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!
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.
And 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.
If you love making your own homemade vegan cheese then also check out our vegan brie, vegan camembert and vegan blue 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 and 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.
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.
Ingredient Notes
The Cashews:
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!).
Provided your blender is strong enough I don’t really see any reason to soak them first in this recipe but I am not an expert on your blender. If you know your blender will have trouble with this, then you can soak them briefly in boiling water. Just place the nuts into a bowl, pour boiling water over the top and then leave them to soak for 15 minutes, 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 3 times as much of it.
Cashew Cheese Q&A
Can you 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.
Can you put it on pizza? We tried it on pizza. And it was very tasty and it melted! But let me be clear, when I say ‘melted’ I do NOT mean that it spreads like dairy cheese. No it definitely doesn’t. It softens though and gets melty.
We tried it grated on pizza and sliced, and either way was fantastic. We put it on the pizza before going in the oven, so it melted along with everything else, and it was really good.
Storing and Freezing
Keep it stored in the fridge (covered) where it will last up to a week.
It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the fridge.
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! Also check out our vegan cottage cheese and vegan feta.
- 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!
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Hard Sliceable Cashew Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 cup Raw Cashews (150g)
- ⅓ cup Water (80ml)
- 5 Tbsp Lemon Juice Freshly Squeezed
- 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
- ¼ cup Tahini (60g)
- ½ Medium Raw Carrot (~30g) peeled and sliced
- 2 ½ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Paprika
- ⅛ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- ¼ cup Nutritional Yeast
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder or flakes
- 1 cup Water (240ml)
- 1 Tbsp Agar Agar Powder must be powder and not flakes*
Instructions
- Add the cashews, ⅓ 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.
Video
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 to use 3 times as much (3 tablespoons).
- 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 but it tends to get firmer the longer it’s in the fridge. So it’s better for grating on the second day than on the day it’s made.
- It does also melt. We put a slice on a cracker and put it in the microwave for 15 seconds and it melted. So yes it does melt!
- We have also tried it on pizza. We tried it 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 good.
- This recipe makes one 21 ounce (600g) round of vegan cheese.
- Serving size is 4 slices which is approximately 1 ounce.
Ali says
I added a fire roasted red bell pepper, a tbs of white miso paste and a tiny bit of liquid smoke (using a toothpick). The flavor came out fabulous, but it’s very very soft. Like cream cheese spreadable.
What’s the secret to getting it firm firm?
Alison Andrews says
Glad the taste was good. Firmness is all about the agar agar – if using the flakes use 3 times as much, if using the powder then follow the recipe, but make sure your powder is pure and not diluted with other ingredients.
Danielle says
Is there a substitute for the cashews in this recipe?
Alison Andrews says
It may be possible to use slivered almonds but the texture would be different.
Addy says
What kind of coconut oil do you use? Another recipe specifically asked for refined coconut oil. I have unrefined and don’t know if I should use or not. Thank you.
Alison Andrews says
You can use either/or in this recipe as the coconut taste doesn’t come through, so you don’t specifically need to use a refined one.
Michele says
Hi, do the cashews have to be raw or can they be cooked and unsalted thanks
Alison Andrews says
You can use roasted cashews, but it will change the flavor a little.
Justine Ballan says
Hi Alison,
I can’t have coconut oil, can I substitute it for another oil?
Justine
Alison Andrews says
You can leave it out.
Mieke says
Hi Alison,
Thank you for a blog full of recipes!
I made the cashew cheese in this recipe, but it didn’t get the hardness I expected. Consistencywise it is more like the cheese ball: I can slice it a bit, but it is more of a “spready” than a “slicey” feel..
Still nice on toast or breadroll, just not what I expexted based on your photos.
I followed the recipe and did’t sub anything, I was just one tablespoon of nutritional yeast short to make 1/4 cup, but didn’t think that would make a difference in the conistency. (I let it set in the fridge overnight)
Do you have an idea of what could ‘ve gone wrong?
Definitely want to try it again ☺
Alison Andrews says
Hi Mieke, check your agar agar to make sure it’s pure and not mixed with anything and also that it’s the powder and not the flakes.
Harmony says
Hi there! I would love to make this for thanksgiving but can’t find any agar agar powder! Could I substitute cornstarch?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Harmony, no, cornstarch won’t work, and agar agar is a must for this particular recipe. We do have other vegan cheese recipes that don’t require agar agar though.
Laur says
Do you think I could get away with skipping the Carrot in this recipe, or would that have too much impact on taste/texture?
Alison Andrews says
You can leave it out.
Elaine says
Wow! This is so-o-o- good. I followed the instructions and it came out perfect. I’m going to make this for friends. Looking forward to trying other things on your beautiful website. Thank you so much.
Vegan in Atlanta
Alison Andrews says
Thanks so much Elaine!
Yalini says
To call this recipe delicious would be an understatement – it’s simply perfect and addictive!
P.S I had to swap out the Dijon mustard for 1tsp of yellow mustard powder and it clearly didn’t have any impact to taste as like I said, it was perfect!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks so much Yalini!
Odette Wheeler says
Amazing recipe. First time I’ve made it. Agree only use agar agar vegan gelatine is not the same. Posted on Instagram for you.
Alison Andrews says
Awesome Odette, thank you! Will look out for it on insta! 🙂
Jude says
I am a newbie vegan and cheese cravings have been awful. I tried other recipes and tossed them away. This one is a KEEPER! Now I need to resist eating it all in one sitting ; ) I will definitely be trying your other recipes. Thank you!!!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome Jude! Thank you so much!
Katarina Nielsen says
Hi Alison! I rarely leave reviews, but this is so delicious that I had to say thank you for sharing it. The flavour is slightly addictive and since last night we have already eaten a third of the whole thing! Best vegan cheese we’ve had in this house 🙂 Thank you
Alison Andrews says
That is wonderful Katarina! Thanks so much for the awesome review.
Froso says
Hi, can’t wait to try this, but can I ask you if I can substitute the nutritional yeast ? As this is a trigger for my migraines
Alison Andrews says
You can leave it out! 🙂
Chris says
Jury is still out. To me, the mixture tasted great until the Agar went in, then the flavour changed to something less palatable. Mine is also the consistency of cream cheese so I’m going to leave it uncovered in the fridge for a day or two to strip out a little more moisture and see if the flavours develop the way some people have noted. I tried to blend mine in a nutri-bullet for an ultra-smooth texture, and because blenders are so hard to clean, but there is not quite enough liquid. It’ll need to be the blender next time. .