Vegan Cheese Board
Cheese boards are one of those crowd-pleasing spreads that can feel tricky to pull off without dairy, but this one proves the concept beautifully — and it serves six with plenty to go around. The star is a homemade cashew soft cheese blended with lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and garlic until it reaches a thick, spreadable texture that genuinely rivals soft goat cheese. A coating of everything bagel seasoning on top makes it look as impressive as it tastes. Surrounding it are sliced firm vegan cheese, crisp crackers, fresh apple, grapes, olives, roasted nuts, cornichons, fig jam, and whole-grain mustard — so every bite offers a different combination of creamy, crunchy, sweet, and tangy. The key to making it look abundant is placing the ramekins and cheese bowl first, then fanning and clustering everything else into the gaps until the board feels effortlessly full. It's the kind of spread that disappears fast at a gathering, and nobody will be asking where the dairy went.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
For the cashew soft cheese
- 1 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked in cold water for at least 2 hours, then drained and rinsed
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- ½ tsp salt
- 2–3 tbsp water, as needed
- 1 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped
- 1 tsp everything bagel seasoning
For the board
- 6 oz vegan cheese, sliced or cubed (such as a firm cheddar- or gouda-style block)
- 4 oz vegan crackers (such as water crackers or seed crackers)
- 1 cup red or green grapes
- 1 medium apple, cored and thinly sliced
- ½ cup mixed olives
- ⅓ cup roasted almonds or walnuts
- ¼ cup fig jam or apricot jam
- ¼ cup cornichons or bread-and-butter pickles
- 2 tbsp whole-grain mustard
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary sprigs (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Place the drained cashews, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, and 2 tbsp water in a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend on high, scraping down the sides as needed, until completely smooth and creamy, about 2–3 minutes. Add the remaining 1 tbsp water only if needed to get the blender moving — the finished texture should be thick and spreadable, similar to soft goat cheese.
- 2
Transfer the cashew cheese to a small bowl and fold in the chives. Taste and adjust salt or lemon juice as needed. Press the everything bagel seasoning onto the top surface of the cheese. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes until slightly firmed and chilled.
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