Lately we’ve been on a pizza and pasta kick, and it’s no secret that we also have a thing for dairy-free cheese. It’s also no secret that Italian food and cheese go hand in hand.
But what’s pasta and pizza without cheese? So we remedied this by experimenting with a SUPER quick vegan ricotta cheese made with 5 simple ingredients: quick-soaked cashews, fresh lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and nutritional yeast.
The result is a light, fluffy ricotta that comes together fast in a food processor or blender. Let us show you how it’s done.
Origins of Ricotta
Ricotta is a soft, mild “cheese” popular in Italian cuisine and used in dishes such as ravioli, lasagna, tortellini, and crepes. It’s believed to have roots dating back to ancient history (source).
But did you know that ricotta is not technically cheese (source)?! We were surprised too! It’s actually made from whey, which is a by-product of cheese making.
Either way, we love its taste and versatility, but wanted to make a dairy-free version for those who can’t or choose not to consume dairy products!
How to Make Vegan Ricotta
There are many ways to make vegan ricotta. We’ve previously made versions using almonds, macadamia nuts, and even tofu! But this cashew version is our current favorite.
Cashews are used as the base to mock the richness of dairy ricotta, while lemon adds tang and nutritional yeast adds a “cheesy” element. Then garlic powder and salt add even more flavor.
It all gets blended up in a food processor (or blender) with water until it turns into a thick yet spreadable paste. And voila! You have homemade vegan ricotta made with real food ingredients!
We typically keep it in the fridge where it will last up to 1 week, but it can also be frozen for longer-term storage.
Though it may be tempting to try making a smaller batch instead of freezing extra ricotta, we’ve found it doesn’t work well because there isn’t enough volume. But if you have a small food processor, it may be more possible.
We hope you LOVE this vegan ricotta! It’s:
Fluffy
Slightly sweet
Garlicky
Salty
Lemony
Versatile
Customizable
& Delicious!
It’s delicious on pizza, pasta, lasagna, salads, and more! Or enjoy as a dip with crackers and sliced veggies. The possibilities are endless!
More Vegan Cheese Recipes
- Easy Garlic & Herb Vegan Cheese
- How to Make Vegan Parmesan Cheese
- 5-Minute Vegan Cashew Queso
- Easy Vegan Mozzarella “Cheese”
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Cashew Ricotta Cheese (Soy-Free, Fast, Easy!)
Ingredients
RICOTTA
- 1 ¼ cup raw cashews
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast, plus more to taste
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt (plus more to taste)
- 4-6 Tbsp water
FOR TOPPING optional
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley or cilantro
Instructions
- Soak cashews in very hot water for 30 minutes to 1 hour, or overnight (or 6 hours) in cool water. Then drain, rinse, and set aside.
- Add soaked, drained cashews to a food processor (or a high-speed blender) along with lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, sea salt, and lesser amount of water (4 Tbsp or 60 ml as original recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size). Mix/blend, scraping down sides as needed. Then add more water 1 Tbsp (15 ml) at a time until a thick paste forms. I find I get the best texture results with a food processor, but in a pinch, a blender can work too. It just generally requires more scraping and more liquid.
- Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more nutritional yeast for cheesy flavor, salt to taste, lemon juice for acidity, or garlic powder for garlic flavor. Blend again to combine.
- Best when fresh. Store leftover nut "cheese" in the refrigerator for up to 5-7 days or in the freezer up to 1 month (let thaw at room temperature or in the refrigerator before serving).
Video
Notes
*Adapted from our Macadamia Nut Cheese.
Alli R. says
Oh man. This may be my favorite cashew “cheese” of all time. So, so good! I made a batch to use with the Panzanella Salad recipe (also so good!) and my toddler and I were scraping the food processor bowl. Yum!!
Whoop! Love that! Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Lisa says
I am making ravioli with this cashew Cheese. Does it need an Egg or some sort of binder ? Thank you !
Hi Lisa! If you are using this inside the ravioli it shouldn’t need a binder, but we haven’t tried it so we cannot guarantee results. Let us know how it goes if you give it a try!
Susan Ottwell says
As with all of your vegan cheese recipes, this works very well for me using sunflower seeds instead of cashews. True, it’s not as rich and creamy, but it’s a lot cheaper here and works very well on Italian dishes, as well as my favorite vegan version of pasta Alfredo using lots of garlic, melted cheese and olive oil. I think I’ll make some tomorrow…
joe says
I usually make this quite often but i add 1:1 cooked cannellini beans to add more bulk and a better taste in my opinion. Also I leave the garlic and lemon juice out. They do not match for sweet recipes. Bless.
Sounds wonderful! Thank you for sharing, Joe!
Alex says
Do you mean you’re substituting beans for all the cashews in the recipe? I’m wondering how it would turn out half n half
joe says
In the list you mentioned you forgot sweet ricotta such as cannoli. I love these so much.
Camille says
My recipe calls for 3 cups of ricotta cheese,can the recipe be double?
It will depend on the size of your food processor, but it should double well!
Maria says
Hello Dana,
Do you have a a recipe for raw cashew mascarpone cheese? I bet you could probably dream something up, if you haven’t already.
Thanks!
Ooo – such a great idea! Thanks for the inspiration, Maria!
İbrahim AKCA says
Hi, your posts really clear almost all questions about vegan cheese procedures, as we are new on this area.I just need your help on 1 point :
While sharing the formula/recipe for the ingredients, you use the terms of tbsp-tsp-cup and else…Well, these are mostly clear but that would be nice to get the weights/volumes as mL or grams :)
We are planning to start working on your recipes and making small changes for our local market…We will use stephan cooker of 90 liters for each batch..That is why we want to discover the exact portions of each ingredient we should use for each batch..
Your feedback will be highly appreciated…Thank you so much…
Hi Ibrahim, you can find those measurements by clicking “metric” beneath the ingredients header. Hope that helps!
İbrahim AKCA says
Hi, can see now, thanks for your reply.
my last question please : here you share recipes for home scale cheese making at kitchen and they really help me at laboratory, really thank you so much… But we want to start industrial scale vegan cheese making ( 1000 kg per batch) and ı have doubts it works the same when I multiply the gr/ml of each ingredient to catch 1000 kg/batch process….
what way should I follow ? can you please advice ?
thank you in advance.
Hi Ibrahim, unfortunately we aren’t sure what to recommend as we haven’t made it in larger batches. Best of luck!
Stacey says
Made this with my toddler today and I think it’s my favorite vegan ricotta recipe. It’s straightforward and has great texture. We dolloped it on a vegan pizza along with soy mozzarella I make myself and it was fantastic.
Yumm – sounds delish! Thanks for the lovely review, Stacey, glad you enjoyed! xo
Mary Kate says
I loved this!! I made some squash boat lasagnas tonight, and I’m currently not eating dairy. This recipe was the perfect substitute! I made it in my small vitamix using the tamper and it turned out perfectly creamy.
Wonderful! Squash boats sound like a delicious use =) Thank you for the lovely review, Mary Kate! xo
paula peixoto says
not so good
Gina says
Really easy & quick. Only tried it on crackers so far but intend to use it for stuffing pasta after reading one of the comments. I may also freeze some this time because it made rather a lot & next time just halve the recipe. A winner, thank you.
We’re so glad you enjoy it, Gina! Thanks for sharing! Just a heads up on making a half batch – it can be difficult with a standard-size food processor because there’s not enough volume to mix it.
Leni Fleming says
So great! I followed the recipe exactly. Spread it on a piece of olive bread: heaven.
YUM! Thanks for sharing, Leni!
Nicole says
I’m curious to know what you think about taking this recipe and throwing in a capsule of probiotic powder and letting the whole thing age out on the kitchen counter for a day or two to make a slightly cultured cheese? Since this would create a more sour funk, what do you think it might taste like then?
We actually have a similar recipe to that here.
Maria says
Excellent recipe and used in lasagna, pizza topping and even as a cheesy thickener in soups. Thanks for easy, flexible and tasty!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Maria! Thanks so much for sharing! xo
Gabrielle Schube says
Very yummy! Put on pizza as the “cheese” and it was perfect. Had to add more water than eecipe calles for cuz it was so thick. I also halved it and made it in a measuring cup with an immersion blender.
Have also used it on the vegan lasagna on your site and that was amazing too!
We’re so glad you enjoy it, Gabrielle! Thanks so much for sharing!
Ana says
I’ve recently turned plant-based and your recipes have been my go to. I did this ricotta today and because i wanted to be a little more on the cautious side, in case I didnt like it, I halved it. I also used a blender instead of a food processor. Because of these 2 factors, the result wasnt as creamy but still tasted really good and cheesy. Thank you!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Ana! Thanks for sharing!
Lindsay says
This looks amazing! Ideas on what to do with the ricotta? How have you used it? I would love to make it!!
Hi Lindsay, It’s delicious on pizza, pasta, lasagna, salads, and more! Or enjoy as a dip with crackers and sliced veggies.
Lucy says
This as my first vegan ‘cheese’ recipe I made. I followed the recipe but halved it. I don’t think it tastes much like cheese however I did enjoy eating it. I used it as a dressing on a veggie bowl. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing, Lucy! Next time would you mind adding a rating to your review? It’s super helpful to us and other readers! xo
Susan Ottwell says
I’ve found that different types of nutritional yeast give a more or less “cheesy” taste. I’m just finishing up a canister of flakes I bought, and they have practically no flavor. I think they were deliberately made that way to make them more palatable to users who don’t want a strong flavor. So be careful, and of course trial-and-error is always useful.
Priya says
Great recipe! I added some tofu, fresh Basil, and fresh garlic instead of garlic powder. The mixture went into stuffed shells pasta and topped with marinara sauce. It was delicious and my kids didn’t notice that there was no real cheese. Made extra for the fridge to use next week!
So great! Thank for sharing, Priya!
Betty says
Can you use roasted unsalted cashews for this recipe?
You technically can, but it will taste different.
Sandy says
Can I use cashew butter instead of whole cashews?
We haven’t tried that but let us know if you do!
Fern says
I always use raw, unsalted cashew butter for vegan cheeses instead of bothering with cashews – super smooth and creamy! Just use half the amount as you would for whole cashews. You can also just stir everything together instead of using a food processor if you use the cashew butter, just use hot water to help it mix.
Susan says
What can a person use instead of Nutritional Yeast?
See some suggestions in the comments!
Arleen Curran says
Looks delicious! I am allergic to yeast. Any issue with leaving it out?
Just omit!
Roxanna says
Hi Dana!
Do you think I would be able to omit the nutritional yeast?
Can’t wait to try!
Yes, omit! You can also see how we added more flavor to this Vegan Parmesan sans yeast.