Comforting and filling, this vegan baked potato with broccoli and vegan cheese sauce makes for a delicious dinner. A plant-based spin on Wendy's broccoli cheese potato, minus the drive-through.
These are great for meal prep, too, since all the ingredients can be made ahead of time and kept on hand for a quick work lunch or dinner.
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Do these remind you of the Wendy's broccoli cheese potato? They are similar, but this recipe is made completely with real food, no processed stuff. It's also vegan, plant-based and dairy-free.
🧄 Very useful ingredient notes
- Russet potatoes - Russets are the best potato variety for making baked potatoes since they get all fluffy inside.
- Broccoli - Fresh or frozen broccoli that can be steamed. Steam-able frozen broccoli bags are the absolute easiest.
- Vegan cheese - Pictured here is homemade cheese sauce, made from whole foods. If you don't want to make cheese sauce, you can use store-bought vegan cheese to make these cheesy potatoes.
📖 Variations
- Cheesy Broccoli Side Dish - omit the potato and just combine the steamed broccoli with cheese sauce in a saucepan to heat and serve.
- Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup - Boil potatoes in enough water to cover them until tender. Reserve 2 cups of the water, then drain potatoes. Add them back to the pan with the reserved water, cheese sauce and raw broccoli. Cook until broccoli is tender and breaking apart. Season well with salt, black pepper and a little bit of white pepper.
- Broccoli Cheese French Fries - Make french fries in the oven or air fryer. Top with steamed broccoli and pour cheese sauce over them. Serve with ketchup. Dive in!
🔪 Instructions
- Step 1: Poke the russet potatoes all over with a knife to allow them to vent. Cover with foil and bake your potatoes in the oven at 375℉ / 190℃ for 35-45 minutes. Meanwhile, add the potatoes, carrots and onion for the vegan cheese sauce in a pan. Cover with water and bring to a boil.
- Step 2: When the carrots and potatoes are fork-tender, they're done. Drain them and add them to a blender.
- Step 3: In addition to the cooked veggies, add all the spices, seasonings and milk to the blender.
- Step 4: Blend until completely smooth. Taste and add more salt or nutritional yeast, if needed. Simmer on the stove or heat in the microwave until it's piping hot.
- Step 5: Cut open the baked potato, season with salt and pepper.
- Step 6: Lastly, assemble your potatoes with the steamed broccoli and pour on the cheese sauce. Dive in!
Expert tips
- Don't skip poking the potatoes before baking. I've had them explode in the oven before! Such a huge mess to clean up.
- You can also "bake" the potatoes in the microwave if you're short on time. I would only recommend this if you're cooking one or two potatoes.
- Important: Do not use aluminum foil, if you're microwaving them. Metal + microwaves = sparks and flames.
- To microwave a potato, poke it all over with a knife, then place them on a microwave-safe plate and microwave them for 5 minutes. Check for doneness with a fork.
- If they need more time, flip them with tongs and then microwave for another 2-3 minutes. Repeat, until fork tender.
- Or, follow my tutorial for how to bake/steam whole potatoes in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker
- Steam the broccoli in the microwave, on the stove or in your pressure cooker, whichever you prefer. I have steamer baskets like these on Amazon: microwave steamer basket and metal steamer basket. I prefer my broccoli to be crisp tender, not mushy, so I only steam it for about 3-4 minutes, until it's bright green and tender, but still has a bite to it in the stems.
🥡 Make ahead and storage tips
To meal prep four meals with this recipe, double potatoes and broccoli and use the entire cheese sauce recipe. Divide between four containers and refrigerate. Will keep in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Broccoli Cheese Baked Potato
Comforting and filling, this vegan baked potato with broccoli and vegan cheese sauce makes for a delicious dinner. A plant-based spin on Wendy's broccoli cheese potato, minus the drive-through.
Equipment
Microwave steamer or use frozen broccoli in steam-able bags for easiest option
Ingredients
Baked Potatoes and Broccoli
- 2 russet potatoes scrubbed clean
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- salt and pepper
Fauxveeta Vegan Cheese Sauce
- 1 ½ cups potatoes yukon gold or russet, about 2-3 medium potatoes (or 265 grams), peeled and cut into large squares
- ¾ cup carrot about 2-3 medium carrots (or 105 grams carrot), peeled and cut into large pieces the same size at the potatoes
- ½ small onion (or 90 grams), quartered
- 2-3 cloves garlic (10 grams), chopped
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup almond milk unsweetened, unflavored plain
- 1 ½ tablespoons nutritional yeast for cheesy flavor
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika optional, but recommended
- ½ tablespoon lemon juice optional, but recommended
Instructions
Bake potatoes
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Stab your potatoes in several places, to allow steam under the peel to release while baking (goal: no exploding potatoes!). Place each potato on a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes, until they are cooked through and a fork inserted in the middle goes in easily. *See notes for faster microwave instructions.2 russet potatoes
Make vegan cheese sauce
- While your potatoes are baking, prepare your vegan cheese sauce. In a medium pot, add cut potatoes, carrots and onion. Cover with water. Then, boil potatoes, carrot, onion until fork tender, then drain.1 ½ cups potatoes, ¾ cup carrot, ½ small onion
- Add cooked veggies to blender with garlic, turmeric, salt, almond milk, nutritional yeast (and lemon juice and smoked paprika, if using). You may need to do this in more than one batch, depending on your blender size.2-3 cloves garlic, ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric, ¼ teaspoon sea salt, ½ cup almond milk, 1 ½ tablespoons nutritional yeast, ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- Blend until completely smooth (I use a Blendtec and press the soup button). If it will not blend, you may need to add a bit more almond milk. Taste the sauce and adjust salt, as needed.
- Once your cheese sauce is prepared, transfer back to the pan. Keep it hot over very low heat on the stove, until you're ready to assemble your potatoes.
Steam broccoli and assemble baked potatoes
- Add broccoli to microwave steamer, put ½ cup of water at the bottom of the steamer. Put lid on steamer and open the vent. Steam broccoli in microwave for about 3-5 minutes, until bright green and crisp tender. For the easiest option, buy frozen broccoli in steam-able bags and follow the instructions on the package. You can also steam your broccoli on the stove or in the Instant Pot.3 cups broccoli florets
- Once your potatoes are done, place each potato on a plate or bowl and cut the potato down the middle. Season with salt and pepper. Then, divide the steamed broccoli between each potato. Then, pour about 1 cup of hot cheese sauce over each potato.salt and pepper
- Reserve any remaining cheese sauce for mac and cheese, nachos or serving with more potatoes!
Notes
Microwaving Potatoes: Stab them in several places, place them on a plate and microwave for 5 minutes. Stick them with a fork to see if they are done. If not, flip them with tongs and cook another 2-3 minutes. Repeat until tender and a fork inserted in the middle goes in easily.
Meal Prep: To meal prep four meals with this recipe, double all ingredients. Divide between four containers and refrigerate. Will keep in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 1potatoCalories: 403kcalCarbohydrates: 86gProtein: 16gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 472mgPotassium: 2317mgFiber: 13gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 8999IUVitamin C: 172mgCalcium: 215mgIron: 5mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Wendy says
Was great - I added more nutritionamyeast and I like Spicey so I added larger quantities of the spices listed plus I didn’t have smoked paprika so I used regular and a couple drops of liquid smoke 🙂