How to Make Cashew Cheese

Cashew cheese is the plant-based cheese that most convinces dairy eaters. Soaked cashews blend into a cream so smooth it can be flavoured, cultured and even aged into something with real depth. This is the base recipe, plus how to take it further.

Why cashews

Cashews are softer and less fibrous than other nuts, with a mild, slightly sweet flavour and a high fat content. Blended with water they become completely smooth without straining, which makes them ideal for cheese alternatives.

Ingredients (makes about 400 g)

• 200 g raw cashews, unsalted and unroasted
• 120 ml water, plus more as needed
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove garlic (optional)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional, for a savoury, cheesy note)

Method

1. Soak the cashews in cold water for at least 4 hours, or in boiling water for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse.
2. Blend the cashews with the water, lemon juice, salt, garlic and nutritional yeast until completely smooth. This can take several minutes — scrape down and keep going. Add water a spoonful at a time if needed.
3. Use immediately as a soft cheese or sauce, or set it: spoon into a muslin-lined sieve or a mould and refrigerate for several hours or overnight to firm up.

Making it more cheese-like

• Add cultures — stir a vegan cheese culture into the blended base and leave it to ferment at room temperature for 12–24 hours before chilling. This is the step that creates real tang.
• Add tapioca starch — a tablespoon blended in, then gently heated, gives a stretchy, meltable texture
• Add a rind — dust a moulded cheese with a vegan-friendly mould culture and age it for a rind, if you want to go deep

Flavour variations

• Herb and garlic — stir in chopped chives and extra garlic
• Smoked paprika — for a warm, red, savoury cheese
• Peppercorn — cracked black pepper through the base
• Sweet — blend with a little maple syrup and vanilla for a dessert cheese to serve with fruit

Storage

Keeps refrigerated for about a week in a sealed container, or freezes for up to three months. Use it as a spread, a dip, a filling, or wherever you would use cream cheese. See our vegan cheese guide for background and our vegan cheese sauce for the melting version.