Making your own vegan parmesan cheese is so fabulous you’ll likely want to have a permanent batch of this in your refrigerator, so you can sprinkle it on absolutely everything.
And I mean everything.
We sprinkle it on rice dishes, potato dishes, on salads, on the no-cheese thin crust pizza take-outs we buy, on pasta dishes (of course), veggie burgers, and whatever else we can think of!
If it’s a savory dish then chances are it’ll be even more delicious with a sprinkle of this on top.
Of course it’s vegan so it’s entirely dairy-free.
It’s made from cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic spice and sea salt.
As simple as that!
You need a food processor to make this, and you simply put in the S blade, and pulse it until it’s super fine like you see in the photos.
Pulse, don’t blend.
You don’t just want to run the food processor on this one because, ya know, cashews when processed for too long can start to turn into cashew butter, which you definitely don’t want here.
So pulse it. Don’t set it and forget it.
So I think you’ll love this vegan parmesan cheese, it is:
- Cheesy!
- Perfect to sprinkle on all savory dishes!
- Quick and easy!
- 4-Ingredients
Keep it stored in the fridge in a sealed container and it will stay fresh and good for weeks!
For more awesome vegan cheese recipes, check out these great options:
- Classic Vegan Cashew Cheese Sauce
- Sliceable Cashew Cheese
- Vegan Cheddar Cheese
- Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
- Vegan Nacho Cheese
- Creamy Vegan Cheese Sauce
What do you use your vegan parmesan on? Let us know in the comments. And please rate the recipe too! Thanks!
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Vegan Parmesan Cheese
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 5 mins
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Simple 4-ingredient vegan parmesan cheese! Ideal to sprinkle over absolutely everything, but especially on pastas and vegan pizzas.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (150g) Raw Cashews
- 1/4 cup (15g) Nutritional Yeast
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 3/4 tsp Sea Salt
Instructions
- Add the ingredients to the food processor and pulse it on the S blade until it reaches a fine consistency.
- Keep it in a sealable jar in the refrigerator where it will keep for weeks!
- Sprinkle it on pastas, pizzas, casseroles, salads and anywhere else you can possibly think of!
Notes
*This is not my original recipe, other geniuses figured it out! It is a staple in vegan cooking found on numerous vegan blogs. This one I have simply adapted for my own purposes.
- Category: Vegan, Cheese
- Cuisine: Vegan, Dairy-Free
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Tbsp
- Calories: 48
- Sugar: 0.5g
- Sodium: 111mg
- Fat: 3.5g
- Saturated Fat: 0.6g
- Carbohydrates: 2.8g
- Fiber: 0.5g
- Protein: 2g
Keywords: vegan parmesan cheese, vegan parmesan
Anna Andrews says
January 13, 2016 at 9:51 amBeen waiting for this for ages – absolutely simple and delicious.
★★★★★
Rachel says
January 13, 2016 at 12:46 pmHi Alison
Where do you buy nutritional yeast from in Dubai?
Thx
Alison Andrews says
January 13, 2016 at 12:52 pmHi Rachel! I’ve bought it from the Organic Cafe before, but most recently just from Geant. They have an organic foods section and it’s in there. 🙂
Rachel says
January 13, 2016 at 1:02 pmFab – thank you. I see so many recipes using nutritional yeast and I’ve never seen any here in dxb (or at least I never remember to look for it when I’m at OC). Good to know its at Geant too.
Not that I am anywhere near being vegan currently, but I do want to move in that direction and the thought of missing out on parmesan is pretty awful so it’s great to have a recipe for an alternative. Yay!! Thanks!
Alison Andrews says
January 13, 2016 at 1:04 pmSure, it’s a pleasure! Yes, I think you’ll like this, nutritional yeast is very ‘cheesy’ in recipes 🙂
nicole says
March 22, 2017 at 2:37 pmHi! Do you soak the cashews first?
Alison Andrews says
March 22, 2017 at 2:39 pmNo, definitely not, you want it to all be very dry which is how you get it so crumbly like that. If you soaked them first, it would make a cashew cream instead of a parmesan.
Gina says
June 5, 2017 at 12:25 amDo you use nutritional flakes or seasoning?
Alison Andrews says
June 5, 2017 at 6:17 amIt’s nutritional yeast flakes. I usually have Bob’s Red Mill brand.
Gina says
June 5, 2017 at 12:13 pmThanks for your quick reply. ? It is much appreciated.
Carolyn Harvey says
November 3, 2017 at 4:15 pmThis is delicious! Also can be made with English walnuts, equally as good. Great on butternut squash bisque, popcorn, steamed veggies, or anything else!
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
November 4, 2017 at 8:25 amAwesome! I must try it with walnuts! And totally agree – it’s great on so many things! 🙂
Deana says
January 29, 2018 at 2:38 pmWould this also work with roasted unsalted cashews?
Alison Andrews says
January 29, 2018 at 8:28 pmI think it would be fine – just go easy with the processing – definitely pulse and don’t just run the processor – roasted cashews will want to start turning into cashew butter quite quickly. ?
Christy says
June 25, 2018 at 8:02 pmIf I wanted to make this into a sauce to go on gnocchi, would I just add some cashew milk in a high speed blender until desired consistency? Would you do anything else?
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
June 26, 2018 at 9:34 amHi Christy, this works best as something that you sprinkle over your food, I haven’t tried to make it into a sauce. If you want a cheesy sauce, maybe check out our vegan alfredo or our cashew cheese sauce, that might be more what you’re looking for. All the best! 🙂
Denise says
September 18, 2018 at 12:40 amI stumbled into your recipe because the recipe I initially found called for hemp seeds which I didn’t have.
Used slightly less garlic but other than that followed to the letter. It is SOOOOO good! I’m so excited to find something new and simple. I foresee yummy vegan Ceasar salads, zoodles and rosemary vegan parm popcorn on the horizon!
Alison Andrews says
September 18, 2018 at 8:13 amHi Denise! Awesome, yes this has SO many uses! So glad you like the recipe. 🙂
Joanne says
September 29, 2018 at 6:00 pmI made this, and while really good, it needs that “bite” that cheeses like your sliceable cashew cheese has. Citric acid powder or lactic acid powder gives it that slightly acidic taste that dairy Parmesan has. I thought about ordering (from Amazon) a lemon powder, but they seem to have citric acid as an ingredient and not sure if the flavoring would be too much. I used lactic acid (food grade) and it added a nice bite with no other flavors. You’d have to experiment with the amounts. I didn’t measure, just added til it tasted right.
Big thumbs up on the sliceable cashew cheese from my husband this morning. This will be perfect on Veggie Delight Subway sandwiches which are really missing something when you leave off the cheese. In fact, it will likely taste a lot better than the dairy cheeses. You’ve done an amazing job on developing this recipe! And big points for it being so fast to make.
★★★★
Alison Andrews says
September 29, 2018 at 6:18 pmHi Joanne, thanks for the feedback and the info on using lactic acid with this, will be interesting to try it! Thanks for posting! 🙂
Tyisha Tirado says
February 19, 2019 at 2:58 pmIs a blender acceptable if I don’t have a food processor?
Alison Andrews says
February 20, 2019 at 9:21 amYes, I’m sure it would be fine, just make sure you ‘pulse’ blend it.
Don says
May 29, 2019 at 5:53 amThe cashews in your photos seem to be a lot darker than the raw cashews I have access to. Are you sure they are not dry roasted unsalted cashews?
In any case what is your opinion about using roasted cashews, salted or unsalted on the flavour profile?
Alison Andrews says
May 29, 2019 at 10:54 amHi Don, yes, this seems to be a thing in South Africa, the cashews are often a darker color. They are definitely still raw though. I think you could absolutely use roasted cashews, it would just add a roasted flavor, could be delicious! If you are using salted cashews, then maybe just reduce the amount of added salt to the recipe.