It adds a savory flavor to your dishes, and you can make it easily with a few simple ingredients. Check out our best easy dinner recipe collection!
Ingredients
Instructions
Variations
Soy-free Vegan Parmesan
Serving Suggestions
Questions
Make Ahead & Storage
Essentially, this is a nut blend, not a cheese, and is more similar to an Italian-inspired Dukkah than real parmesan. We call it that way to give you an idea of its use. You can sprinkle it on pasta, risotto, parmigiana, and other recipes you would typically use grated parmesan. You can even make all kinds of pestos with it, from basil pesto to zucchini pesto and arugula pesto. What it does well is adding texture and a pleasant savory and slightly cheesy flavor to your dishes; however, don’t expect it to melt because it won’t. It’s best to buy raw and unsalted nuts and then toast them in the oven for a few minutes before blending them. If you are allergic to nuts, we have a nut-free vegan parmesan recipe in the variations chapter below. If you like, you can substitute raw sunflower seeds and pepitas for half of the nuts and add a couple of tablespoons of hemp seeds for extra healthy fats.
Nutritional Yeast
Nutritional yeast flakes add a slightly cheesy and umami flavor to this vegan parmesan cheese. You can add more or less nutritional yeast based on your preference. Nutritional yeast is NOT brewer’s yeast; it has NO leavening or proofing abilities. It’s made with inactive yeast and comes in yellowish-colored flakes or granules. You can find it in most supermarkets and food stores as it’s become a popular condiment among vegans and vegetarians. It contains b vitamins (especially if B12 fortified), and it’s a good source of protein with all nine amino acids.
Soy sauce
Soy sauce adds umami and saltiness to this plant-based parmesan cheese. For a soy-free recipe, you can replace soy sauce with sun-dried tomatoes; however, you’ll need to add more salt if you do so. To make the vegan parm gluten-free, you can substitute tamari sauce or coconut aminos for soy sauce. You can also add half a teaspoon of miso to add even more umami, but that’s optional.
Sea salt
We like adding a pinch of sea salt to our fake parmesan to make it taste more like real parmesan. Adjust salt based on your taste and dietary preferences. You can even keep the salt out if you are on a low-sodium diet.
Garlic
Garlic is optional. If you like adding a tangy and slightly sharp flavor to your vegan parmesan cheese, add one clove of fresh garlic. Substitute garlic powder or onion powder for fresh garlic.
Equipment
You’ll need a blender or a food processor to turn the nuts into a parmesan-like texture. Let the nuts cool down for 10 minutes, then add them to a food processor with salt and nutritional yeast. Pulse a few times to turn the nuts into coarse nut flour that looks like grated parmesan cheese. When you are happy with the texture, add soy sauce while blending. Taste and adjust for salt and ensure not to over-blend the nuts, or they might turn into cashew butter. Spread the parmesan on the baking sheet and let it dry at room temperature for 30 minutes before using it or storing it in a jar in the fridge. You can serve it on your favorite pasta dish. Sun-dried tomatoes are packed with flavor, and if you blend them with the nuts, you add that umami punch to your fake cheese. Add about 1 ounce (30 grams) of sun-dried tomatoes for every 2 cups of nuts (300 grams) of almonds. Note: your parmesan will be slightly red when you use sun-dried tomatoes.
Nut-free Vegan Parmesan
We have a great alternative recipe for vegan parmesan cheese if you are allergic to nuts. Our nut-free fake parmesan is made with stale bread (or breadcrumbs) instead of nuts. This is an ancient Italian recipe used in the past by poorer farmers in the south of Italy that did not have access to expensive parmesan cheese from the north. They would make a mixture of stale breadcrumbs, herbs, and olive oil and sprinkle it on top of their orecchiette pasta recipe or eggplant parmigiana. To make it, stir together ¾ cup (120g) breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons (30g) extra virgin olive oil, ½ teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon garlic powder or a minced garlic clove, ½ to 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. You can even add some grated lemon zest if you like.
Pasta
Pasta Pomodoro (canned pelati tomatoes, spaghetti, garlic, fresh basil, parsley, etc.) Vegan mushroom pasta (portobello mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, garlic, parsley, etc.) Homemade orecchiette (semola flour, water, broccoli rabe, red pepper flakes, etc.) Lemon pasta (spaghetti, spinach, garlic, lemon, red pepper flakes, etc.)
Risotto
Mushroom risotto (arborio rice, onion, mushrooms, broth, butter, cheese, etc.) Tomato risotto (canned tomatoes, vegetable broth, onion, parsley, butter, etc.) Asparagus risotto (white wine, onion, asparagus, lemon, arborio rice, etc.) Zucchini risotto (lemon, thyme, shallot, zucchini, butter, white wine, etc.)
Salads
Sweet potato salad (canned lentils, roasted sweet potatoes, cumin, maple syrup, oil, etc.) Roasted cauliflower salad (cauliflower, parsley, hazelnuts, lentils, lemon, tahini, etc.) Eggplant salad (chickpeas, eggplant, zucchini, olives, bell pepper, tomato, lemon, etc.) Caponata (canned tomatoes, eggplant, capers, olives, pine nuts, celery onions, etc.)
Soups
Tuscan soup (white beans, carrot, onion, curly kale, canned tomatoes, thyme, etc.) Lentil soup (dried lentils, onion, carrot, celery, vegetable broth, canned tomato, etc.) Potato leek soup (potato, leek, yogurt, onion, chives, thyme, vegetable broth, etc.) Lentil vegetable soup (lentils, carrot, onion, celery, spinach, canned tomatoes, cumin, etc.)
Roasted vegetables
Roasted broccoli Baked asparagus Roasted cauliflower Caramelized roasted fennel
Roasted Zucchini
Roasted Broccoli
Roasted Cauliflower
Roasted Fennel
Refrigerator: to store it, spread the parmesan back on the baking sheet and let it dry at room temperature for 30 minutes before transferring it to a jar or airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Freezer: transfer to a freezer-friendly container and freeze for up to 3 months.
More Vegan Cheese Recipes
If you’re curious about trying other types of vegan cheese, take a peek at these homemade cheese recipes:
Vegan ricotta cheese: an easy 3-ingredient recipe to use just like regular ricotta. White sauce – vegan bechamel: a creamy and cheesy sauce, perfect with savory crepes. Vegan melted cheese: a reader favorite, great with pizza and flatbread. Easy tofu cream cheese: a fun and easy appetizer that pairs with veggies of your choice. Crisp focaccia with melted cheese: crunchy, cheesy, and luxurious, this focaccia is great for pizza nights and game nights. Vegan cream cheese frosting: great on vegan lemon cake and vegan carrot cake.
For many more side dish ideas, check out our sides category page.
Tofu Cream Cheese
Vegan Ricotta
Vegan Cheese (5-Min Nut-Free Recipe)
Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”9hCq05sr” upload-date=”2023-04-07T05:16:29.000Z” name=”Vegan Parmesan cheese” description=”Homemade vegan parmesan cheese is a great alternative to store-bought vegan cheese, and it’s excellent for sprinkling on pasta or other dishes where parmesan is required.” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]
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title: “Vegan Parmesan Cheese” ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-18” author: “Francisco Veltre”
Ingredients You’ll Need
What is Vegan Parmesan made of? All you need is 3 ingredients!
Cashews Nutritional yeast Salt
The nutritional yeast is responsible for the “cheesy” flavor here, just like it is in my famous Vegan Mac n’ Cheese recipe.
How to Make It
To make this cashew Parmesan cheese, you’ll need to process the ingredients into fine powder. You can use a blender or food processor to do this!
Since real Parmesan cheese is quite salty, I’m pretty heavy-handed with the salt in this vegan recipe, so you can use it just like the original. You won’t need much to add a nice punch of flavor. But, if you’d like a less-salty cheese, you can always use less salt.
How to Use It
You can use this vegan Parmesan cheese just like you would regular Parmesan, but keep in mind that it won’t melt. Here are some suggestions for making the most of it!
Use it on top of Lentil Bolognese. Add it to your favorite pesto recipe. Sprinkle it over Vegan Stuffed Shells. Add it into Vegan Lasagna. Sprinkle it on a Caesar Salad. Use it on top of Vegan Pasta. It’s also great on a pesto pasta salad!
How to Store Vegan Parmesan
Vegan Parmesan can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 month, as long as you keep it free from added moisture. You can also freeze it for up to 6 months, and use it straight from the freezer. Since it doesn’t have any added liquid, it should stay crumbly, even when frozen.
Substitution Ideas
Need to make a swap? Here are my best guesses when it comes to substitutions.
Cashews. You can swap cashews with hemp hearts, for a nut-free alternative. I use hemp hearts as a substitute in my vegan ranch dressing all the time! You could also use macadamia nuts, for a similar texture. Nutritional Yeast. This deactivated yeast gives this recipe its cheesy flavor, but you can leave it out if you need to. The salt will still add flavor, and you can boost that even more by adding in other spices, like garlic or onion powder, for a variation.
I hope you’ll enjoy this Vegan Parmesan soon, and I can’t wait to hear what you think! If you try this Vegan Parmesan recipe, please leave a comment below letting me know how you like it. And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too. We can all benefit from your experience! – Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite recipe to add Parmesan to?
