Amazingly easy vegan cultured cashew cream cheese, made from just two ingredients: cashews and nondairy yogurt. This vegan cream cheese will make a believer out of any skeptic. Naturally paleo, gluten-free, grain-free and no sugar added!
Recipe by Yup, it's Vegan on February 21, 2015
Prep time: PT10M
Total time: PT10M
Rating
4.84 stars (43 reviews)
Keywords
cashew cream cheese
Ingredients
2 cups raw cashews (soaked overnight in filtered water (raw macadamia nuts also work - but will take a lot longer to blend))
Prepare a clean and dry glass or other nonreactive container. I use a Pyrex container. It may not be strictly required, but it's best to sterilize all of your equipment with boiling water before getting started.
Drain the liquid off of the soaked cashews. Add them to a blender or food processor and blend until completely smooth. If you aren't used a high-powered blender, it will take several minutes for the cashews to break down and release oils in order to become a smooth mixture. Stop to scrape down the sides as needed; you can also add filtered water a tablespoon at a time if you're having trouble blending.
Note: if your blender has warmed the mixture very much, it's best to take a break now and wait for it to cool down (we don't want to kill the yogurt cultures with heat). Then, add the yogurt and salt and pulse to combine.
Transfer to the clean container and cover. Let sit out at room temperature for 24 hours. Use a clean utensil to taste the mixture, and add more sea salt to taste; let it culture for another 12-24 hours if you want a stronger tang.
Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 weeks. (Note: length of storage time may depend on the culturing conditions and brand of yogurt used).
(Optional step) This recipe makes cultured cashew cream cheese with a texture more like "whipped" dairy cream cheese. For a firmer texture like block cream cheese, press out the liquid using cheesecloth.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
Calories: 81 kcal
Carbohydrates: 4 g
Protein: 3 g
Fat: 6 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Sodium: 76 mg
Sugar: 1 g
Unsaturated Fat: 5 g
Reviews
jaki on 2022-02-24 (5 stars): freezes beautifully!! No problems at all. I freeze half of the batch regularly, so I don't have to worry about it going 'off' in the fridge if I can't get through it all at once.
Janine Phillpot on 2021-07-03 (5 stars): Wondering if anyone has tried freezing the end result?
Dennis A Hubert on 2021-06-02 (5 stars): the first time i made it, it didn't ferment. I think the culture i used was too old. this time, it came out great, although there was a layer of moldy crust which i scraped off (i think i ate some too... it tasted fine) and it's amazing! i confess i added a teaspoon of liquid smoke and a little onion powder. sooooooo good!
Megan H on 2021-03-28 (5 stars): Wow! It is so good and easy! I've been terrified of fermenting anything, since I tried to make a Mexican fermented rice drink, which grew a spectacular mold layer!.But I miss cream cheese, so I gave this a try. I have a yogurt maker, so I steamed the little jars in my Instant Pot. I put the cashew cream cheese & yogurt into the pots and put them into the yogurt maker for 14 hours. It was perfect. There was a slight hard layer on top that I scraped off, but the rest was lovely and 'whipped' looking. It came out a perfect texture. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
Tess on 2021-03-17 (5 stars): I’ve made this twice and it turned out great! I made a half batch and used a magic bullet. It didn’t get the cashews smooth, but broke them down enough to allow fermentation. Then I use a stick blender to do the final blending and it’s beautifully creamy. I do it this way so that I can eat any fermented cream left on the blender stick, and it doesn’t go to waste as it would pre-ferment. The first time I used my instant pot mini on yogurt setting. This time I used my dehydrator on 110F. Both worked equally well and took 16 hours to get tangy. The dehydrator has a bit more space if I want to do a few batches next time.
Rachel on 2020-10-19 (5 stars): What's the point of using dairy yogurt when the whole point of this recipe is to avoid dairy???
Stephanie on 2020-10-10 (5 stars): I've used a couple of probiotic capsules (PB8 brand) with excellent results. Anything with live lactobacillus bacteria should work great.
Lucas on 2020-08-20 (5 stars): This is AMAZING! I thought I would never have cream cheese again after going vegan, but now I can! I might be a biased vegan, but I like this better than regular cream cheese.
