A SUPER EASY vegan cream cheese recipe you can make at home!
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The Best Vegan Cream Cheese Recipe
Oil Free
Paleo
4 Ingredients
Keto Option
Soy Free – NO Tofu!
Spread it over bagels, muffins, or this Healthy Banana Bread.
While regular dairy cream cheese contains close to 30% of the RDA for saturated fat in just 2 tbsp, this version has less than half that amount (plus more protein!), so it’s a great option for both vegans and omnivores who want to lower the amount of saturated fat they consume in general.
How To Use Cashew Cream Cheese
I’ve also been using it in recipes that call for regular cream cheese, and so far it’s worked in everything I’ve tried – including this Vegan Cheesecake Recipe!
And while it definitely doesn’t taste exactly like Philadelphia cream cheese (and isn’t supposed to), you can use it in many of the same ways as you would regular cream cheese.
Try it plain, or I’ve also listed three variations of the basic recipe below… because why eat plain cream cheese when you can have strawberry!?
If you’re short on time or would prefer a dairy free cream cheese without cashews, the following brands make vegan cream cheese you can buy in stores (some of which are nut free): Trader Joes, Tofutti, Daiya, Kite Hill, Follow Your Heart, Heidi Ho, Violife, Go Veggie, and Miyoko’s.
You can find some of these at health food stores and Whole Foods, but they’re also becoming increasingly available at places like Target, Walmart, Publix, Kroger, and other regular grocery stores.
Vegan Cream Cheese Flavors
Strawberry Cream Cheese: Blend in 1/2 cup strawberries, and optional 1/8 tsp vanilla extract and sweetener of choice to taste. If desired, stir in extra diced strawberries after blending.
Everything Bagel Cream Cheese: After blending, stir in 2 tbsp Everything Bagel seasoning.
Chive & Onion Cream Cheese: Blend in 1 tsp onion powder. After blending, stir in 3-4 tbsp chopped chives.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese: Omit the water from the base recipe. Blend in 2 tsp cinnamon, 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract, sweetener of choice to taste, and 1 can pumpkin puree.
Also Try This Coconut Whipped Cream
Vegan Cream Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup raw cashews or macadamia nuts (150g)
- 1/4 cup water OR nondairy yogurt
- 1 1/2 tbsp white or cider vinegar
- salt (see note below)
Instructions
- *Salt amount will depend on your personal tastes and the flavor you’re making, as well as if you’re eating the cream cheese plain or using it as part of a cheesecake or frosting recipe. If using as a spread, I like 1 tsp, but some people will want less. Recipes for different flavors are listed earlier in this post!For smoother results, I like to soak the cashews in hot water for 2-6 hours then drain and pat dry before starting the recipe. To make the vegan cream cheese, simply blend together all ingredients, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. The longer you process, the smoother it gets. If you have a Vitamix, it should only need a few minutes, or a food processor will take around 10 minutes to become super smooth. (I haven’t tried a regular blender.) Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to a week or frozen to use at a later date.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
Have you made this recipe?
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Ways To Use This Cream Cheese:
Pumpkin Cupcakes – with Cream Cheese Frosting
Spice Cake – With Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Swirl Cake Bread – from the Hello Breakfast ebook
Oliver says
Wow this looks awesome! Can’t wait to try.
I also wanted to say I am so glad I found this website. 🙂 I love baking and I’m looking to be healthier and possibly lose some weight so I am happy to have found healthier alternatives.
Cassie Autumn Tran says
I would LOVE to create a Sriracha or peanut flavored cream cheese. OMG! I am freaking obsessed with vegan cream cheese in general. Anything that complements bread is just fabulous to me!
Jason Sanford says
That sounds amazing!
Gayle says
This is going to be my breakfast tomorrow. I made the cream cheese tonight and did the strawberry version. It taste great.
Kari says
I need to try it with the macadamia nuts. I have made this with cashews, and it was awesome, but I think macadamia nuts would have a fattier taste. Am I right?
Jason Sanford says
I haven’t tried it with macadamias but I do love them as a sub for cashew cream in general.
Nikia Edwards says
Currently trying with a mix of both since it’s all I had on hand! I’ll post an update when I’m done.
Kim says
I was skeptical about this recipe, but only because I had never made anything like this before. Adopting a dairy-free lifestyle is a hard challenge for me when cheese, cream, etc are some of my favorites that I have to let go. I tried the pumpkin version of this recipe and used a blender with a small food processor attachment. Blending the nuts (I did soak them) was not difficult, except I had to do it in batches because of the size of my mixer. It only took about 5 min to get everything combined and into a nice creamy cream cheese like consistency. I put in a teaspoon of monkfruit sweetener, just for a touch of sweetness. The result was delicious!! I absolutely love it and am grateful to have found this recipe. Thanks much!
Judy says
Do you happen to have nutritional information?
Jason Sanford says
Hi, full nutrition facts are linked right under the recipe, in the recipe box 🙂
Judy says
Gosh, I’ve looked multiple times, but still can’t find it. Maybe because I’m looking on my iPhone?
That’s ok. I ran the recipe through my Weight Watchers app. The hard part was figuring out how much the recipe makes (1 cup). It has the same point as dairy cream cheese—2 points per TBSP
Thanks for trying to help.
Judy says
Vegan cream cheese with chives and garlic powder.
Jason Sanford says
Hmm that’s so strange! It is definitely there for me, right under the ingredients and instructions, but sorry I should have just given you the actual link right away! https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/nutrition-cashew-cream-cheese/
Your cream cheese photo looks delicious and so creamy 🙂
Sharon says
Did you use water or nondairy yogurt when you made this cream cheeses? Thank you so much for this recipe, can’t wait to try!!
Jason Sanford says
Katie or at least one of her recipe testers will always have tried each option that’s listed for a recipe. Either will work here 🙂
Yvon says
I have a terrible time when I click on PRINT RECIPE. It prints on two sides, a couple of lines on page one and the rest on page two. I need the recipe to print on ONE side of an 8 1/2″ x 11 piece of paper; as a result of this terrible print result I am no longer looking at your recipes let alone try to print them.
Ethan says
i made this as a vegan “labneh” omg its so good, i did’nt use as much yoghurt to make it & used fresh herbs,za’atar & oil as per usual with labneh, so unfrekinbelievably good, even my tata (grandmother) was impressed
Jason Sanford says
That sounds so amazing!
Nina says
Can you add the cream cheese to a sauce for pasta? Thanks
Jason Sanford says
You can!
Holly says
If using macadamia, do you still recommend soaking before blending?
Ashley says
I am wondering this too! 🙂
I’m planning to make the keto cheesecake and I’m trying to keep the carbs as low as possible.
Jason Sanford says
Soaking 2 hours should do the trick!
Ivy says
Would sunflower seeds work for a nut free version?
Allison says
I would like to know this as well please!
Esther says
This is so much better than the store-bought vegan cream cheese! Guilt-free and so so yummy!
April says
Non-Vegan here. I am currently trying to see if I can live dairy-free and was very excited to find this vegan cream cheese recipe. I made a garlic version with garlic powder and a bit of “vegan parmesan cheese” (nooch, salt, and garlic) earlier today. It was pretty tasty, but definitely not cream cheese (I know, I know, the author stated that it is not the same). I tried it as a replacement for garlic cream cheese on a french dip sandwich and I was very disappointed. I would not make this recipe again, but I want to stress that this is NOT a bad recipe. It just isn’t remotely close to real cream cheese.
Jason Sanford says
Hi, if you want something that tastes more like dairy cream cheese, I’ve found that Tofutti is pretty good. Also Miyokos. (I’m not vegan either :))
Caitlin Hale says
Violife is the way to go. It’s the best store bought vegan cream cheese I’ve ever had.
sue says
Katie, just had to tell you how much I appreciate your posting. I am a vegan and so many of your recipes I have used. I love the fact that you break down the calories, etc. Makes it so much easier to point out for weight watchers also. Just wanted to let you know that when I’m looking for something, I have your website bookmarked and that’s my first and usually last stop! Keep it up!
natalie says
Wow!! Trying to make this but the AcV is WAY overpowering and nothing we add will help much-vanilla, honey powdered sugar. Help?!
Jason Sanford says
I’ve never had an issue with the amount of acv, but you can easily leave it out and the texture will still be fine (I know this won’t help you for this time but if you want to make it again – maybe your tastes just prefer less tangy than mine do)
Jason
Char says
Thank you for sharing this recipe. 5 stars all the way! I love that it only requires 4 ingredients! I used rice vinegar because that’s what was available in the cupboard and it turned out delicious! It’s very comparable to Myoko’s and for me that’s a high bar because I love Myoko’s. I can attest to your tip about it getting creamier the longer you blend it with a food processor. I was skeptical at first but I just had to be patient and let the food processor work its magic. I blended for 15 minutes and an extra 5 for good measure. I’m excited to play with other flavors!
Kristin says
Do you think this would work with vegan sour cream instead of yogurt?
Agustin says
You mentioned 1 tsp of salt if making as a spread, how much would you recommend if making this to be used for a cheesecake? I appreciate your recipe, cannot wait to try it out!
Kevin says
I had neither dairy free yogurt or cashews but I did have pistachios and oat milk so I modified the recipe slightly and it turned out as a delicious creamy pistachio spread. I put it on a bagel and it completely satisfied my cream cheese craving. Would recommend!
Jane Foster says
Delicious! This tastes a lot like real cream cheese. I was worried it would taste like cashew butter, but it didn’t! I was so happy to find a dairy-free cream cheese that didn’t require me to buy refined coconut oil or miso paste. So easy to make! Thank you!
Kate says
Can I use roasted cashews? They are a lot easier to come by.
CCK Media Team says
We don’t see why it wouldn’t work… We haven’t tried it so don’t know how it will taste, but maybe it will be even better!
Kerrie says
Can I leave out the vinegar?
And use almond milk instead of dairy free yogurt?
Jessica says
Would you use salted or unsalted cashews for this recipe?
CCK Media Team says
Raw unsalted. We have never seen raw-salted before, nor have we tried roasted cashews in this, but that doesn’t mean those won’t work either, just that we haven’t tried 🙂
Christina says
I’ve been intrigued by this recipe and now have all the ingredients to try it! For the strawberry and cream cheese variations, how much sweetener would you suggest adding? I know everyone’s taste buds are different, but what would be a good place to start?
CCK Media Team says
Maybe start with a few teaspoons and go from there. You can always add more but it’s harder to take some away!
Xenia says
Hello!
So I’m on a mission to bake a vegan cheesecake, hence why I’m looking at the cream cheese recipe :). Do you think I could soak the nuts in Earl Grey (for the long soak) and then blend them with some tea instead of water to add flavour, or would that not work?
Thanks 😁
Megan says
How does this compare to cashew butter? Sounds like I could just start with cashew butter and add some vinegar and salt. Thoughts?
Kalina says
How would you store this? Could it go in the freezer or just the fridge? How long would you suggest in the fridge? Thanks!
Julie says
When you say to soak the cashews for several hours in hot water, do you keep the water hot somehow, or just let it cool while soaking?
CCK Media Team says
Hi, start with hot water and do not worry about keeping it hot 🙂
Nova says
I’m making a sweetened plain version to frost the blueberry bread recipe, and wondering if the cider vinegar is supposed to be included. For example, when making the strawberry version, do you add the strawberry ingredients to the original plain recipe that includes the cider vinegar? (Or only the items listed with the strawberry version?)
Chocolate Covered Katie says
Hi, I like to include it because it gives a classic cream cheese tangy flavor. However it is fine to omit if you prefer!
Brandy says
Is this recipe safe to be left out at room temperature? And if so, for how long?
Laurel Parshall says
Quick question on making the pumpkin variation, wouldn’t it be 1/4 cup of the puree in place of the water in the plain version?