Smoky red pepper vegan cheddar cheese. Firm and sliceable and totally delicious on crackers or sandwiches or grated on pizza.
This vegan cheddar cheese has a delicious smoky red pepper flavor and is truly divine.
It’s perfect for a vegan cheese board and you’ll absolutely impress all your guests if you bring this out at your next dinner party!
It’s also wonderful for any special occasions. Cheese and wine anyone?
This recipe is based on our sliceable cashew cheese recipe. That recipe is amazing, and if you’re going to make a cheese board, why not go all out and make both kinds of cheese? I recommend it.
I knew that I could intensity the flavors even more, make it a bit sharper and tangier for a cheddar flavored cheese. And that is exactly what we have here.
How to make vegan cheddar cheese
It’s so easy to make this. The majority of the ingredients are simply blended up in a blender as you see above.
Then you boil some water and agar agar on the stove, and once boiled you add that to the already blended ingredients in the blender and blend it in and then, working quickly because it starts to set super quickly, you pour it all out into a bowl, smooth it down and then place it into the fridge to set.
This is probably the easiest sliceable vegan cheese you’ll ever make. Unless you’ve made our other cashew cheese, then you already know how easy it is.
You don’t even need to soak your cashews first.
Really, the only tricky part to this recipe, is once you’ve boiled the agar agar powder and water together, and poured that into the blender to blend, you have to be really fast or you’ll have hard set cheese sitting in your blender jug.
You have to pour it in, blend it with the other (previously blended) ingredients really quickly and then pour it out into your prepared dish, all really quickly! Have I said the word ‘quickly’ enough? I’m not sure that I have. I really mean you have to do it quickly! Hahaha! 
Agar Agar Powder
The crucial ingredient in making this vegan cheddar cheese set is the agar agar powder.
You get agar agar powder and agar agar flakes. Use the powder. The powder is much stronger than the flakes, and the flakes would require you to use a lot more (up to 3 times as much).
This recipe was made with the powder and not the flakes so definitely use that.
Cashews make up the base of this cheese recipe and to that we add all kinds of delicious things that create that sharp cheddar flavor.
Red pepper provides color and flavor and smoked paprika creates a mildly smoky flavor that works great here.
Ingredient Substitutions
I always get asked about ingredient substitutions so let me just say, the best results are going to come from following the recipe. We test everything thoroughly so that we come up with something really good.
However, if you want to leave something out that is there for flavoring, it is still most likely going to come out fine.
As mentioned above, don’t try and leave out the agar agar powder, it won’t work without that. Or the cashews, but aside from those crucial ingredients, if you want to swap the red pepper for a yellow pepper or you want to leave out the cayenne pepper because you don’t like it, this is all likely fine.
Provided it is in a small quantity and it is not a crucial ingredient, you likely can substitute it for something similar or possibly even leave it out altogether.
Can you grate it? Yes you can. It is firm enough to grate. It tends to get firmer the longer it’s in the fridge, so if it’s not ideal for grating when it’s just set, it will be the next day.
Does it melt? Yes it does. It is not the kind of melty cheese that is going to spread over pizza, but it does melt a bit and soften when heated. So you can absolutely grate some and use it on a pizza. It won’t spread, but it will still be delicious.
Can I mash it? Yes, it’s soft enough to mash over your cracker if you like it mashed. It’s soft enough to mash while still also being firm enough to grate. It’s good stuff.
How long does it keep? About a week in the fridge.
Can I freeze it? Yes you can.
You will love this vegan cheddar cheese!
- It’s firm and sliceable
- Rich cheddar flavor
- Quick and easy
- Delicious sliced on crackers or sandwiches or grated on pizzas
Keep it covered in the fridge and consume within a week.
More vegan cheese recipes
If you love making your own vegan cheese, then you’ll also love these recipes:
- Vegan Mozzarella
- Vegan Nacho Cheese
- Vegan Queso
- Vegan Cashew Cheese Sauce
- Vegan Parmesan Cheese
- Vegan Cheese Sauce
Leave a comment below and let us know what you think of this recipe and please do rate it too. Thank you.
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Vegan Cheddar Cheese
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: ~21oz (600g) Block of Cheese
Description
Smoky red pepper vegan cheddar cheese. Firm and sliceable and totally delicious on crackers or sandwiches or grated on pizza.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (150g) Raw Cashews
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Water
- 5 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
- 1/4 cup (60g) Tahini
- 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce*
- 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
- 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Medium Red Bell Pepper (deseeded and chopped, about 3/4 cup)
- 2 and 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 cup (15g) Nutritional Yeast
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 cup (240ml) Water
- 1 Tbsp Agar Agar Powder (not flakes)
Instructions
- Add the cashews, 1/3 cup water, lemon juice, coconut oil, tahini, soy sauce, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, red pepper, salt, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and onion powder to the blender jug. Blend until smooth. Set aside, but do not remove from the blender.
- Add the 1 cup of water and agar agar powder to a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Once boiling let it boil for 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat and pour it into the blender on top of the cheese mix.
- Blend until smooth.
- Working quickly, as it will start to set very fast, pour it out into a round dish sprayed with non-stick spray.
- Smooth it down and then place it into the fridge to set.
- To remove from the bowl, turn it upside down onto a plate.
Notes
*If you want this cheese to be gluten-free then use a gluten-free soy sauce or switch it for Tamari.
*The bowl I used was 5 inches round and 2 inches deep, chosen because it goes quite straight up the sides so creates a nice shape for the cheese. You can use any round bowl or ramekin, and if your bowls are smaller, then just use 2 bowls for 2 smaller rounds of cheese.
- Category: Savory, Side, Gluten-Free
- Method: Blender and Stovetop
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 Slices (1oz)
- Calories: 76
- Sugar: 0.9g
- Sodium: 346mg
- Fat: 6g
- Saturated Fat: 1.8g
- Carbohydrates: 4.2g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 2.2g
Keywords: vegan cheddar cheese
Thank you for the recipe but oh my goodness it was way way too salty for us! Great texture though, and I can tell from the other ingredients it could be really good. So next time I’ll start with just half a teaspoon and go from there. I’m disappointed but determined to try again! 😊
I wonder if my onion granules contain salt. I didn’t have onion powder. Perhaps that was the problem…my tastebuds are too blasted to check right now! 🤣
Hi Rachel, it is possible that there was salt in your other onion granules, it shouldn’t be salty like you’re describing, but definitely tweak the recipe to your tastes as well.
I love the taste of this cheese. Also love the way it sets. Only issue i have with it is that it does not melt well. Works best as a cheese spread. I wish I could post pics here
★★★★★
Thanks for sharing Raam! We do find that it melts a little and gets soft and ‘melty’ but it definitely doesn’t have the spread that you would get with a dairy cheese.
Are you using refined or unrefined coconut oil?
You can use either in this recipe, but we used virgin.
This was pretty good! My sister and I are on a no-dairy diet, and we’ve been looking for good vegan cheese recipes. I thought this was nice, flavor-wise. We would make it again!
★★★★
Thanks for this delicious recipe! We loved it.
★★★★★
Thanks Sue!
I could marry this cheese! After I put it in the fridge to set I definitely licked the spoon.
★★★★★
Hahaha awesome Jenny! Thanks for the great review! 🙂
I’d give it a 6 if it was possible!! My family absolutely loved this recipe! I’ve tried other vegan cheese recipes and this is the only time that people asked for the recipe… and I actually messed up by not reading your comments about not soaking the cashews. I think that’s why the cheese didn’t fully set, but my family didn’t even know about it and raved about the taste! I otherwise followed the recipe except I used 2 t of salt rather than 2 1/2. I’ve been doing increasingly more vegan recipes over the last 5 years and regular cheeses have been the things I’ve missed most. This recipe gives a cheese-lover a satisfying replacement. I also don’t usually comment about recipes, so please try this; you’ll be glad you did. You can always tweek it to your individual taste–another good thing about making it from scratch.
★★★★★
So pleased to hear this! Thank you so much for the wonderful review!
Tastes and smells good!
Unfortunately the consistency turned out wrong although I tried to follow the recipe quite correctly.
I threw a whole big-ish belled pepper into the blender. Maybe it was too much liquid? But I can hardly image it would be sliceable even if I left the belled pepper out. You could add the weight of the belled pepper just as a reference if u think this was the reason.
Or my table spoon of agar agar powder was smaller than ur table spoon? IDK. :/ I’ll try another recipe as soon as this (now) Cheese spread is finished :)))
★★★★
Can you soak or boil the cashews first for a smoother consistency? Or does the cheese have a pretty smooth consistency without boiling or soaking?
It’s best not to, because the cashews can absorb water and then your cheese has extra water content that can affect how it sets. As you can see our cheese has a very smooth consistency and we didn’t soak the cashews. If you feel your blender won’t manage though, then you can soak them but just do it for a very short period of time. Place in a bowl and pour over hot water and let them soak for 15 minutes.
Me and my daughter just finished making this! I changed it a little bit to suit our own taste preferences. I wanted a little more spice so I used a little over a tablespoon of juice/vinegar from the jalepeno jar and I substituted lime juice (only 4 tbs because I added the jalepeno vinegar) for lemon juice. I used a little extra tomato paste. Just a tiny bit. And I used only garlic powder because I didnt have onion powder. It was so good we shared the spoon! lol. I can’t wait to try it once it hardens!! We are so excited. Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!!! I love the paprika and red pepper too. So yummy!!! Thank again!!
★★★★★
Awesome Ashley, that sounds great! Hope you love the final result!
This is delicious, love it! I only made a half batch since I’ve made a similar recipe that I didn’t really like, wish I’d made a full batch! I left out the bell pepper, halved the salt and added 1/4 tsp white miso. My family devoured it, including my two year old, who is a vegan cheese fiend, which is great as this is so much healthier than the oil-based processed vegan cheese she usually eats. Definitely a keeper.
★★★★★
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing Heather!
Do you think it’s possible to freeze this?
Yes it is!
I just made this today and I LOVE it! I’m not even vegan or dairy free but I’ve been looking for new things to try and this turned out amazing. I couldn’t find agar agar powder in any of my local stores so I had to use the flakes. I used 3 tbsp of agar agar flakes with the same amount of water and it still worked! The flavor is delicious, somewhat cheddar like, but definitely its own thing which I honestly love. I also used fire roasted red peppers to amp up the flavor even more. Also, if you live alone like me, be warned this makes A LOT. (Which I’m totally fine with, I’m already thinking of a ton of great ways to eat it.) Thanks so much for sharing this Alison!!
★★★★★
So glad you love it Emily! Thanks so much for sharing!