This almond cheese is my go-to for an almost-instant, creamy, versatile spreadable cheese. It blends up in no time, has only 5 ingredients (+ water), and is great for immediate gratification! I spread it on toast, fill homemade ravioli with it, dollop it on pizza, and stuff jalapeños with it (recipe here)!
It's also great for when I'm having no luck with culturing my cashew cream cheese--which, by the way, seems to be a regular occurrence for me since moving to DC (anyone have any insight as to why DC hates my culturing attempts?).
This creamy almond cheese is rich and salty, lemony, and a little sharp tasting from the garlic. It's really delicious. Almonds don't blend as smooth as cashews do, but that's actually perfect in this style of cheese.
It's still a very creamy cheese, and that little bit of texture makes the cheese have a lovely crumbly affect. This can be increased by baking the cheese at your oven's lowest temperature to dehydrate it.
If you want to be like me and eat toast for breakfast regularly, this cheese pairs so perfectly with my overnight artisan walnut bread. So maybe try out that bread recipe alongside the cheese and treat yourself for breakfast!
If you want to expand your homemade vegan cheese repertoire, I've got a couple other recipes for you to try! The same day vegan mozzarella is perfect to use in any melty cheese capacity, and my vegan roasted jalapeño cheese is melty and spicy and makes a perfect quesadilla (or, clearly, bagel topper).
Let me know if you make this creamy vegan almond cheese, I love seeing & hearing about it when you guys make my recipes! Leave a comment and/or rate the recipe below, tag me on Instagram (#thecuriouschickpea), or share with me on Facebook!
Notes:
- The almond cheese will thicken slightly as it sits in the fridge, but if you want a thicker and slightly crumbly cheese, put it in a pyrex container or a small baking dish and bake at 200 ºF for 30-60 minutes to dry it out a bit.
- To soak the almonds, either cover them in boiling hot water for 30 minutes, or leave them to soak in cold water for at least 2 hours (refrigerated if more)
Creamy Vegan Almond Cheese
A creamy almond based vegan cheese. Can be used as a cream cheese or a chevre type cheese.
Ingredients
- 2 cups blanched slivered almonds, soaked and drained
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ - ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup lemon juice (~ juice from 1 lemon)
Instructions
- Put soaked almonds, olive oil, garlic, salt, and ½ cup of water* in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy, scraping down as you go. Add more water a little at a time if necessary.
- Then add lemon juice and blend to incorporate. Taste and add salt or more lemon juice if desired.
Notes
If you know you want a thicker cheese, you can try starting with only ¼ cup of water and only adding more if your machine needs it.
This recipe is slightly adapted from The Vegetarian Times
I've tried various vegan cheeses, but I liked it these recipe!! I tried it with slightly more of garlic, but taste fine. Thanks for sharing!!
This is glorious. Thank you for sharing.
I am no oil (it causes severe asthma attacks with me if consumed). Are there any oil free substitutes?
Oh dear! Oil adds to the rich mouthfeel of the cheese, so nothing can quite take its place, but to leave it out I would try adding some nondairy milk, plain unsweetened yogurt, or aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas--I'd add less of this though so the taste doesn't over power). There will still be the natural fats from the nuts. Can you have tahini? If you like the flavor you could try adding some of that for richness.
There are a few items you should try. One: a tablespoon or less of coconut cream. The cream is the hard part in coconut milk but you can buy it in cans. Two: if you just want the mouth taste, you can heat a cup of vegetable stock (without mushrooms) with a teaspoon of cornstarch. Mixing frequently until the "cloudiness" goes away. When it cools, you should be able to put your fingers into it and rub them together. it should feel like oil.
Though I haven't tried this recipe yet, i'd try the coconut cream first adding in a milk alternative if you need to thin it out a bit more, Add in a teaspoon for and work your way up if you need more fatty of a taste. usually if you stay under a tablespoon, you wont taste the coconut.
@thecuriouschickpea, I haven't tried it, but you might consider substituting the liquid from canned coconut milk (one that does not contain an emulifier, so the fat and liquid are separate) for the oil. The liquid from my canned coconut milk (I use Simple Truth Organic from Kroger) has that thick creamy mouthfeel similar to oil. 🙂
Sorry - I mean to reply to Tegan about the oil. :/
Thank you, thank you thank you!!! My husband and I are exploring the vegan diet, my only sadness was not being able to have cheese! ...who needs cheese with this amazing recipe! I didn’t even use blanched almonds - needed to use up my almond meal (skin on) and it still tasted great.
I’m so happy to hear you guys enjoyed it! I definitely get missing cheese when going vegan, but I promise it gets easier ?
How long will this last in the fridge? Thanks!
It should last a week, to be honest I’ve had it in there for longer... as long as it looks and smells ok you should be good!
Delicious and so creamy. I never knew it was this easy!!
I’m so happy you liked it! 🙂
This looks good! Can it be made with blanched almond flour? I always have that on hand.
Hm it might work, I’ve never tried it. If it’s not dehydrated it might work. If you try it please report back!
@thecuriouschickpea, I’ve been making it with almond flour from Costco all year and it works great ! Thanks so much for recipe !
This sounds great! Can't wait to try it. Does it freeze well?
This sounds great! Do you think whole raw almonds would work? Or do they really need to be slivered to blend up?
Hi Jenna! You will want to consider removing the papery brown skin on whole almonds after soaking them. That’s the real reason I use slivered, so you can skip that step!
Good to know, thanks!! I'm also not sure if it will work in my Ninja. I have a regular one where you pulse or hold it down. It's not professional grade, but does blend well. Just not sure if something more heavy duty like a Vitamix is needed.
I think it would work in your Ninja! It won't be as smooth and creamy as in a high speed blender, but almonds never get as smooth as cashews anyway. I've made this almond cheese in my food processor and really liked the way it came out! I would just be sure to soak the nuts for several hours, maybe stick them in your fridge to soak overnight. You can always add a bit more water to help your Ninja out.
I use whole fresh almonds. Blanch to remove their skins, chop them up roughly with a sharp knife, soak for half an hour then they're fine in my simple blender.
Thank you so much!! I'll give it a try and will definitely soak the almonds. Thanks again for all the tips!!
Excited to try your recipe. Why do you say to soak the almonds in the fridge?
Thank you,
Rainie
Hi Rainie, I’ll soak the nuts at room temperature on the counter for about two to four hours but if I’m soaking longer (which I don’t usually do as I have a high speed blender) I’ll stick them in the fridge so they don’t start to ferment or go bad.
Thank you.
Would thus work without the lemon?
Hi, it would work without lemon juice but it would definitely taste bland. But it would make a mild and creamy spread!
I'm new to vegan and seriously miss cheese! I'm anxious to try your recipe but I'm unclear about soaking the almonds. In water, I presume. How much water for how long, and do you drain them? If so, what do you do with the water that's drained off? Any instructions would be great! Thanks!
Hi Linda! No worries, I'll walk you through it. There isn't one correct way to soak nuts so it really depends on what sort of time constraints you have. In general to soak, use enough water to cover the nuts by about 1-inch. You can do a quick soak using boiling hot water, and let it soak for 30 minutes. For slower soaking, add cold water to cover the nuts and let soak at room temperature for 2-4 hours. If you want to soak longer, stick it in the fridge. The longer you soak the softer the nuts will get--this can be important if your blender or food processor is not super powerful as it will have an easier time blending softer nuts for a smoother consistency. No matter what you should notice the nuts plump up after soaking. After soaking drain the nuts using a strainer. You do not need to keep the water (unless you want to water your plants with it or something like that). Use fresh water to blend for the cheese making!
A too long, don't read answer: soak in cold water at room temperature with enough water to fully submerge the nuts for 2 hours, then strain and do not reserve the water.
If no olive oil is on hand, can vegetable oil be substituted?
Hi Juan, yes you can substitute vegetable oil, no problem, though the final flavor of the almond cheese will be a little different.
I made the tofu cheese and it is so delicious, thank you so much for your wonderful recipes, as a Hispanic is very hard to let go the queso fresco, now thanks to you I can.
Ii nearly cry of joy after I tried this recipe,looking forward to try others.
Thank you so much and God bless you
This turned out very well. I did use raw, whole almonds because that's what I had. I experienced the pleasure of removing the skins from the soaked almonds for an hour. I did catch up on Queer Eye when doing it, lol. I will use the slivered almonds as recommended next time. My partner, who is not on any dietary restrictions, seems to love it better than the real cheese. This recipe is a keeper.
Hi Eva! Is it possible to omit the garlic or would it taste too bland? Could I substitute it for something else? I have IBS and garlic really upsets my stomach.
Thanks so much :).
Hi Zoila, if you want to skip the garlic please do! I don't think there is a direct substitute for garlic, but here are some things you could try: you could add some lemon zest, or some fresh or dried herbs (any Italian or mediterranean one would be good–e.g. oregano, basil, thyme) to give the cheese a different but tasty flavor! You could also try adding a teaspoon or two of white miso for a bit of funk.
Wow this is really great! I ate it on crackers straight away!
Do you think it would work in a lasagne? Almost like a ricotta! I think it could be nice...
Thanks for the recipe 🙂
How long does it last in the fridge?
Hi Ira, it'll last 1-2 weeks in the fridge.