The Best Vegan Parmesan Cheese Recipe

This vegan parmesan is hands down the best out there! It’s made with simple whole foods, and can be made crumbles or as a block to grate!

This experiment came from the invention of my vegan Cotija cheese. I realized that changing up a few things yielded this salty tangy deliciousness that could actually be shaped into a ball and hardened to grate the next day!

I am not saying that if you eat it side by side with dairy filled parmesan you won’t be able to tell which is which, but I am saying that it is pretty darn close and it will definitely fill that void if that’s what you’re looking for.

In my long search to see if anything similar was out there, I couldn’t find a single recipe that was like this, this simple and using only whole food easy to find ingredients. So excited to have discovered this fun new way to make an easy grateable Parmesan!

Ingredients

A handful of simple, easy to find, whole food, plant based ingredients is all you need to make this easy vegan cheese:

• Raw cashews
• Lemon juice
• Distilled white vinegar
• Sea salt 
• Ground mustard

How To Make Vegan Parmesan

1. Place dry cashews in a food processor and blend until they are a fine crumble.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse.
3. Shape into a wheel and refrigerate overnight.
4. Grate and use on everything!

Serving suggestions

This vegan parmesan is fabulous on basically everything! Here are some of our favorite recipes to pair it with:

• Broccoli Pesto
• Vegan Carbonara
• Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
• Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Gnocchi
• Tuscan Ribollita Soup
• Gluten-Free Eggplant Parmesan
• Caesar Salad
• Or on a homemade pizza with easy pizza sauce!

Tips and tricks

In order to make the best vegan parmesan cheese, make sure to check out these helpful hints:

• The easiest way to shape into a wheel is by wrapping in plastic wrap and press into your desired shape.
• Keep the cheese chilled until you’re ready to grate. It will soften and not grate very well if left out of the refrigerator.
• The white vinegar is what gives this recipe the sharpness and tanginess of Parmesan. If you substitute it for another vinegar you will not get the same flavor.
• You can also just use this crumbled straight from the food processor. Store the crumbles in the fridge, it will harden up once refrigerated.
• For added sharpness and flavor you can add some miso and/or nutritional yeast.
• For best grating results wait until it chills overnight in the fridge. If you can’t wait keep checking for hardness every few hours!
• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 7 days.
• You can also store in the freezer for longer periods of time.

Common Questions

More Cheesy Vegan Dishes You Might Like:

Vegan and cheese don’t usually go together, until now! These plant based cheesy recipes are made with easy to find whole food ingredients:

• Green mac and cheese
• Vegan Mexican Chili Cheese Dip
• The perfect vegan cheese and dip platter
• Vegan queso blanco (Mexican white cheese dip)

The Best Vegan Parmesan Cheese Recipe

Sophia DeSantis

This vegan parmesan is hands down the best out there! It's made with simple whole foods, and can be made crumbles or as a block to grate!

4.76 from 25 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 3 mins

Cook Time 2 mins

Total Time 5 mins

Course Topping

Cuisine Italian

Servings 20

Calories 35 kcal

Equipment

• Food processor

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 1 cup raw cashews , do not soak
• 2 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 ¼ teaspoons distilled white vinegar (see note)
• ½ teaspoon sea salt , can use up to ¾ teaspoon
• pinch ground mustard

Instructions

 

• Place dry cashews in a food processor and blend until they are a fine crumble.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until incorporated. Stop here if you prefer not to grate this but simply use it in crumbled form.
• If you are shaping it into a wheel to grate, then you can keep blending until smooth. It should come together into a ball, almost soft and dough like.
• Shape into a wheel and refrigerate overnight. You can use plastic wrap to store it in or shape with your hands and store in an airtight container.
• It will be ready to grate in the morning, but if you can’t wait keep checking for hardness every few hours!
• This also stores very well in the freezer if you know you won’t use it all within 7 days.

Notes

• Keep cheese cold in the fridge until ready to grate. It will soften and not grate well if left out. It also stores very well in the freezer for extended periods of time.
• The white vinegar is what gives this recipe the sharpness and tanginess of Parmesan. If you sub it then you will not get the same flavor.
• You can also just use this crumbled straight from the food processor or store crumbled in the fridge if you don’t want to grate it. If you simply store it crumbled, it will harden as crumbles in the fridge.
• This makes 1 wheel about 5 inches by one inch, or a little over 1 ¼ cup grated. Serving size is 1 tablespoon.

 

Update: I have had a few readers add some miso and/or nutritional yeast to this for added sharpness and flavor. While I like it as is, and wanted to keep this a simple recipe with easy to find ingredients, if you have either of those give them a try if you want to change it up!

Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.

Nutrition

Calories: 35kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 1gFat: 2gSodium: 58mgPotassium: 42mgVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 2mgIron: 0.4mg

Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.

Keyword homemade parmesan, non dairy cheese

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!