Pistachio-Crusted Vegan Cheese Ball

This Pistachio-Crusted Vegan Cheese Ball is actually VERY easy to make! It tastes INCREDIBLE and is great for appetisers and parties!

Course Appetizers, Jams, Sauces, Dips & Spreads, spreads

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

soak 8

Total Time 15

Servings servings

Calories 225

1 cup cashews boiled for 5 minutes, or soaked overnight OR in hot water for 1 hour
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons lime juice 2 tablespoons
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp white cooking wine or vegetable stock or vinegar
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons water
1 sprig Rosemary torn into bits
1 sprig Thyme torn into bits
½ to ¾ cup pistachios finely crushed

Prep your cashews: Boil them for 5 minutes, then discard this liquid. Alternatively, soak the cashews overnight in your fridge in enough water to cover them or in hot water for 1 hour on the counter. Drain this liquid .
Add soaked cashews to a food processor. Add in the sea salt, ground black pepper, lime juice, white vinegar, white cooking wine/stock/vinegar, garlic and the 2 tablespoons of water. Everything except the rosemary, thyme and pistachio. Blend together until creamy and incorporated. The cheese will be spreadable.
Stir in the rosemary and thyme at this point. Taste the cheeseball and add salt if necessary.
Spoon the vegan cheese mixture into a cheesecloth, or a very very thin dish towel or even a handkerchief. Wrap into a ball and place ball over a strainer in a bowl. Leave in your fridge to release the excess liquid overnight.
Remove the cheese ball from the cloth. There should be some liquid drained and the cheese should be more firm. Smooth down the edges of the cheese.
Place the crushed pistachios in a plate. Roll the cheese around in the place, covering the entire outside with pistachio.
Serve with crackers and enjoy!

This recipe is naturally vegan and gluten free. The vegan cheese is edible and delicious even before reducing liquid to create the cheese ball and you can eat it at this point if you desire. You can add nutritional yeast if you want. I didn’t have any and still got the desired taste!
HOW TO STORE CHEESE BALL After the cheese ball is rolled in the pistachio, I like to wrap mine in saran wrap and then store in my fridge. After about a day in the fridge the cheese is very easy to slice, so you can make this ahead of time if you so desire. The cheese ball will last at least a week in your fridge.