Cashew Ricotta, Cream, Mozzarella, and Garlic Cheese Recipe

The problem with vegan cheese (and a lot of allergy free food) is that the manufacturers ignore that their ingredients start with a slightly different taste profile than the originals. Instead of working with those different tastes to create a unique foodstuff you can use as a “cheese”, they just bodge right through and declare that the finished product is tastes just like cheddar cheese when at its best it tastes like plastic and at its worst it tastes like cardboard.

I had given up on dairy free cheese until I learned about cashew “cheese.” The thing that makes this dairy free vegan cheese recipe work is that it plays into the flavor of the cashews, adds a hint of nutty cheese flavor with nutritional yeast and the slight cheese tang with lemon juice.

Cashew cheese doesn’t taste like a traditional dairy cheese (or plastic sawdust vegan cheese) but a unique flavor that allows you to do cheesy things with it.

This cashew cheese recipe is very versatile. You can use it to make cashew cheese sauce, cashew cheese spread, a mozzarella like cashew cheese block, cashew ricotta cheese, cream cheese, and a flavored cheese (my favorite.)

 

Save this versatile cashew cheese recipe to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

 

Just keep in mind that the end product will have a slight cashew taste so if you are using it to make a cashew cheese cheesecake you may want to pair it with a bolder tasting ingredients like strawberries in your cheesecake recipe than a milder tasting ingredient like vanilla to start (and you’ll want to skip the flavored cheese ingredients unless you like garlic in your baked goods.)

Let’s make cashew cheeses! 

Step by Step How to Make this Delicious Dairy Free Cheese Recipe:

1. Cover the cashews with water and allow the cashews to soften. You can buy cashews here. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience.)

• The quick soak way: Soak the cashews in hot water for one hour

• The not quick soak way: Soak the cashes in cold water for at least 6 hours. I usually let mine soak overnight.

2. Drain and save the water from the cashews if you want to make cashew cheese sauce or a cashew cheese spread.

3. Add the lemon juice, cashews, and salt to a blender or food processor and blend until it is thoroughly blended together.

My blender needs a bit of liquid to move things along no matter what I put in it which is another reason why I save the cashew water. Don’t worry if you add too much water when you want to make a block of cashew cheese. We’ll take care of the extra liquid in Step 5.

In this photo I tossed all of the flavored garlic cheese spread ingredients into the blender and you can too. I separated it out in the recipe instructions because it was easier to organize how to create each type of cheese with cashews.

 

4. Now you get to choose your cashew cheese making flavor adventure! Add to the blender/food processor and thoroughly mix:

Cashew Ricotta Cheese or Cream Cheese Recipe

Nothing. You can skip to Step 5.

Cashew Cheese Sauce or Spreadable Cashew Cheese Recipe 

Add and thoroughly mix cashew water into the ingredients until the mixture reaches your desired consistency.

I usually make cashew cheese spread because its easy to use it in sandwich making and as a dip.

Cashew Mozzarella Cheese Recipe 

Add and thoroughly mix in 4 teaspoons tapioca starch (you can buy tapioca starch here.) Honestly I usually leave out the tapioca starch because I don’t care if my cashew mozzarella cheese has the springy texture of mozzarella. Also, I almost never have tapioca starch on hand and I’m too lazy to run out and buy it when I need it right away.

Flavorful Garlic Cashew Cheese Recipe

 Add and thoroughly mix in 2 Tablespoons of nutritional yeast (you can buy nutritional yeast here,) 1 clove of garlic, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard (you can buy Dijon mustard here.) This is the cashew cheese recipe I make 99% of the time because I think it tastes the best. You may want to add the salt to taste here instead of in Step 2 because nutritional yeast tastes salty on its own and you may find a teaspoon of salt on top of that might make the cashew cheese taste too salty.

5. If you want to make a cashew block cheese, pour the cashew cheese into a cheesecloth bag like this one, put the bag in a kitchen strainer and the strainer in a bowl to catch the liquid. Allow the liquid to drain from the cashew cheese covered in the refrigerator until it reaches the consistency you desire.

6.Put the cashew cheese in a covered container and chill it in the refrigerator.

7.Remove the cashew cheese from the cheese making bag like this one if needed.

8. Eat.Enjoy. Repeat!

Looking for more cashew cheese and dairy free vegan cheese making ideas? Check out the following options - and more! - below!

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