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If you can't get enough of sea moss, you will LOVE this recipe! This Sea Moss Cashew Cheese Recipe is a great cheese alternative to use. Slice it, spread it on crackers, or even melt it on vegan pizza!
You might notice a theme here of my use of sea moss.
Everything from teaching you the basics of a sea moss gel recipe, Irish moss gel recipe, and even explaining the difference between Sea Moss and Irish Moss.
Well here I go again showing you just how versatile this ingredient can be in your everyday vegan cooking!
Why use Sea Moss in this Cashew Cheese Recipe?
The real question is why not?
Most vegan cheese recipes uses Agar Agar powder to help it set. Agar Agar is an extract derived from red algae (seaweed) is a great plant based substitute for gelatin. Instead of using the extract to mold our cheese, we are going to use the entire seaweed!
Learn more about this ingredient in the article Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Agar-Agar.
It is important that you use the genus gracilaria in it's golden color for the following reasons:
- Chondrus Crispus is too strong to use in this recipe and will not break down enough to blend smooth
- Both Chondrus Crispus or purple gracilaria will turn your cheese a purple hue which does not look appetizing.
Can you really melt this cheese?
Yes you can!
You can slice it, spread it, and melt it. Now just to be clear this cheese is a SOFT slice, not a hard slice so I will not advise putting this on a sandwich nor can it be grated. Slice it to spread on crackers or toast.
Also please understand it will NOT taste like cow dairy cheese nor will it melt exactly like it either so keep expectations in check. It does soften and and gets melty. It can even get brown when drizzled with a little oil when baked in oven.
I personally love it melted on pizza, lasagna, a St. Louis classic Mostaccioli casserole, or toast.
Use a High-Speed Blender!
I urge you to use a high-speed blender for this recipe. If you try this recipe (or any vegan cashew cheese recipe) in a regular blender or food processor (even if it’s a high-quality food processor), your risk your vegan cheese not coming out smoothly.
I LOVE my Vitamix. I bought it refurbished back in 2011 and it stills runs as if it was brand new! It’s an investment yes, but it will last FOREVER (or at least the closest thing to forever lol).
Substitution, Cook, & Storage Tips:
- You can try this recipe with pine nuts if you do not like cashews.
- Nutritional yeast is used in this recipe and helps gives this vegan cheese its cheesy flavor. DO NOT omit this ingredient.
- The tapioca starch in this recipe helps the cheese melts as starch makes vegan cheeses “stretchy.” Tapioca Starch is easily and cheaply found in Asian markets. If you don’t have tapioca starch you use cornstarch instead.
- Leftovers keep covered in the refrigerator 4-5 days. DO NOT store at room temperature. You can freeze covered for up to 1 month.
MORE VEGAN CHEESE BASED RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
Other Sea Moss Recipes to Try
- vegan bone broth
- vegan blackberry jam
- strawberry banana nice cream
- banana spelt bread
- hemp sea moss milk
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Sea Moss Cashew Cheese Recipe (Melts, Slices, and Spreads!)
Ingredients
Sea Moss
- ¼ cup raw sea moss (gracilaria) note 1
- 1 cup filtered water, spring water, or vegetable broth
- additional filtered water for soaking and cleaning
Cashew Cheese
- ½ cup raw cashews (NOT roasted) note 2
- additional filtered water for soaking and cleaning
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons kalamata olive juice optional
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- ⅓ cup melted refined coconut oil (NOT unrefined) note 3
- ¼ cup tapioca starch note 4
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
Equipment
Instructions
Prep Your Cashews and Sea Moss
- Grab another medium or large bowl and add your raw sea moss. Fill the bowl up with water and begin to clean your sea moss THOROUGHLY removing any dirt or debris from your sea moss. (I did a full video Sea Moss Tutorial or your can red the Sea Moss Gel Recipe blog post)
- Once done, discard the dirty water leaving your sea moss in the bowl. Refill your bowl of sea moss back up with water fully covering it and allow this to sit overnight. This will rehydrate the sea moss and make it soft enough to dissolve when making our cheese.
- Grab a medium or large bowl and add your cashews to it. Fill the bowl up with water and set aside to soak overnight along with your sea moss. This will help soften the cashews and get rid of that "cashew taste". If you are forget to soak your cashews, you can always boil them in a pot for a few minutes to soften them.
Make Your Cheese
- Once your cashews and sea moss are done soaking, drain the water from both bowls (one at a time), and leave your sea moss and cashews in the respective bowls.
- Grab your high-speed blender and add IN THIS ORDER your vegetable broth, kalamata olive juice, lemon juice, melted coconut oil, tapioca starch, garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, nutritional yeast, and soaked cashews. Blend for 1 to 2 minutes until mixture is smooth. Leave mixture in your high speed blender and set aside
- Grab a sauce pan and add 1 cup of water and your soaked raw sea. Place over medium high heat stirring regularly until sea moss starts to break down and dissolve. It should take about 3 - 5 minutes. The water will become a gel like texture. Don't worry if all the pieces don't break down as it will be broken down completely when added to the blender.
- Remove your sea moss gel from pot and pour it into your blender on top of your cheese mix. Blend again until smooth. At this point you can taste your cheese recipe and adjust seasonings to your liking.
- Grab your choice of mold (I used a round glass bowl) and lightly oil it with coconut oil. Then pour your cheese mixture into your mold and refrigerate until it set. It usually just takes a couple of hours.
- To serve, remove from bowl by turning it upside down on a plate. Serve as an appetizer or snack with fresh veggies or crackers. Or melt on vegan pizza!
Notes
- SEA MOSS: For this recipe, be sure to use gracilaria sea moss NOT Chondrus Crispus. Chondrus Crispus is to strong to use in this recipe and will not break down the same. Also it will make your vegan cheese look purple. Learn the difference between Sea Moss vs Irish Moss. If you don't have access to sea moss, substitute with 1 tablespoon of Agar Agar powder. Read blog post above recipe for more information.
- CASHEWS: If you don't like cashews, try this recipe with pine nuts as both nut has a very creamy texture. Pine nuts are more expensive however. I cannot guarantee how it will turn out using any other nut.
- COCONUT OIL: Use refined, NOT unrefined. Unrefined has a strong coconut flavor and smell and might through off your vegan cheese recipe.
- TAPIOCA STARCH: Tapioca Starch/Flour is easily and cheaply found in Asian markets or you can order it online on Amazon. I would not substitute this ingredient as it helps give the cheese it's "stretch" effect.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This post was originally published on December 23, 2019, but was republished with new photos, updated recipe, and tips December 9, 2021.
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© Gina Marie Hoskins. Vegan With Curves. All Rights Reserved. Unless noted otherwise, all images, recipes, & content are copyright protected and registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. My images and written content are NOT to be used without prior permission. Read full Copyright Disclosure.
© Gina Marie Hoskins. Vegan With Curves. All Rights Reserved. Unless noted otherwise, all images, recipes, & content are copyright protected and registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. My images and written content are NOT to be used without prior permission. Read full Copyright Disclosure.
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