Easy Vegan Cheddar Cheese (without nuts)! (2024)

Most vegan cheddar cheese recipes out there are made with cashews or some other nuts. Unfortunately, my family won’t eat nuts, so I had to come up with an alternative. I developed some delicious cheese recipes from coconut milk like, provolone, mozzarella, and smoked Gouda.

These mild cheeses were delicious with the rich creamy coconut milk, but it took me a while to perfect the cheddar flavor. After lots of testing, I finally did it!

I started to play around with lemon juice, onion powder, paprika, and finally, miso to give it that cheddar bite! It came out amazing and my kids eat it up as fast as I can make it!

🧾 Ingredients and substitutions

• Coconut Milk - a 13.5 oz can of full-fat coconut milk makes your cheese rich and creamy plus 1/2 cup of water.
• Or you can use any plant-based milk that you want plus oil instead of the coconut milk:
  • Plant Milk: I like soy milk because it’s fairly rich and thick, but you can use whatever plant-based milk you like. Just make sure it is plain and not vanilla-flavored. You can use sweetened or unsweetened depending on the flavor you want to achieve with your cheese.
  • Oil: I like to use refined coconut oil, but any oil will work. You can also omit the oil if you wish, it just won’t be as rich and creamy.
• Agar Agar: This is a clear vegan gelatin derived from seaweed and it’s absolutely essential for making the cheese firm. If you leave it out you will have vegan nacho cheese sauce, which is delicious, but not sliceable cheese. Use the powdered agar agar instead of the flakes if you can find it. It can be expensive, but it’s a great price if you order it on Amazon.
• Nutritional Yeast: This is a yellow powder that has a cheese flavor. This is a key ingredient to give it a cheesy flavor and cannot be omitted. You can read more about it in this article about nutritional yeast.
• Lemon Juice: For the tang.
• Onion Powder: For flavor.
• Paprika: For flavor and color. (The red paprika mixed with the yellow turmeric gives it a beautiful orange color!) You can also use smoked paprika for a delicious smokey flavor.
• Miso: For a cheesy bite. This is a key ingredient in giving a cheddar flavor to the cheese. (If you are making this cheese soy-free, you can use chickpea miso).
• Water: For dissolving the miso paste
• Salt: To give it flavor.
• Turmeric: For color. (optional)
• Tapioca Starch: If you want a cheddar cheese that melts and stretches you can add tapioca starch. (Tapioca flour is the same thing). This will make the cheese softer, but it will melt easier and get stretchy when it melts. You will need to add 2 tbsp. + 1 tsp. of the tapioca. I know that this is a weird measurement, but that is the exact amount that I have found works the best.

• Saucepan: To cook the cheese on the stovetop.
• Whisk: For stirring your cheese sauce.
• Glass Container: to use as the mold. You can use any heat-safe container even just a plain bowl. I like to use Snapware containers because they have a lid that seals tightly and will keep your cheese fresh. (You can also use a silicone mold, but I think it gives your food a funny taste).

👩🏻‍🍳ProTips

• Stir the cheese sauce very frequently.Do not walk away from it while cooking.
• Keep in an airtight containerin the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• Make sure tomeasure the ingredients carefully! Slight changes in the amount of liquid, the agar agar, or tapioca starch can change the texture of your cheese a lot!
• Simmer the cheddar cheese for 6 minutes to melt the agar agar and allow it to bind completely with the ingredients.
• Adding the miso at the end makes it so you do not kill the beneficial probiotic in the miso.
• Use the tapioca starch if you are using this cheese make anything hot like a grilled cheese where you would want it to melt.

🌟 Troubleshooting

Nearly everyone loves this cheddar cheese recipe and it works great for almost everyone. Getting the cheese firm enough seems to be the only place people ever have trouble. Occasionally people will say that their cheese didn’t set correctly or it’s like jello.

These are my tips if this happens to you

• Use agar agar powder, not flakes if you can, and measure carefully. Make sure to use 2 full tablespoons, not 2 teaspoons!
• I useTelephone brand agar agar,since I can easily find it at my local Asian market. It comes in small packs so it won’t go bad, and I know that it sets well every time. There are many other brands and there seem to be different strengths of agar agar, especially in Europe.
• If your cheese is too soft or jello-like, your agar agar is not strong enough. Increase the agar agar next time you make it. If it is very soft you can add a tiny bit of water and remelt it then add more agar agar and boil it for an additional 6 minutes.
• If your agar agar is not working, swap it out in equal parts for Kapa carrageenan.

Can I use arrowroot or any other type of starch?

No, unfortunately, the only thing that will make your cheese melt and stretch is tapioca starch, if you use something else in its place, it just won't work as well.

What can I use instead of miso?

If you want to make it soy-free or don't have miso, you can swap the miso out for tahini. This will also give it a little cheddar-style bite.

Can I use agar agar flakes instead of powder?

Yes, you can, however, it doesn’t melt as quickly, and you will need more of it. You will need to use 3 times as many flakes as powder, so use 6 tbsp of agar agar flakes instead of 2 tbsp of the powder to make this cheese.

Can I add spices to the cheese?

Yes, you can add whatever herbs and spices you would like. A dash of smoked paprika or liquid smoke like in my smoked gouda recipe or you can use herbs like in my vegan garlic and herb cheese recipe.

Vegan Cheddar Cheese

An easy way to make homemade vegan cheddar without nuts, gluten, or dairy.

Servings: 8

Calories: 108kcal

Nutrition

Serving: 0.25cup | Calories: 108kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Sodium: 399mg | Potassium: 160mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 62IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 2mg