Leek in vegan “cheese” sauce

Are you looking for a new delicious but healthy side dish? This leek side dish is vegan, whole30 friendly, creamy and cheesy-delicious but it’s also healthy and fast and easy to make!

I’m always on the lookout for a yummy new side dish! Creamy and cheesy are definitely two important factors but healthy also gets high points on my internal score card. All three together are a definite hit! This dish combines all those things. It’s vegan, whole30 friendly, creamy and cheesy-delicious but it’s also healthy and fast and easy to make!

Leek is oddly not particularly popular in my family. I absolutely love it but don’t use it often because my husband’s onion allergy also includes leek. And since most of the dishes that I cook are for my whole family, the only way to include leek would be to make a side dish just for me. So it has to be something that I can make quickly on the side. This dish is super fast – it is done in about 15 minutes altogether.

The cheesy flavor in this leek side dish does not come from cheese itself but rather from nutritional yeast. I love and use nutritional yeast in a lot of dishes and often add it at the end when cooking a dish for a bit of a cheesy kick. If you’re not familiar with nutritional yeast, it’s grown specifically to be used as a food product. The yeast cells are killed during manufacturing and not alive in the final product. It is used in cooking and has a cheesy, nutty or savory flavor.

I love eating this “cheesy” leek on the side of mashed potatoes for a quick, easy and healthy vegetarian lunch. Or it’s also really good on the side of a meat dish like meatloaf (or a vegan version thereof). I will definitely make it again very soon – I just need to get some more leek first!

Will you make this side dish soon? Or how about my Parmesan Roasted Zucchini Slices?

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 10 mins Cook Time 10 mins Total Time 20 mins
Servings: 2

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Clean the leek thoroughly and cut into rings. 

  2. Heat up olive oil in a pan. Add chili flakes and leek and fry for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. 

  3. Add vegetable broth, coconut milk, nutritional yeast and pepper. Mix well. 

  4. Cook for another 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Enjoy!

Keywords: side dish, vegan, vegan side dish, leek, leek side dish, dinner, vegan leek dish, cheesy leek, nutritional yeast, vegan recipes, healthy side dish, creamy,

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Andrea Epstein in her kitchen

Andrea Epstein

Hi, I'm Andrea, a full-time food blogger, mother of 1 wonderful son, 2 equally wonderful stepsons and wife to a darling husband. I live in Munich, Germany with my family. I loves traveling, sharing new recipes, and spending time with my family.

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