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A life-changing Vegan Parmesan recipe.
It’s finally here! My grateable vegan parmesan recipe, that pretty much looks and tastes like real parmesan! Can you believe it?! It’s salty, tangy, cheesy, and super duper delicious. Also very simple to make, with just 5 ingredients and about 10 minutes of work. You can pretty much use it as you’d use dairy parmesan: freshly grated over pasta, salads, or soups, thinly sliced in a sandwich, or just simply cubed on a vegan cheese platter. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?!
Ever since I showed you on Instagram one of the first versions of this recipe, I keep getting messages about it all the time. I know, I know, it was more than half year ago, but it just wasn’t perfect yet, so I had to wait. But trust me, it all worth the wait. Because this version is really that good! And there’s really no better way to describe it: it’s very parmesan-y! Hard, greasy, salty, and flavorful. Try it, if you don’t believe me!
How to make Vegan Parmesan Cheese
This cheese is actually very simple to make, however there are a few things to keep in mind.
- I find that this vegan parmesan tastes best when using both pine nuts and cashews. Pine nuts can be pretty pricey, so you can also make the cheese with just cashews. The result won’t be the same, but still very good.
- You must grind the nuts before mixing with the rest of the ingredients. This step helps mixing everything together, plus gives a better texture.
- Use refined coconut oil for the recipe. Unlike virgin coconut oil, it has no coconut taste.
- This recipe can’t be made oil-free. Real parmesan cheese is also very fatty, so it’s essential to use coconut oil here. If you follow a strict oil-free diet, try this parmesan recipe instead.
- Although many sources say, that agar agar can’t be mixed with oil, somehow it works for me with this recipe. I made several versions without agar agar, and also using water with agar agar, and definitely this works the best. When using water the cheese has more of a soft, gouda-like consistency, and without any agar agar the cheese simply melts too quickly.
- You can use any ramekin for the cheese, or make one out of parchment paper, as I did (picture below ↓).
- Once you prepared your vegan parmesan, place the cheese for a few hours in the fridge, until it hardens. If you are super impatient you can also put it in the freezer.
- Store the cheese in an airtight container, or wrapped in parchment paper in the fridge or freezer.
More cheese recipes you might like:
- 2-Ingredient Vegan Cream Cheese
- Raw Vegan Cashew Mozzarella
- Vegan Tofu Feta Cheese
- Simple Raw Cultured Cashew Cheese
- Walnut and Herb Vegan Cheese
- Smoky Chili Almond Cheese
- Baked Almond Feta
- Quick and Easy Vegan Fondue
- Cauliflower Cheese Sauce
- Vegan Obazda
- Vegan Cashew Cheese with Tomato and Herbs
If you try this recipe, let me know! I would highly appreciate if you could leave a comment and rate it. Also don’t forget to take a picture and tag it on Instagram (use the hashtag #greenevi) or post it on Facebook! I love seeing what you come up with! ♥︎
PrintVegan Parmesan – Sliceable & Grateable
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: 1 cheese 1x
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup of cashews
- 3/4 cup of pine nuts
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 4 tbsp refined coconut oil
- 1 tsp agar agar powder
- salt
Instructions
- Place cashews and pine nuts in a food processor, and grind until you get a fine crumble.
- Heat up coconut oil in a small pot over medium heat. Once it melted, add agar agar and cook for about 5 minutes, whisking constantly.
- Add agar agar and coconut oil mixture, nutritional yeast, and a generous amount of salt to ground nuts, and pulse until incorporated.
- Place cheese into a mold of your choice (I like to make one out of parchment paper, to resemble a parmesan shape), and press down lightly, if needed. Place in the fridge for at least 4 hours to let it set.
- Cheese will keep for 7-10 days in the fridge. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Category: Snack, Cheese
- Cuisine: Vegan
Kathleen @ Produce On Parade says
WUT!!!! Omg, making this parmesan this weekend! I think this is going to be a gamechanger. You are brilliant!
green evi says
Let me know how you liked it 😉
Erika Mijuskovic says
Could you substitute tapioca starch for the agar? Thanks in advance!
green evi says
Hi Erika,
I’ve never tried it, but I don’t think it would work for 1 by 1 substitution. However if you play around and change the ratios it could work. Let me know if you experiment with it 😉
Ben|Havocinthekitchen says
You know that I always honestly say that I’m a bit sceptical about “fake” cheeses although your creations always look delicious. But – oh my gosh – this one looks phenomenal! While I can easily imagine that the taste resembles real parmesan, I’m so impressed with its texture! I would have never recognized it’s a nut-based version. You’re genius, Evi!
green evi says
Hahaha, I totally know what you mean….I had the exact same feeling about fake cheeses too 😀
But after some years without dairy everything is a lot more ‘cheesy’ for me 😀
angiesrecipes says
That does look like a real thing. Good job, Evi.
green evi says
Thanks, Angie! 🙂
Jamillah says
Can it be made without nutritional yeast? I’m not a fan of its sugar component.
green evi says
Hi Jamillah!
I’m not sure if this recipe would work without nutritional yeast, since that 3 spoons of nooch give some extra texture and ‘dry’ part to this parmesan (plus that’s where the cheesy taste comes from). But maybe with a little bit of experimentation you can find the right ratio with the rest of the ingredients.
Let me know if you play around with the recipe and how it turns out 😉
Charlie Des says
Try
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KNJ89In6MBE
green evi says
How cool! I didn’t know that such a recipe exists 😲
nojomi says
Nutritional yeast is what helps give this cheese a cheesy favor. You could omit, but it will not taste the same.
Dave Big Chief says
I use Engavita’s Nutritional Yeast. I just looked on the nutritional information. It says “Sugar: 0 grams” There should not be any sugar in nooch. Unless you are one of those carbohydrate dodgers too?
Anca says
Wow! This looks amazing, the texture is great and the taste must be amazing. If you mix pine nuts with cashews of course it will turn out yummy. Love this.
green evi says
Thanks, Anca 🙂
Adina says
Very creative way of making the cheese look like a slab of real parmesan! 🙂 I have never had vegan cheese, this really makes me curious.
green evi says
I think you’d like this one 😉
Priya says
you have changed my thinking actually, I believed that making cheese especially at home is a tough task and we cant make at home but after reading your this vegan cheese recipe post, I am gonna try this out.
green evi says
Hahaha, I totally thought the same, but then also realized that making cheese at home is not that difficult 🙂
Adam says
that looks amazing, I was wondering if it were possible to substitute the oil with water instead if possible. 🙂
green evi says
Hi Adam,
No, unfortunately it’s important to use refined coconut oil here for the texture. You can of course use water, but then the result will be a soft, gouda like cheese, something like this.
Dawn says
I’ve made other cashew based parms that can stay in fridge long term, like months. There is a 7-10 day freshness note on this one but will it stay in fridge longer or do you recommend freezing a portion?
green evi says
Good question. I can totally imagine, that the cheese would keep longer than 7-10 days in the fridge, however I don’t dare to risk it, so I always put it in the freezer if I won’t eat it within a week or two.
Tabitha F says
For the cashews and pine nuts do you soak them first or anything or just blend them up dry?
Dawn says
Also, is the agar supposed to dissolve? Mine didn’t and even started to turn darker in color as it neared the 5 minute mark. Is that what to expect?
green evi says
Oh wow, no, it should definitely not do that! My agar agar is always dissolving, and never turns dark. I have no idea what could have happened there. Did you melt the oil before adding the agar agar? Or maybe was the heat too high?
Renee Wallace says
I wonder if the people having issues are using agar flakes not powder? I used flakes as that was what I had in hand and they didn’t dissolve and turned brown. I strained out the flakes and it has still set but as you said it won’t hold its shape out of the fridge without agar. I think the powder is critical as it dissolves in water immediately whereas flakes require heating in water to dissolve.
green evi says
Hi Renee,
Thanks for sharing your experience. Yes, agar flakes behave actually very different from powder, you usually have to use 2-3-4 times the amount, plus as you wrote, they also don’t dissolve that quickly.
Let me know if you try the recipe with agar powder as well, I’d love to hear how it turns out 🙂
Erin says
I am currently trying to make the recipe… I have the agar powder, but mine turned brown as well. I did not use refined coconut oil. I think that’s where the difference is.
So now that I’m $15 worth of nuts in…. What do I do? I tried gelatin… Because I’m not vegan just trying to be dairy free. And that didn’t work either. I think I’m going to try preparing the gelatin with the instructions on the package. Wish me luck!!
green evi says
Hi Erin,
I only tried this recipe with refined coconut oil and agar powder. Unrefined coconut oil might work slightly different. Also, I’ve never used gelatin in my life, so I can’t say anything about it.
Luckily ground nuts keep well for a long time, if you want to postpone the making of this cheese until you get the ingredients. Or you can also just mix the coconut oil and nuts, and then freeze the cheese. It’s not gonna hold together at room temperature as long as it would with agar, but can be still used straight from the freezer 🙂
Mish says
Can it be made without the cashews?? We have a nut and dairy allergy so am finding it hard to create something good! (FYI, pine, almonds and hazelnuts are ok)
green evi says
Hi,
Yes, you could omit the cashews here. Pine nuts work for sure, though you have to slightly adjust the amount of coconut oil, since pine nuts contain more fat, than cashews. I haven’t tried the recipe with almonds yet, but I’m sure it would also work.
Let me know if you try this without cashews and how it turns out 🙂
Nuffy says
Hi Evi, such an amazing site, and your creations are simply beautiful…
Can I substitute the coconut oil please…I am tired of the Coconut flavoured Cheeses. Could I use Olive oil, and if so how much would I need. Also I was wondering if I used Almond Meal instead of Cashews, how much would I need? I have used Almond Meal to make Almond Feta and the recipe calls for 1 cup of Almond Meal…
Would really love your thoughts on this.
Many, many thanks…
Nancye
green evi says
Hi Nancye!
Thank you so much for your sweet words! 🙂
I think you could try using almond meal here, although I’m not sure about the exact measurements, because the fat content of nuts are different. So you might have to play around with the recipe a little bit.
Have you tried using refined coconut oil? Virgin coconut oil tastes like coconut, but the refined version has no coconut taste in my opinion. Just asking, because unfortunately I don’t think olive oil would work, since you need the solid consistency of coconut oil here.
Let me know if you still decide to experiment with olive oil, I’m really interested if you could make that work 😉
Nuffy aka Nancye says
Hi again Evi.
Originally I made a Feta Cheese from another site https://www.thelentildiaries.com/home/almond-feta but it is sooo salty. However, I decided to look for a healthier version of Feta and came across your site. I didn’t want to waste the Feta I had just made so I used your method by adding Physillium husks and a little more Almond Meal. The Physillium worked a treat so from now on I’ll be making your Feta Cheese recipe.
I will definitely buy the refined coconut oil as you suggested. I freeze what I don’t use as I’m the only Vegan in the house. I took a chance and froze the Feta. Just to let you know, I was able to cut the frozen Feta quite easily and add edit to my salad. Once it thawed, it was so, so creamy, it was just delightful, and very real in taste…
Also I made your ‘Besan Flour’ Pizza Base, and the revamped Feta Cheese. I topped it with Beets, Red Onions, Egg Tomatoes, pre-baked Pumpkin, Black Spanish Olives, and baked for another twenty minutes. Topped it with Lemon, and Tahini Sauce, and fresh Coriander once it was out of the oven; it was beautiful…
Right now I’m looking for a recipe for dinner tonight on ‘this’ my best Plant Based site on the net…
Happy days ahead…
Thanks Evi…
green evi says
Your comments seriously make my day, Nancye, you’re so sweet!
And also super creative, love the way you combined two different recipes. I have to try making feta with psyllium husks, and also freeze it, that creamy texture is definitely what I’m also always looking for 😉
And oh boy, your besan pizza sounds almost too good to be true! All those toppings are amazing!!!
Have a wonderful day, my dear 😘
Ellie L. says
Wow, that pizza sounds amazing! I have been playing around with tahini a lot lately, and that sounds wonderful!
Angry carnivore says
Parm is a cheese. Cheese by definition is made from dairy. Cheese is NOT vegan. Stop calling stuff things that they are not and come up with your own names for your bullshit food
green evi says
Hahaha, an angry carnivore indeed 😀
Syliva says
This is a super rude message! I hope you find peace soon, instead of attacking strangers on the internet 🙂
green evi says
❤️❤️❤️
Hello Angry Carnivore says
Why eat Vegans food that looks like meat? The same reason people use Dildos…
green evi says
I can’t stop laughing, it’s so true 😀
dana owens says
what is the fat gram per serving?
green evi says
Hi Dana,
I’m not a nutritionist or dietitian, so I can’t tell you that. However sites like Cronometer could probably help you 😉
Laurie Stewart says
Well this was my first go at making my own cheese. I was pretty excited because your parm looks so authentic in the photo.
I did everything as written, however when I added the agar agar (which I also have not used before) to the coconut oil it instantly turned a brown color. I continued to stir it on the stove for five minutes thinking the agar agar would dissolve. (should it). It remained brown and granular. I finished the steps as you said and it looks nothing like yours. Currently it is in the fridge and after 2 hours seems to still feel very gelatinous.
note* whenever I make a recipe the first time I follow it to the t.
I noted in your before instructions people told you one cannot cook agar agar. But you said you had no problems.
1.does your agar agar dissolve
2. what brand do you use
3 what temp would you say your stove top is when you add the agar agar to the coconut oil? Med? med-high? med-low?
green evi says
Hey Laurie,
So sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. I’m not sure what went wrong, my agar agar has never turned brown before…
When I add mine, it seems like it instantly dissolves, especially because it’s a white/translucent powder.
I’m not sure about the exact temperature, to be honest I had my stove top on different settings when making this recipe, and it seemed always fine. However to be sure, it’s probably best to use low or medium low heat, so the agar agar doesn’t burn.
I think I wasn’t clear about this step (sorry!), but make sure the oil is not too hot, it should be just melted and warm, but definitely not boiling or extremely hot. Your oil could have burned the agar agar, or at least that’s the only thing I can think of.
Regarding the brand I tried this recipe with two different brands. One is this, the other is this.
I don’t know yet when, but I’m planing on filming how I make this parmesan exactly, so I hope that will help in the future 🙂
Theresa says
The same thing happened to mine. The end product was delicious but looked terrible- brown and speckled. I will try again at a lower temperature!
green evi says
So sorry to hear that, Theresa! I still have no idea why that keeps happening…
Jenny says
I just tried it too and mine turned brown, I am wondering if agar agar flakes instead of powder are the difference. I live rurally and had to order the refined coconut oil and now feel like I should try the powder instead of flakes. I might try again now and make sure my oil is not so hot.
Jenny says
I just tried a little bit of coconut oil on a very low heat and then a sprinkle of agar agar flakes. Same as last time, does not dissolve and started to brown and smell burned. I’ve not used agar agar before so when I saw it at the shop I thought it would be fine, so obviously I’ll pay more attention to powder vs flakes next time. Now need to order that online!
green evi says
Hey Jenny,
I’ve actually never worked with agar agar flakes, so I’m not sure how it works exactly. Only tried this recipe with agar powder, and then never had a problem with turning brown 🙂
Jess says
This looks great! Is there any substitute for pine nuts? I don’t have any but I do have the cashews and other types of nuts. Would it work with sunflower seeds, extra cashews or almond flour?
green evi says
Hi Jess,
The recipe works with only cashews too, but it’s not gonna be the same (pine nuts have a more fitting taste in my opinion here, plus they are higher in fat, than cashews).
I have not tried the recipe with almond or sunflower seeds before. I can imagine almond working well though, however I feel sunflower seeds have a very strong flavor, that you’d definitely taste out here…Still, maybe worth a try 😉
Let me know if you experiment with the recipe! 🙂
JAY BHATIA says
Wow! I am so happy that I stumbled across your blog!!! Now the problem is I don’t what to start with…everything you make looks amazing. I’ve been exploring vegan recipes for a few months now…and I have to say you are a huge inspiration…THANK YOU!
green evi says
Hi Jay! I’m so happy you are here 🙂
You could try one of my most popular and well rated recipes such as:
Vegan Olive and Artichoke Tart
Chickpea, Spinach and Sweet Potato Rice Bowl
Black Bean Quinoa Balls
Vegan Tofu Feta
Or you could try one of my personal favorites:
Vegan Onigiri
Raw Vegan Lasagne
Hummus Potato Salad
Vegan Hungarian Bread Dumplings with Root vegetable Sauce
Sauerkraut Soup with Smoked Tofu
Let me know if you make any of the recipes, I’d really love to hear your feedback! 😘
Denise says
Can I replace the agar agar with kappa carragean?
green evi says
Hey Denise,
I have never used kappa carragean before, so I’m not sure how it works exactly with this recipe.
But let me know if you try it 😉
Karen Poppen says
Did you try this recipe with Kappa Carragean, as I already have that on hand and would have to buy agar agar powder. How much did you use, and how did it turn out? Thanks so much for your help!
Ian says
This is out of this world delicious! It really brings our pastas and salads to the next level. Thank you so much for sharing!
green evi says
Happy to hear you liked it, Ian 🙂
Jean says
Hello, is this the pine nut you used (https://www.amazon.com/Trader-Joes-Pignolias-Pine-Nuts/dp/B00FH7FWSG). I am asking because here in Brazil pine nuts are larger and not as hard.. I want to use the proper ingredients. Thanks
Jean says
Thanks for sharing! Chinese Vs European Pignoli (pine nuts), Does it change the taste of the Cheese? I am asking because here in Brazil it’s really difficult (and expensive) to find imported foods. I found a few online stores selling Chinese Pingnoli, and its price (although still quite expensive) are less than half of the ones coming from Europe. Thanks
green evi says
Hi Jean,
I will go later this week to the bulk shop where I usually buy my pine nuts and will check for you what type they sell 🙂
Jean Baro says
That would be great! Really appreciated!
green evi says
I didn’t forget about you, but last time I was there they didn’t have any pine nuts. 🙂
green evi says
No luck with the pine nuts. The store checked the large package they came from, and no information about where they were grown or what type they are.
After that I checked several brands of pine nuts here in Germany, and none of them says where the nuts are from. Even the most expensive ones say maximum something like it comes from the European Union, but no more specifications. Normally you have to write on pretty much everything where it comes from (products, fruits, veggies, etc), but as it turned out, it’s not the case with pine nuts. So as hard as I tried, I couldn’t figure out a thing about the nuts.
However I made a little experiment for you. I bought 3 types of pine nuts and tried to make the cheese with all. Ok, I don’t know, if they were different types, but they definitely all looked different. One like on my pictures above, one that’s even rounder and slightly smaller, and one was longer and slimmer.
All 3 worked for the cheese, however the results were slightly different. The one using the small round pine nuts was not as hard as with the other two (was more ‘melty’). And taste wise the long, and slim pine nuts worked best.
I have to say though, that since I didn’t want to waste pine nuts, I made very tiny portions (1/3 of the original recipe to be exact). So it is possible as well, that I accidentally added a tiny bit more or less oil to one, and that’s what made the difference.
All in all it seems any type of pine nuts work. But then again, I can’t tell you which types I used 😕
Sorry that I wasn’t more helpful.
Maybe, you could also try the recipe first with just 1/2-1/3 or even 1/4 of the measurements? So in case our pine nuts are very different from each other, you won’t waste a lot? 😉
I used the following amounts the last times:
1/4 cup of cashews
1/4 cup of pine nuts
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 + 1/3 tbsp refined coconut oil
1/3 tsp agar agar powder
a small pinch of salt
Sorry again for no proper answer. Still, please let me know if you decide to try the recipe, would love to hear your feedback!
maria says
hi
is there a substitute for pine nuts? almons? or something else?
thank you !
(i dind;t know agar works disolbing in oil too…i was thinking it works only with water)
green evi says
Hi Maria,
Pine nuts is pretty essential in this recipe, since it’s a lot fattier than most nuts, and the taste works great for the parmesan. My best idea would be macadamia or brazil nuts, since they are similar in fat content to pine nuts. Almonds and cashews are a little lower in fat, so there you would have to add a little more coconut oil (I can’t tell you how much).
Regarding the agar agar – I didn’t know it either! Everywhere I read it’s only working with water, but somehow it works with oil too. I just made this cheese today, the agar agar directly dissolved – I don’t understand it either 😀
maria says
thank you for your answer! maybe i’ll use brasil nuts (they are even fattier, as i saw), but i don’t know how many grams? (i can’t put only 3/4, as in pine nuts case, coz they are bigger so same volume…less nuts)..can you tell, please, 3/4 cup pine nuts how many grams are?
thank you !
green evi says
Hi Maria,
I don’t have any pine nuts at home at the moment, so can’t measure it for you. According to google 3/4 cups of pine nuts are 100 grams, and 3/4 cup cashews equal 115 grams. But it’s not my measurement, so I can’t tell you if it’s correct.
Susan Porter says
Can this be made successfully with besan flour instead?
green evi says
Hi Susan,
I have no idea, because besan works and tastes very different from pine nuts. But let me know if you experiment with it, sounds very interesting 🙂
Nehli says
Do you use raw or toasted pine nuts? I am assuming raw cashews…
green evi says
I use them raw, I’m not sure if toasted would work.
Hannah says
Hi, I just finished the prep part of the recipe using a gas stovestop at medium heat (first go-round). The agar agar powder turned brown and smelled when added to the refined organic coconut oil.
I decided to try again and heated the coconut oil at a much lower temp (3-4 out of 10) on the stovetop. Far less browning, more dissolving. It’s setting in the fridge now but wanted to add my comments in the case that someone else has a gas stove and a similar experience.
green evi says
Hey Hannah,
Thanks for sharing your experience! I use an electric stovetop and medium heat works there, but I’ll add medium-low or low heat for gas stovetops.
Did the recipe work out at the end? 🙂
Dominica Roberts says
This happened to me too. Wish I’d seen your comment first! My agar powder never dissolved, and the oil was still completely liquid (didn’t thicken up at all) when I poured it into the food processor. The contents immediately turned into a soup, which made pouring it into the parchment paper ramekin a near-disaster!
Jytte Close says
Hi…do you soak the cashews before grinding?
green evi says
Hi,
No, you should NOT soak the cashews and pine nuts before grinding. 🙂
Ari says
Hi! Is it possibile to use olive oil instead of coconut oil?
green evi says
Hi Ari,
No, unfortunately olive oil is not working here