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.
Chris says
Have made this recipe twice now, but only with Agar Flakes. It turned out great both times, second time I doubled the flakes and actually ground them up a bit first. Now I reread the recipe, you mentioned to use at least three times the amount of flakes to powder. Teaches me to read recipe properly. Mine was ‘hard’ enough to slice perfectly, but probably too soft to grate. We love toasties, and it’s perfect for that. Will try your other recipes next. So thrilled I now have ‘cheese’ to eat again, it was the hardest thing for me to give up going plant based.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Chris, so glad you like the recipe and that it’s been great for toasties (we love those too!). Yes, the flakes do require you to use more, so would be the reason it isn’t quite hard enough to grate. But so glad you’re enjoying cheese again! Thanks for the awesome review. 🙂
Felicitas says
Best vegan cheese ever!!!! I’ve made a pizza and grated the cheese on top and it was delicious. Also great on Swedish bread or rye bread. Love it love it love it
Alison Andrews says
Yay! So pleased to hear that! Thanks so much for the awesome review. 🙂
Noor says
Hi!
Amazing recipe, I did tweak it a little, as I didn’t have any tahini, coconutoil or carrots, so I put in a little extra water & tumeric and it worked fine! (Also, I didn’t want a “spicy” cheese, I left out paprika etc. And I put in some miso for a little extra savoury flavour, which was great.. just put in a tab too much miso ?). Oh and I bought the wrong agar agar, it was a powder, just vanilla flavoured… But it turned out fine for a first run haha.
Jennifer says
I don’t normally comment on recipes but I absolutely had to on this! I honesrly didn’t have super high hopes that this would work out but this is amazing! Me and cheese have always been like ?But since going plant based cheese was a no go. This recipe is absolutely amazing I just wish I had found it along time ago thank you from the bottom of my heart you’re my hero ! Also I halved the recipe & used a fourth of a cup of homemade cashew butter (nothing but cashews) since I didn’t have cashew nuts available. I added two baby carrots & an additional pinch of turmeric spice for color. Kept everything else the same . It’s firm enough to slice 30 min after making it but I will let sit longer to firm up further !
Alison Andrews says
I am thrilled to hear this Jennifer! Thanks so much for sharing. I’m so happy you love the recipe and also that it worked great with cashew butter because that is really helpful info to know. Thanks for the awesome review as well! 🙂
Mimine says
Thanks from me too, Jennifer!
I bought some Trader Joe mixed nut butter for this recipe. Now I have hope that it may just work.
Charlene says
I made the recipe and was so excited. However, it was just too salty for my taste. Im going to make another batch today. Im wondering if I goofed as you addressed that in your post. I am excited about the recipe, though and will try it again.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Charlene, hope you will be able to adjust it perfectly to your liking next time. 🙂
Tamara says
This recipe is great! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Can the cheese be frozen to extend its life beyond one week?
Alison Andrews says
So glad you like it! Yes it can be frozen, others have done it successfully. 🙂 Thanks for the great review!
Rena Stein says
I’ve been making this recipe for months now, and find it’s the best by far of all the vegan cheese recipes I’ve tried. As my husband is Dutch, I turn it into Spiced Gouda by adding 2 tbsp of cumin seeds, and he loves it. I also substitute the carrot for 1/2 tsp of turmeric and find that this cheese, if put into a small cotton bag, will mature beautifully in the fridge and keep for several weeks. In fact, the older it is, the tastier it gets. Thank you for inventing this delicious recipe. I’m thinking of adapting it somehow so I can make marinated feta because I don’t eat soy and all of the recipes for feta seem to contain this abominable bean.
Alison Andrews says
Wow that is awesome to know! Thanks so much Rena! 🙂
Mimine says
Trader Joe’s mixed nut butter. It’s mild just like tahini, but without sesame seeds.
Alison Andrews says
Thank you! 🙂
Debra says
Hi! I’m so excited to try this recipe. Is there a substitute for tahini?
Thank you
Milica says
Hii Alison. Am planning to make this super eazy recipe, just could you tell me how much of 1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast is it in g? Or how much tbsp of it? I have never used Nutritional Yeast before so dont know how much your cup is in g, dont want to add too much or too little.
Alison Andrews says
Hi there, sure, 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast is 15g. 🙂
Milica says
Thank you 🙂 its good that i asked , coz i expected it would be more then 30g.
Jessica says
Hi there,
I’m really keen to try this recipe but I don’t think my blender/food processor will cope with raw cashews (even if i boil them first). What do you think about using cashew butter instead? I’ve read elsewhere that 1 cup of cashew butter is equivalent to 2 cups of raw cashews, and I tried this ratio with a vegan cheesecake recipe and it seemed to work okay. Just curious about your thoughts for this cheese recipe 🙂
Thanks!!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jessica, I have definitely not tried it like that but it sounds like it could work. If you try it please let us know how it goes! 🙂
Mimine says
I have a small food processor and make 1/2 batches of this cheese at a time (only two of us). I process the dry, raw, and unsoaked cashews alone (until crumbly) before proceeding with this recipe It works perfectly.
Alison Andrews says
Thanks for sharing that technique, super helpful! And thanks so much for the 5* review too, much appreciated. 🙂
Heidi says
My husband and I weren’t crazy about this as a sliceable cheese. The flavor profile reminded us a lot of cheese dip rather than cedar. So after it set and we sampled, we decided to put it in the crockpot with some ground chicken and salsa and make a meal out of it. It was quite yummy.
We thought the mustard flavor was rather strong and overpowered a lot of the other spices. Next time, we’ll try cutting it by half. Also our “cheese” turned out yellow rather than the nice orange color you have. I measured the carrot out to 30grams, which to me looked more like a quarter of a carrot, rather than half. Next time I’ll double it.
And if there’s anyone who came to this recipe like me because of a dairy allergy or sensitivity and doesn’t need it to be vegan, we used 2 gelatin packets in place of the agar. It’s takes longer to set up, so we left it in the fridge overnight to set properly. It was firm but still soft. I would try three next time or maybe four.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Heidi, thanks for your feedback, my cheese is also yellow though, not orange, our vegan cheddar cheese is a stronger color as we used a red pepper in that one. The mustard flavor is definitely not supposed to be strong, it is not usually noticeable at all but just contributes to the cheesy flavor. But definitely use less next time if preferred. All the best! 🙂
Chely says
Can anyone think of something to use besides the tahini? I am allergic to sesame.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Chely you can try leaving it out. 🙂
Laura says
Hi Chely,
Did you try this recipe and leave out the tahini? I’m allergic to sesame too and was wondering if it would still come out good. Thanks.
scott says
I thought i had agar but i only have guar gum… It’s in the fridge we shall see. As well had to ad a bit more water to blend smoothly before adding guar gum. My expectations are low as i did not have agar.
Irene Aldridge says
I made this last weekend and the flavour is wicked! However, mine turned out more like pate but nothing wrong with that – gorgeous on toast. I’ll have another go in a few days.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Irene, so glad the flavor is good! Hope it will turn out firmer next time though. 🙂
Rebecca Dearden says
I’d like to use kappa carageenan instead of the agar agar. I think that would mean cooking the whole mix for a while. Any advice on the quantity of carageenan powder and the length of cooking needed?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Rebecca, sorry I have not used that ingredient so I can’t advise. All the best and hope it goes well! 🙂