How To Make Vegan Parmesan Cheese

I love this recipe! As a newly diagnosed dairy and salicylate intolerant person it’s a godsend. I made it and then added in some sunflower oil for more of a paste. Then I mixed some into some vegan sour cream and added some chives. It’s was absolutely delicious.

Amazing recipe! I was worried I wouldn’t use the whole amount in a month but I have been putting it in everything and finished it within two weeks. Made it exactly as written.

I love cooking some whole wheat pasta, adding a can of white beans, baby spinach, garlic and pepper then topping with a massive amount of this “cheese.” So healthy and satisfying and takes less than 20 mins.

Sooooo delicious!

I tried it on a vegan pizza and everyone loved it! I just thought it was a bit too salty.

I absolutely love this recipe! Been making it for quite a while now and I’ve always got a small container of it in the pantry. (Not that it’s lasts long!)

I sprinkle (more like heap) it on pasta dishes as well as on stir fried veggies with a can of crushed tomatoes! So yum!

When I don’t have cashews I use sunflower seeds that I’ve roasted and it’s sooo tasty still! Thank you!

I had to make this twice. The first time it was too salty, the second time I eliminated the salt completely. Sooooo good. Thank you.

This recipe is great. It is easy to make. But more than that, because of the simplicity of only four ingredients, it doesn’t taste fake. A satisfying parmesan alternative.

My first time making this and it did help the pasta dish I made. I have been df for about 7 months and never thought about if I could even make my own version of parm cheese. I cannot wait to try it on other dishes. So easy!
Thank you

My three year olds refuse dinner every single night. It doesn’t matter what we make and they eat meals and healthy snacks at regular times throughout the day. I made this on an Udi GF crust and added mushrooms because I knew they probably wouldn’t touch it. I ran out of nutritional yeast and cashews so I used part of a brick of parmesan and walnuts which I lightly toasted. I barely measured and threw things into the Vitamix. I regret eating the slice I did because my kids polished off the entire pizza. WHOA. Our new go to! Thank you! I will have to try it the way as written next time.

Yum! Excellent recipe and easy to make. Thank you.

Made this in the spur of the moment to top a mushroom risotto… SO GOOD. So easy and quick. I will be sprinkling this on everything. Thank you!!

THIS IS SO BEYOND YUMMY!!!!!!! I can’t stop eating it by the spoonful😂 Truly it’s so delicious. Savory, nutty, subtly sweet. I’m going to keep this on hand always.

I made this today and can’t wait to have it on my Caesar salad tonight together with your dressing and croutons.
My issue in preparing was the food processor. Even with the small bowl insert, the cashews just spin. Not the first time I’ve had to substitute my Vitamix which as usual came through with flying colours.
My non vegan but trying harder husband, is my taste tester and he was amazed at how similar to Parmesan it is. That says a lot right there. He loves the dressing too.
Thanks for the great recipes!

The best recipe! I make this often and store it in the fridge. It is the perfect balance and I love it on pasta. Thank you for the great recipe!

I’ve made many vegan Parmesan cheese recipes over the past 15 years, but this is the only one I’ve wanted to eat by the spoonful. 😃 Do yourself a favor and double the recipe. Thank you!

Okay! I finally gave in and made this only because I trust your recipes. And it’s so tasty. YUM! I can’t wait to try it on pasta. Eating it straight with a spoons not bad either :)

Thanks so much for all your work in bringing wonderful recipes to us.

Nice! I put it in a ziploc bag and crushed with a rolling pin since I don’t have a food processor and it looks the same as your pictures!

I love this vegan parmesan but I cut the amount of salt the second time I made it since it came out very salty the first time.

I make this, and much prefer it to crumb style parmesan cheese which was always nothing to me, but I use almond flour since I prefer the taste to cashews.
In fact, almond flour has replaced cashews in all my vegan recipe and I make it into a paste in the blender for making almost free skinless almond milk. There’s my plug for almond flour.

I wasn’t sure about this, but thought I would give it a go. I did, and it’s amazing! How simple is this, and how good is it? Thank you so much!

Holy cow! I’ve been vegan for a couple weeks now and made this on a whim, not expecting too much as I’m not the hugest fan of nutritional yeast yet. But this recipe is definitely greater than the sum of its parts! I was eating it straight from its container while I was waiting for my pasta to cook. Salty, nutty, cheesy, exactly what I needed in my life. Wow.

Incredible! I have been so apprehensive to making my own vegan cheese and this recipe made it super simple. Thanks so much for sharing!

Yum! This vegan parmesan is deadly. I eat it by the spoonful (can’t help myself!). I’ve gifted a homemade jar to my Mom who says it’s yummy on baked potato. It’s the perfect companion to pizza, pasta or burgers. Thank you for sharing such an addictive and foolproof concoction!

I made this to shake on pizza. I love it! I’m surprised at how much it tastes like parm. I’ll also use it on pasta.

This is SO GOOD. I love it on pasta with the vegan pesto from Trader Joe’s.

Hello Dana and MBTeam—Your Vegan Parm was my introduction to your site. I respectfully stayed inside the lines the first time I made this recipe, and, of course, tried it on everything and loved it. But my kitchen is nothing if not recklessly experimental, so your VParm has evolved to include a Tablespoon of “greens and shrooms” powder and two Tablespoons of hemp seeds in the mix. Although we still use our “green Parm” version everywhere, we use it religiously on air-popped popcorn (along with a wee bit of olive oil, Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, and a toss of a mysterious Casablanca spice blend that my partner used to be able to obtain regularly from a shop in Rotterdam before the quarantine—sigh…). It is always the best popcorn I’ve ever had and my favorite snack of all time. I’ll wax rhapsodic over other recipes in your canon that we love another time. I’m about to, finally, purchase your cookbook so I can disconnect from electronics while playing in the kitchen. Thank you for playing such a big role in our home kitchen—we love your work! Best—Lisa

Wow!!! So delicious! This is a game changer.

Thank you for this easy recipe! I made this and it is delicious! All ingredients were in my pantry and it was super easy to whip up. I used my Ninja single serve blender and it worked just fine, and I saved myself the work of cleaning my food processor. Thanks again! I love this and MANY of your recipes

Loved this recipe and so easy to make too!!

I LOVE this parmesan cheese recipe! It tastes so much like the real thing…only better. And I had no idea what nutritional yeast was and can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this super healthy gem!
Super easy and just as good.
LOVE!

this stuff is soooooo good! I put it on salads. I put it on toast with cream cheese. I put it on top of stuffed peppers! I put it on everything I can think of! I love it!!

This “parmesan” is so good. Works well with so much different meals and I always have some in a jar in my kitchen. Yummy!

Super good and easy. I have been using other prepackaged vegan parm but ran out. So I made this in a pinch. I forgot how truly good this quick and easy parm is. And inexpensive to boot. I’m going back to this as my go to for most uses in the future.

Just made this with toasted walnuts and added in some paprika and it is BANGIN’! Thank you for the recipe!

Why do you require two pages to print this recipe? Is that minimalist? What a waste of paper and ink and time and space. Oh help!

The recipe is delicious, however.

I’m not vegan, but I’ve always been curious about vegan parm after seeing it in so many MB recipes. And…the verdict is, it’s tasty! I made this in my mini food processor and added more garlic, salt, and nutritional yeast. I think I kept the power button on too long, since it’s more like a powder now instead of tiny pieces, but it’s still yummy.

Great alternative!

I made this for your vegan Alfredo recipe and it was perfect!! I’ve been vegan for a while,my family is loved it too and it’s super easy to make, I will definently make this for other meals in the future! thank you!

I’ve been seeing this “Vegan Parmesan Cheese” a lot as I try different Minimalist Baker recipes and each time I thought… it just can’t possibly be that good. This was partly due to my lack of experience using nutritional yeast. I was still not so sure about it. Then I FINALLY tried this recipe when I made “The Best Vegan Meatballs” (which were delicious). And I was so PLEASANTLY surprised! It’s really good! (And easy!) It’s always nice to find a recipe that is so quick and versatile – I can see myself using this with a lot of different dishes going forward. Thanks!!

Oh My!!!!! The very best stuff on earth!!!! It’s actually VEGAN CRACK!!!! Thank you!!!!

Just, wow!!!

WOW. This is insanely delicious. I’m stunned. I made it tonight to go over zucchini noodles and it’s even better than real parm! There’s now a jar in my fridge and it’s not going to make 3-4 weeks. Not a chance.

Sorry! Would have given this 5 stars in my previous comment but didn’t spot the stars until I hit send! (and I don’t see a way to edit my comments) :)

Absolutely amazing! New to a vegan lifestyle, I have been missing parmigiana so much. I personally like it better with more nutritional yeast and way more salt and garlic. I felt it made it taste richer and more like the real thing.

Wanted to say just how delicious this is – it’s over the top!! I just added it to a vegan spinach dip and wow, it just took it to a whole new level! Thanks for such an amazing condiment. We will be using over and over again!

My pizza thanks you! I thank you!

Absolutely amazing on pasta (and roasted cherubs and garlic …yummm) with an adapted kale chimichurri I’m recently obsessed with having on hand. This was the perfect finishing touch and I am delighted to have such a great recipe! Thank you, this is brilliant.

I made this for your vegan Alfredo recipe and it was perfect!! I’ve been vegan for a while, the rest of my family isn’t but they even loved it! super easy to make, I will definently make this for other meals in the future! thank you!

I was so pleasantly surprised by this recipe! I knew I would like it, but not that I’d like it this much. I followed the recipe exactly and measured everything out and it was spot on. No additions or substitutions necessary. I haven’t written a review for an online recipe in years but I had to write one for this!

This is delicious! I was looking for a Parmesan cheese sub and I was way beyond pleasantly surprised! I’ve made this exactly as it was written and I’ve also made it with a few dashes of red pepper flakes and about a tablespoon of hemp seeds. I loved it both ways.

I discovered Minimalist Baker in the last year or so and it has become my go to cookbook and website. It has given me confidence in my cooking and I’m having so much fun in my kitchen. Thank you for continuing to create thoughtful, creative, accessible, flexible, and delicious recipes! Keep up the wonderful work. It is much appreciated!

Seriously! Amazing! I’ve started making large batches and bottling to keep. Best cheese replacement ever! So versatile. My 7 year old loves it!

This is out of this world delicious! Really restaurant worthy! I cut the garlic down to 2 large cloves in the pasta recipe and 2 large cloves (cooked) in the sauce recipe. I used daiya cream cheese which is the only one available here. There is no need to blend the cream cheese and spices, just heat it all on low in a sauce pan (saves dishes). I used 1 tbsp lemon juice and added a splash to each plate.

Followed the recipe exactly and LOVE it. Just so good! My husband has to watch his sodium so next time will make his batch with half the salt. Thanks for a wonderful, easy recipe

To make this even easier, I swapped out the cashews for hemp seeds and used 1tsp garlic salt instead of the separate garlic powder and salt. Just as delicious, tastes about the same, and took 10 seconds to make :)

This vegan parm is WAY better than what I can buy at Whole Foods and so easy to make. I used a vitamix, froze the nuts for about 30-45 minutes, and kept a close eye on the blending, stopping often to shake the contents so that I wouldn’t end up with cashew butter. The ingredients came together quite nicely.

This recipe is simply amazing!!! We’ve used it to add flavor to spaghetti, popcorn, other vegan sauces, stews, soups, etc.! It lasts a long time in the refrigerator (although we go through every batch fairly quickly!). It has become a must-have on hand staple!! Thank you so very much for the wonderful recipe!!! ?

I just made this in 30 seconds flat.. 5/5 Had it on my 3 minute instantpot spagetti made with whole wheat pasta and red lentils. Fantastic flavour. My new go to.

I made this to make cheesy cheetos for my toddler! he absolutely loved it and i did too! Thank you so much :)

This has changed my life!!!

I made this today!!! It’s tastes amazing!!!! Can I leave it outside or have to be refrigerated? Can’t wait to use this on pasta!!

This recipe was sooo simple and will be a forever ever staple from now on! I sprinkled some on baked zucchini, delicious! Thank you!

This is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this! I made this tonight to have with pasta, I couldn’t stop “taste testing” it ?

Kia ora from Aotearoa New Zealand! Dana this is the real deal! I’m so glad that the recipe works with sunflower seeds because we are going to be main lining this! I think I had a little under the 3/4C cashews so my first attempt was a little bit more powdery than I expected, but we’re here for powder that tastes like cheese and is waaaaay better for both us and our planet. Thanks for all your efforts ♡

This is so delicious! Thank you! I am newly vegan and have been lamenting the loss of cheese. This is so good and isn’t made with odd oils or other processed items.

I am used to a very low salt diet so reduced the the salt a little for taste, but otherwise followed the recipe.

This was fantastic! Definitely saving this one!

First time making this and omg I am amazed. The balance of salt, garlic and savoury is perfect and I’m so excited to put this on everything ?

So delicious and easy! Will make again and again. I used my Vitamix (5200), but will defer back to my food processor next time. I was concerned it was going to turn to paste before it ground up to my satisfaction.

I never knew there was a substitute for Parm cheese since I recently turned Vegan about 9 mo.’s now… SO GLAD I FOUND YOUR WEBSITE! This recipe is FANTASTIC! I use it all the time! All Your recipes are GREAT! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!! I never knew there were other recipes for parm cheese as well but not crazy about Brazil nuts… (will experiment), but will try your ricotta cheese & others. I’m amazed there are vegan recipes for all the cheeses! I’m excited to try these! Again, thank you!!!!!

I made a double batch of this and actually like it better than how I remember parmesan cheese. It’s tastier, yet less salty and not greasy.

This is so good! I made it to go with pasta and cauliflower sauce. I can’t wait to try it on roasted broccoli.

Ridiculously delicious <3

Simple, easy, and a perfect alternative! I had all the ingredients at home so it only took a few minutes. It even “melts” in to warm pasta. So tasty.

Love this! I think it’s *even better* with blanched, skin-removed almonds, than cashews. I don’t really understand why vegan cheese substitutes always call for cashews—to my taste, they’re too sweet and they distract from the savory vibe cheese is supposed to have. So I blanched almonds in boiling water for 1 minute, then pulled all the skins off. Let them cool, and proceeded with the recipe. My whole family loves this, and one of the dairy-eaters always reaches for this parm for his pasta, even when the regular stuff is on the table.

OMG… what can i say? I thought I would never found a substitute for Parmesan cheese that would taste like Parmesan cheese. This is it. Here it is. So simple, so quick, soooo tasty.

I have been making this recipe for about 2 years, I don’t remember where I got it from originally, but it’s great. And it keeps FOREVER in a small sealed container in the fridge. I’ve made it in a blended, a vitamix and even my old Magimix. All good. Just be careful to not over mix.

Made it for the first time tonight. Loved it on my pasta! Simple & quick – yay! Thank you!

new vegan here, and i just made this. uuuuuhhhhh-maaaaa-zzaaaannnggg, people!!!! used it to top a zucchini noodle dish. uuuuhhhh-maaaa-zaaaannggg, people!!! this is the reason i got a food processor (and i am noooott sorry).

uuuhhhhh-maaaaa-zzaaaannnngggg.

My husband and I hadn’t had pizza in months. Sadly I wondered how a veggie pizza would go over with homemade whole wheat crust, homemade sauce, veggies and NO cheese. Pizza is all about the cheese, right? Enter your vegan parmesan cheese recipe. I was so doubtful as I sprinkled it over the sauce and again on top. I CAN’T BELIEVE cashews, salt, garlic powder and nutritional yeast can taste this good and taste so much like REAL parmesan! Our pizza was a hit with both of us and tonight I made a casserole with pasta sauce and veggies topped with your Magical Vegan Parmesan!!! I just LOVE it and will be confident serving it to my eyebrow raising carnivore friends?

I must say I was a cheese devoted for my entire life, so it was a hard turn when I decided to go vegan. I thought it was just a life of privations, but I recently found your blog and now it just feels it’s all about creative cooking. This recipe is great, quick to make (about 5 min counting the cleaning of the supplies) and it yields several servings. It tastes delicious and makes my life a little bit better, which is all you need from a recipe.

I’m so glad I decided to google how to make my own vegan “Parmesan.” I found this recipe and saved myself $50 buying it ready made online! It’s perfect! Now I can enjoy pasta again. ?

I doubled the garlic and added 1/4 teaspoon of ground mustard, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar to make it a little more sticky (it was like a powder before). It is delicious!

Delicious!

This stuff is sooo good that my 2 year old eats it with a spoon, straight out of the container I keep it in!

So delicious and the best comfort food! I made it twice: once with Toffutti and a second time with Kite Hill cream cheese. The Toffutti made the pasta a lot creamier. Be sure to let the almond milk sit in the pan for longer if you want a creamier cheese sauce.

Amazing! My meat eating husband gave it the thumbs up and that’s the ultimate test!

I just made my second batch of this after we couldn’t eat the first one fast enough! It’s truly delicious and we sprinkled it on anything from pasta to potatoes to soup. This time around I made a double batch. We enjoyed this so much more than any of the vegan parmesan we’ve bought. I’ll never buy them again, not when this is so yummy and easy to make. Thanks for the recipe!

Didn’t have time to read all the comments, but I use pumpkin seeds instead of the cashews for a nut-free version. Also, when buying nutritional yeast look for “Red Star” or equivalent – it is even higher in B12 than regular NT

What a revelation! Made this for pizza tonight, as dairy really doesn’t agree with me any more. I used pine nuts as my husband is nut-intolerant and it was so nice, although I will add less salt next time. When cooked, it was kind of creamy tasting and so flavoursome. Totally made up for the lack of dairy. I’ve tried bean based ‘cheese’ sauces before but this will now be my go to replacement – and I’ve got plenty left in the fridge! Thanks for a great recipe

Loved the recipe, but it still tasted a bit sweet, so I added about another 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast and 1.5 Tbsp of lemon juice. It gives the ‘cheese’ some parm-y bite!

Since i don’t like nutritional yeast I substituted it for pepitas. It’s still great!

Greetings from Michigan!
Love this recipe. To make it even easier, I used almond meal. I just dumped everything in a jar, put a lid on it, and shook it until everything was mixed. Yummy!

I love this recipe! Made it for the vegan meatballs and it had so much flavor between the nutritional yeast, garlic, and salt! Will definitely make again :)

I just have to tell you I just made this… and it’s really good! I’ve recently decided to stop eating dairy and Parmesan cheese was basically like my favorite thing. I’m so excited to try some of your other recipes!

Absolutely delicious. Even my non vegan family members loved it! This is something I’m always going to have in the fridge.

YUMMMMM! This turned out so good. I originally made up a batch of this to use with your recipe for Eggplant Parmesan, but I have already found many other uses for it, including what might be my favorite- sprinkled on avo toast!!! I don’t ever want to run out of this stuff.

I made this in addition to your vegan Alfredo sauce.. holy yum!! So so good! Suffering with allergies to all sorts of things, and it’s so wonderful trying out your recipes and falling in love with ‘cheesy pasta’ dishes again!! Question.. what is the best way to keep the left over vegan Parmesan, and how long will it keep? Fridge or freezer?
Thank you!!
Katie

HOLY SMOKES. This stuff is no joke, it’s so good!! Just made it for the first time and I can hardly stop eating it.