Smooth, creamy and incredibly refreshing Vegan Cream Cheese. Pick your favourite and use these for bagels, sandwiches, or as a dip with crunchy carrot sticks. These cream cheeses even make a beautiful and healthy antipasto on a cheeseboard served with crackers, grapes and nibbles.
📋 Recipe
Vegan Cream Cheese
Equipment
- High speed blender
Ingredients
CREAM CHEESE
- 150 grams (5.5 oz) fresh tofu
- 50 grams (2 oz) cashew nuts
- 2 tbsp (2 tbsp) tahini (sesame paste)
- 1 tbsp (1 tbsp) nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp (1 tbsp) lemon juice
- 200 ml (1 cup) unsweetened soy milk
- 2 tsp (2 tsp) agar agar powder
- salt, pepper to taste
Herb Cream Cheese
- 1 tbsp (1 tbsp) dill, chives
Turmeric Cream Cheese
- 1 tsp (1 tsp) turmeric powder
Garlic Cream Cheese
- 1 tsp (1 tsp) garlic powder
Paprika Chili Flakes Cream Cheese
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp chili flakes
Instructions
- In a high speed blender, mix tofu, cashew nuts, tahini, nutritional yeast, half of the soy milk and lemon juice for 1 to 5 minutes or until silky smooth. Results vary greatly depending on the power of the blender. If you don't have a high speed blender, make sure to soak the cashews for at least 1 hour in warm water.
- Activate the agar agar: in a pot, pour remaining soy milk and agar agar and mix with a whisk to dissolve. Bring to boil while stirring, then turn off heat and transfer to the blender with other ingredients.
- Blitz everything together till very smooth.
- Pour the cream cheese(s) into (different) bowls or squared shapes. We used a silicon muffin mould. At this stage mix with herbs or spices of your choice; garlic, paprika, turmeric, chives or dill goes well in cream cheese.
- Let rest in the fridge for 1 hour or until cold.
- Serve on a cheese platter with fresh tomatoes, figs, vegetable sticks, sundried tomatoes, nuts and grapes. Enjoy!
YouTube Video
Nutritional Values
🍜 Variations
Add your favourite spice or herbs to the cream cheese base. We prefer the fresh green herbs (dill, chives, thyme) over dried herbs as they give a richer and fresher taste.
If you want to add other cheese options to your antipasto, you can make this Vegan Ricotta with only 2 simple ingredients at home. We highly recommend making this one day in advance for the best results.
As a lunch preparation, spread a generous amount of cream cheese on a crunchy bagel or a piece of bread and drizzle with seas salt on top. It is perfect with homebred bread such as this easy no knead loaf.
🥫 Storage
You can store the cream cheese in the fridge in an air tight container for up to 3 days.
This recipe was adapted from "Formaggio vegan spalmabile".
🍝 Related recipes
- Vegan Supplì alla Romana - Italian fried stuffed rice balls
- Vegan Riso al Salto - Italian gourmet fried rice
- Italian Vegan Ricotta (2 ingredients & nut-free)
- Vegan Italian Barley Salad
- Vegan Flatbread
- Roasted bell peppers: how to roast, peel, and marinate
- Bruschetta with tomatoes
- Panzanella salad - zero waste & naturally vegan
Will you be making this Vegan Cream Cheese at home? Let us know in the comments below!
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