Why has it taken me so long to make my own vegan parmesan style cheese? This stuff has transformed our lives, well, our culinary lives anyway! I actually made this ages ago and I've been using it in EVERYTHING - so much so that I feel like I should go back and update a lot of my recipes! I furthermore have so many recipes to blog that call for some of this stuff that I had to hurry up and blog this one so I can clear the backlog, haha! So yes, expect this to feature in a LOT of upcoming blog posts :-)
Now there are a lot of recipes out there for vegan parmesan cheese and they are all pretty much based on the same formula - nutritional yeast, nuts and or seeds and salt/seasoning. I didn't follow any other recipe here, I just kept experimenting with different ratios until I was happy with the outcome. In the end I found simple was best - just 3 ingredients with a nice balance of flavour.
I absolutely LOVE the taste of this and while I am not going to say it tastes "just like parmesan" (because it doesn't, although close!) I will say that it works as a perfect replacement for parmesan in pretty much any recipe. You know all those risotto recipes that call for "1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese"? Yup, just use this instead - it's perfect for risotto, sprinkled over pizza, pasta (of course!) but we even love it stirred into baked beans to make them cheesier and creamy. Loads of possibilities here!
The other great things about this recipe? Only 3 ingredients and no food processor or blender needed! Simple.
Vegan Parmesan:
2 Tbsp ground almonds
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 tsp salt
Grind up the nutritional yeast flakes in a mortar and pestle until they are a fine powder. If you don't have one you can easily just powder the flakes by hand or by placing in a zip-lock bag and running a rolling pin over. Add the ground almonds and salt and mix. That's it!
Notes: Recipe makes just 1/4 cup of parmesan which I find is the perfect amount for meals that serve 2-3 people. If I am making say, just a pasta for myself I will make up half this recipe to throw in. If you want a large jar of this then simply double, triple, quadruple or more! Personally, I tend to just make this up as I need it as it's so easy to do :-)
....and for another variation - Smoked Vegan Parmesan! This stuff is gorgeous thrown into anything you want to add a cheesy, smoky, almost dare I say, "bacon-y" flavour to? ;-)
Smoked Vegan Parmesan:
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, ground
2 Tbsp ground almonds
1/2 tsp smoked sea salt
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
Make as instructed above.
....there will be a dedicated pasta blog post coming up featuring some of my favourite simple recipes using the parmesan!
Make as instructed above.
....there will be a dedicated pasta blog post coming up featuring some of my favourite simple recipes using the parmesan!
♥
Nutritional Information: full recipe
Calories: 102
Protein: 6.0g
Fat: 7.2g
Sat Fat: 0.5g
Fibre: 3.0g
Carbs: 5.5g
Sugar: 0.5g
Sodium: 586.4mg
I've been making a similar recipe to this for a while now, I think it's from Hearty Vegan Recipes and I love it. I've never used it in risotto though, such a good idea. I can't wait to see the recipes you have coming up and I may just have to give your smoked version a go.
ReplyDeleteOooh! I've made something similar with cashews, but I think I would prefer almonds. They're hella cheaper for one thing!
ReplyDeleteOmg.. I just have to say that I LOVE your blog!
ReplyDeleteNever stop sharing your recepies, you're awesome! :D
Aww, thanks so much! :-D
DeleteI really like your recipe for vegan Parmesan, I've never thought of this! We love Nutritional Yeast, but I never thought of adding it to other ingredients for a more cheese-like texture and taste. Thanks!
ReplyDeletebrowneyedvegans.blogspot.com
Thanks everyone for the comments!
ReplyDeleteOk, I am making this this afternoon (after baking the almond feta yesterday, for the 5th time, this time for.. a Japanese chef! He was very surprised but I think it passed the test :)!).
ReplyDeleteDo you know how AWESOME your recipes are??? :)
Fang (nekohanabi.blogspot.com)
Thanks so much! haha, hope the chef liked the feta! It is a surprising recipe that one :-)
DeleteHi there! I'm curious to try this out! If all is not used in a recipe, can it just be stored on the shelf, or should it go in the fridge? (I've never used nutritional yeast before....can you find it at regular grocery stores?)
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Hi Kari! Sorry for the late reply here....There's no need to refrigerate the parmesan, I keep a larger jar of it in my pantry and a smaller shaker jar of it on the table with the salt and pepper :-) I've only found nutritional yeast in health food shops here in Ireland and in the UK but perhaps larger grocery stores may stock it. I've actually lately been buying mine on Amazon as it's cheaper! Hope you find some and like it!
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