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Vegan Parmesan made with Walnuts

May 11, 2016 By Dianne 12 Comments

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vegan parmesan in jar with text overlaySprinkle vegan parmesan on salads, pasta, popcorn, or anything else that could use a little flavor boost! It’s made with just 4 ingredients and comes together in a matter of seconds. Who knew that non-dairy cheese could be so easy? This simple recipe is vegan, lactose free, dairy free, and gluten-free.

vegan parmesan in jar on its sideVegan Parmesan

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I like to make vegan “parmesan” using nutritional yeast and almonds. It has a nice flavor and it tastes great on pasta and salads. Sure there are a few vegan parmesans available on the market now, but it’s so easy to make your own that it seems silly to buy it. Plus, homemade versions are always much healthier. 

sprinkling parmesan on a saladOne day I was making a Caesar Salad for lunch, and I went to the pantry to get almonds so that I could whip up a batch of parmesan, but there were none to be found. I dug through the freezer, because surely there must be a bag of almond meal somewhere at the back. But sadly, there wasn’t. Back in the pantry, the only nuts I could find were walnuts. I decided to give it a go. How bad could walnut parmesan be?

Kale Caesar Salad with Roasted ChickpeasVegan Walnut Parmesan

It turns out that walnut parmesan is amazing! I’ve found that I now prefer it over the almond parmesan. Around the same time that I made this amazing discovery, I was sent some vegan cheeses from The Sanctuary at Soledad to try. Their parmesan, which is pine nut based, has a little extra bit of tang to it. It turns out that it comes from mustard powder, so I decided to add a pinch to mine as well. Parmesan perfection!

vegan parmesan with nutritional yeast and walnuts

How to Make Vegan Parmesan

It couldn’t be easier to make this dairy-free cheese. You just throw all of the ingredients into a spice grinder, a small food processor, or the dry blade of a high-speed blender and mix! Be careful not to over-process it, as it will turn into a cheesy nut butter. (Which might not be too terrible!)

If you’re allergic to walnuts, you can substitute just about any other kind of nut or seed. I love to make parmesan with hemp seeds or almonds.

Store your vegan parmesan in your refrigerator. It will last for a few weeks. You can always find a jar of it in my fridge. I love to sprinkle – okay, douse – it on my pasta and on Caesar salads. It’s delicious on popcorn, too! What’s your favorite food to sprinkle parmesan on? 

jar of parmesan with spoon

Vegan Walnut Parmesan
5 from 1 vote
Print

Vegan Parmesan with Walnuts

Sprinkle this vegan parmesan on salads, pasta, popcorn, or anything else that could use a little flavor boost!

This recipe makes about 1/2 cup of parmesan. I serving size is 1 tablespoon.

Course Condiment
Cuisine Italian
Keyword vegan parmesan, walnut parmesan
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Yields 8 servings
Calories 20 kcal
Author Dianne

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 cup walnuts
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard seed

Instructions

  1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a spice grinder, a small food processor, or the dry blade of a high-speed blender. Do not over-mix or you'll end up with cheesy walnut butter! It only takes about 10 seconds to grind everything together in my Blendtec high-speed blender.
  2. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Recipe Notes

If you're allergic to walnuts, you can substitute just about any nut or seed.

walnut parmesan with nooch and walnuts square

If you enjoyed this recipe, you might also like:

  • Tofu Vegan
  • Cashew Cheese Sauce
  • Cashew Ricotta 
  • Miyoko Schinner’s Almond Feta

Kale Caesar Salad with Roasted ChickpeasServe your vegan parmesan with

  • Tomato and Feta Pasta Salad
  • Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad
  • Kale Caesar Salad
  • Lasagna Roll Ups

 

Filed Under: Vegan Cheese Recipes, Vegan Recipes Tagged With: gluten free, nutritional yeast, parmesan, vegan cheese, vegan recipe, walnuts

About Dianne

Dianne Wenz is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Vegan Lifestyle Coach, Plant-Based Diet Nutrition Specialist, and Plant-Based Chef, as well as the author of Truly Healthy Vegan Cookbook.

Previous Post: « Vegan Spinach Pesto
Next Post: Vegan Quiche Lorraine from Baconish by Leinana Two Moons »

Reader Interactions

   

Comments

  1. Mary Guay says

    May 11, 2016 at 5:36 PM

    Sounds great! I’ll try it tomorrow.

    Reply
    • Dianne says

      May 11, 2016 at 6:30 PM

      I hope you like it, Mary!

      Reply
  2. Gina says

    May 12, 2016 at 11:40 AM

    Thanks for this tweaked recipe–love the dry mustard addition. This is really good! I sprinkle ‘parmesan’ on pasta, veg cooked a variety of ways, things with tomato sauces. I will try this in my collards pesto and spinach pesto, as well. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

    Reply
    • Dianne says

      May 12, 2016 at 12:28 PM

      Thank you, Gina!

      Reply
  3. ShellyB says

    May 23, 2016 at 11:15 PM

    Lucky Me! I have walnuts and nutritional yeast in the cupboard. Gonna whip up a batch of this to try on pasta tonight. We have been meaning to give vegan parmesan a try for quite some time now but it’s taken us some time to “sidle up to” nutritional yeast. The breakthru moment for us was adding it to our “chickpea pancakes”. So good. Now it seems like we want to add it to everything LOL. Your idea on adding a pinch of mustard seems like a really good one. Thanks ever so much.

    Reply
    • Dianne says

      May 24, 2016 at 9:27 AM

      I hope you enjoy it, Shelly! i love the idea of using it in chickpea pancakes!

      Reply
  4. Madhavi says

    November 6, 2019 at 2:16 PM

    Seems like a great recipe! However, I have a question before trying this. Do the walnuts need to roasters ?!

    Hope to hear from you. Can’t wait to try this recipe.

    Reply
    • Dianne says

      November 6, 2019 at 3:48 PM

      Hi, Madhavi! I hope you enjoy it! I like to use raw walnuts. I think roasted taste might overpower the taste.

      Reply
  5. Pam in Sacramento says

    January 30, 2020 at 5:08 PM

    Sounds great! How long do you think this will keep in the fridge? Can it also be stored in the freezer?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Dianne says

      January 31, 2020 at 3:20 PM

      Hi, Pam! It will last for a few weeks in the fridge and about 6 months in the freezer. Enjoy!

      Reply
  6. Marilyn Eden says

    September 14, 2020 at 4:57 AM

    5 stars
    I have a walnut tree full of green walnuts. At what point do I take them off the tree for this recipe?

    Reply
    • Dianne says

      September 14, 2020 at 1:45 PM

      Hi, Marilyn. I don’t know anything about growing walnuts, so I don’t know.

      Reply

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Dianne Wenz

Hi! I'm Dianne Wenz and I am a Holistic Health Coach, Vegan Lifestyle Coach, Plant-Based Diet Nutrition Specialist, Plant-Based Chef, and cookbook author. I offer group and individual nutrition and lifestyle coaching programs to people across the U.S., and I teach cooking classes in Northern New Jersey. Contact me today to learn more and to schedule a complimentary breakthrough session!

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