Almost every vegan food blog has a version of cashew parmesan. But this is how I like to make it, and there are a couple of rogue additions that really help to create that depth of flavour that parmesan has.
Why does this recipe work so well?
Partly because it’s so easy! It comes together in less than ten minutes, and it tastes amazing. Cheese was one of the things that I missed most when going vegan and this is the perfect quick topping. It can replace parmesan in most situations pretty well. Perfectly complementing dishes, like pastas, soups or salads.
Why use cashews to make parmesan?
Cashews are incredibly rich and luxurious. They are full of unsaturated fats and this gives you that creamy texture and allows it to melt in your mouth. I have tried several different ways to make vegan cheeses, and this is by far the quickest and easiest. There are some others that involve fermenting and take a long time. They are good, but this is the one that I make every couple of weeks, so we always have some on hand.
Ingredient notes
Cashews: As I mentioned before, these are the star of the show and are what make it so creamy. It’s really worth using high-quality cashews here. Sometimes you can get away with using the broken pieces, but this isn’t one of those times. Use the best ones you can.
Nutritional yeast: This is what’s going to add the cheesy umaminess to our cheese. It’s a vital part of any vegan cooks kitchen and has so many uses. It’s often fortified with B12 and we know we need to find our B12 from somewhere. It’s also supposed to be pretty good for us being rich in antioxidants [1].
Garlic and onion granules: We don’t need a huge amount here, but they will help to build a depth of flavour, so we can get to our cheesy goal. You can leave these out if you don’t like them or don’t have them to hand.
Dried sage and marjoram: These are the ingredients that I add to mine that set it apart from the other recipes. Adding these two herms will help to add the earthy notes that parmesan has. Adding these takes it to the next level!
Pepper: If you have it available white pepper works best here. It’s got a funkier taste than black pepper and I always use it in my vegan cheeses.
Salt: Parmesan is quite salty, so we want quite a lot of salt in our recipe. I’ve put a teaspoon in the recipe, but in reality it depends on what sort of salt you use. I use a flaky Maldon sea salt, which takes up a lot of space, so a teaspoon of table salt is going to be a lot stronger. Start small and add more until it is almost too salty as it will dissipate into the dish it’s topping.
How to make this cashew parmesan?
There really isn’t much to this one. Just add everything to a food processor and pulse.
It is really important to not over process the mixture. Otherwise, you could end up with something close to a cashew butter. Make sure you pulse it and scrape the corners of the food processor out as you go. You should end up with a coarse sand consistency as shown below.
Tips for getting it right!
As I said before, it’s super important to not over process it. Make sure you just pulse it and keep scraping the corners out.
Use good quality cashews. These are not being cooked down into anything, so the quality matters here more than in some other recipes.
Potential variations
If you want to make this nut free, you can use hemp or sunflower seeds instead of the cashews.
You could also swap out the nuts of you like. Almonds work well here. I haven’t tried any other nots, but I’m sure they would work just fine. They will just change the flavour of the parmesan quite a lot.
Frequently asked questions
It will stay fresh for several weeks if kept in an air-tight container. I keep mine in a mason jar and have never had it last long enough for it to go bad.
Eventually, they will soften and it won’t taste as good. But, like I said, this parmesan never lasts that long in my house!
You could… I would up the garlic and onion granules, as well as the salt. I would also add some other flavourings such as MSG to add that savoury umami note that parmesan has.
How to use this parmesan?
It’s perfect on so many things but goes especially well on pastas such as my cacio e pepe, garlic tomato pasta and sprouts and sage pasta.
If you make this recipe and enjoy it. Leave a rating and a comment below!
Cashew Parmesan
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cashews
- 1/2 cup Nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp White pepper If you don't have white pepper you can use black pepper too
- 1 tbsp Marjoram
- 1 tsp Sage
- 1 tsp Onion granules
- 1 tsp Garlic granules
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to the food processor
- Pulse until you have the consistency you want. Make sure you don't over process!
- Adjust for seasoning