Elevate your holiday spread with this effortless vegan cheese recipe! Whether you’re putting together a festive cheese board or just want to try your hands at making your own plant-based artisan cheese, this wholesome and incredibly delectable recipe is sure to delight you and your guests.
While we’re big fans of aged, cultured gourmet cheeses made with probiotics, we also understand that sometimes you’re in a hurry, and waiting for cheese to mature isn’t an option. Sometimes, you just want cheese pronto! If the idea of waiting days for your cheese to age doesn’t tickle your fancy, then this recipe will become your new best friend.
This vegan cheese recipe is not only a breeze to make, but also ready in under an hour! This creamy, herb-infused delight is both versatile and a crowd-pleaser, perfect for your holiday gatherings.
For this homemade vegan cheese, all you need to do is blanch some almonds in boiling water and blend all the ingredients together until they form a silky-smooth mixture. Afterward, pop it into the oven for a quick 20-minute bake. Once it’s done, allow it to cool slightly, shape it into a log, coat it with your favorite fresh herbs, and let it chill until you’re ready to serve.
How to Serve This Vegan Cheese
This versatile vegan cheese has been a World of Vegan favorite for years, with a wide range of delectable serving options. For the holidays and for entertaining, you can make a fancy charcuterie board and serve it with crackers, fresh veggies, bread, olives, dips, grapes, vegan meats, and more. You can also add it to sandwiches and various dishes.
- On Crackers: Keep it simple and spread this on your favorite crackers.
- Cheese Board: For special occasions and entertaining, create an impressive cheese board. Pair the cheese log with an assortment of crackers, fresh veggies, bread, olives, dips, grapes, vegan meats, and more for a delightful spread that will impress your guests.
- Hummus Board: Dish up this cheese on a fun hummus board which is a great snack idea for kids and adults alike.
- Pasta: Add a generous dollop of this creamy vegan cheese to your favorite pasta dishes for a rich and flavorful twist.
- Salads: Drizzle it over salads as a delicious dressing alternative or mix it in for an extra layer of creaminess. Sandwiches: Elevate your sandwiches by spreading this delectable cheese log for a gourmet touch.
- Bagels or Avocado Toast: Spread it on your morning avocado toast or vegan bagels (instead of cream cheese) for a creamy and flavorful breakfast. It would be especially delicious topped with this carrot lox!
- Tofu Scramble: Surprise your taste buds by incorporating this vegan cheese log into your tofu scramble; the flavor infusion will leave you amazed.
This can be used as a substitute for soft cheese or goat cheese in any recipe where their creamy goodness is desired. Enjoy the versatility and deliciousness this cheese log brings to your meals and gatherings!
Key Vegan Cheese Ingredients
Explore the essential components that come together harmoniously to create this luscious vegan cheese. These ingredients combine their unique qualities to produce a creamy, flavorful, and plant-based alternative to traditional dairy cheese.
Raw Almonds: These nutrient-packed nuts provide the base for the creamy texture of your cheese log. They bring a very subtle nutty flavor and a creamy consistency when blanched and blended. If you don’t have a high-powered blender like a Vitamix, opt for slivered almonds instead of whole raw almonds for easier blending.
Lemon Juice: The zesty lemon juice adds a refreshing tang that mimics the brightness of traditional cheese, enhancing the overall flavor profile.
Nutritional Yeast: A pantry staple for vegans, nutritional yeast contributes a savory, cheesy flavor without dairy, enriching your cheese log with depth and umami.
Garlic Powder: For those who love an extra kick of flavor, garlic powder can be added to give your cheese log a subtle, aromatic hint of garlic. This ingredient is optional—the cheese is still delicious without it!
Salt: A touch of salt elevates the flavors, balancing the sweetness of almonds and enhancing the overall taste.
Fresh Chives: These vibrant herbs, such as fresh chives, infuse your cheese log with a burst of color and a burst of freshness. You can experiment with other herbs of your choice to customize the flavor to your liking.
These carefully selected ingredients work in harmony to create a creamy, flavorful vegan cheese log that’s both delicious and versatile. Enjoy the natural goodness of plant-based ingredients in this delightful recipe!
How to Make Vegan Cheese
Blanch Your Almonds
If you’re new to blanching almonds, it’s easy and only takes a minute! Here’s how to blanch almonds.
- Add water to a small pot.
- Bring the water to a boil.
- Add the raw almonds and allow them to cook for just one minute.
- Drain and rinse the blanched almonds with cold water so they’re not too hot to handle.
- Remove the skins by hand, by simply squeezing each almond and sliding the skin off.
Blend Your Cheese Mixture
In a high-powered blender, combine the blanched almonds, water, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and salt. Blend until you get a soft slurry-like consistency. It doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth.
Bake Your Cheese
First, line a loaf pan. If you don’t have a loaf pan, that’s ok! Any baking dish can work here, just lay the mixture down about one-inch thick in your parchment lined baking dish.
Once you’ve filled your loaf pan, it should look something like this!
Place the loaf pan in the oven (preheated to 350 degrees F) and bake for the first 10 minutes. Pull it out, mix well with a spoon, and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove, mix, and bake for the final 5 minutes. Remove it from the oven, mix one final time, and allow to cool for five minutes.
It should now be a thicker consistency and look like this.
Shape Your Cheese
Shaping your cheese is the fun part! You can follow the directions to shape this into a traditional cheese log, or get creative with your own shape.
- Cool your cheese before handling after you take it out of the oven (and make sure you’ve mixed it well first).
- Pull the edged of the parchment paper lining to gently lift the baked cheese out of the pan and onto a countertop. Using the parchment paper, pull one side over the other to fold the cheese into a log shape, and use your fingers to tuck the parchment around the log and pull it into an even log (this method is similar to shaping sushi with a sushi mat). Use your hands to pat the end of the log to flatten.
- Peel back the parchment and if needed, finish shaping using your hands.
Coat Your Cheese Log With Herbs
The beauty of this cheese is that the flavor of the cheese meshes beautifully with any herb. We chose chives, but any finely chopped herbs can work here.
Finely chop your choice of herbs on a cutting board. Spread the herbs in a layer large enough to roll the cheese log. Roll the cheese log in the herbs, pressing them in as needed, and voila! You’re cheese is done!
Cover the cheese in tin foil and store it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.