Cashew Cream Cheese

The Best Cashew Cream Cheese

This raw cashew cream cheese is incredible. I make it all the time to serve as a cheese, a dip, or slathered on sandwiches and wraps. I make the base recipe and mix things up with flavor variations. I’ve shared my favorite combos in this post.

How To Make Cashew Cream Cheese

You can make this cashew cream cheese in your high-speed blender or food processor fitted with the S-blade. You will get a smoother consistency in the high-speed blender. If you don’t have one, you can’t make this in a conventional blender. You’ll get a better result with a food processor.

Different nuts and seeds blended with filtered water make all kinds of vegan cheese varieties.

Blanched slivered almonds, raw macadamias, raw pine nuts, raw sunflower seeds, and raw sesame seeds all make awesome vegan cheeses. But, raw cashews yield the best results when making neutral-flavored vegan cheeses. You will also get the smoothest texture with cashews.

To make cashew cream cheese, soak your cashews, drain them, and then blend them with your flavorings.

Cashew Cream Cheese Recipe:

In the base cashew cream cheese recipe, I’m using:

raw cashews
filtered water
nutritional yeast
lemon juice
sea salt
onion powder
garlic powder

Process all of the ingredients for 30 to 60 seconds, or longer, until smooth and creamy.

I like to keep this cashew cream cheese the consistency of hummus or ricotta so it acts like a cream cheese spread that’s fantastic with chips, crackers, or veggie sticks, or slathered on bagels, sandwiches, or wraps.

You could also keep this dip more rustic. It’s up to you.

Flavored Cashew Cream Cheese Options:

Keep things interesting by adding herbs and flavors to the basic cashew cream cheese recipe.

My favorite flavors are:

herbed cheese
tomato basil cheese
chive cashew cheese
chile cashew cheese
truffle cashew cheese
sesame cashew cheese
maple cashew cheese

I’ve listed all of the ingredients for these flavor variations in the recipe card.

For each flavor option, just add the listed ingredients to the base recipe. For fresh herbs, stir them into the base recipe otherwise your cheese will turn green.

Substitutions For Cashew in this Cream Cheese Recipe:

If you can’t eat cashews, you could substitute the 2 cups of raw cashews with:

2 cups blanched slivered almonds (not whole raw almonds)
2 cups raw macadamias
1 cup raw sunflower seeds + 1 cup raw pine nuts
2 cups raw sunflower seeds (for nut-free cream cheese)

Soak your nuts or seeds for the smoothest texture

No matter what nut or seed you choose, you will get the smoothest creamiest cheese by soaking your nuts or seeds before blending.

You can find soaking instructions, the soak times for specific nuts and seeds, and soaking chart on my soaking post.

What Does Cashew Cream Cheese Taste Like?

My dad always tells me that happiness is tied up in expectations. If you keep your expectations in a realistic place, you’re less likely to be disappointed.

I’ve found this advice to be true in all aspects of life; and I offer it up today when making this cashew cream cheese.

Don’t get me wrong, this cashew cheese is absolutely scrumptious. But if expect this to taste exactly like cheese made from cow’s milk you may be a little disappointed.

Conversely, if you think of it as a dairy-free healthy cheesy-tasting alternative to conventional cheese you will love the results.

People dip into this cashew cream cheese and say the same thing when they come up for air,“Oh wow, this is so delicious. But it doesn’t taste like cheese”.

Yeah….I should probably call it cashew spread. I’m not really selling this recipe am I?

Just try it….and thank me later.

Other Vegan Cheese Recipes

Vegan Ricotta Cheese
Vegan Feta Cheese
Vegan Sesame Hemp Parmesan
Vegan Mac and Cheese
Spicy Cashew Dip

Let me know what you think of this cashew cream cheese!

Your feedback is important, and it helps me decide which recipes to post next for you.

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