Interested in making your own vegan cheese? Try this vegan goat-style cheese rolled in herbs. The recipe uses raw cashews, raw sauerkraut, vegan yogurt, coconut cream, and coconut oil as its base. It’s a versatile recipe from Joe Yonan’s cookbook Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking and is an easy cheese to adjust, allowing you to make it as mild or tangy as you prefer.

You can also get creative with the outside of the cheese, adding chili flakes or lemon zest or rolling the vegan goat cheese in smoked paprika or black pepper. You can adapt this recipe as you like. This cheese is great for a cheese board when serving guests, and it’s best made on the weekend. Serve it with marmalades, crackers, fruit, and jams for added flavors and textures.

The best part about making this cheese from scratch is that you can make about a pound of it. This plant-based goat cheese stores for up to three weeks in the fridge or three months frozen.

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Goat-style cheese rolled in herbs

This vegan goat cheese is easy to make and great for a cheese board. It's made with cashews and rolled in parsley, tarragon, marjoram, and flaky sea salt.

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Servings pound

Ingredients

For the vegan goat cheese

1½ cups (195g) raw cashews soaked in water for 2 to 4 hours, then drained
¼ cup (60ml) water
¼ cup (39g) fermented raw sauerkraut with active probiotics in juice
¼ cup (60ml) coconut yogurt or other nondairy yogurt plain and unsweetened, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut cream
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup (120ml) refined coconut oil melted

For the herb mixture

½ cup (25g) finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh marjoram or oregano
1 tablespoon flaky sea salt such as Maldon

Instructions

Wash and dry a 1-quart (1L) mason jar, rinse it in boiling water, and let dry and cool to room temperature.

Make the cheese

Make the cheese: In a blender, combine the drained cashews, water, sauerkraut, yogurt, coconut cream, and salt and blend until smooth, about 60 seconds or longer, depending on the strength of your blender.
Add the coconut oil and process again until very smooth. (It’s important to add the coconut oil after blending the initial ingredients to prevent it from hardening in the blender, which can happen if the temperature of all the other ingredients combined is below 76°F/24°C.)
Using an instant-read thermometer, make sure that the temperature does not exceed 110°F (43°C) after processing. If it does, allow it to cool to that or below, then add an additional 2 tablespoons yogurt and very briefly blend to combine.
Pour the mixture into the sterilized mason jar, secure with a lid, then set in a warm place (ideally between 85° and 110°F (29° and 43°C) to ferment for 12 to 24 hours.
The warmer the temperature, the faster the fermentation. Suggested places are outside on a warm day, in a sunny window, near a fireplace or in a yogurt maker or an oven with the light turned on.
Taste after 12 hours to see if it has achieved the desired tang of goat cheese. Transfer the container to the refrigerator and allow it to set for a full 24 hours.

Prepare the herb mixture

In a bowl, whisk together the parsley, tarragon, marjoram, and flaky salt. Spread out on a clean surface or sheet of compostable parchment paper.
On a clean surface, spread a sheet of compostable plastic wrap or parchment paper. Scoop out half the hardened cheese and put it on the sheet, loosely wrap the plastic or parchment around it, and form a log about 4 inches (10cm) long.
Remove the log from the sheet and roll it in the herbs. Repeat with the remaining cheese (of course, you can just make one long log if you like). Wrap the logs tightly in plastic wrap or parchment and refrigerate until serving.

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