Michele Wallace
Plant-Based Parmesan cheese! This flavorful, cheesy and delicious recipe, ready in less than 4 minutes and you only need 4-5 ingredients to make it. Wonderfully good! It is excellent for sprinkling on top of pasta or pizza. It has a cheesy and slightly nutty flavor & super easy to make. This is so good your friends may never notice it’s not cheese.
Long before switching to a whole food plant-based, I used to love putting Parmesan cheese on spaghetti and lasagna. As my sensitivities to dairy increased, I could no longer use it, nor any cheese or dairy product. Can you imagine how excited I was that I could make their own plant-based Parmesan cheese? It took a few tries but I finally got it right.
My first attempt was with macadamia nuts. Taste was not bad but it was higher in fat – not so good. Walnuts was not a good option but I did try almonds. Got me wondering but I may try almond flour as an experiment. Just wasn’t quite sure so I went with the good ol tried and true cashews. I tried a few different seasonings which were actually pretty good and will revisit it but I needed to do a basic recipe.
This recipe is quite simple to make and takes no time (seriously only 3 minutes total). The main components are cashews (only raw unsalted cashews), nutritional yeast and 3 seasonings for the base recipe. The small amount of salt is always optional for those wishing to add a little.
Start by adding the cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and onion powder (if using salt add it) into a high speed blender or a great food processor. I love my Ninja blender and use it for pretty much everything, even making my nice cream. Blend on high until it is a very fine powder (about 1 minute). Getting the right consistency is important.
Store in an air-tight container. I keep mine in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks as it helps to retain its freshness. My plant-based Parmesan Cheese recipe is great on spaghetti, lasagna, eggplant parmesan, even on a baked potato or hash browns.
You can also use my plant-based Parmesan Cheese to make Eggplant Parmesan (above)!
Please be sure and let me know if you make this! I’d love to hear from you so leave a comment and take a picture. Then go to my Instagram page, or my Facebook page and post it. Tag; post it on Instagram; tag the photo #aplantbasedrevolution because I’d love to see your creation! Enjoy
Easy Parmesan Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 Cup raw unsalted cashews
- 5 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 1/2 Tsp. garlic powder
- 1/4 Tsp. onion powder
- 1/2 Tsp. Italian Seasoning (see my recipe)
- 1/4 Tsp. salt (optional)
Instructions
- Add all ingredients into a food processor or a high-speed blender, and process until you have achieved a nice fine powder.
- Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 week.
Notes
You can sprinkle this on any of your favorite dishes. Even great for my carrot fries and eggplant Parmesan. You will retain the freshness by refrigerating it. Salt is always optional
