Vegan Hard Cheese Recipes

Easy to make firm vegan cheese recipes

How to make vegan hard cheese that’s sliceable and can be grated. These dairy free cheese recipes are made from nuts or seeds and are oil-free. All nut cheeses and seed cheeses are high in protein, heart-healthy fats and nutrition.

It’s very easy to make firm vegan cheese and often costs less than normal cheese. Nutritional yeast gives these plant cheeses a cheesy and nutty taste and is full of B vitamins. Suitable for dairy-free, gluten-free and plant-based wholefood diets.

Smoked Cashew Cheese

This cashew cheese combines cashew nuts with smoked paprika to give a really morish tasty cashew cheese. Known as an artisan vegan cheese by many due to the great taste from the quality ingredients.

Sunflower Cheddar Cheese

raw vegan sunflower cheese that grates

Sprouted sunflower seeds are the main ingredient in this vegan cheddar cheese. The recipe contains miso but this can be substituted with a pinch of salt. A nut free vegan cheese that is also inexpensive.

Perfect vegan cheese recipe for pizza as it grates, see my Quina Crust Sunflower Cheese Pizza for a gluten-free high protein vegan pizza made from scratch.

Pistachio Hard Cheese

Pistachio Nut Cheese Recipe

Raw pistachios make a rich, creamy and distinctly pistachio nut cheese. The slightly green colour comes from the nuts but to give a deeper green colour try adding a bit of a green powder like wheatgrass, barley grass or spirulina. This is one of my favourite vegan cheese recipes.

Marmite/Yeast Extract Cashew Cheese

Marmite Cashew Cheese Recipe

Yeast extract combined with cashew nuts complement each other to make an irresistible cheese. If you’re in the UK yeast extract is most commonly known as the brand Marmite and in Australia the most common brand is Vegemite.

This spread is becoming more available in the US in the international section.

Vegan Cheese Video Recipe

Any issues with the above video play Vegan Cheese Recipes on YouTube. Like and subscribe to the channel to get more recipes like this.

What is Agar Agar Powder?

This is a natural seaweed extract and is what helps the plant-based cheese set. Always use a pure powder. Can be bought online inexpensively or from Asian shops.

The name Agar Agar comes from the Malay name for the type of algae used.

Agar agar is an essential ingredient in all of these vegan cheese recipes. If you leave it out these recipes make great vegan cheese spreads or dips.

agar agar powder
Agar agar powder on a spoon

Nootch / Nutritional Yeast

Nutritional yeast, or the more appetising name of nootch, is what gives these vegan cheeses their cheesy nutty taste. It comes in the form of flakes and is great sprinkled over savoury food or added to sauces to give a cheesy taste without any dairy. Nootch is high in B vitamins and many brands contain the elusive B12.

Can be bought online or from many health food shops.

a packet of nutritional yeast

Seeded Oat Cake Recipe

These 5 Seed Oat Cakes are the perfect accompaniment to any of these sliceable vegan cheeses. They are made without any added oil as most shop bought oatcakes contain palm oil. Can be made with gluten-free oats.

Crunchy seed crackers with nut or seed cheeses make a high protein snack that’s filling and satisfying.

Five Seed Oatcakes Recipe

Dairy Cheese Vs Plant Vegan Cheese

A little meme I made about plant cheese and dairy cheese. It’s hard to convey all the information quickly but lots of cheese does contain animal stomach enzyme, animal puss from bladder infections, hormones and steroids. Plant cheese is a great way to avoid all of these, plus it’s lower CO2 emissions and cruelty free. Why wouldn’t you want to make any of these firm vegan cheese recipes?

dairy cheese or plant cheese

Vegan Cheese Recipes - all firm vegan cheeses that can be grated or sliced. Perfect on a pizza and includes vegan cheddar #dairyfree #plantbased #vegancheese #veganrecipe

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46 thoughts on “Vegan Hard Cheese Recipes”

  1. I’m addicted to all of your cheese recipes nest and glow. They are so simple and taste great. So amazing to have a big wheel of healthy plant based cheese that is dairy-free. I recomend to try all of these!

    1. Hello Nadine, sure feel free to leave out the sweetener. It will still set and everything without the nutritional yeast but will be missing the cheesy nutty taste. Do try it and let me know.

    1. Hi Daria, I’m using what’s called greaseproof paper in the UK. Not sure if its called something else in other places. There’s baking parchment that is thicker and usually with a layer of something (silicone maybe) that I don’t use for this. Where are you based?

  2. Type in grease proof paper on Amazon and there are a few, don’t get confused with parchment paper……..100 sheets under 18 dollars.

    1. Yes I mean the juice of a lemon. Some do like to add a peeled lemon to get all the nutrition from the pith, but I think that ruins the texture and taste.

    1. Yes! I haven’t done it but I would follow my sunflower seed cheese and replace the sunflower seeds with pumpkin seeds. It will work well. Let me know how you get on.

    1. Thanks, it’s greaseproof paper – I believe its called parchment paper in some other countries. You just want some cooking paper that is thin enough to line the cheese mould with. Hope that helps

  3. I would guess the cashews are raw as they are in most cheese recipes but since those pistachios looked roasted I figure I’d check. Is the smoked paprika enough for “Smoky taste” or can you add a dab of liquid smoke if you like smoky cheeses? These looks like my new favorite cheese recipes!!

    1. Hi Tracy,

      The cashews are indeed raw for this as are the pistachios. Well raw as in they haven’t been roasted but most cashews have been heated during the shelling process. I buy raw pistachios from the baking aisle where they are pre shelled.

      The smoked paprika is mainly for the smoky flavour with a touch of sweetness, I think it would work great just with liquid smoke if you prefer. I just have a 1kg bag of smoked paprika as I used it so often!

      Let me know how you get on with these recipes!

  4. Hello Nest and Grow. I would like to know if by there is a recipe book I can buy with cheeses in it. I have been using agaragar fir many years and making my own vegan chess’s as well. Would be nice to experience some others tastes. Thank you Robyn

    1. Hi there, there’s always my book with a few cheese recipes in it 😉 nestandglow.com/book but I think you mean a pure vegan cheese book. Have to admit I don’t own one, I did try a few recipes from a sample of a vegan cheese book but they didn’t turn out for me so didn’t buy it.

  5. I have agar agar and it tastes totally horrible. I tried making a cheese with it. It tasted fine until I added the agar agar. Is it a brand name thing? If yes, what brand should I use? I used Landor. Thanks in advance.

    1. Oh really? I don’t think it should have a taste. I’m using one from online that doesn’t have a brand, what kind of taste did it have? Some find the texture off if too much is added

  6. Kathleen M O'Donnell

    Wondering what the trick is to get the cheese to be firmer/harder? i soaked the cashews for a day… should I use unsoaked cashews or soaked for less time?

    1. Hello, the firmness is from the agar agar. It can vary in potency, so if it’s not firm enough just add some more. Although can give a not great texture if too much is used. Hope that helps.

    1. Bastian Durward

      Hi there, I don’t have a newsletter but you can follow on socialmedia @nestandglow or click the notifications button to allow notifications if you like. Glad you like these recipes

    1. Bastian Durward

      Afriad not, has to be agar agar else it won’t set. Can leave out to make a cheese pate instead

  7. Thet all sound great. But, i am having a problem with going vegan because everything consists of nuts, certain seed, and soy. I have a child who is allergic to them. Any advice?

    1. Bastian Durward

      Hi there, I would say to make a seed milk using a seed butter that they aren’t allergic to. How about sunflower butter or tahini?

    1. Sure! It doesn’t come out with the lines and will have a smooth shiny appearance but these vegan cheeses taste just as good! Will look like the sunflower cheese recipe

    1. Afraid not, the cornflower just won’t set it to be firm and sliceable. Leave out and most of the water to make a vegan cheese pate if you prefer 🙂

  8. Stephen Mcgoldrick

    Love the recipe but the portrayal that dairy is full of antibiotics and hormones is completely false

    1. Bastian Durward

      Hi there, sorry I’m not trying to be misleading – it does depend a lot where you live. The US dairy industry is very industrialised and it’s more aimed for there where I believe antibiotics and hormones are often routinely given. Where are you based?

  9. I made the Marmite cheese. I added about a teaspoon of asafoetida, because I am a flavor junkie, topped them with hemp seed before leaving to set. It is so delicious, savory and very smooth. The instructions are easy to follow and I have these small little non-stick spring-form pans, so I didn’t even really need the parchment paper. One recipe made 2 rounds. Your description is highly accurate, it is irresistable. On my way to make some more tonight! Because I am also a chili lover, I am adding chopped habanero my plant gifted me with today! Thank you so much for sharing! Aloha!

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