This vegan camembert is so good you will hardly believe it. It’s super easy, no ageing required, and it tastes as good or better than the ‘real thing’. Enjoy on crackers or as part of a vegan cheese board.
You guys, there are vegan cheese recipes out there that will take you days (or sometimes even weeks) to make.
I remember buying cookbooks years ago for vegan and raw vegan cheeses and I would see recipes that required ageing of the cheeses and a timeframe of days to weeks. And I would just be amazed that anyone has that sort of patience.
Hats off to those that do! But it’s not me, so this is not one of those recipes.
This vegan camembert is something that you can make up super fast. You do have to soak the cashews first and that takes a little time (1 hour) but then it’s a case of blend, pour and bake (30 minutes), cool, slice and enjoy!
And if you love easy vegan cheese recipes then also check out our vegan cream cheese, vegan ricotta, vegan cottage cheese and vegan cheese ball.
Ingredients You Need:
Ingredient Notes
- Nutritional yeast. We used the flakes not the powder. This provides cheesy flavor. If you’re not a fan of nutritional yeast for any reason you can omit it. The recipe will still work without it, though it will lose some of the cheesiness.
- Vegetable stock. You can use vegetable stock or broth.
- Raw cashews. These are soaked in hot water for one hour. Place them in a bowl, pour over boiling hot water from the kettle and leave to soak for one hour. Then drain them and continue with the recipe.
- Ground rainbow peppercorns. We put ground rainbow/mixed peppercorns on top of the camembert to get that gorgeous look. You can also use regular ground black pepper.
- Distilled white vinegar. This is amazing for ramping up the cheesy flavor in recipes. Apple cider vinegar can work in a pinch but it’s not as good for flavor.
How To Make Vegan Camembert
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Place raw cashews into a bowl. Pour over boiling hot water from the kettle. Leave them to soak for 1 hour. Then drain and rinse.
- Add the soaked cashews, garlic, salt, nutritional yeast, distilled white vinegar, onion powder, dijon mustard and vegetable stock to the blender jug and blend until smooth.
- Prepare two oven safe ramekins (~3 inches round, 2.5 inches deep) by lining them with parchment paper. You can secure the parchment paper in place with a rubber band. Just don’t forget to take the rubber bands off before you bake.
- Pour the cheese mix into the ramekins, dividing it evenly between them.
- Sprinkle the top with ground rainbow peppercorns.
- Bake in the oven at 350°F for 30 minutes.
- Allow them to cool at room temperature until they’re cool and then place into the fridge to chill completely before removing them from their ramekins.
- Slice and serve on bread or crackers or as part of a vegan cheese board.
Vegan Camembert Success Tips
Ramekins. We used two small oven safe ramekins (3 inches round, 2.5 inches deep). If you have a bigger ramekin you can just use one. The exact size isn’t important, you just want to be able to fit your cheese mix into it. So if you have smaller ramekins maybe you will make 3 smaller cheese rounds, or if you have a bigger one (5-6 inches round), you can make a single cheese round. Of course make sure it’s oven safe so that you can bake it.
Let the cheese chill. It’s ideal to let the cheeses cool at room temperature until they have reached room temperature and then move them to the fridge to chill completely. You want them to be completely cold and feel firm to the touch before you remove them from the ramekins. This will make them easy to slice as well.
Storing and Freezing
Keep your cheese stored in the fridge and enjoy within a week. It is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and enjoy.
More Vegan Cheese Recipes
- Sliceable Cashew Cheese
- Vegan Cheddar Cheese
- Vegan Mozzarella
- Vegan Nacho Cheese
- Vegan Feta
- Vegan Parmesan
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Print
Vegan Camembert
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Soaking Cashews: 60 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 2 small cheeses
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This vegan camembert is so good you will hardly believe it. It’s super easy, no ageing required, and it tastes as good or better than the ‘real thing’. Enjoy on crackers or as part of a vegan cheese board.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (150g) Raw Cashews (Soaked for 1 hour)
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast Flakes
- 1 tsp Distilled White Vinegar
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Vegetable Stock/Broth
- Ground Rainbow Peppercorns
Instructions
- Place raw cashews into a bowl. Pour over boiling hot water from the kettle. Leave them to soak for 1 hour. Then drain and rinse.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Add the soaked cashews, garlic, salt, nutritional yeast, distilled white vinegar, onion powder, dijon mustard and vegetable stock to the blender jug and blend until smooth.
- Prepare two oven safe ramekins (~3 inches round, 2.5 inches deep, see notes*) by lining them with parchment paper. You can secure the parchment paper in place with a rubber band. Just don’t forget to take the rubber bands off before you bake.
- Pour the cheese mix into the ramekins, dividing it evenly between them.
- Sprinkle the top of the cheeses with ground rainbow peppercorns.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Allow them to cool at room temperature until they’re cool and then place into the fridge to chill completely before removing them from their ramekins.
- Slice and serve on bread or crackers or as part of a vegan cheese board.
Notes
*Nutritional yeast. If you’re not a fan of nutritional yeast for any reason you can omit it. The recipe will still work without it, though it will lose some of the cheesiness.
*Distilled white vinegar. This works wonderfully for adding cheesy flavor to recipes. Apple cider vinegar will work in a pinch but white vinegar is the best.
*Ramekins. We used two small oven safe ramekins (3 inches round, 2.5 inches deep). If you have a bigger ramekin you can just use one. The exact size isn’t important, you just want to be able to fit your cheese mix into it. So if you have smaller ramekins maybe you will make 3 smaller cheese rounds, or if you have a bigger one (5-6 inches round), you can make a single cheese round. Of course make sure it’s oven safe so that you can bake it.
*Let the cheese chill. It’s ideal to let the cheeses cool at room temperature until they have reached room temperature and then move them to the fridge to chill completely. You want them to be completely cold and feel firm to the touch before you remove them from the ramekins. This will make them easy to slice as well.
*Storing and Freezing. Keep your cheese stored in the fridge and enjoy within a week. It is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and enjoy.
*Serving size. This recipe makes 2 small cheeses or 1 larger round cheese. Nutritional information is calculated as 4 serves per small cheese, and 8 serves in total.
- Category: Side, Savory, Gluten-Free
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serve (of 8)
- Calories: 111
- Sugar: 1.1g
- Sodium: 244mg
- Fat: 8.3g
- Saturated Fat: 1.4g
- Carbohydrates: 7g
- Fiber: 0.7g
- Protein: 3.7g
Keywords: vegan camembert
We have cashew allergies in our house. What would you suggest I use as a substitute? Would almond flour be okay?
Hi Naomi, I wouldn’t use almond flour, but you could try it with slivered or blanched almonds. The texture will be a little different though.
I am new at making cheese. What are ramekins and where do I purchase them?
They are just small bowls, and in this case, oven safe small bowls. 🙂 You can use any oven safe small bowl. Depending on the size you may end up with one round cheese or two.
This was absolutely amazing! I have never had camembert cheese before, but this was delicious. It was easy to make with ingredients I already had on hand and came together perfectly. I served it with bread, crackers, halved dates, apple slices and bergmont marmalade and it paired beautifully with everything. I can’t wait to make this over and over again. Thank you!
★★★★★
Alison, this is gorgeous! Being French myself, I grew up eating Camembert. When I turned vegan, my main struggle was not eating cheese… knowing the health benefits of avoiding it, I managed the challenge. This recipe comes now as a blessing for the cheese eater I was… easy to prepare, tasting like a real Camembert… thank you Alison for such a great recipe once again.
★★★★★
This is awesome to hear Isabelle! Thank you so much for the amazing review!
Can we use regular mustard instead of dijon?
Hi Angie, yes you can. 🙂
This looks good. Does it have a soft consistancy of Brie?
It’s fairly firm once it’s chilled and sliceable as you can see in the pics, but you can still smash it up quite easily on a cracker.
I have a sensitivity to vinegar. Can I use lemon juice? I make a cashew sour cream and sub lemon juice for the vinegar and I like it better.
Can I use the food processor for this?
Don’t have a high powered blender and find the Cuisinart much easier to get it out of, and clean.
Thanks! Looks yummy!!
Hi Vicky, yes you could use lemon juice. The food processor will work, though the texture may not be quite as smooth as in the blender, but that’s fine. 🙂