Vegan cashew cheese that is sliceable and perfect for a vegan cheese board! Full flavored, authentic looking and quick and easy to make too!
Hard, sliceable cashew cheese. It’s here! And I couldn’t be more excited!
We have guests coming next week and I have a full on cheese board planned, with this as the main event!
I have to admit it took me a fair few goes to get this one right. If you follow us on instagram then you might have seen in our instastories where I was proudly showing off each new attempt!
From the start though I was delighted with this.
To think it can be so easy to make a super impressive block of vegan cheese!
How to make cashew cheese
I started off with just a basic recipe and then quickly saw that I needed to add more cashews to make it really rich and lots more spices to make that cheese flavor really stand out.
Some recipes recommend you cook it all up with the agar agar powder (which is what makes it set) on the stove and then pour it out into your dish to set, but this doesn’t work at all when you use more cashews to make a thicker/more robust cheese, because then it’s too thick to stir up properly with the agar agar.
And since the agar agar needs to boil for at least a minute for that agar powder to set up properly I found it a much better plan to do it separately.
So basically, you make up a batch of cashew cheese sauce in the blender, but you spice it up more strongly than you would usually, to the point that if you taste it, you’ll be thinking: this is too strong!
But then you boil up a cup of water with agar agar powder on the stove, let that boil for a minute then pour that mix into your cashew cheese sauce (conveniently still in the blender) blend it up again and then pour it all out into your dish to set.
The water and agar powder dilute the spiciness of the cheese and while setting it also dilutes it a bit so you have to start off strong to end up with perfectly spiced cashew cheese!
And it is simply fabulous! You can slice it into perfect slices and put them on crackers or bread or wherever you would eat a slice of cheese.
But you can mash it up too! It’s sliceable and hard enough to cut perfect slices, but you can also still smash it on a cracker if you want to.
A vegan cheese board!
It’s perfect for a vegan cheese board with some red grapes, jams, maybe some mixed salted nuts and a selection of crackers (and maybe some wine too!).
And let me just say, a slice of this on a cracker with some mixed fruit jam on top (but any jam would be awesome) was like the best thing ever! Jaye and I were in heaven! And we can’t wait to show it off to our guests next week.
To soak or not to soak….
This recipe is quick and easy and one of the things that makes it so quick is that you don’t need to soak the cashews first. You can just go right in and blend them up.
The reason it’s possible to do this is because you’re making a sauce to start off with, it’s not a super thick cheese right off the bat so it’s more easily blendable (I do have a vitamix though so that helps!).
But lately I have been questioning the assumption in a lot of recipes about soaking cashews. In my older recipes I often just did soak them because I thought they would be easier to blend, but provided your blender is strong enough I don’t really see any reason to soak them first in this recipe.
But on the other hand I am not an expert on your blender. If you know your blender will have trouble with this, then you can soak them for one hour in boiling water. Just place the nuts into a bowl, pour boiling water over the top and then leave them to soak for an hour, then drain and use as normal.
The Agar Agar
The crucial ingredient in this recipe is the agar agar powder. It is what makes the cheese set.
You get two types of agar agar, you get the powder version and the flakes. Use agar agar powder. The agar agar powder is much stronger than the flakes and is what we used in this recipe.
If you have no other option but to use flakes, then you will have to use up to 3 times as much of it.
You will love this delicious cashew cheese!
- It’s sliceable
- Perfect for a cheese board
- Authentic looking!
- Ideal on crackers
- Quick
- So easy!
Keep it covered in the fridge where it lasts up to a week!
Can I grate it? This cheese can also be grated, the firmer it is the easier it will grate, and the longer it’s in the fridge the firmer it gets, so if it’s not ideally firm for grating on the first day it will likely be grate-able by the second day.
Does it melt? I put a slice on a cracker and put it in the microwave for 15-seconds to see if it melted and it did! So it does melt.
We also tried it on pizza. And it was very tasty! But let me be clear, when I say ‘melt’ I do NOT mean that it spreads like dairy cheese. No it definitely doesn’t. It softens though and gets melty.
We tried it both grated on pizza and sliced, and either way was fantastic. Just to be clear we put it on the pizza before going in the oven, so it melted along with everything else, and it was really good.
Can I freeze it? Yes you can!
More delicious vegan cheese recipes!
- Since this recipe was published, we’ve made another firm sliceable cheese, a delicious vegan cheddar cheese, so you definitely want to check that out.
- We also have a totally divine vegan cream cheese that is everything you want spread on your breads and bagels!
- Our cashew cheese sauce is perfect drizzled over pizza or baked potatoes and our vegan parmesan cheese is wonderful sprinkled over anything and everything!
- Our vegan mozzarella is divine on some pizza and our vegan nacho cheese is divine on… you guessed it, some vegan nachos!
- And then there’s our vegan ricotta which is incredible just as is, but can also be baked into a vegan lasagna recipe or some vegan stuffed shells!
So let us know what you think of this sliceable cashew cheese! And I hope you’ll be making it soon, and when you do, please rate the recipe and let us know how it turned out!
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Hard Sliceable Cashew Cheese
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: 600g (21oz) block of cheese
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Vegan cashew cheese that is sliceable and perfect for a vegan cheese board! It’s delicious on crackers and you can slice it into perfect slices and you can mash it up on a cracker if you like. Full flavored, authentic looking and quick and easy to make too!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (150g) Raw Cashew Nuts
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Water
- 5 Tbsp Lemon Juice (Freshly Squeezed)
- 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
- 1/4 cup (60g) Tahini
- 1/2 Medium Carrot, peeled (~30g)
- 2 and 1/2 tsp Salt*
- 1/4 tsp Paprika
- 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder (or flakes)
- 1 cup (240ml) Water
- 1 Tbsp Agar Agar Powder (not flakes)*
Instructions
- Add the cashews, 1/3 cup water, lemon juice, coconut oil, tahini, carrot, salt, paprika, cayenne, dijon mustard, nutritional yeast and garlic powder to the blender and blend until very smooth. Leave the mix in the blender and set aside.
- Add 1 cup of water and the agar agar powder to a saucepan and heat, stirring regularly until boiling. Boil it for 1 minute (time it), stirring regularly and after 1 minute remove it from the heat and pour it into the blender on top of the cheese mix.
- Blend until smooth.
- Moving quickly, as it will start setting up very fast, pour the mix out into a round dish sprayed with non-stick spray.
- Refrigerate until set. To remove from the bowl, turn upside down onto a plate.
Notes
*It is crucial for the success of this recipe that you use agar agar powder and not flakes. Flakes are much less powerful and if you DO use flakes you will need up to 3 times as much. I cannot be exact on the amount since I did not make this recipe with the flakes, only the powder.
*This might seem like a lot of salt, but it works perfectly in this recipe.
*I used a regular round bowl, it was 5 inches round and 2 inches deep. I chose it because it was quite straight up the sides so created a nicer shape for the cheese. But you can really use any bowl or ramekin, and if your bowls are smaller, then just use 2 bowls for 2 smaller blocks of cheese.
*This cheese can be grated.
*I also put a slice on a cracker and put it in the microwave for 15 seconds and it melted! So yes it does melt! This isn’t really what I would call the main use for this though, as I think it tastes better as is, but yes it melts!
*We have also now tried it on pizza! And it was fantastic! We tried it both grated onto a pizza and sliced. Either way was great. We put it on with all our other toppings before going into the oven and it got nice and soft and melty along with the other toppings. It doesn’t spread or anything, but it’s very very good!
- Category: Savory, Gluten-Free, Appetizer
- Method: Blender and Stovetop
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 Slices (approx 1 oz)
- Calories: 73
- Sugar: 0.6g
- Sodium: 304mg
- Fat: 6g
- Saturated Fat: 1.8g
- Carbohydrates: 3.8g
- Fiber: 0.7g
- Protein: 2.1g
Keywords: cashew cheese
This is a great recipe. The cashew cheese is delicious, Thank you so much!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hi Alison, I would like to try this recipe but I don’t have non-stick spray. Would butter or oil do as well?
Hi Lise, sure! Anything that will stop it from sticking to the bowl, so either/or should work fine, if you have coconut oil that will work great.
I used parchment paper. Worked great.
My first attempt making vegan cheese. It was an easy to follow recipe and came out delicious! I thought it was a little salty at first but once it was on a cracker it was fantastic.
I gave up cheese 3 months ago fully and every once in a while I really miss it.
Thanks for the recipe!!
★★★★
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I wanted to make this today. Is the carrot supposed to be raw or do I cook it?
It’s meant to be the raw carrot. 🙂
We have been trying different cheese recipes in the last 4 months and this is the one we have been looking for!!!!
This cheese is absolutely perfect 👌 in every way
Creamy, perfect quantity of salt and spices!
Soooo easy to make, bonus you don’t even have to soak the cashews !!!!!!
We are in cheese heaven ✨
Can’t wait to try your other recipes!
★★★★★
Soooo happy to hear this Chantal! Thank you so much for the amazing review. 🙂
Hi! Going to make this recipe tonight, but I’m wondering if it’s possible to leave the carrot out?
I ran out of carrots and won’t make it to the grocery store until tomorrow lol
Hi there, have you perhaps got a red pepper on hand? If so, then check out our vegan cheddar cheese! Otherwise it will probably be fine to omit it.
Hi! Thanks for the recipe. I followed it religiously, but it came out jelly-like instead of firm, and very VERY lemony. Is lemon necessary? What have I done wrong??
Hi Virginia, I’m not sure why it was so lemony, I haven’t experienced that. In terms of not setting though, it can be caused by a couple of things, firstly make sure your agar agar is powder form and not flakes and also that it is pure agar agar and not some type of blend. If it’s pure agar agar powder and it boils for a minute, then it should set up just fine.
Thanks for your reply! My agar-agar is definitely powder, but I have another brand so I’ll try with that one too. I may go lighter with the lemon next time.
How long does it take to set? I was hoping to make it today but without knowing how long (even approximately) it takes, I can’t decide. It looks amazing and I will be trying it at some point though!
It’s a couple of hours.
Not a fan of Tahini, would there be an acceptable substitute?
You can leave it out. 🙂
Is the coconut oil a recent addition? I’m sure when I first came a cross this recipe it was oil free 😕
The coconut oil has always been there.
Thank you. My foggy brain didn’t register it 😂. I’m guessing it really wouldn’t work oil free…?
You can definitely try leaving it out! 🙂
Try Canola oil instead of coconut oil.
So excited about this recipe. I have 3 kids that have a milk allergy. So we have been buying Vegan cheese for awhile. But lately we are trying to spend less money on are grocery bill. Decided making are own cheese should help with that. I have tried making my own in the past and it was a big Disaster. But I like how this recipe is very clear.
My husband want to know is that cheese has to be round. Or could you use a small bread pan instead
★★★★★
Hi Holly! So glad you like the recipe! The cheese definitely does not need to be round, a small bread pan should work great! 🙂
Made this for the third or forth time. Any time I’m going to a friends house I bring this for a party favor, and any time I made lasagna I put this all over it. Thanks Alison, you’re the best. Love this recipe <3
★★★★★
Awesome! So happy to hear that Taylor! Thanks for the wonderful review. 🙂
I made this today and it tasted very cheese like. Very pleased! I’m hoping it will get harder by tomorrow as I don’t think I can grate it just yet. Definitely tastier than shop bought I’ve tried.
★★★★★
Hi Davina! So glad it’s tasty! It usually does firm up more the longer it’s in the fridge. 🙂
So my mom is allergic to coconut. Is there anything else I could use? Normally I just substitute with avocado oil but I’m thinking it wouldn’t set right with that. I’m really wanting her to try some vegan goodies this holiday!
Hi Jorden, you could just leave it out, but I think it would also be fine with a different oil since it’s a relatively small amount. 🙂
Hi! I made this recipe today and it turned out too sour! Too much lemon?
The lemon juice might have been very sour, I would taste test the lemon juice before using it again just in case. 🙂