A delicious hack for a vegan version of grated parmesan cheese. It’s cheesy, tasty and brings a protein and flavour boost to vegan pasta dishes. It’s also really quick and simple to make and only has three ingredients.
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What is Vegan Parmesan Cheese Made Of?
Homemade vegan parmesan cheese is generally made from three ingredients: nuts or seeds, nutritional yeast and salt. You may find other additions to help raise the flavour profile and / or give colour. This recipe contains cashew nuts, nutritional yeast and garlic salt. Nothing else.
Parmesan cheese, delicious as it is, is not even vegetarian, let alone vegan. You can buy vegan parmesan style cheeses, both in blocks and ready grated. But it’s really very easy to make your own and you can control the ingredients that go into it.
You can use almonds, or even hemp seeds to make vegan ‘parmesan’ cheese. But I tend to go with cashew nuts. They have a softer consistency than other nuts and are also considerably cheaper.
Most recipes for vegan Parmesan cheese use raw nuts and I can see why. They give more of a soft cheese-like texture. However, I like to toast the nuts first as the boost in flavour, outweighs the resulting slightly crunchy consistency.
So, by all means, feel free to make this vegan Parmesan cheese with raw nuts instead of toasted ones, but it won’t taste quite as good.
I use garlic salt to mimic some of the complexity of flavour found in Parmesan cheese. With my Cornish hat on, it’s Cornish Sea Salt’s garlic salt* that I favour. If, however, you can’t get hold of garlic salt, use half a teaspoon of sea salt and a half teaspoon of garlic powder instead.
What Does Vegan Parmesan Cheese Taste Like?
Vegan ‘parmesan’ cheese doesn’t taste exactly the same as Parmesan cheese. You couldn’t possibly replicate the complex flavour profile of this ancient Italian food. But it’s a surprisingly good imitation and it does taste similar. In fact it’s delicious.
I find that a jar doesn’t get to hang around as long as it ought to.
It tastes cheesy and like classic Parmesan, it’s full of umami flavour. This comes from the nutritional yeast and in the case of my recipe, the roasting of the nuts. Garlic salt adds both saltiness and different savoury notes that give added depth and complexity.
How To Make Vegan Parmesan Cheese
This recipe for vegan ‘parmesan’ cheese is incredibly easy to make. Mainly, it’s a case of measuring out the ingredients and sticking them in a blender or food processor. My recipe is slightly more involved than some in that I toast the cashew nuts before they go into the blender.
Toasting the cashews only takes a few minutes, so it doesn’t really add a lot of time to the recipe. Dry fry the nuts in a pan and toss occasionally. Once done, the pan will only need a quick wipe with a piece of kitchen towel and you can put it away, so there’s no extra washing up involved either.
It’s best to pulse the nuts rather than put on a continuous blend. This way you can keep an eye on the consistency and ensure your vegan ‘parmesan’ doesn’t turn into nut butter. Pulse until the ingredients are properly mixed and reach a grated Parmesan cheese consistency.
For small quantities like this, I find it easier to use a mini food processor*, rather than my Froothie Evolve power blender*, fabulous though that is. For larger quantities a power blender makes a finer grain, but I actually like a bit of texture in mine and prefer not to have it too powdery.
Once you’ve finished making your vegan ‘parmesan’ cheese, pour or spoon it into a sealed container. I like to keep mine in a glass jar. Pop it into the fridge and use as needed.
Sprinkle over pasta, soup, stews and salads. Or use it in any other way you’d use grated Parmesan cheese. I’ve not tried it, but I understand it’s great for making pesto.
The amount I’ve given in the recipe is for about twenty teaspoons, so you don’t need to make it very often. Or at least you don’t if you can keep yourself from using it for every meal.
It keeps well in a sealed container in the fridge for at least a month. And you can always make double the quantities if you think you’re going to use a lot of it. Double or even triple quantities, will only add seconds to the time.
Other Recipes for Vegan Hacks You Might Like
- Beer battered tofish (vegan fish)
- Cheesy cashew nut sauce
- Cream ‘cheese’
- Homemade vegan butter
- Pulled jackfruit in spicy barbecue sauce
- Vegan mayonnaise
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this vegan ‘parmesan’ cheese, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more vegan recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Vegan Parmesan Cheese. PIN IT.
Vegan Parmesan Cheese – The Recipe
Vegan Parmesan Cheese
Ingredients
- 100 g cashew nuts
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp garlic salt (or half tsp sea salt and half tsp garlic powder)
Instructions
- Toast the cashew nuts in a dry frying pan over a moderate heat for three to five minutes. Stir the nuts every so often so they get more or less evenly golden coloured.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes, then toss into a blender or mini food processor along with the other ingredients.
- Pulse the nuts until they're ground down to a grated Parmesan cheese consistency. Be careful not to blitz for too long. or your vegan Parmesan could quickly turn to nut butter.
- Taste test for flavour and if you feel it needs a little more garlic salt, add another pinch and pulse again briefly. But do be careful not to overdo it.
- Spoon into a glass jar or other lidded container and store in the fridge for up to a month.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
I’m sharing this recipe for vegan ‘parmesan’ cheese with Effortless Foodie for #CookBlogShare.
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jacquie dickinson says
How do you think this would work when used as an actual ingredient rather than being sprinkled on food? I have a well used recipe for almond and seed crackers and it would like to use your recipe as part of the ingredients.
Choclette says
Hi Jacquie. Your crackers sound delicious. My vegan parmesan isn’t going to have the melting qualities of the real thing so it’s likely to make a difference. However, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in crackers, unless the cheese is the only thing that holds them together. If you give it a go, do let us know how you get on.
Michelle says
I love this vegan parmesan cheese! Super easy to make and tastes delicious on pizza and pasta! It’s nice to be able to enjoy a veganized version of parmesan.
Choclette says
There are so many good vegan hacks around these days, it makes eating vegan food even more of a pleasure. So glad you like it too.
Sue says
Thanks, so easy and tasty
Choclette says
Glad you found it useful Sue. There are a few simple vegan hacks that make all the difference.
Jane Saunders says
Well I’m blown away. I had no idea that Parmesan was not vegetarian – I’ve just shared this recipe with my best friend who has been veggie for decades, I know she’ll appreciate being able to make this simple recipe.
Choclette says
For many years, I knew, but ignored it as it was so hard to avoid when eating out or with friends etc. But everything is so much easier these days and there are lots of really good vegetarian cheeses around. But this vegan one is so easy to make and so delicious, I usually use it on pasta instead of cheese anyway.
Uma Srinivas says
Love the idea of using cashews and nutritional yeast. We miss delicious vegan parmesan cheese. Let’s try this method for the next recipe 🙂 Thanks!
Choclette says
Yes do try it Uma and let me know what you think. We had pasta for supper tonight and it really adds a lovely umami quality.
Megan Stevens says
I love using cashews like this! My daughter has a dairy-free diet, and while I’m very inventive, I never thought of this. She just loves having a condiment she can use with pasta, on top of avocado toast etc. Thank you!! 🙂
Choclette says
I’ve been topping all sorts of things with this vegan ‘Parmesan’, but I never thought of avocado toast. What a very good idea.
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie says
Aaargh – I could’ve done with recipe last month. I have literally just finished veganuary!!! Might have to try this anyway as I have half a tub of nutritional yeast leftover from a vegan cheese sauce I made! Eb 🙂
Choclette says
In that case, it’s definitely worth a go Eb. It’s really nice stuff, so I’m sure you’ll manage to use it.
Beth Sachs says
I’ll definitely be passing this on to my vegan friends. Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare!
Choclette says
It’s a really good hack for vegans or those just wanting to cut down on dairy.
sherry says
what a fabulous idea. i would never have thought you could do this. i must give it a go!
Choclette says
Yes do Sherry and please let me know what you think.
Mary says
What a fun idea! Will try this. Have had nutritional yeast lurking in the cupboard for a little while and now I can put it to good use.
Thanks :))
Choclette says
Check your yeast is still OK Mary. I had some lurking for a while and when I got it out to use, it most definitely wasn’t in a fit state. Moisture had got in.
Mary says
Thanks for the advice – it’s a solid block! I’ll have to get some more so I can try the cheese sprinkle.
Thanks Choclette. :))
Choclette says
Oops! Yes, I found out that it doesn’t stand up well to lying forgotten at the back of a cupboard.
angiesrecipes says
I like unfortified nutritional yeast. Love the idea of adding nuts to it and use it as a vegetarian Parm.
Angie
Choclette says
Nutritional yeast is such a useful ingredient to have in a veggie larder Angie.