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Up until recently, I had seen a vegan parmesan recipe or two floating around, but I’m not going to lie – I was majorly skeptical.

In my pre-vegan days, I was a BIG lover of parmesan cheese. It was something I always had in the fridge to sprinkle on my food. I didn’t think that a homemade plant based vegan parmesan recipe was going to come anywhere near the “real” thing, so I left it alone.

I FINALLY decided to give it a try, and now I feel like I’ve been missing out for the last 3 years of my life!! Since I discovered this super easy vegan parmesan recipe, I always have a jar in the fridge.

It has all the best qualities of parmesan cheese but without the worst quality of the real thing – which is the dirty sock smell (ugh, so off-putting)!

It’s super salty, crumbly yet creamy and rich in flavour. The only thing it won’t do is melt. Since this is a cashew based vegan parmesan recipe, you need to be mindful that putting it in the oven or under the grill can dry it out. The heat will suck any moisture out of the cashews and leave it crispy and potentially burnt.

So, as with all cashew-based cheeses, I recommend adding this one to your food right before serving.

How to Make It

This recipe is SO easy! All you need is a bullet or blender (I used a Magic Bullet) OR a food processor and just 5 very basic ingredients:

• Cashew nuts
• Nutritional yeast (an absolute STAPLE in a plant based pantry!)
• Quality vegetable stock powder (the magic ingredient!)
• Fine Himalayan or sea salt
• Garlic powder

The addition of the vegetable stock powder gives this recipe that extra flavour that I think is needed to make it super tasty, just like real parmesan. Just be careful with stock powders – some of them are not vegan (although many are) and some are unnecessarily full of additives and preservatives. Read the labels or choose a quality, organic stock or buillion powder.

If Using a Blender or Bullet…

If you’re making this vegan parmesan recipe in a blender, you’ll want to use the pulse setting. Blend for just 1-2 seconds at a time before removing the jug and shaking it around. You should only need to do between 2-4 pulse sessions to get a nice fine, crumbly parmesan.

Don’t over-do it or you could end up with hard, sticky lumps. And make sure there’s no moisture at all in your blender cup before you begin, as this could result in it starting to turn into cashew butter in places!

If Using a Food Processor…

If you choose to make your cashew parmesan in a food processor, you’ll need a small processor or small-bowl attachment for a larger processor. Unless you want to make a big batch and share the vegan parmesan love with your friends!

As with the blender, use the pulse setting so you can be in full control and monitor it until it a fine breadcrumb texture is achieved. It should look just a little more course than almond meal.

Get ready to memorise this one, ’cause I can guarantee you’ll be making it on a weekly basis!