Sliceable Vegan Cashew Cheese
It slices, it grates, it softens on toast. A homemade vegan cheese made with cashews and VitaVegantis Nutritional Yeast — 20 minutes of work, then it firms up in the fridge.
For this recipe
Most homemade vegan cheeses either stay spreadable or never really taste of cheese. Two things make the difference here: seasoning the cashew cream more strongly than seems right, and boiling the agar agar separately before adding it. The result is a wheel that slices cleanly with a knife, grates the next day and softens on toast and pizza. All of the cheesy flavour comes from the nutritional yeast: cashews give the texture, agar gives the set, and VitaVegantis Nutritional Yeast gives the taste that makes it read as cheese.
Ingredients
For the cheese cream
- 1 cup (150 g) raw cashews
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) water
- 5 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tbsp coconut oil (at room temperature)
- ¼ cup (60 g) tahini
- ½ medium carrot (~30 g), peeled and sliced
- ¼ cup VitaVegantis Nutritional Yeast (this is what makes it taste of cheese)
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp sweet paprika
- A pinch of cayenne pepper
- 2½ tsp salt (it looks like a lot; it lands right once the water and agar go in)
For the set
- 1 cup (240 ml) cold water
- 1 tbsp agar agar powder (not flakes)
Method
- 1.Put the cashews, ⅓ cup of water, the lemon juice, coconut oil, tahini, carrot, ¼ cup of VitaVegantis Nutritional Yeast, the mustard, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne and salt into a blender. Blend until completely smooth, with no grit left. Leave the cream in the blender.
- 2.Taste it: if you're thinking "too salty, too sharp", you're on the right track. It lands exactly right once the agar water goes in.
- 3.Put 1 cup of cold water and the agar agar powder in a small pan and heat, stirring. Once it starts to boil, time it: boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Pour it straight over the cream in the blender.
- 4.Blend for another 20-30 seconds until smooth.
- 5.Work quickly; the mixture starts to set almost immediately. Pour into a lightly oiled, straight-sided bowl about 12-13 cm across and level the top.
- 6.Chill for at least 3-4 hours, ideally overnight. Turn the bowl out onto a plate and slice.
Tips Worth Reading
- Agar agar powder is essential. Flake agar is much weaker; if flakes are all you have, use three times the amount (3 tbsp). Almost every "my cheese didn't set" complaint comes down to the type of agar or not boiling it long enough.
- Don't cook the agar with the cream. The cream here is thick and hard to boil agar into. Boiling it separately and adding it afterwards is both easier and more reliable.
- Start with cold water and boil for a full minute. Both the time and the stirring matter for the agar to set.
- Keep the seasoning strong. A cup of agar water dilutes the cream; the salt and spice that seem excessive at first land exactly right at the end. Don't cut the salt by more than a quarter.
- Soaking the cashews isn't essential. With a powerful blender, go straight in. If yours is weaker, steep the cashews in boiling water for 15 minutes and drain.
- The carrot is for colour. It gives the cheese its yellow tone; you won't taste it. Leave it out and the recipe still works, just paler.
- It doesn't work without nutritional yeast. All of the cheese flavour comes from it; leave it out and you have salted cashew cream. The measure is ¼ cup; for a sharper cheese, add another tablespoon.
- Coconut oil can be swapped for any room-temperature vegetable oil or vegan butter. Blanched almonds work in place of cashews.
- Wait until day two to grate it. It firms up the longer it sits: sliceable on day one, easy to grate on day two.
- Does it melt? It softens in a toastie or the oven and looks melted, but it won't spread like dairy cheese. On pizza, add it sliced or grated along with the other toppings.
- Storage: up to a week in a sealed container in the fridge. Three months in the freezer; thaw in the fridge.
- Variation: add a little under a teaspoon of liquid smoke to the blender for a smoked cheese.
Where to Use It
- Sliced on the breakfast table, with olives and tomatoes
- On a cracker with a spoonful of fruit preserve — the star of the cheese board
- Grated, as the cheese in our Vegan Meatball Sub and Vegan Spaghetti & Meatballs recipes
- In toasties and on pizza
One wheel of cheese, one blender, 20 minutes. The cheesy flavour in this recipe comes from VitaVegantis Nutritional Yeast; you can find it at your nearest stockist: See where to buy
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