Vegan Cheese Plate
A cheese board that's entirely free of animal products sounds like a tall order, but this one genuinely delivers on texture, tang, and visual drama. The star of the spread is a blended cashew soft cheese — soaked, whipped smooth with nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar, then folded with fresh chives and dill until it looks and tastes remarkably like a herbed goat cheese. Alongside it sits a marinated tofu feta, pressed into cubes and steeped in a bright, oregano-laced brine that firms the tofu and gives it that salty, tangy bite you'd expect from the real thing. Rounding out the board are sliced vegan cheese, crackers, red grapes, crisp apple slices, roasted almonds, walnuts, olives, and a little bowl of fig jam — so every bite offers a different combination of sweet, savory, creamy, and crunchy. It serves six, which makes it perfect for a dinner party starter or a relaxed weekend grazing situation. The whole thing comes together with mostly pantry and produce staples, and the make-ahead components mean you can have both cheeses ready before guests even arrive. Whether you're cooking for someone who avoids all animal products or just want a crowd-pleasing board that happens to be plant-based, this one is genuinely hard to resist.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
For the cashew soft cheese
- 1 ½ cups raw cashews
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp salt
- 3–4 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
For the tofu feta
- 7 oz extra-firm tofu
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
For the board
- 1 cup vegan cheese, sliced or cubed
- 1 cup vegan crackers
- 1 cup red grapes
- 1 medium apple, thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup roasted almonds
- ⅓ cup walnuts
- ¼ cup fig jam or apricot jam
- ¼ cup olives
- 1–2 tbsp fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, or basil), for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Soak the cashews in cold water for at least 2 hours (or up to overnight), then drain and rinse thoroughly.
- 2
Add the drained cashews, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, salt, and 3 tablespoons of water to a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend on high until completely smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as needed — the texture should be thick and spreadable, similar to soft goat cheese. Add the remaining tablespoon of water only if needed to get the blender moving.
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