What is an Arby’s big beef and cheddar you might ask? ( you would ask if you have no clue what Arby’s is or have never eaten there pre-vegan.) Well its a thinly sliced, warm roast beef sandwich, with cheddar cheese sauce, on an onion bun from Arby’s fast food restaurant ! And it my friends was DELICIOUS! The big beef and cheddar is more pricey than an original roast beef and most often did not fit into my high school, stolen change, budget.

When I was in high school, you could get 5 classic Arby’s roast beef sandwiches for $5. My friend Jessica and I would raid my step sisters giant jar of change for $5 so we could split 5 roast beef sandwiches between us. And let me tell you, we both could EASILY pound 2 and half classic roast beefs in one sitting, no problem. Not that I would advise anyone do that now that I am a grown up and realized nobody “needs” 2 and half sandwiches of any kind at one time.

My kids have never had real roast beef let alone an Arby’s roast beef sandwich or Arby’s sauce. My southern family would say, “bless their little hearts!” So recently when someone made and posted the 86eats roast beef to mimic an Arby’s big beef and cheddar, I realized how crazy it was that I had not done that yet and shared it with my own kids.

So, I already had a solid vegan roast beef recipe, and my good friend Mike has just loaned me a deli slicer, and I also have a solid vegan cheddar cheese sauce recipe, so all I need was to veganize the Arby’s sauce and an onion roll! Easy enough, y’all.

For the sauce, I just googled all the other copy cat Arby’s sauces, married a few together and used vegan ingredients. For the bun, I used our no rise hamburger bun recipe and changed up a few things to get a super tasty onion roll!

These buns are the quickest yeast buns ever, so easy to make and pretty much fail proof. I loved onion rolls as as kid, and often made my turkey sandwiches on one, so now that I have an easy vegan version, and the best vegan deli turkey lunch meat recipe, I am making these vegan onion rolls ALL THE TIME!

Heads up if you need to have the famous fries with your vegan big beef and cheddar, most chain grocery stores sell them in the freezer section! The actual Arby’s brand curly fries!! And they crisp up great in my air fryer!

Oh and if you were a fan of the famous Jamocha shake, I added my recipe at the bottom of this page. Quick, easy and worthy or dipping your fries right in there!

So without further ado, I present to you the 86eats vegan version of an Arby’s Big Beef and Cheddar!

INGREDIENTS:

1 batch Vegan Deli Sliced Roast Beef (you will need to make this a day ahead so the seitan can adequately rest)
1 batch homemade onion rolls, or vegan store bought onion rolls,
Arby’s sauce, homemade or from Arby’s (its vegan)

Vegan Cheddar Cheese Sauce:

1/2 cup cashews or sunflower seeds, covered in water and microwave 3 minutes
1 and 1/4 cup water (in addition to the water used to microwave the nuts)
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoons turmeric
1 and 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 tablespoons sauerkraut without the juice (you can sub with 2 teaspoons light miso and a dash or apple cider vinegar)
1 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

Prepare the vegan deli roast beef according to instructions. You will need to make it either in the morning if you wish to slice it in the evening or the day before. It requires at least a 6 hour rest in the fridge in order for it to firm up enough to slice thinly. You can slice the vegan roast beef with a super sharp knife or with an electric deli slicer for extra thin, Arby’s worthy slices.
Prepare the onion rolls according to the instructions. These onion rolls are a quick yeast roll, meaning they do not require a rise time. So start to finish they are done in about an hour. Or use any vegan store-bought bun you prefer.
You can make homemade Arby’s sauce or if you have some sauce packets laying around, use them, they are vegan.
Prepare the cheese sauce by adding the microwaved and drained nuts or seeds to high speed blende or food processor, along with the remaining ingredients. Blend until COMPLETELY SMOOTH! You don’t want any bits of nuts or seeds left.
Pour the cheese mixture into a medium size sauce pan and cook over medium heat stirring continuously until the cheese has thickens to a thin pudding consistency. If the sauce gets too thick you whisk in some extra water and thin it back out! You can easily reheat this sauce in a pan, agin adding a little water to help thin it back out. I normally have a batch of this in my fridge for nachos, tacos, sandwiches or dip for fries.
I like to slice and microwave the vegan roast beef wrapped in some wax paper to warm it through for about 30 seconds. I also like to heat the bun, not toast it, steam it to warm through.
Add heated vegan roast beef, along with cheese sauce, and Arby’s sauce to the buns to serve.
Serve with Arby’s brand curly fries and a homemade vegan Jamocha shake to complete your veganized Arby’s experience! Y’all have to know I did not go to all this trouble without making that shake and sharing the recipe!! Cause I love you all that much ;)

BONUS REICPE (VEGAN JAMOCAH SHAKE)

Blend 3 cups vegan chocolate ice cream with 1 cup cold, strong coffee, and 1 cup plant milk! It’s that easy and sooooo good!!!

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Abry’s sauce. Like liquid gold when I was growing up.

We, like most families I knew, had a kitchen drawer dedicated to “junk” and extra fast food restaurant sauce packets. Ours was normally full of ketchup packets, malt vinegar packets, and Arby’s sauce.

If you an unfamiliar with said sauce, imagine a ketchup with a kick, like you are not too sure what gives it that tangy spice, but you really don’t care because it is magic on roast beef and those famous Arby’s curly fries!!

Arby’s was hands down my favorite fast food restaurant back in the day.

When I was in high school, you could get 5 classic Arby’s roast beef sandwiches for $5. Me and my friend Jessica would raid my step sisters giant jar of change for $5 so we could split 5 roast beef sandwiches between us. And let me tell you, we both could EASILY pound 2 and half classic roast beefs in one sitting, no problem. Not that I would advise anyone do that now that I am a grown up and realized nobody “needs” 2 and half sandwiches of any kind at one time.

So I made the sauce to add to my favorite old sandwich and now I will always have a jar in my fridge for dipping fires, or adding to sandwiches. Because its delicious, and so super duper easy to make.

Arby’s sauce is in fact vegan according to their website, but being that not much else is at an Arby’s other than the fries, it is much easier to make this sauce by the jar full at home!

And just like that, vegan kitchen’s “junk” drawers are already less cluttered than the ones of those who went before us!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup water
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
a few shakes of hot sauce (you really just need a tiny amount)
1 tablespoon corn starch mixed with 3 tablespoons cold water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Add all of the ingredients except for the starch and water mixture to a medium sized pot over medium/low heat. Whisk well, and allow the mixture to simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add the starch and water mixture to the pot and whisk well. Allow the mixture to simmer another 5 minutes so it begins to thicken.
Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool before transferring to a glass jar or other airtight container. Store in the fridge for 1 to 2 weeks.

If you like this recipe, then try these: