This vegan cream cheese is incredibly creamy, garlicky, and super delicious spread on a fresh bagel or toast. And it’s ready in just 5 minutes!
Kiss your dairy products goodbye and say hello to this delicious vegan cashew cream cheese with garlic and fresh herbs!
Spread it on your favorite bagel or enjoy it with some veggie sticks or crackers. Or stir it into your pasta sauce for a change. Believe me, it’s pretty addictive!
Why This Recipe Works
I’ve experimented quite a bit with dairy-free cheese alternatives and I think cashews are just the perfect base for plant-based cheese. They work great in this recipe!
Cashews have a mild flavor and with a bit of water you can blend them in a high speed blender until you’ve got a smooth cream.
I decided to make a version with fresh herbs and garlic, but of course you could also make a plain version.
What Goes Into This Recipe
- Plant-Based Yogurt – This recipe works well with plant-based yogurts. I recommend unsweetened soy yogurt.
- Fresh Chives and Cress – I like fresh best, but you could also use frozen herbs.
- Cashews – Make sure to use raw cashews, not roasted and salted.
- Nutritional Yeast – adds a bit of a “cheesy” flavor.
How To Make This Recipe
This recipe couldn’t be much easier! It’s ready in just 5 minutes and all you have to do is follow these four easy steps:
1. Step: Soak the cashews in water for at least 4 hours. If you want to make it easier for your blender you can also soak them overnight.
2. Step: Drain the cashews and put them in a high speed blender together with the unsweetened soy yogurt, the garlic, the nutritional yeast, the lemon juice, salt, and the herbes de Provence.
3. Step: Process until smooth. This will take about 3-4 minutes depending on your blender. You want the cashew cream cheese to be super smooth without any chunks.
4. Step: Season it with black pepper and stir in the fresh chives and cress. If you’d like you could also add some red pepper flakes. Enjoy on a freshly toasted bagel!
Recipe Tips:
- It’s best to soak the cashews for at least 4 hours. If you want to make it a little bit easier for your blender, you can also soak them overnight. For best results, you should use a high speed blender as you want the cashew cream cheese to get really creamy and smooth. Be patient, it will take a while!
- Don’t cut down the recipe to a smaller batch size as most blenders need a certain amount of cashews to process them into a smooth cream.
- It’s really important to use unsweetened plant-based yogurt. Nothing with flavor and sugar in it!
Variations
If you want you can also play around with the herbs a little bit. I also love adding some sun-dried tomatoes for a change.
Or you could use the base to make a sweet cream cheese by adding blueberries, strawberries, or any other berries.
Recipe FAQs:
What’s the best way to store the finished cream cheese?
The best way to store it is in a small air-tight container in the fridge. This way it will last for about 4 days.
Can it be frozen?
Yes, it freezes really well, so you could just make a bigger batch and freeze it for later. Just freeze it in a small container and it will last in the freezer for around 2-3 months.
Could you make this recipe without cashews?
Unfortunately cashews are used as the base for this recipe and you can’t replace them with any other product them for the same result.
But no worries! If you’re allergic to cashews and nuts, you can still enjoy delicious vegan cream cheese.
You could either use tofu, plant-based yogurt, or sunflower seeds as a base. Here are two delicious recipes for sunflower cream cheese and tofu cream cheese.
Related Vegan Cheese Recipes:
- Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
- Vegan Cheese Fondue
- Basil Ricotta Pinwheels
- Vegan Mac and Cheese
- 30 Stunning Vegan Cheese Recipes
I Love To Hear From You Guys!
I hope you like this vegan cream cheese as much as we do around here.
If you give it a try, I’d love to know what you think about it. Just leave me a comment and a star rating below. Your comments really make my day!
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Sina
Vegan Cream Cheese with Cashews
Equipment
- high speed blender
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cashews
- 4 tablespoons unsweetened soy yogurt
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence
- 3 tablespoons fresh chives, cut into rings
- 2 tablespoons cress
- black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in water for at least 4 hours. If you want to make it easier for your blender you can also soak them overnight.
- Drain the cashews and put them in a high speed blender together with the unsweetened soy yogurt, the garlic, the nutritional yeast, the lemon juice, salt, and the herbes de Provence.
- Process until smooth. This will take about 3-4 minutes depending on your blender. You want the cashew cream cheese to be super smooth without any chunks.
- Season with black pepper and stir in the fresh chives and cress. Enjoy!
Notes
- Soak the cashews for at least 4 hours. For best results, you should use a high speed blender. Be patient, it will take a while!
- Don't cut down the recipe to a smaller batch size as most blenders need a certain amount of cashews to process them into a smooth cream.
- It's really important to use unsweetened plant-based yogurt.
- This recipe freezes really well. Freeze it in a small container and it will last in the freezer for around 2-3 months.
Glen
Have just tried this it is absolutely lovely. So much flavour.Many thanks