Comforting and filling, this baked potato gets loaded with broccoli and plant-based, vegan cheese sauce for a delicious dinner. 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.
Do these remind you of the Wendy's Broccoli Cheese Baked Potato? They are similar, but this recipe is made completely with real food, no processed stuff. It's also vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and nut-free (if you use a nut-free plant-based milk).
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🧄 Ingredient notes
For this recipe, you'll need:
- russet potatoes (other varieties will work, but russets are great for baked potatoes)
- broccoli
- vegan cheese sauce
- salt and pepper
🔪 Instructions
- Bake the potatoes
- Make the vegan cheese sauce
- Steam broccoli
- Assemble your vegan broccoli cheese baked potatoes and enjoy!
How to bake potatoes in the oven:
- This can be done in the oven at 375 degrees F / 190 degrees C. You'll want to poke them all over with a knife to make sure they don't explode in the oven.
- Then, wrap them with aluminum foil and bake until they are tender. I stick a fork in the middle and if it goes in easily, they're done. They should take about 35-45 minutes.
How to bake potatoes in the microwave:
- You can also "bake" them 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.
How to bake potatoes in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker:
- Put 1 cup of water inside the Instant Pot insert.
- Place trivet at the bottom of the insert on top of the water. (the water should not be above the trivet)
- Place washed potatoes on top of the trivet.
- Cook on high pressure (press the Manual button) for 15-20 minutes.
- For medium potatoes, 15 minutes.
- For large potatoes, 20 minutes.
- For truly huge russet potatoes, 25 minutes.
- Allow pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes, then quick release and check for doneness.
Making the vegan cheese sauce
If you don't already have some of this fauxveeta vegan cheese sauce in the refrigerator, you'll want to make some while you're potatoes are baking. Here's the recipe:
This silky, gooey sauce is nut-free, oil-free and is made from potatoes, carrots, onions and seasonings. It's a super versatile vegan cheese sauce, like velveeta.
Use it for this broccoli cheese potato, vegan mac and cheese, vegan queso, nachos, tostadas, tacos and more.
Steaming your broccoli
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 have both types, but find myself using the microwave one more often. The metal basket is cool because you can use it in just about any pan and in your Instant Pot, too!
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.
Lastly, assemble your potatoes and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Dive in for a comforting, filling dinner!
💭 Tips
Meal Prep Instructions
- 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.
How long will this recipe keep in the refrigerator?
- These will keep in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
- The cheese sauce will also keep in a covered container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
📖 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!
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Broccoli Cheese Baked Potato
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 optional, but highly recommended, 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 explodiing 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.
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.
- Add cooked veggies to blender with garlic, turmeric, salt, almond milk and optional (but recommended!) ingredients, if using. You may need to do this in more than one batch, depending on your blender size.
- 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.
- 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.
- Reserve any remaining cheese sauce for mac and cheese, nachos or serving with more potatoes!
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 🙂