I must admit that cheese is probably the most addictive food and therefore the hardest to abstain from when following a plant-based diet. This cashew cream cheese recipe though really saved me and I use it regularly in all kinds of foods. The great thing is that you can adjust the ingredients according to your taste. Once you play a bit with the amounts you’ll quickly find out which ingredient should be dominant in the taste (I like it with lots of lemon juice and garlic). It’s is super practical because you can just use it as a dip for veggies, a spread on bread and crackers or as a cheese substitute when making sushi, pizza or bourekas (savoury pastry).
- 1 cup cashews (soaked overnight)
- ¾ cup water
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves (medium sized)
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- salt & pepper to taste
- a handful of chopped herbs (parsley & chives)
- Soak cashews in water overnight.
- Place all the ingredients in a blender and mix for 2-3 minutes until you get a creamy consistence.
- Adjust the amounts according to your taste.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour and enjoy!
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I am very tempted to make this recipe (Cashew cream cheese) -however I do not know what nutritional yeast is-I know baking yeast and brewers yeast-could you tell me how its sold or even give me a brand name?
Hi Daphnie 🙂 I also needed to do some research first time I tried this. Basically nutritional yeast is deactivated and dried yeast and you can buy it usually in health/ nature food stores in the form of flakes or powder (you probably won’t find it in normal grocery stores). It’s really great!! I use it whenever I want a ‘cheesy’ flavour in my dishes (pesto, cheesy sauces, etc.). I’m sure that if you go to a health/ nature food store in your area and ask for it they will have it! The brands vary depending on which country you live in, but I could definitely help you finding stores in your area if you like 🙂
Hi there Kirsten just wondering if the cashews are raw or roasted? Salted?
Thanks!
Jan
Oh also how long is it good in the fridge?
Hi Jan 🙂 I used raw cashews (unsalted), and it’s good up to a week if you store it in the fridge all the time! 🙂
This looks great. I was wondering if it would work in a spinach artichoke dip? I usually use Tofutti but would like to try this. The recipe is spinach, artichoke, vegan mozzarella cheese and the cream cheese. What do you think?
Thank you
Christine
Sounds very interesting 🙂 To achieve a similar consistency like the Tofutti try and play a bit with the water amounts. I’d use a bit less water first and see how it goes and then only slowly add some more :-)! I also heard very good things about this one: https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/healthy-spinach-artichoke-dip/ but haven’t tried it myself yet! xx
Is was good but I had to finish it under he broiler on low for 10 minutes to get rid of the raw taste and brown it up. Did not have chickpea and used rice flour instead. The cashew creme was excellent! And I dumped some of my favourite salsa on top, very good.