This vegan cheese ball is rich, creamy, and makes a perfect party appetizer! Made with cashew cheese flavored with Dijon mustard and a hint of maple syrup, you'd never guess it was dairy-free!
I've wanted to create a vegan cheese ball (cheez ball?) recipe for a while. I thought it would be fun, as there's lots you can do with cashew cheese. I was also sure I could create something at least as tasty as any dairy cheese ball.
Well, this cashew cheese ball did not disappoint! In fact, I've made this a few times since creating the recipe and taken it to a number of gatherings where it was enjoyed by vegans as well as non-vegans (who were mostly pretty incredulous to the fact that this cheese ball was dairy-free!). This is by far one of my favorite vegan appetizer recipes!
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What You'll Need
- Raw cashews. They absolutely need to be raw for this recipe. Roasted cashews will totally mess with the flavor! Also try to remember to soak them in water for a few hours to soften them up for blending. If you forget, they can be boiled for about 15 minutes instead, though they won't blend up quite as smooth.
- Dijon mustard. Preferably use whole grain Dijon. I'm a big fan of Trader Joe's brand.
- Nutritional yeast flakes. Look for these in the natural foods section of your supermarket.
- Coconut oil. Be sure to use refined coconut oil if you want to avoid your cheese ball tasting at all like coconut. Unrefined works fine if you don't mind coconut flavor (I actually don't mind it in this recipe, but I love coconut).
- Maple syrup.
- Salt.
- Pecans. Feel free to substitute with another type of nut such as walnuts or hazelnuts, or even dried fruit such as raisins or cranberries, if you prefer.
How to Make a Vegan Cheese Ball
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
- Place your cashews, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, maple syrup, and salt into a food processor or blender.
- Blend everything together until smooth. Be patient! This can take a while, especially if you're not using a high-powered blending device.
- Transfer the cashew mixture to a sheet of plastic wrap, then wrap it up and shape it into a ball. It will be soft at this point, so it might not get perfectly round — that's fine!
- Place the cheese ball in the fridge to chill and firm up.
- Once your cheese ball is set, take it out of the fridge and unwrap it. Roll it in chopped pecans. You can gently adjust the shape to make it rounder as you do this.
- At this point you can wrap your cheese ball back up and chill it for later, or serve it immediately.
Shelf-Life & Storage
This vegan cheese ball will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is!
Unfortunately, I haven't found one yet. The coconut oil is what helps to solidify your cheese ball by going form liquid to solid state when chilled. While your cheese ball won't firm up without it, you could leave it out and turn this recipe into a delicious vegan cheese dip.
Raw sunflower seeds and macadamia nuts might work (they often do in recipes like this), but I haven't tried either one in this particular recipe, so I can't guarantee results.
More Vegan Cheese Recipes
- Vegan Ricotta Cheese
- Nacho Sweet Potato Cheese
- Vegan Cream Cheese
- Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
- Vegan Parmesan Cheese
Video
Need more guidance on how to make a cashew cheese ball? Check out my video!
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Maple Dijon Vegan Cheese Ball
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked in water 4-8 hours, rinsed and drained
- 3 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
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Place the cashews, mustard, nutritional yeast, coconut oil, maple syrup, and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
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Taste-test the mixture and make any adjustments to suit your taste.
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Transfer the mixture to a sheet of plastic wrap. Gently wrap plastic around the mixture and press it into a ball shape*. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
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Gently peel away the plastic wrap and transfer the ball to a plate. Press pecan pieces into the surface, reshaping gently as needed.
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Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with crackers, bread or veggies.
Recipe Notes
*It will be too soft to get it perfectly round at this point. Don't worry about that! You can adjust the shape later.
This cheese ball looks fabulous. Such great flavours. I'm hosting a wine and appetizer Christmas party this weekend and I'm definitely going to make this cheese ball to put out. Thanks for the awesome recipe! :)
What would you advise besides coconut oil? I am allergic and I hate the taste.
You could omit the oil - the texture just won't be quite as smooth. The other option is to sub a neutral flavored vegetable oil like grape seed, though the end product will be a bit softer, since the coconut oil helps it firm up a bit when chilled. If it's too soft to roll you could always just put it into a dish and serve it as a spreadable cheese. Enjoy!
Or maybe a shortening like Trex?
I've never worked with Trex, but I think most shortenings would work. :)
There is an organic refined coconut oil that doesn’t taste like coconut oil.
boy I am going to make this for Thanksgiving, what kind of crackers are you using?
Those are Trader Joe's Golden Rounds, which is pretty much their version of Ritz. :) I *think* Ritz are vegan too, so you could probably use them too. I hope you enjoy this!
So I made this last night in preparation for today, Thanksgiving. 1) I have never made a cheeseball and 2) I followed your instructions and ingredients exactly. Let me say that it is very difficult not to eat the entire thing already because the flavors go more amazing together than I imagined! And it’s vegan!! I think my guests will be pleasantly surprised. Happy holidays!
Yay!! I'm so glad you like it! I hope it was a hit! :)
Hi Alissa:) this sounds and looks amazing, def want to give it a try! is the yeast a must? i am allergic to it.
thx x
Hi Najomi! The yeast adds cheesy flavor, so if you leave it out you might need to include something else to make up for it. I'm not sure what would work though - maybe give it a taste test and if you think it would work try adding some garlic powder, onion powder, or even a squeeze of lemon juice. Please let me know how it works out if you give it a try!
I suspect pine nuts might make an alternative to nutritional yeast. Definitely much more expensive, and I wouldn’t know how much to use, but they do have a cheesy flavor.
Interesting! I'll have to give that a try! Thanks for the tip!
Hi Alissa. sorry for the late reply. i tried your recipe without the yeast and it was soo good! :) i didn’t add anything else. all my non-vegan friends demolished it and wanted to know what cheese it was LOL
That's awesome!! I'm so glad it was a hit!
you could try white miso paste for the cheesiness.....
OMG! This stuff is addictive!!! You hit it out of the park with this one Alissa! I can't imagine my non-vegan friends turning their nose up at this. :) Thanks once again!
Yay!! I'm glad you like it!! Thanks Kelly!
How far in advanced can this be made? Would 2-3 days be too early?
Thanks!
2 to 3 days should be fine if you store it in the fridge. If you want to keep it around longer I'd recommend freezing it. :)
Hi there! This looks amazing and I want to make it for Christmas! I am having a hard time finding whole grain Dijon. I can find regular Dijon and stone ground mustard, but not sure which to use...what brand and variety did you use? Thank you! :)
I think either would be fine, but I'd go for the regular Dijon - the flavor goes really nicely in this. Enjoy!!
Hello from the Netherlands. I made the cheese yesterday and it is delicious.
Genevieve
I'm glad you think so! Thanks Genevieve!
I want to make this today but don't have raw cashews- will roasted work?
Kate
I don't recommend using roasted - they have a much stronger flavor than raw and I'd be afraid your cheeseball would turn out tasting like nuts instead of cheese.
I made this recipe to take as a hostess gift when I first started plant based- and NO ONE knew it wasn't CHEESE .
Of course had to warn people about the Nuts in case of allergies.
This is my Go To contribution to dinner parties we attend.
Sooooooooooooooo good - thank you so much.
That's awesome! Thanks so much for sharing!
This is the first recipe I've tried from your site, and it is delicious! I scaled the recipe to use only 1 C. of cashews (I am doing several different cheese balls) for Thanksgiving and added 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary to the cashews before blending. The flavor is amazing -- thank you!
Oh, rosemary sounds like a delicious addition! I'm so glad you enjoyed this! Thanks so much Alicia!
This was really yummy. I was surprised how much I liked it. It is much better once it is room temperature rather than right out of the fridge
I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks Bridgette!
I made this, my first vegan cheese ball, yesterday and it was awesome! It was a big hit at the party I brought it to, everyone loved the dijon flavor. I don't think people would know it's vegan if you didn't tell them - and I never say that about vegan cheeses! I don't have a food processor but I did manage with a blender, I just soaked my cashews for 24 hours. Thanks for the great recipe!
Yay! I'm so glad everyone enjoyed it! And good to know it works with a blender - I get questions about that from time to time.
Sometimes I pass on recipes that don't have a blender option, so I wanted to make sure nobody missed out on this just 'cause they don't have a food processor. I'm so glad I decided to try this one! 🙂
Very very tasty and very very easy!! Took this to a vegan club dinner party and it was a big hit!
Found the flavor improved even more as it aged. Do you think one can freeze this (before the pecans)?
I can see the possibilities here with different flavorings. Thanks!!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It freezes very well! I usually freeze mine with the pecans and all, but you can certainly add them after it thaws if you prefer.
I tried this recipe and I think I may have done something wrong. Is it possible to over process? I wanted the texture to be smooth so I processed the ingredients until I was satisfied with the texture. I followed the recipe exactly but the consistency is very soft. Is this normal? I made the mistake of rolling the cheese onto pecans which didn't coat the outside very well. I should have placed them on like the recipe states. I added smoked paprika to the top with pecans as well and put it back in the fridge. I hope it hardens up somewhat, otherwise I guess it will be a tasty soft dip that looks like a train wreck. LOL
Is it still soft after chilling? If so it sounds like you might have mismeasured something. Or did you substitute a different type of oil for the coconut? It needs to be coconut in order to firm up. Here's a video from my facebook page that will hopefully give you an idea of the consistency. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1861014630660940 I hope it works out!
I want to make this but I don't eat cashews! What do you think could be an appropriate substitute? Hulled almonds , sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds?? Thanks :)
Sunflower seeds might work if they're raw - I haven't experimented much with them, but readers tell me they work as a cashew sub. Macadamia nuts would also probably work if they're available. Enjoy!
Another keeper! Your recipes are RELIABLY yummy! Great NYE cheeseball!
Yay! Glad you like it! Happy New Year!
Do you use virgin or refined coconut oil? I'm thinking refined would be better to not leave a coconut flavour (unless it is meant to taste coconutty)
Thanks
I use virgin and it does taste a bit coconutty, but I don't mind it. You can use refined if you think the flavor it will bother you.
This was so delicious! My non-vegan friends were shocked at how good it was. I made it the day before Thanksgiving, and I ended up wrapping it twice - that is, I wrapped it in plastic wrap after I blended it, but it was still really soft and definitely not ball shaped. So after a couple of hours, I shaped it into a ball and put it into a bowl so it would hold the ball shape. That evening, I rolled it in pecans and wrapped it again. It held its shape perfectly.
So good -- made it for a Christmas Eve dinner appetizer. My non-vegan friend loved it, and I ate way too much of it. I don't do nutritional yeast, so I subbed a couple of tsp of garlic powder and a couple of tsp of onion powder. The leftovers were even better the next day, the dijon got more prominent.
Made this recipe as is. OMG it was delicious, everyone enjoyed. Wll make again! Thank you
This recipe is so good! It’s the first cheese ball I’ve made, and believe me it won’t be the last. My family loved the maple mustard combo - makes perfect sense but I wouldn’t have thought to put together in cheese - genius! :)
WOW! I made this last night and got it out to enjoy for Christmas Day! It is amazing! I made 2 cheeseball: one with this recipe and the other one I sort made up as I went along. The 2 are on opposite ends of the taste spectrum. I made up a smoky sharp white cheddar cheese ball on the spot, but I used your mustard method for sharpness! I love the Maple Dijon Cheeseball! It is decadent and delicious! Inspired!