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Home ยป Garlic and Chive Sunflower Seed Cheese

Garlic and Chive Sunflower Seed Cheese

by Adrienne 47 Comments Published November 11, 2013 Updated: May 16, 2020

This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. Learn more in our disclosure.
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vegan sunflower cheese with crackers on a cutting board

Are you avoiding dairy for some reason, but you LOVE cheese? This Vegan Sunflower Seed Cheese makes a great appetizer or spread for dipping, putting on crackers, spreading on wraps or flatbreads and more! 

sunflower seed cheese with crackers on wood cutting board

I though it would be very appropriate to share this sunflower seed cheese recipe here, at Whole New Mom, because it's basically Adrienne’s recipe! You see, I haven't been able to eat dairy for years now and I had given up the hope of finding a delicious, candida-friendly substitute.

Every vegan "cheese" I tried either had an unpleasant taste or some ingredient I either couldn't pronounce or eat. Then one day, I stumbled upon Adrienne’s recipe for Almond Feta and it was amazing!

I thought it was such a brilliant idea to make cheese out of almonds. While I hadn't tasted real feta in years, her recipe had all the creamy, salty, tangy flavor that I remembered, with just a hint of nuttiness. I was ecstatic! All of this flavor without a week of bowel discourse that usually followed any dairy consumption? Yes please!

We ate it on crackers, spread it on celery, added it to this Spaghetti Squash Salad , crumbled it on pizza,threw it in wraps, and made it the filling for some killer empanadas. It was nice to finally have a tasty substitute for cheese on hand and I knew I would be making it often! I think it would be great on salads like this Broccoli Salad too.

sunflower seed cheese with crackers on wood cutting board

The Need for Sunflower Seed Cheese

Fast-forward a few months and I discover, much to my chagrin, that my brand new breastfeeding baby didn’t agree with my new culinary discovery. It turned out she was having a bad reaction to the almonds in that tasty cheese, with symptoms that included bad gas, crying all night and blood in her stool, yikes!

This all added up to one extra tired and concerned mama and, not to mention, one cranky baby. Her doctor told us she likely had an intolerance to the almonds and I should test out his theory by avoiding almonds for 10 days and then reintroducing them.

I followed his instructions only to confirm that almonds were surely the culprit. The doctor also mentioned that she might grow out of it (and I think she since has) but in the meantime I’d have to go without.

Now, I know there’s controversy over the issue of whether to avoid foods during breastfeeding or not, but after seeing my baby in pain, along with several sleepless nights, good ol’ instinct told me to just cut it out.

Eliminating almonds from my diet was a bit of a challenge as they had become a staple for me. It wasn’t just almond cheese but also almond milk and even almond butter. What was a girl to do?

Well, I switched out my almond milk for hemp milk and turned to cashew butter for an occasional spread (had to cut back when my candida returned) but how to replace my new found cheese?

It took me a few days of thinking, but it finally came to me when I spotted a giant bag of sunflower seeds I had purchased to make sunbutter (still haven't) in the cupboard. Sunflower seeds would work for cheese, right?

I mean they have a bit of a stronger flavour, so I might have to add something to mask the taste of the seeds. Then it hit me - garlic and chive.

Well I got on soaking those seeds right away, and 24 hours later we were Vitamix-ing our way back into cheese heaven.

The result was a wonderfully creamy, flavourful sunflower seed cheese that reminded me of the soft spreadable chevre I had enjoyed so many years before. It was delightful.

The sunflower seeds were barely detectable and not at all unpleasant. In fact my sister served this sunflower seed cheese at a birthday party and everyone enjoyed it, even those that weren't non-dairy!

She formed the vegan cheese into a ball and placed it on the BBQ on a cedar plank and it turned out lovely!

Serving Ideas:

Another great thing about this sunflower seed cheese is that it’s nut free and a safe option for most playgroups and schools; a nice bonus for you parents out there. So go ahead, slather it on to your sandwiches, throw it on a pizza and spread it on your crackers…you won’t be disappointed!

This vegan cheese recipe would also be great on:

- Focaccia Flax Bread
- on crackers such as these Homemade Crackers
- gently melted and served on main dishes

YUM! ๐Ÿ™‚

sunflower seed cheese with crackers on wood cutting board

Recipe Notes

  • See The Easiest Way to Peel Garlic for help peeling garlic.
  • Note that the miso and nutritional yeast are optional. They add a nice extra flavor, but the sunflower cheese tastes great even without!  
  • Paleo Notes: If you are eating paleo, and are concerned about miso, you can leave it out, however some die hard paleo eaters do eat miso due to its stellar nutritional profile, including the fact that it is fermented.
  • Soy-free Notes: You can substitute chick pea miso for the soy miso if necessary.
sunflower seed cheese with crackers on wood cutting board

Garlic and Chive Sunflower Seed Cheese (Dairy and Soy Free)

This Garlic and Chive Vegan Cheese Recipe is a sunflower seed cheese so it's great for almost all special diets. Great as a dip or a spread.
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Course: Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Keto, Low-Carb, Paleo, Vegan, whole30
Keyword: sunflower seed cheese
Servings: 32
Calories: 75kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup chives (loosely chopped)
  • 1 Tbsp miso (optional)
  • 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

Instructions

  • Soak sunflower seeds overnight or up to 24 hours in water with 1 tsp of salt. (Note: If you use already soaked and dried nuts and seeds you will not need to use salt again likely.)
  • Drain and rinse.
  • In a high-powered blender or food processor, blend the sunflower seeds, and remaining ingredients until very smooth.
  • Enjoy!
  • You can bake this vegan cheese recipe as well, but I don’t find it alters the texture much. Following are the directions to do so if you wish.
  • Preheat oven to 200F. Spread the mixture onto a parchment paper lined pan, or form into a disk, approximately ¾ inches thick. Bake for about 40-50 minutes. You’ll have a firmer top and sides to the vegan cheese, which is quite nice. This cheese will still be very spreadable.

Nutrition

Serving: 14.3g | Calories: 75kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 166mg | Potassium: 66mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 31IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @wholenewmom or tag #wholenewmom!

 What would you eat this sunflower seed cheese on?  

CandaceCandace is a stay-at-home-mom, wife, graphic designer and food lover. She loves to make healthy, whole foods that are dairy free and candida friendly. She loves being a mom and is passionate about parenting, living healthy and helping others do the same. 

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About Adrienne

Adrienne Urban is the Founder and Owner of Whole New Mom. She has a background in research, journalism, insurance, employee benefits, financial markets, frugal living, and nutrition. Seeking a better life for herself and her family, she uses research and consults with many physicians and other practitioners to find solutions to the variety of issues they have dealt with including life-threatening food allergies and thyroid and adrenal concerns. WholeNewMom.com is the result of her experiences and knowledge gained throughout the process. Posts are reviewed and verified by the Whole New Mom team.

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    Recipe Rating




     

  1. Melina

    January 02, 2020 at 3:16 pm

    This was an amazing dish for my New Yearโ€™s Eve party. Everyone kept going back for more. Thank you for posting this recipe. Iโ€™m making a second batch right now.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      January 02, 2020 at 8:01 pm

      You totally made my day! So glad to hear this. Thanks!! Happy New Year! More recipes coming soon!

      Reply
  2. Kristin

    May 09, 2018 at 4:15 am

    5 stars
    I made this cheese and loved it! Thanks so much for sharing it here. I am doing a 30 day vegan challenge and this has helped make it more pallatable for my family:)

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      May 09, 2018 at 9:17 am

      So glad you liked it! Almost everything on my site is vegan friendly (just 2 egg dishes wouldn't work)--so hopefully something else here will be of help!

      Did you see this almond feta recipe? https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/almond-feta/

      Reply
  3. Mary

    April 03, 2018 at 8:31 am

    Your link to raw sunflower seeds goes to roasted ones.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      April 04, 2018 at 7:10 pm

      Fixed - thanks!!

      Reply
  4. Kim

    February 07, 2018 at 5:32 pm

    Yuck! From all of the comments I was excited to try this out, but it was SO disappointing ! It had more of a consistency and tase of edamole and didnโ€™t NOT resemble anything tasting like or texture wise of cheese. I tried baking it but in the end threw it all out in the trash. Waste of time and ingredients. Going to try a cashew cheese next.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      April 04, 2019 at 1:57 pm

      Hi Kim--I'm so sorry that you didn't like this. Did you mean edamame and not edamole? Either way, not sure I understand as edamame is a bean. Did you use raw sunflower seeds? Sorry for the delay in my responding. I lose track of comments sometimes and they get buried.

      I'm actually working on revamping this recipe with a few additional ingredients so maybe that will help. But I don't think it tastes like edamame. As for the texture, this is more of a spread--there are different types of cheese and cheese spreads, etc. This is more of a spread.

      Reply
  5. Jill Beaty

    August 02, 2017 at 5:54 pm

    This recipe looks great! I'm actually searching for a cheesecake recipe that is dairy-free and nut-free. We can use lactose-free milk, but daughter is allergic to all nuts (peanut and tree nuts). Any ideas for me??

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      August 02, 2017 at 5:57 pm

      Thanks! When do you need it by? I have one I'm working on.

      Reply
  6. Mindi

    March 20, 2016 at 1:52 pm

    One other thing I wanted to mention. I don't have a vitamix, but I have one of the high powered ninja blenders. This took about 10 minutes on the highest setting, and I had to scrape down a few times. I'm sure in a vitamix this would be much easier, but if you are like me and haven't made the investment yet, I just wanted to mention that it did work. Just took some time.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      March 20, 2016 at 1:53 pm

      Glad to hear it!!

      Reply
  7. Mindi

    March 20, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    Just made this, its really good. I love the sunflower seed, lemon taste combo. I think i may try this with roasted sunflower seeds next time just to see what the flavor is like.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      March 20, 2016 at 1:54 pm

      So glad to hear it. I think it will taste more like peanut butter if you use roasted ones so depending on what you want you may or may not like it. Thanks again!

      Reply
  8. Christy

    November 15, 2015 at 8:14 pm

    Hi Adrienne,
    Well turns out they might be raw! I thought it might say raw on the bag, but then again if they were toasted, it would be labeled that as well! It doesn't say either, so I wasn't sure. I'll go ahead with them, I'm sure it'll taste great. Looking forward to it. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      November 15, 2015 at 8:35 pm

      Great! Hope you love it!

      Reply
  9. Christy

    November 15, 2015 at 7:43 pm

    Hello! I'm excited to make this "cheese" but realized my sunflower seeds aren't raw ๐Ÿ™ I'm wondering if it's still possible to use them? Or do they have to be raw? I have to agree with others, it's hard to find some nut-free (though I'm in Australia!)
    Thanks! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      November 15, 2015 at 7:52 pm

      You could still use them, but if they are toasted the cheese will taste different. What do you mean by "not raw"?

      Reply
  10. vanessa

    April 13, 2014 at 2:15 pm

    hello,can you freeze this and the almond feta?they are so good!

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      April 13, 2014 at 2:48 pm

      I would think so :).

      Reply
  11. Laura

    March 21, 2014 at 8:24 am

    Hi Candace, Can you tell me where you get your sunflower seeds from. All the ones in the stores near me are all made in a facility with other nuts and my grandson is allergic to nuts. I think he would just love this recipe. Thank you

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      March 21, 2014 at 9:46 am

      I get mine from Country Life Natural Foods. You might want to check them out.

      Reply
      • Laura

        March 21, 2014 at 2:44 pm

        Thanks for replying Adrienne. It's unfortunate but I just checked out Country Life and they do process in a facility with peanuts and tree nuts. My search continues.

        Reply
        • Adrienne

          March 21, 2014 at 2:54 pm

          Their 25 pound bags are different. I would call them and ask. I have always purchased in bulk from them b/c of allergies, especially in years when we were worried about cross contamination. These years we are not as concerned about it but I still do it to save money almost all the time :).

          Reply
    • Candace @ Candida Free Candee

      March 24, 2014 at 9:34 pm

      Hi Laura,
      Cross-contamination has not yet been an issue for us but I am getting more and more sensitive to things so I may have to find another supply. I am going to check into the big bags of Country Life and see. Thanks for the tip Adrienne!

      Reply
  12. JJ

    March 20, 2014 at 5:52 pm

    I have been googling for a sunflower seed "cheese" for a couple of hours now, and you recipe looks great and manageable, yay! I just wondered if you know how long it will keep in the fridge? I have never made one before, and I wasn't sure how long it keeps for.

    Reply
    • Candace @ Candida Free Candee

      March 20, 2014 at 10:35 pm

      Hi JJ,
      I am so glad you found this recipe. It is super easy, especially with the Vitamix but I am sure it can work with other appliances. Honestly I keep this in the fridge for two weeks. There is no science behind this decision, that just seemed right to me. It does make a lot of "cheese" although I don't think we've ever had any last two weeks. However, I might freeze some next time. I have not tried freezing but I don't see why it wouldn't work. But to answer your question I say 2 weeks. Adrienne, how long do you say for your almond feta?

      P.S. I am working on a fermented sunflower seed cheese...yum...I hope =).

      Reply
      • Adrienne

        March 20, 2014 at 10:50 pm

        I make no claims either Candace :). I haven't made it in awhile and my son devours it whenever I make it. He is the one deathly allergic to dairy. :).

        Reply
        • JJ

          March 23, 2014 at 12:27 am

          Thank you both for your replies ๐Ÿ™‚
          I have halved the recipe to start with, but after trying it, I don't think it will hang around long enough to be stored for two weeks!
          I might try making a bigger batch next time and freeze some.
          Thank you for sharing the recipe!

          Reply
          • Adrienne

            March 23, 2014 at 2:13 pm

            Great!!!

            Reply
          • Candace @ Candida Free Candee

            March 24, 2014 at 9:32 pm

            So glad you liked it JJ! If you do happen to freeze some before I do please let me know how it works out!

            Reply
  13. Genevieve Kearney

    February 04, 2014 at 10:32 am

    The sunflower chive &garlic cheese is so good we eat it on celery

    Reply
    • Candace @ Candida Free Candee

      February 05, 2014 at 8:17 pm

      I'm so glad you like it. I can't believe I haven't tried it on celery, what a great idea, thanks for sharing!

      Reply
  14. Ashley H

    January 01, 2014 at 12:44 pm

    Quick question, how important is the lemon juice? Id love to make this more my multi allergic 1 year old and citric fruits are a no no. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Candace @ Candida Free Candee

      January 01, 2014 at 8:39 pm

      Hi Ashely,
      Sorry for the delay. The lemon juice adds tang, so it might taste less "cheesy" without it. I have not tried it but perhaps some nutritional yeast or even some rhubarb juice would work as a substitute. Or even some water kefir or kombucha vingear! I am going to have to try that myself! I hope that helps!

      Reply
  15. Raven

    November 23, 2013 at 10:17 am

    I found this post through the Homestead Barn Hop at The Prairie Homestead. I can't WAIT to make this cheese! It sounds delicious. Thanks for the great read!

    Reply
    • Candace @ Candida Free Candee

      February 05, 2014 at 8:18 pm

      I hope you enjoy it Raven!

      Reply
  16. Cassidy

    November 12, 2013 at 10:21 am

    Thanks for this!!! I've just never been able to make a good cheese substitute, I just can't wait to make it ๐Ÿ™‚

    xo,
    Cassidy

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      November 12, 2013 at 10:48 am

      Hope you like it!!!

      Reply
  17. Debbie

    November 11, 2013 at 11:07 pm

    I had the same question as Joya, so I contacted Candace. She was so nice and got back to me right away. Here is her response: "Thank you for getting in touch with me. It looks like that direction is something that Adrienne popped in there and I can see why you are confused.
    I do not soak and dehydrate first. I soak them overnight or up to 24 hours, rinse, and make the cheese. So just to be clear the seeds are wet when I do it. Maybe she knows something we don't though!
    I will talk to Adrienne to clear this up, thank you for bringing this to my attention.
    I hope you enjoy the cheese! "

    I received a second email (wow, great follow-up!): "
    The recipe has been updated. Adrienne keeps soaked and dehydrated nuts and seeds on hand so that is where she was coming from. So glad you reached out.
    Thank you again!"

    I am so happy I found this recipe. Three people in our family must stay away from dairy. I can't wait to try it!

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      November 11, 2013 at 11:10 pm

      Hope you like it! Let us know :).

      Reply
    • Candace @ Candida Free Candee

      November 12, 2013 at 3:47 pm

      Thanks for posting this Debbie!

      Reply
  18. Joya Matza

    November 11, 2013 at 6:20 pm

    Hi there! So when making the garlic & chive sunflower cheese, after you soak the sunflower seeds, should you then dehydrate them? Your ingredients say yes but your directions do not mention the dehydrating process.... Thank you!

    Reply
  19. Joyce

    November 11, 2013 at 5:31 pm

    I finally made some raw mayo, and love dips, so I had to pin this to my healthy eating board.

    Reply
    • Candace @ Candida Free Candee

      November 11, 2013 at 6:58 pm

      Ooh, raw mayo sounds great! I wonder if you blended some of that mayo with this recipe --might make a great party dip?

      Reply
  20. Marianne

    November 11, 2013 at 5:15 pm

    I need to try this! It really sounds tasty!

    Reply
    • Candace @ Candida Free Candee

      November 11, 2013 at 6:56 pm

      Thanks! I hope you enjoy it!

      Reply
Please note: these comments do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of Whole New Mom.

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adrienne author of whole new mom blog

Welcome! I'm Adrienne, and I'm here to show you that Healthy Living Doesn't Have to Be Hard! Here, you'll findย basically everything you need to make healthy living doable--healthy & easyย flexible recipes, tips forย clean beautyย and aย natural home,ย essential oils,ย beginner gardening tips, and more. Learn moreย about me here.

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