If you want to learn how to make vegan cheese, THESE are the recipes for you. They are easy to make, healthy, and delicious! Use them on nachos, sandwiches, bagels, crackers, macaroni and cheese, and a zillion other things! These really are the best non dairy cheese recipes you’ll ever make!
Click “Jump To Recipe” (directly below the title of this post) to skip the blog post and go directly to the recipe! You’ll miss out on helpful tips for this recipe though.
I have two of the most delicious and simple vegan cashew cheese recipes! I’m going to show you how to make Cheddar Cheese sauce and Garlic Herb Cream Cheese.
Lately, I’ve been OBSESSED with putting the Garlic Herb Cream Cheese on toasted gluten free bagels. Yuuum! I tested this cream cheese spread on non-vegans and it passed with flying colors. The cheddar cheese sauce is great to dip chips in or even veggies, like cauliflower and broccoli. Use the cheese sauce to make an easy and delicious cheesy broccoli, mushroom, and rice casserole (oooh, sounds like a good recipe for a blog post). If you add some of your favorite salsa to it you’ll have the most perfect vegan nacho cheese sauce.
These recipes are 2 of the cheeses I use for next weeks recipe, Four Cheese Baked Macaroni and Cheese. Yup….FOUR CHEESES! And it’ll be vegan and gluten free. My parents stopped by after I made the mac and cheese, tasted it, and loved it! Two days later my mom had my dad driving to my house to bring her some more (they are not vegan)! It’s really good, so please look out for next weeks post.
Until then, enjoy this recipe!
How to Make Vegan Cheese?
Nutritional Yeast is a key ingredient in many vegan cheese recipes.
Nutritional Yeast is deactivated yeast that is sold commercially as a food product, typically in the form of flakes or a powder. It is yellow in color and many believe it has a taste similar to cheese, which is why it is a staple ingredient in many vegan homes. This is a key ingredient to make our vegan “cheese” taste a little more cheesy. Here is the brand most vegans use (remove adblock to view product):
Can I Make This Oil Free?
The vegan cheese spread recipe is oil free, but I use a little bit of coconut oil in the Cheddar Cheese Sauce. Years ago, when I first started testing this recipe I added popcorn oil to the cheese sauce because I’ve heard it has a buttery flavor that I thought would go well in the cheese. I was correct….it tasted marvelous, but popcorn oil is not something I want to consume, so I had to find an alternative.
That’s when coconut oil came along. For some reason, in this recipe the coconut oil adds a slightly buttery flavor when mixed with the nutritional yeast. I don’t know how or why, but it does. It works and will take your vegan cheddar cheese sauce to the next level.
If you don’t like to cook with oil, by all means omit the coconut oil from the recipe. The cheese sauce will still be tasty without the oil.
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Homemade Vegan Cheese
Ingredients
Cheddar Cheese Sauce:
- 1 zucchini peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 cup raw plain cashews
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated onion or onion powder
- ½ cup roughly chopped roasted red peppers
- 1 heaping tablespoon coconut oil
- Salt to taste
- 1 cup water filtered if possible
Garlic Herb Cream Cheese Spread:
- 1.5 zucchinis peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 cups raw plain cashews
- 3 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1.5 tablespoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon granulated onion or onion powder
- Salt to taste
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ¾ cup water filtered if possible
- ¼ cup chopped green onions
- ¼ cup chopped parsley curly or flat leaf
Instructions
Cheddar Cheese Sauce:
- Blend everything together until completely smooth.
Cream Cheese Spread:
- Blend the first 8 ingredients until completely smooth. Use a food processor if you prefer.
- Pour the mixture in a mixing bowl and add the green onions and parsley. Thoroughly mix everything, put it in a container, cover it, and refrigerate for about 5 hours, or until the cheese is chilled and slightly firmer.
- If you can’t wait to dig in, then you can skip the refrigeration step! These cheese spread does taste better after it has chilled in the fridge and the flavors have had time to infuse into the cashew mixture.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
When blending the Garlic Herb Cream Cheese Spread, add a little more water, maybe ¼ cup, if the cashew spread seems too thick and is not blending smoothly enough.
When making the Cream Cheese, use the other half of the zucchini as a veggie to dip in the cheese so it doesn’t go to waste and you have a healthy snack!
My cousins are Vegan and would love this recipe! IT looks amazing! Adding the Zucchini, I’m sure gave me a good taste!
Thanks!
oh yes please. I love anything with zucchini!
Thanks!
This is an absolute MUST have! That garlic herb sounds sooooooo mouth-watering!
It’s delicious!
Garlic herbs cheese…. OMG…. I’m getting the munchie attack right now…. LOL Bagel is also my fav. for breakfast, can’t get enough of it. But I never try garlic herbs cheese…. really need to try it out asap. Super thx for this suggestion!
Thank you!
Oh my, this is perfect for Christmas! I love cream cheese mmmm Will try and make this for New Years celebrations I think!
Thank you! This cream cheese would definitely be a perfect dip for new years!
This is great! I for one have never had vegan cheese but I have a son who is Vegan so I must make this for him!
Please do! I hope he enjoys it!
This cheese sauce sounds simple enough to make and I am sure it must taste great.Bookmarking this recipe for future use.
Thank you!
I am sharing this recipe with my vegan friends. They would love this. Even I will try this for sure. Thanks for the recipe. Already take print out for the same,
Thank you so much! I hope they enjoy it!
This looks yummy! I love this having Zucchni. I want to try this as soon as possible.
Thank you!
I’m not a huge fan of many of the vegan dishes but this looks pretty darn amazing. I would love to check this out sometime. And something great to try out for New Years.
Thanks for being open minded! I hope you try it out!
Until now I did not know how to make vegan cheese. This is also something new for me. So yes, I am intrigued and I will try it out for sure.
Thank you, I hope you enjoy it!
That looks delicious.
Thank you!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! These cheeses are amazing! I made the cheddar flavor one first… but I wanted a little more tangy flavor and I put the juice of 1 key lime in. It still wasn’t enough, so I put a little bit of dijon mustard. YUMMY!!! I made mac and cheese with it. OMG!! I just love it. Then I made the garlic herb. My co-workers loved it, and that was before setting or adding the onions and parsley. I am really going hard on this vegan journey, as I have a significant health challenge as well, and your recipes get me through.
I’m so happy my recipes help you! Thank you for the lovely comment 😊