If you have yet to dive into vegan cheese making, let me urge you to start right now! Seriously! It is not hard at all, errrr maybe I should say difficult because these agar cheeses are actually hard or firm enough to slice, or shred!! They also only take like 10 minutes to mix up and only a few hours to firm up in the fridge!

We use agar agar powder to solidify these cheeses. Agar agar is just a vegan gelatin made from a type of seaweed. Noting too weird, and it can be easily found online on Amazon or even in you local Asian food market. Don’t let an ingredient you may not be familiar with scare you off! Just get some, and keep some on hand. I promise once you make your first batch of vegan cheese, it wont be your last!

I love experimenting with different vegan cheese flavors and bases. I really love using coconut milk because it’s easy and affordable. Unlike nut cheeses were you have to soak nuts and own a pretty powerful blender or food processor to break them down, with coconut milk cheeses you simply have to open the can! And of course a can of coconut milk is way cheaper than cashews! Not to mention these cheeses are more allergy friendly.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a cashew based vegan cheese and have plenty of those recipes on the site as well, but most of the time I opt for for a coconut base because of how easy and affordable they are!

This cheese recipe will yield about 3 “wheels” of cheese depending on the size mold you use. So you can’t beat the price compared to store bought cheeses. You will often pay over $5 for a vegan store-bought cheese, where here you may spend $5 and end up with 3Xs what you would get for the same price at the store!

Making you own cheese at home also means you can make any flavor you can dream up. We have dozens upon dozens on the site if you are stumped for ideas. But really, there are soooo many options!

I am often asked if these cheeses have a strong coconut flavor and the answer is, not really. I always used refined coconut oil which has little to no coconut flavor at all, and all of the spices and other ingredients in the cheese mask the flavor of the milk very well.

I love this particular cheese because sun-dried tomatoes and garlic together are a favorite of mine. This vegan cheese will slice, shred, and even melt, making it perfect for serving with cracker, on sandwiches, salads, or just snacking! This is a quick set cheese and is so simple to make, there is no reason to keep overpaying for store bought vegan cheese! You can have delicious vegan cheese, start to finish in about 2 hours, and for a quarter of the grocery store price!

INGREDIENTS:

1 can of full fat coconut milk or cream
2 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 teaspoons miso paste
1 teaspoons of salt
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 melted cup refined coconut oil
2 tablespoons agar powder
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 teaspoons minced garlic

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

In a food processor or high speed blender, add all of the ingredients EXCEPT the milk, and agar.
Pulse a few times to mix it all up.
Now add the milk, and agar to a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until mixture thickens to the constancy of a thin pudding.
Add the milk mixture to the ingredients in the food processor, and mix for about a minute. The mixture will quickly begin to thicken as agar begins to solidify at room temperature.
Transfer to the mixture to a few ramekins or small bowls. You should be able to fill 2 or 3 small bowls.
Allow the cheese to harden in the refrigerator uncovered for about several hours.
Once the cheese is set, store in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week.