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    Home » Vegan Cheese

    Vegan Parmesan Cheese

    Published: Mar 26, 2020 Updated: Jun 15, 2022 by Alison Andrews This post may contain affiliate links

    Jump to Recipe
    Vegan Parmesan Cheese

    This homemade vegan parmesan cheese is so tasty you’ll want to sprinkle it on everything! Easy 4-ingredient recipe, ready in 5 mins.

    Vegan parmesan cheese in a glass bowl with a spoon.

    Yep, you’ll definitely want to sprinkle this on everything. 

    And I mean everything.

    We sprinkle it on baked potatoes, on salads, on roasted veggies, on the no-cheese thin crust pizza take-outs we buy, on pasta dishes (of course) 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.

    It’s not something that will melt or anything like that, but it’s wonderful as a sprinkle and it tastes wonderfully cheesy. 

    And for more delicious homemade vegan cheese check out our vegan cheddar cheese, our sliceable cashew cheese and our cashew cheese sauce.

    Ingredients For Homemade Vegan Parmesan:

    Ingredients to make vegan parmesan cheese, cashew nuts, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder.

    Ingredient Notes

    • Raw cashews – form the base of this recipe. If you have a cashew allergy you can make this with walnuts. It also works amazingly well. Use raw walnuts in the same quantity as the cashews and you have a great alternate version of this vegan parmesan. 
    • Nutritional yeast flakes – adds heaps of cheesy flavor.
    • Salt and garlic powder – combine with the nutritional yeast flakes to make this really cheesy.
    Vegan parmesan cheese in a glass bowl with a spoon.

    How To Make Vegan Parmesan Cheese

    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.

    All you need to make your own vegan parmesan is a food processor. You simply put in the S blade, add in your cashews, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder.

    Ingredients for vegan parmesan cheese in a food processor ready to process.

    And then just pulse it until you have the consistency that you see in the photo below. 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, and you don’t want that here.

    So pulse it. Don’t set it and forget it.

    Vegan parmesan cheese in a food processor, freshly made.

    Storing Tips

    You can keep it stored in a sealed container at room temperature for 3-4 weeks. However, you also can keep it in the fridge if you like. As long as it’s in a sealed container, either/or is fine. 

    Vegan parmesan cheese in a glass bowl with a spoon.

    More Vegan Cheese Recipes 

    1. Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
    2. Creamy Vegan Cheese Sauce
    3. Vegan Cream Cheese
    4. Vegan Ricotta
    5. Vegan Feta Cheese
    6. Vegan Cottage Cheese

    Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!

    Spoonful of vegan parmesan cheese.

    Vegan Parmesan Cheese

    This homemade vegan parmesan cheese is so tasty you'll want to sprinkle it on everything! Easy 4-ingredient recipe, ready in 5 mins.
    4.92 from 24 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Side Dish
    Cuisine: American
    Diet: Vegan
    Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Servings: 20
    Calories: 38kcal
    Author: Alison Andrews

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup Raw Cashews (150g)
    • ¼ cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes (15g)
    • ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
    • ¾ teaspoon Sea Salt
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Add the ingredients to the food processor and pulse it on the S blade until it reaches a fine consistency.
    • Sprinkle it on pastas, pizzas, casseroles, salads and anywhere else you can think of!

    Video

    Notes

    1. If you have a cashew allergy you can also make this with walnuts. Just use walnuts in the same quantity (1 cup).
    2. Keep it stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge. It will last for 3-4 weeks.
    3. This recipe was first published in January 2016 and has now been updated with new photos and text.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Tablespoon | Calories: 38kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 88mg | Potassium: 54mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg
    DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Rate it & leave your feedback in the comments section below, or tag @lovingitvegan on Instagram and hashtag #lovingitvegan
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    4.8K shares

    About the Author

    Hi I'm Alison Andrews, I'm the voice and cook behind Loving It Vegan. I love making delicious vegan food and creating vegan versions of all your old favorites, so that you’ll never feel like you’re missing out. Find out more about me here.

    Loving It Vegan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site may contain some of these links to Amazon.com. If you make a purchase through one of those links, Loving It Vegan will receive a small commission from the purchase at no additional cost to you.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Donna says

      March 07, 2020 at 6:26 am

      I used to make this exactly as you posted it, but now I cutback on the salt from 3/4tsp to about 1/2tsp. I also add 1/4t onion powder, and few shakes of smoked paprika and dried parsley flakes. It’s so delicious, and you can’t even tell there is less salt! I love it on vegan pizza and pasta.

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        March 07, 2020 at 12:45 pm

        Sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing Donna!

        Reply
    2. Andrea says

      January 14, 2020 at 11:41 pm

      Hi Alison,

      Made your parmesan for the first time today. So easy and so delicious! Looking forward to sprinkling it on everything!

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        January 15, 2020 at 10:24 am

        Awesome! Thanks Andrea! 🙂

        Reply
    3. Lisa says

      August 05, 2019 at 4:48 pm

      Really simple. Really good.

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        August 06, 2019 at 12:25 pm

        Thanks Lisa! 🙂

        Reply
    4. Don says

      May 29, 2019 at 5:53 am

      The 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?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        May 29, 2019 at 10:54 am

        Hi 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.

        Reply
        • Don says

          August 06, 2019 at 10:29 pm

          All sounds good ta!

          Reply
    5. Tyisha Tirado says

      February 19, 2019 at 2:58 pm

      Is a blender acceptable if I don’t have a food processor?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        February 20, 2019 at 9:21 am

        Yes, I’m sure it would be fine, just make sure you ‘pulse’ blend it.

        Reply
    6. Joanne says

      September 29, 2018 at 6:00 pm

      I 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.4 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        September 29, 2018 at 6:18 pm

        Hi Joanne, thanks for the feedback and the info on using lactic acid with this, will be interesting to try it! Thanks for posting! 🙂

        Reply
        • Marguerite says

          March 26, 2020 at 6:14 pm

          Greetings all! First – I love this site!! ????
          For Citric Acid check in the home canning section of a grocery store. I just saw it here (Washington State, U.S.) a couple days ago (March 2020)
          Best wishes!

          Reply
          • Alison Andrews says

            March 27, 2020 at 2:28 pm

            Thanks for sharing Marguerite, and so glad you love the site! xo

    7. Denise says

      September 18, 2018 at 12:40 am

      I 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!

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        September 18, 2018 at 8:13 am

        Hi Denise! Awesome, yes this has SO many uses! So glad you like the recipe. 🙂

        Reply
    8. Christy says

      June 25, 2018 at 8:02 pm

      If 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?5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        June 26, 2018 at 9:34 am

        Hi 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! 🙂

        Reply
    9. Deana says

      January 29, 2018 at 2:38 pm

      Would this also work with roasted unsalted cashews?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        January 29, 2018 at 8:28 pm

        I 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. ?

        Reply
    10. Carolyn Harvey says

      November 03, 2017 at 4:15 pm

      This is delicious! Also can be made with English walnuts, equally as good. Great on butternut squash bisque, popcorn, steamed veggies, or anything else!5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        November 04, 2017 at 8:25 am

        Awesome! I must try it with walnuts! And totally agree – it’s great on so many things! 🙂

        Reply
    11. Gina says

      June 05, 2017 at 12:25 am

      Do you use nutritional flakes or seasoning?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        June 05, 2017 at 6:17 am

        It’s nutritional yeast flakes. I usually have Bob’s Red Mill brand.

        Reply
        • Gina says

          June 05, 2017 at 12:13 pm

          Thanks for your quick reply. ? It is much appreciated.

          Reply
    12. nicole says

      March 22, 2017 at 2:37 pm

      Hi! Do you soak the cashews first?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        March 22, 2017 at 2:39 pm

        No, 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.

        Reply
    13. Rachel says

      January 13, 2016 at 1:02 pm

      Fab – 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!

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        January 13, 2016 at 1:04 pm

        Sure, it’s a pleasure! Yes, I think you’ll like this, nutritional yeast is very ‘cheesy’ in recipes 🙂

        Reply
    14. Rachel says

      January 13, 2016 at 12:46 pm

      Hi Alison
      Where do you buy nutritional yeast from in Dubai?
      Thx

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        January 13, 2016 at 12:52 pm

        Hi 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. 🙂

        Reply
    15. Anna Andrews says

      January 13, 2016 at 9:51 am

      Been waiting for this for ages – absolutely simple and delicious.5 stars

      Reply
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    4.92 from 24 votes (7 ratings without comment)

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