Homemade healthy, best tasting vegan raw cashew cheese recipe for vegan cheese boards, sauces and appetizers.
Easy Homemade Cashew Cheese
Vegan cheese recipes aren’t just for vegans! Homemade cashew cheese, like homemade yogurt, or homemade almond cheese, hummus or even baba ganoush, is a delicious approach to making healthy dips, spreads, appetizers even kids sandwiches!
Cheese made from cashews is simply cashews, pureed into a velvety, flavor packed spread, log or cheese ball.
The cheesy taste is derived from extra nutritional yeast, which is not the same as baker’s yeast, a yeast with active yeast cells used to make bread.
However, the real flavor in this recipe comes from fenugreek, garlic and a healthy splash of vinegar, which sets this recipe apart from the bland vegan cheese spreads I’ve tried from the store.
Raw Cashews – The Not So Nutty Nut
All my life I’ve loved cashews, salted, sort of sweet, cashew nuts.
Then I lived in Brazil for a spell, where cashews are from, and discovered so many interesting things about cashews.
Most nuts I am familiar with grow inside of a shell, as you can further this knowledge when I was foraging black walnuts and acorns.
However, cashews grow on the outside of the cashew (Caju), fruit, a plump, juicy bright yellow or orange fruit that hangs from trees.
The cashew, what we think of as a nut, grows almost like an afterthought appendage of the fruit.
One single cashew, per fruit, which makes me think it’s crazy that cashews are more expensive than they are.
The cashew fruit? Well, it was my son’s favorite fruit juice in all of Brazil.
Easy Homemade Cashew Cheese
A homemade cashew cheese couldn’t be easier to make at home. All you need is a high-powered blender or food processor.
Soaking the cashews in water softens them to puree into a creamy textured cheese.
An hour later, these cashews are ready for the blender and an entire 2 cups of homemade cashew cheese are quickly whipped up.
This easy recipe takes simple ingredients and turns them into a gourmet tasting cheesy sauce or thicker cheese spread, depending on your preference.
Easy Non-Dairy Cheese Appetizer
In want of a non-dairy cheese for a first time recipe, I thought grocery stores would be my best option.
Sure, both Trader Joe’s and Whole foods had cashew-based cheeses, however, the flavor was bland and too thick (nearly gelatinous), for the recipe I wanted to create.
That was when I set out to make my own cashew cheese. So glad I did!
I made the appetizer I was after, with a whimsical anchovy tail sticking straight up in the air, nestled in a dollop of healthy ‘dairy-free’ cashew cheese.
It was absolutely a hit! Now I make them, just because I love the creamy yet salty combo of cashew cheese with anchovies.
Let’s Make The Best Vegan Cheese Recipe Around!
I am not vegan and I absolutely love this plant-based cheese! The best thing about it, is not that it’s a dairy-free cheese, the best thing is that it is a great recipe with nutty flavor, making it delicious in many recipes.
Imparting flavor into a vegan cheese spread is no different than the approach we take for bringing flavor to the many types of sauces we make.
Since cashew cheese is not a fermented cheese, the cheese flavor is formed from nutritional yeast, which tastes fermented, and the best spice I know for this recipe; fenugreek, which in and of itself has a hint of herb and maple flavor to it.
Note: Almonds also make for a fabulous vegan cheese using this recipe, just need to remove the almond skins after soaking.
Making An Easy Vegan Cheese Appetizer For Non-Vegans!
I first created this cashew cheese, not to serve on a vegan cheese board, but rather as the spread that would go inside of a pastry tart with a salty anchovy on top.
It was for a Halloween dinner party in my home, and invited were several well known restaurateurs from my town.
Wanting to wow them with something very unusual, I served these Anchovy Cashew Cheese Tarts as appetizers, and yes, they were a hit!
After the meal had been served, I told them it was a vegan cheese that I made for the tarts, which really won me praise, especially since at that time (2016), vegan cheeses really hadn’t hit the markets yet.
How To Make Easy Cashew Cheese
This vegan cheese is easy to make and can be pureed to be thick for a great spread, or with just an extra splash of lemon juice or vinegar, can be pureed into a quick batch of cashew cheese sauce.
For the best results:
- First, we will need to soften the raw cashews in a little water. Just enough water to cover the cashews and allow to sit room temperature for about an hour.
- Secondly, once the water is drained off the cashews, with only a handful of ingredients tossed into a high-speed blender along with the nuts we are almost there. Without a lot of work, within minutes, a creamy spreadable cheese will be obtained. If a creamy sauce is desired, simply add a little extra liquid. If cheese logs are desired, a few sprinkles of agar agar can be added to the mixture while blending, making it into the texture of a vegan cream cheese.
- Finally, once made, the cashew cheese can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for several days. When ready to serve, allow to sit out room temperature.
How To Use Cashew Cheese
Yes, cashew cheese can be sliced like many other soft cheeses similar to chevre cheese in texture.
In need of an easy flavor filled sauce?
Simply add a bit more water to the puree while in the blender and you’ve got a great vegan cheese sauce for Mac and Cheese or simply to pour over roasted veggies.
Roll the cheese into a ball, plop it in a serving bowl for guests to help themselves from a spectacular vegan cheese board!
Other Delicious Recipes With Cashews
From my experience living in Brazil, (2006-2010), I learned about many plants being used in a variety of ways for health support, ways I had not yet experienced here in America.
A stroll along any city street in Brazil, you would find kiosks on nearly every block with ‘suco de saude’ health drinks. It was where I had my first smoothie, long before they were here back in the states.
From that amazing experience I brought back home, many new concepts for weaving Brazilian ingredients into my already healthy Mediterranean cuisine.
- Easy Homemade Nut Milk – any type of nut milk is made with only two ingredients, nuts and water, and it’s too easy not to be making it yourself!
- No-Bake Avocado Berry Vegan Cheesecake – with blackberries or blueberries, date and nut crust, sweetened with honey or agave, beautifully layered vegan dessert.
- Cashew Smoothie Bowl – Brazilian Protein and Fruit Smoothie Bowl is a protein and fruit rich, balanced meal first created in Brazil, now enjoyed here in America.
- Cashew Muffins – Wholesome Cashew Muffins are ‘Everything Free’, with natural plant based milk, nut flour, molasses and monk fruit or stevia and warm spices.
Ingredients Needed
- Raw cashews – unsalted, unroasted raw cashews will soak in water to soften.
- White balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar – white balsamic for a more tart flavor and apple cider for a bit more sweet vinegar flavor.
- White pepper – brings a little bite to the flavor of the cheese while blending in with its color.
- Salt – table salt as opposed to a coarse salt.
- Lemon juice – while the vinegar deepens the flavor of the vegan cheese, lemon juice brightens its flavor.
- Garlic – roasted garlic will add a deeper nuttier flavor while raw garlic will bring an added heat, both can be used.
- Nutritional yeast – preferably a flake style nutritional yeast, which is where the moldy cheesy flavor is obtained in a vegan cheese.
- Fenugreek powder – adds another layer of nutty flavor, maybe even a bit of a burnt maple flavor.
- Water – as needed to obtain the texture.
- Olive oil – or coconut oil for the added fat to round out this cheese.
Equipment Needed
- High speed blender or food processor
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cup
- 12 oz. airtight container
Easy Vegan Raw Cashew Cheese
Equipment
- Food processor or blender
Ingredients
- 2 cups Raw cashews
- 1 tbsp White balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp Coconut oil or olive oil
- 1/4 tsp White pepper or black pepper
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp Lemon zest
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp Nutritional yeast or more to taste
- 1 tsp Fenugreek powder
- Water – as needed
Instructions
- Cashew Cheese Soak raw cashews, completely covered in water, for 1 hour. Drain
- Place soaked cashews, vinegar, salt, pepper, lemon juice, garlic cloves or powder, nutritional yeast and fenugreek in a high speed blender or food processor.
- Puree into a paste. If a little liquid is needed, drizzle a little warm water into the paste (about 1/4 cup), for a creamy vegan cashew cheese consistency.
- Will last 5-7 days in a clean mason jar or airtight container.
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Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.