This vegan ricotta has the perfect ricotta taste and texture. It’s ultra cheesy, tangy and wonderful on pizza or spread on crackers.
I’m honestly blown away by this vegan ricotta.
We used slivered almonds to recreate the ricotta texture and it works SO well it’s unbelievable.
Ricotta cheese is supposed to be kind of grainy in texture. And slivered almonds create this texture perfectly!
This almond ricotta is super easy and you can spread it on crackers or scoop it on top of your vegan pizza or use it in a vegan lasagna.
And of course if you love making your own vegan cheeses then also check out our vegan cream cheese and vegan cottage cheese recipes. And if you want a nut-free vegan ricotta then check out our tofu ricotta.
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Slivered almonds – these need to be soaked in hot water for 1 hour. Blanched almonds will also work.
- Coconut cream – this should be canned, unsweetened coconut cream. This is found in the same section of the supermarket as coconut milk and is just a slightly richer, creamier version of coconut milk. If you can’t get hold of coconut cream, then canned, full fat, unsweetened coconut milk will also work.
- Nutritional yeast – this brings out the cheesy flavor. For anyone not familiar with nutritional yeast, note that it is not the same thing as active yeast that you use to make bread! Nutritional yeast is a flavoring and provides cheesy flavor. If you can’t get hold of it then you can omit it from the recipe but you will lose some of the cheesy flavor.
- White vinegar – this is regular white distilled vinegar. It really has the magic touch when it comes to flavoring for vegan cheese recipes. So I highly recommend you use it. Apple cider vinegar can be used in a pinch but it doesn’t work nearly as well in terms of flavor.
How To Make Vegan Ricotta 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.
- Add your slivered almonds to a bowl, pour boiling hot water from the kettle over the top and leave them to soak for 1 hour.
- Then drain them and add to your blender jug along with coconut cream, nutritional yeast, white vinegar, lemon juice, sea salt and garlic powder.
- Blend until you no longer have any chunks. It will still be grainy, but that is fine, that is what you want with ricotta.
- Transfer to a container and keep it stored in the fridge.
Recipe Tips
Soaking your slivered almonds is essential. We tried it without soaking the almonds and it still worked but it was much harder to blend and even when blended there were still pieces that had not blended properly. So you have to soak these first.
A blender creates a smooth texture that nevertheless still retains that lovely ricotta graininess, which is exactly what you want. We tried it in a food processor and simply could not get it smooth enough.
Blending smooths out the texture while still allowing for that slightly grainy ricotta texture because that texture comes from the slivered almonds and not from the processing method.
Recipe Q&A
The nutritional yeast contributes to the cheesy flavor but you can leave it out. You will lose some of that cheesiness but it will still work. You could experiment with other cheesy flavor additions as a replacement, such as a teaspoon of onion powder.
White vinegar works so well for this that if you can possibly use it you should. Apple cider vinegar will work in a pinch but white vinegar is the best here!
It will keep in the fridge for up to a week.
Yes you can. It freezes very well. Thaw it in the fridge and then use as normal.
It’s wonderful spread on bread or crackers, but it also works wonderfully baked into dishes. We have used it in a vegan lasagna and baked it on a vegan pizza and it was divine both ways. It’s also wonderful in some vegan stuffed shells.
More Vegan Cheese Recipes
- Sliceable Cashew Cheese
- Vegan Cheddar Cheese
- Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
- Vegan Parmesan Cheese
- Vegan Nacho Cheese
- Vegan Cheese Ball
- Vegan Feta
- Vegan Camembert
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Ricotta
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Slivered Almonds (195g) soaked in hot water for 1 hour
- ½ cup Canned Coconut Cream (120ml) Unsweetened
- 1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
Instructions
- Add your slivered almonds to a bowl, pour boiling hot water from the kettle over the top and leave them to soak for 1 hour.
- Then drain them and add to your blender jug along with the coconut cream, nutritional yeast, white vinegar, lemon juice, sea salt and garlic powder.
- Blend until you no longer have any chunks. It will still be grainy, but that is fine, that is what you want with ricotta.
- Transfer to a container and keep it stored in the fridge for up to a week. It’s also freezer friendly if you want to freeze some.
Video
Notes
- If you don’t have canned coconut cream then full fat canned unsweetened coconut milk will also work.
- You can omit the nutritional yeast but you will lose some of the cheesy flavor.
- Distilled white vinegar works best for flavor though apple cider vinegar will work in a pinch.
- If you’re wanting to use this recipe in another recipe, then this makes approximately 1 and ⅔ cups of vegan ricotta.
- Prep time does not include the time to soak the slivered almonds.
- Keep it stored in the fridge for up to a week. It’s also freezer friendly.
- This recipe was first published in February 2019. It has been updated with extra tips but the recipe itself is unchanged.
I swear I love this blog so much. Your directions are so easy to follow and the recipes are amazing!
I made the ricotta tonight and had it on mushroom pizza. It literally tastes like restaurant quality food!!
That’s so awesome to hear, thanks so much Tracy!
Hi,
I just made it, and it’s really thick. I guess it’s because of the coconut cream (I used a box of Grace Pure Creamed Coconut, but maybe I should use a tin can).
The smell of coconut is also really persistent. I’m not sure I’ll be able to use it in my lasagna tonight…
Any tip for me, please ? I don’t like to waste food
Hi Annie, creamed coconut and coconut cream are different things! We have a link in our ingredients list to what we mean when we say coconut cream. You could thin the ricotta out now with some water and see how it goes.
Hi,
This recipe looks awesome! I will give it a try!
I’m just wondering… can I used whole almonds??
Thanks
Hi Roxana, you might be able to use whole almonds, but the skins would probably affect the texture a little bit.
This turned out great, EXCEPT I didn’t think about the fact that coconut cream also comes in a sweetened version, so I ended up making a lovely sweet “cream cheese” spread. I only realized it after tasting the finished product – then I looked at the label on my can of coconut cream and figured out what had gone ‘wrong’.
Fortunately there’s no detectable effect from the garlic powder, so it turned out very nice, only I won’t be able to use this batch for savoury dishes.
Oh darn, hahaa, so glad it was still tasty anyway! Thanks for sharing Margaret!
Hello, would this work for pancakes if I leave the garlic out? Thank you!
Hi Karen, I haven’t tried it for pancakes, but I think it could work! Let us know how it goes! 🙂
For pancakes, I would leave out the garlic AND add a dash of vanilla extract.
AWESOME recipe! Any chance a different nut can be used? I am allergic to almonds … 🙁
Cashews or macadamias. The texture will be slightly different though. 🙂
Does it taste coconutty? Thanks in advance, and I love your site….
Awesome, so happy you like the blog. I don’t think this tastes coconutty at all really, it’s just cheesy! 🙂
Hi, Wondering how long this will keep in the fridge. Thanks! 🙂
A week in the fridge. 🙂
This recipe sounds and looks so delicious! I’d love to try stuffing pasta shells with it. Can’t wait to try it!!
This is great for stuffed shells! Hope you love it! 🙂
Newbie here… is coconut cream just the stuff that drains out of the can of coconut milk?
Hi Jennifer, no it’s a thicker, more rich version of coconut milk. You can usually find the cans of coconut cream right next to the cans of coconut milk. 🙂
I’m allergic to almonds. Is there another nut that would give a similar graininess? Macadamia?
Hi Karen, macadamia nuts could definitely be a good option! I found a recipe on Serious Eats that uses macadamia nuts and it sure looks like ricotta too! So yes, definitely worth trying it out. 🙂
Thank you for posting this Allison. It looks awesome!
Trader Joe’s has both dry toasted and raw slivered almonds. Which one should I use?
Raw slivered almonds for sure. 🙂
It would be helpful to provide more meaningful information about how much ricotta this recipe makes, for those of us who intend to use it in lasagna or some other recipe. A cup? Two cups? Three? I have no idea until I actually make it. Thanks.
It makes 1 and 2/3 cups.
I used coconut yoghurt instead of coconut cream and it was delicious on crackers. I haven’t baked with it it yet but I’m planning to do a mushroom and spinach cannelloni. It’s a great recipe – thank you.
That sounds like a fantastic sub for coconut cream. So glad it worked out great, thanks for sharing! 🙂
This turned out pretty dern good! I used this recipe for stuffed shells and BOY! I’m sold!
Haha, yay! Thanks so much for the amazing review! xo