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Slice of vegan goat cheese on a knife.
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5 from 6 votes

Vegan Goat Cheese

This vegan goat cheese is soft, tangy, creamy and salty. You can slice it, crumble it or bake it. It's easy to make and looks gorgeous!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Soaking Cashews1 hour
Total Time1 hour 20 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Savory, Side
Cuisine: American, Vegan
Diet: Vegan
Servings: 8
Calories: 128kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Add raw cashews to a bowl. Pour boiling hot water from the kettle over the top so that the cashews are completely submerged. Leave them to soak for 1 hour. Drain and rinse.
  • Add the soaked cashews to your blender jug along with distilled white vinegar, lemon juice, almond milk, refined coconut oil, salt, onion powder and garlic powder and blend until smooth.
  • Leave this in your blender while you work on your agar agar mix. Add cold water and agar agar powder to a saucepan. Bring to a boil on medium heat, stirring continuously.
  • When it reaches a boil, set a timer and boil it for 1 minute, stirring all the while. You will notice it getting thick and gelatinous.
  • Quickly remove it from the heat and pour it into the blender jug on top of the previously blended cheese mix.
  • Blend briefly to mix everything together well.
  • Pour this out into two 4.5 inch round springform pans (or bowls, or ramekins) and smooth down.
  • Sprinkle with dried herbs. Place into the refrigerator until set. It should start setting right away but be fully set and firm to the touch within an hour or two.
  • Once set, gently remove it from your springform pans or bowls and serve.
  • Serve with crackers, bread or toast, red grapes, walnuts, lemon slices and apricot jam.

Notes

  1. Soaking the cashews - this makes for an easier blend but also creates a softer, lighter texture that works really well in this vegan goat cheese.
  2. White vinegar - there is some magically cheesy flavor that is created with the use of distilled white vinegar. It doesn't work nearly so well with any other vinegar, so I don't recommend substituting this with anything else.
  3. Lemon juice - should ideally be freshly squeezed for the best flavor. However, bottled will also work in a pinch.
  4. Almond milk - is great for this as it has a neutral flavor in this recipe and a very white color, which keeps this cheese very white. You could substitute this with a different non-dairy milk but you may have differences in the color and it may also impact the flavor.
  5. Coconut oil - should be refined/odorless. We have made this with regular/virgin coconut oil but the coconut taste came through and interfered with the other flavors so refined coconut oil is best for this recipe. If you use a different oil, it may affect the color of this cheese and it also may not set quite as well.
  6. Agar agar powder - this should be the powder and not the flakes. It should also be a pure product, 100% agar agar and not mixed with other ingredients. If you do have to use the flakes then you will need to use 3 tablespoons. 
  7. Dried herbs - we used a dried herbs mix containing oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley and tarragon, but you could use any mix or just use oregano and thyme. 
  8. The agar agar mix needs to have a chance to activate properly. The agar agar powder should be added to cold water and heated in a saucepan with the water, stirring all the while until it boils. Then it needs to boil for a full minute, stirring all the while. You will notice it thicken and become very gelatinous.
  9. You need to work quite quickly. Once the agar agar and water mix is poured into the blender, you need to blend it up fast and then transfer the cheese mix to your prepared spring form pans, bowls or ramekins. The reason for speed is that the cheese starts to set up fast.
  10. Springform pans: We used two 4.5 inch round spring forms for this recipe. You can make one larger cheese round or two smaller rounds or three mini rounds. Just use whatever bowls or ramekins you have on hand.
  11. Storing. It can be stored in the fridge for 7 days (covered). 
  12. Freezing. It can be frozen for up to 3 months. The texture after thawing will tend to be a little more firm than before.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Serve | Calories: 128kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 752mg | Potassium: 127mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 1mg