Easy Vegan Parmesan Cheese made with a handful of ingredients in only 5 minutes. This dairy-free hard cheese has a sharp, savoury, cheesy, nutty flavour and a slightly salty edge. It can be grated, shaved, sliced and crumbled and is a great dairy-free alternative to parmesan. An oil-free option is included.
Love vegan cheese? Be sure to try my 5-star rated Vegan Feta Cheese next!
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FEATURED COMMENT:
"Sometimes when I read the prep time estimate, I think, "Yeah, maybe for you, but not for me," as I bumble through a new recipe. But this really did take just 5 minutes and it's terrific! " - Barbara ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ More reviews →
When you need a nutty-sharp-salty-cheese to serve with your favourite pasta dishes and salads, only Vegan Parmesan Cheese will do, and now you can make your own in just 5 minutes. And no, I'm not exaggerating. It really is so quick and easy you won't believe your eyes!
This hard vegan cheese tastes absolutely delicious, with a sharp, savoury, cheesy, nutty flavour and a slightly salty edge. And, because it's hard, you can grate it, shave it, slice it and crumble it!
Mel x
Vegan Parmesan Ingredients
Here is what you need at a glance, along with some important ingredient notes & substitution ideas:
- Almond flour - Almond flour is made from blanched almonds and is very fine and light yellow in colour. However, you can also use ground almonds or almond meal with one caveat: It must not have brown skin flecks throughout; otherwise, your cheese will look really strange. Raw cashews or brazil nuts ground to a flour-like consistency will also work but almonds give a better flavour in the finished cheese.
- Refined coconut oil - Emphasis on refined, which means the oil is flavourless with no coconut smell. You cannot use unrefined or virgin coconut oil in this recipe. The coconut oil makes the cheese richer, gives it a better creamy mouthfeel and helps it set firmer. You can omit it, but your cheese will be less rich and won't set quite as hard.
- Nutritional yeast - Essential for cheesy flavour. Not all nooch is created equally though, so be sure to use one that tastes good. My favourite brand is Hoosier Hill Farms.
- Miso - White miso gives the cheese more depth and enhances the cheesy flavour. It also helps hold the cheese together.
- Lemon zest - A tiny amount, but it adds a sharp brightness to the cheese. You can omit it if you prefer. It won't affect how the recipe technically works.
- Distilled white vinegar - Essential for balance and sharpness. Other vinegars do not give the same effect.
- Garlic powder - The finished cheese doesn't really taste garlicky, but it gives the cheese a more complex, pungent depth.
- Salt - I recommend using good quality sea salt and not table salt in this recipe. With limited ingredients, it's important that everything that goes in tastes really good. Sea salt is far superior in flavour. If you do use table salt, you will need to adjust the quantity because it tastes way saltier.
How to Make Vegan Parmesan Cheese
This dairy-free parmesan cheese recipe is so easy to make! For full instructions, scroll down to the recipe card, but here's a quick summary of the process with step-by-step photos. I recommend watching my recipe video if you're more of a visual learner:
1 - Simply throw everything in a food processor and blend to combine. Once it comes together into slightly grainy, doughy clumps, it's ready. Switch to pulse once you are very nearly there so you don't overdo it. If you overprocess, the vegan parm or the almond flour will turn into nut butter. Not the effect we're going for!
2 - Then shape it into a wheel, pop it on a piece of parchment paper resting on a plate or in a container with the lid left off, and let it set up in the fridge or the freezer. As this recipe is replicating parmesan, which is a very dry cheese, I prefer to leave it uncovered so it can dry out as it sets.
Grating Vegan Parmesan Cheese
Whilst you can shave and grate this vegan parmesan straight from the fridge, it is much easier, and you get a much neater outcome, if you grate or shave it straight from the freezer. For this reason, I tend to keep my cheese in the freezer all the time, unless I know I'll be needing it for snacking or for something like a cheeseboard. It keeps for months once frozen, which is an added bonus, and whenever you need some grated vegan parmesan cheese, it's ready and waiting in the freezer!
Serving Suggestions
Grate vegan parmesan over pasta dishes, soups and risottos. Shave over salads and pizza. Add a wedge to your vegan cheese boards and drizzle with vegan hot "honey". Basically use it in any way you would regular parmesan cheese.
That bowl of Vegan Penne alla Vodka, spaghetti with marinara sauce, Baked Vegan Orzo, Vegan Gnocchi, or Vegan Carbonara?...Just begging for you to grate Vegan Parmesan Cheese ALL over it! And don't forget to make a delish Caesar salad with my vegan chicken breasts ;O)
And it's worth pointing out that vegan parmesan cheese can be used in combination with my vegan ricotta to make all manner of amazing Italian dishes!
Recipe FAQs
I haven't tried to make this nut-free, but I think hemp seeds would work really well as a substitute for the almond flour. You will just need to get them to a flour-like consistency in the food processor before you begin. Perhaps raw sunflower seeds would work too?
The coconut oil makes the cheese richer, gives it a better creamy mouthfeel and helps it set firmer. You can omit it if you prefer, but the cheese won't have such a good mouthfeel, and it will set a little softer.
For best results, I recommend following the recipe as written. There are so few ingredients in this recipe that any changes will have a big impact. The miso is really important for flavour and also for sticking everything together. I don't recommend using anything else instead or omitting it. If you need the cheese to be soy-free, use brown rice miso or chickpea miso.
No. The cheese is way too thick and stodgy for even a high-powered blender to handle. Food processors handle things like this much better. If you don't have a food processor, some people have told me they've made it by hand, but you will need to use some elbow grease, as it will take some mixing!
Recipe
Vegan Parmesan Cheese
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 1 cup (100 grams) almond flour, or ground almonds (or ¾ cup (100 grams) of raw almonds with no skin processed to a flour-like consistency)
- ¼ cup (20 grams) nutritional yeast
- 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt, not table salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon white miso
- 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon refined coconut oil, optional
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add everything to a food processor and process until the mixture becomes a clumpy, damp, slightly grainy dough. This should only take a minute or two. Scrape down as necessary to make sure everything gets combined. It should hold together well if you squeeze the mixture in your hand. There is a photograph in the post showing what it looks like.
- Remove the blade and tip the mixture out onto a clean counter. Bring it all together into a rough ball then shape into a wheel/round about 4 inches wide and 1 inch high. Be sure to compact it really well while doing this.
- If any cracks appear around the edge, wet a finger under the tap and rub/squeeze the crack to bring it together and neaten it up.
- Place the wheel on a piece of parchment paper on a small plate in the fridge. Don't cover it with anything so it can dry out a bit. Let it set ideally overnight or for up to 48 hours. This lets it dry out and allows the flavours to develop. If you need to rush it, place the cheese carefully, on the parchment paper, in the freezer. After about 30 minutes you should be able to grate or shave it.
- Once it's nicely solid, transfer to an airtight container (or wrap it well), and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or the freezer for up to 3 months. It can be grated or shaved from the fridge, but it's much easier, and you get cleaner shavings if the cheese is frozen. I tend to keep mine in the freezer because of this unless I want it for cheeseboards/snacking on.
NOTES
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Clara says
Hi when I searched for unrefined coconut oil, its uses were listed as for making soap and creams etc is this the right one or do I need an edible one instead?
Thank you
Melanie McDonald says
You need a culinary grade refined coconut oil. Most grocery stores here in Canada sell refined coconut oil. I use the Nutiva brand if that helps.
Clara says
Ok thank you for the response. I’m in the UK and mostly the coconut oil is virgin but I’ll make sure I use a culinary grade one if I make it.
Thanks again:)
Melanie McDonald says
Asda and Sainsbury's definitely sell it. Look for the KTC brand or Laila. It's not as clear on the labels in the UK, so check the back of the jars, and it will say flavourless or odourless somewhere. Amazon also have a few.
Clara says
Oh that’s great thank you :)
I’ll look there…
In my first question I meant refined not unrefined!
Tori Mac says
i have to mail order miso. do you have any thoughts on a substitute?
Melanie McDonald says
I don't recommend making this recipe without the miso. It's important for flavour, and the pasty texture is also very important for holding the cheese together.
Ceres Beith says
Wow, this is a gamechanger for me, living in france where vegan parmesan is not easily available. I made a few changes because of the ingredients i had available and because i'm not bothered about the end colour. So I used a cup of mixed caschews and almonds in their skins, ground in my processor, a tablespoon of dark fermented soya paste, 2Ts of cider vinegar and barely any lemon zest because it's stuck in the grater, and 0.5 t of salt because I never use salt so thats a lot for me. It's now in the fridge and i'll freeze it in 24h but had a tiny taste and it's amazing, better than any vegan cheese I've ever bought when in the uk. And so easy. I melted the coconut oil, soy paste and vinegar together, then chucked in the rest. Thank you
Toni Oros says
.Qquestion, if you remove the coconut oil ( oil free) will this change sat. fat and calories? This looks great, and to be able to freeze and use much longer is what I am looking for. Thanks Toni
Melanie McDonald says
Yes. The nutritional information includes the coconut oil.