Are you avoiding dairy for some reason, but you LOVE cheese? This Vegan Sunflower Seed Cheese makes a great appetizer or spreads for dipping, putting on crackers, spreading on wraps or flatbreads and more!
I thought 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 amazing 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.
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 newfound 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 onto 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! 🙂
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.
- Storage: You should be able to store this in the fridge for about a week.
Garlic and Chive Sunflower Seed Cheese (Dairy and Soy Free)
Ingredients
- 2 cups sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup chives (loosely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon miso (optional)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
Instructions
- Soak sunflower seeds overnight or up to 24 hours in water with 1 teaspoon 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
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
What would you eat this sunflower seed cheese on?
Candace 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.
This was an amazing dish for my New Year’s Eve party. Everyone kept going back for more. Thank you for posting this recipe. I’m making a second batch right now.
You totally made my day! So glad to hear this. Thanks!! Happy New Year! More recipes coming soon!
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:)
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/
Your link to raw sunflower seeds goes to roasted ones.
Fixed - thanks!!
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 didn’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.
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.
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??
Thanks! When do you need it by? I have one I'm working on.
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.
Glad to hear it!!
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.
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!
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!
Great! Hope you love it!
Hello! I'm excited to make this "cheese" but realized my sunflower seeds aren't raw 🙁 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! 🙂
You could still use them, but if they are toasted the cheese will taste different. What do you mean by "not raw"?
hello,can you freeze this and the almond feta?they are so good!
I would think so :).
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
I get mine from Country Life Natural Foods. You might want to check them out.
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.
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 :).
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!
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.
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 =).
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. :).
Thank you both for your replies 🙂
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!
Great!!!
So glad you liked it JJ! If you do happen to freeze some before I do please let me know how it works out!
The sunflower chive &garlic cheese is so good we eat it on celery
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!
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!
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!
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!
I hope you enjoy it Raven!
Thanks for this!!! I've just never been able to make a good cheese substitute, I just can't wait to make it 🙂
xo,
Cassidy
Hope you like it!!!
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!
Hope you like it! Let us know :).
Thanks for posting this Debbie!
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!
I finally made some raw mayo, and love dips, so I had to pin this to my healthy eating board.
Ooh, raw mayo sounds great! I wonder if you blended some of that mayo with this recipe --might make a great party dip?
I need to try this! It really sounds tasty!
Thanks! I hope you enjoy it!