

Equipment

• 1 Medium Saucepan with lid
• 1 Fondue Pot (optional)

Ingredients

  

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 potato peeled (200 g) (about 1 medium- large potato)
• 1 cup chickpeas (150 g), drained & rinsed
• 3 Tablespoons Tahini (50 g) (or Cashew Butter)
• 1 cup Dry White Wine or Vegetable Broth (240 ml)
• 1 cup Canned Lite Coconut milk
• 3 ½ Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast flakes
• 2 ½ Tablespoons Tapioca starch (20 g)
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Instructions

 

• Dice the potato into 1-inch pieces.
• Add the diced potato & drained/rinsed canned chickpeas into a medium saucepan & cover with water. Add a couple dashes of salt to the water.
• Bring the water to a boil, then cover the pan with a lid & reduce the heat. Simmer over low-medium heat, covered, for about 15 minutes (until the potatoes are softened).
• While potatoes & chickpeas are simmering, you can prep the other ingredients for your fondue night. Slice the bread into small pieces, wash & cut any fresh veggies that will be used, etc.
• After 15 minutes, drain water from the potatoes & chickpeas in a colander, and then add them into a blender.
• At this point, I added the dry white wine and lemon juice to the empty saucepan, and simmered the wine & lemon juice on low heat for about 5-10 minutes to try to burn off some of the alcohol. (this step can be skipped if you don't mind the alcohol staying in the fondue or if you are using vegetable broth). After it was simmered, I added it into the blender.
• Return your saucepan to the stove, heat a teaspoon of oil, and add the minced garlic to the pan. Fry for about 1 minute, and then add into the blender.
• Add all remaining ingredients to the blender & blend on high until the sauce is smooth.
• Return the sauce to the saucepan and cook the sauce over medium heat for about 5-10 minutes, or until it's slightly stretchy & elastic.
• Taste the sauce, and add more seasonings as needed (salt, lemon juice, crushed red pepper and/or regular pepper, soy sauce, dijon or wholegrain mustard, etc)
• Transfer the sauce to your fondue pot and serve with bread cubes, fresh veggies, fruits, roasted potato slices, or vegan sausages, etc. (if you don't have a fondue pot, you can just transfer it to serving dish- it's more fun with a fondue pot and a fondue pot will keep it warm- but not technically "required").