Simple, easy recipe for plant based Parmesan cheese crumbles
This recipe is the product of my memory, and a unique story shared by a friend.
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Not long ago, a friend and I chatted about pizza and vegan cheese. I normally make a cashew cheese sauce for pizza and lasagna, haystacks, and noodles. My family loves it, and so do I! My Vegan Cheese Sauce recipe can be found at the end of this post.
However, he shared that one night when his teen-aged son brought friends over, Dad made homemade pizza for them. One pizza, he topped with regular cheese, and for his own, he sprinkled ground cashews in place of the cheese. Although the teens looked skeptical when he told three that he liked the pizza, they all tried it, and everyone agreed that they liked the vegan version better!
My friend told the boys that their heart probably also voted for the plant based cheese substitute!
Ironically, they repeated he experiment for following week, and everyone voted for the cheese, so go figure!
While I will not be so crazy as to tell you that this vegan Parmesan will taste like cheese, I will promise that it will be a nice addition to your favorite pizza, burritos, or salad, with no artery-clogging cholesterol or animal fat whatsoever!
This vegan Parmesan whips up in 5 minutes, so you can make it when you need to throw pita pizzas in the toaster oven in a hurry! It’s good enough to add to any salad, and we tested it on bean/veggie burritos yesterday, and my family all gave it a thumbs up!
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Vegan Parmesan Crumbles
Place in dry blender:
- 1 1/2 cups raw cashews, dry
- 2 Tbs Nutritional Yeast Flakes
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 3 Tbs tahini (the drier the better–mine was the thick stuff at the bottom of the can, after pouring oil off)
- 1/4 tsp Tumeric
Blend on LOW speed or pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Store in an airtight jar in the fridge or freezer.
Yields around 2 cups
Uses for Vegan Parmesan Crumbles:
Sprinkle on:
- Home made pizza
- On Top of spaghetti ?
- Burritos
- Salad
- Enchiladas
- Eat plain ?
- Vegan Eggplant Parmesan
- Your favorite plant based recipe!
I made mine rather coarse for texture, but you can just blend longer for finer sprinkles.
I thought one was supposed to wash all raw cashews before using as they are among one of the dirtiest nuts when picked. Do you wash, dry in oven and then use?
Connie,
You are correct. I used to do that all the time, then somehow got to forgetting about washing our cashews.
I did make mine without washing them and we have somehow survived ? but cashews are known to be dirty, and do need to be washed before use.
Just wash in batches and air dry them or dry in a low oven if you’re in a hurry.
Thanks for pointing that out!
Good day!
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Oh my word, this sounds amazing!!! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks, Ann!
Thanks for stopping by!
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This sounds so interesting. Thanks for the idea and for hosting and posting at The Homestead Blog Hop!