This vegan parmesan cheese is the absolute best recipe! It uses 5 simple whole foods, can be made in crumble form or grated from a block!
Making dairy free cheese using simple ingredients and an easy process is tough. But this dairy free version of traditional Parmesan is simple amazing!
This post was originally published on October 8, 2017.
This recipe is very similar in process to my vegan Cotija cheese. With a few simple changes to nail that salty tangy flavor of Parmesan, I could still shape this into a wheel then allow it to harden for freshly grated vegan Parmesan cheese!
Ingredients
I aim to create easy recipes without a lot of fuss. Many vegan cheese recipes out there need fermentation, or hard to find ingredients. While they taste amazing, it simply isn't practical.
A handful of simple, easy to find, whole food, plant based ingredients is all you need to make this easy cashew parmesan cheese:
- Raw cashews
- Lemon juice
- Distilled white vinegar
- Sea salt
- Ground mustard
How To Make Vegan Parmesan
I use a very unique process to make this vegan Parmesan recipe. Following these steps is critical in getting the end result!
- Place dry cashews in a food processor and blend until they are a fine crumble.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse. (Stop here to use as is in crumbled form.)
- If grating, shape into a wheel and refrigerate overnight.
- Cut into wedges, grate and use on everything!
Serving Suggestions
This vegan parmesan cheese recipe is fabulous on basically everything! Here are some of our favorite recipes to pair it with:
- Broccoli Pesto
- Vegan Carbonara
- Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
- Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Gnocchi
- Tuscan Ribollita Soup
- Gluten-Free Eggplant Parmesan
- Vegan Moussaka
- Cavatelli and Broccoli
- Caesar Salad
- Or on a homemade pizza with easy pizza sauce!
Preparation Tips
In order to make the best vegan parmesan cheese, make sure to check out these helpful hints:
- The easiest way to shape into a wheel is by wrapping in plastic wrap and press into your desired shape.
- The white vinegar is what gives this recipe the sharpness and tanginess of Parmesan. If you substitute it for another vinegar you will not get the same flavor.
- For added sharpness and flavor you can add some miso and/or nutritional yeast.
- For best grating results wait until it chills overnight in the fridge. If you can't wait keep checking for hardness every few hours!
Storage Tips
- Keep the cheese chilled until you're ready to grate. It will soften and not grate very well if left out of the refrigerator.
- You can also just use this crumbled straight from the food processor. Store the crumbles in the fridge, it will harden up once refrigerated.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 7 days.
- You can also store in the freezer for longer periods of time.
Common Questions
There are many versions of vegan parmesan cheese out there. Many include cashews or seeds, seasonings, and nutritional yeast. This recipe uses simply cashews, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and ground mustard.
There are store-bought vegan parmesan cheeses, but it's so easy to make your own at home! That way you can customize the flavor, and know you're only eating real whole foods.
In my humble opinion, this one! It's simple to make with easy to find whole food plant based ingredients and tastes absolutely fabulous! Plus, it has that classic hard texture that's perfect for grating!
While many cheeses are vegetarian, parmesan cheese is not one of them. Some cheeses, including parmesan cheese, use rennet which is not vegetarian.
More Vegan Cheese Recipes
Vegan and cheese don't usually go together, until now! If you like this recipe for vegan parmesan cheese, you need to check out these plant based cheesy recipes made with easy to find whole food ingredients:
- Vegan Feta Cheese
- Creamy Vegan Cream Cheese
- The Best Vegan Cheese Sauce
- 4 Ingredient Vegan Cotija Cheese
- Easy Vegan Ricotta Cheese
- Green Mac and Cheese
- Vegan Mexican Chili Cheese Dip
- The Perfect Vegan Cheese and Dip Platter
- Vegan Queso Blanco (Mexican White Cheese Dip)
The Best Vegan Parmesan Cheese Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews , do not soak
- 2 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 ¼ teaspoons distilled white vinegar (see note)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt , can use up to ¾ teaspoon
- pinch ground mustard
Instructions
- Place dry cashews in a food processor and blend until they are a fine crumble.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until incorporated. Stop here if you prefer not to grate this but simply use it in crumbled form.
- If you are shaping it into a wheel to grate, then you can keep blending until smooth. It should come together into a ball, almost soft and dough like.
- Shape into a wheel and refrigerate overnight. You can use plastic wrap to store it in or shape with your hands and store in an airtight container.
- It will be ready to grate in the morning, but if you can't wait keep checking for hardness every few hours!
- This also stores very well in the freezer if you know you won't use it all within 7 days.
Notes
- Keep cheese cold in the fridge until ready to grate. It will soften and not grate well if left out. It also stores very well in the freezer for extended periods of time.
- The white vinegar is what gives this recipe the sharpness and tanginess of Parmesan. If you sub it then you will not get the same flavor.
- You can also just use this crumbled straight from the food processor or store crumbled in the fridge if you don’t want to grate it. If you simply store it crumbled, it will harden as crumbles in the fridge.
- This makes 1 wheel about 5 inches by one inch, or a little over 1 ¼ cup grated. Serving size is 1 tablespoon.
Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.
Nutrition
Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
Such a nifty ingredient to keep on hand in our vegan kitchens!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks!
Anjali @ Vegetarian Gastronomy
I need to try this sometime!! My go-to for now is the cashew parm or follow your heart parm my family loves, but this is so simple and love that it's grate-able!!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Anjali! This is way more parmesan like than all the dry parmesan recipes out there. Once I created this we have never looked back! And it's also all whole foods based since we try to stay away from the store bought cheeses and such, we just have them once in a while.
The Vegan 8
Ok, so I finally made it! Yesterday I ran out of time, but just finished it and I LOVE IT! I only did the crumble part to taste it and it's so good and I can totally see how freaking amazing this will be on top of pasta or baked casseroles. It is delicious and illegal at how easy it was. It took like 30 seconds, lol! So glad too because NO yeast!! I'm going to eat the whole batch out of the processor. Okay, not really because I want to grate it, so I'm going to process it smooth now and refrigerate it. LOVE IT girl!!! Awesome recipe!
veggiesdontbite
Hahaha! Don't eat it all in one sitting, you may get a belly ache. LOL! Thank you SO much for the great feedback! We eat it both crumbled and grated and love it both ways. But grating it makes it so fresh tasting like real grated Parmesan. I really wanted something super easy to throw together because with 3 boys and zero time I am often in a place that I'm serving pasta and forgot I ran out of cheese. And I also wanted something with normal ingredients because so many out there have yeast and other things the average person may not have at home. I so appreciate it!! Thanks again friend and I am so happy you like it!
Amy Katz from Veggies Save The Day
I love that this recipe doesn't require any unusual ingredients! I'll be trying it very soon!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks so much Amy! Yes, this is my goal with so much I create. I want food that the average person (vegan or not) can easily get the ingredients for!
Alisa Fleming
Oh wow, this is the first grated parma I've ever seen made with cashews! It looks delicious.
veggiesdontbite
Thank you Alisa!! I hadn't seen anything like it either, and am happy with how it turned out!
Nicole Dawson
Oh my goodness Sophia, you are too funny! Love all the sass and call it what you want because this does look like amazing parmesan cheese.
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Nicole!!! I am wondering how well you could do this with sunflower or pumpkin seeds...HMMMM
Mel | avirtualvegan.com
What an awesome recipe! I am imagining all of the things I could sprinkle it on and my mouth is watering!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Mel! We sprinkle it on everything!
Linda from Veganosity
Big scraping eye roll to all of the whiners on the internet. Newsflash, cheese isn't exclusive to dairy! Your parm looks amazing! Bravo!
veggiesdontbite
My favorite comments ever are those in which others like to tell me what I can and can't do on my own website. Hahaha! Thank you!
Kristina
hmmm - WAY TOO easy! I'm making some tonight, cannot wait to try it!
veggiesdontbite
Well that's what you get when your kid is screaming that he wants cheese and you don't have any. LMAO!!
Dianne
I can't wait to try this! I can't remember the last time I had grate parmesan, but it was forever ago, because I've been vegan for 16 years now. I'm so impressed that you were able to figure it out!
I laugh about the "cheese" thing with internet trolls, too. Why aren't they freaking out about hand "cream" and "spaghetti" straps?
veggiesdontbite
Hahaha!!!! Spaghetti straps. LMAO!!
The Vegan 8
This is so simple and brilliant girl! I just printed the recipe and can't wait to try it! I had an accidental "parm cheese" as well for a coating for a veggie in my cookbook that ended up tasting like parm too, total shocker, but it's nothing like this one, so I can't wait to try this!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks lady! Aren't accidents the best?! LOL!
Dina
It looks amazing and I’m sure it tastes amazing.
Can’t wait to try it.
veggiesdontbite
Thanks mom! It's the cheese you tried a few weeks ago that you liked!
Hannah
Woah...! This looks amazing! I have to make this. So funny about the definition of "cheese"!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you!!! Yes, there are some interesting humans out there. LOL
JCB
How long will thus keep in fridge? Can you freeze it?
veggiesdontbite
Hi! You can absolutely freeze it. When ready to use, just take out of the freezer for a bit then grate. I have kept mine in the fridge for a few weeks no problem. I would guess it lasts even longer than that with the vinegar and lemon juice. Nothing in it spoils fast so you should be good for a while!
Nicole
EFFING GENIUS! I bow to you! I cannot wait to try this! Thank you <3
veggiesdontbite
Haha!!!! Thank you! It’s so simple, nothing fancy, but it totally hits the spot!