Easy Vegan Sunflower Seed Cheese
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This creamy vegan sunflower seed cheese is a simple nut-free cheese spread made with sunflower seeds, garlic, lemon juice, and chives. It’s tangy, savory, easy to make, and much more affordable than store-bought vegan cheese.
Unlike many vegan cheese recipes made with cashews or almonds, this sunflower seed cheese is completely nut-free, making it a great option for those with nut allergies or who need nut-free school lunches. Serve it as a spread, dip, or bake it for a warm appetizer with firmer texture.
This Almond Feta is a delicious dairy-free cheese, but having a nut-free vegan cheese option is helpful since so many people need or want to avoid nuts these days.
Sunflower seeds have a bit of a stronger flavor than almonds, but adding garlic and chives makes this cheese taste even more delicious.
Why You'll Love This Sunflower Seed Cheese
Here's why I think you'll love this recipe. It's
- a nut-free vegan cheese
- a super easy blender or food processor recipe
- cheaper than store-bought vegan cheese
- of course delicious
Ingredients
You only need a handful of simple ingredients to make this creamy sunflower seed cheese. The miso and nutritional yeast are optional, but both add extra savory, cheesy flavor.
- raw sunflower seeds
- lemon juice
- extra virgin olive oil
- garlic
- salt
- chives (loosely chopped)
- miso (optional)
- nutritional yeast (optional)
Instructions
This sunflower seed cheese is very easy to make. Blend everything until smooth, then serve it right away or bake it for a slightly firmer texture.
- Add ingredients to blender or food processor.
- Blend or process to combine.
- Form and serve raw or bake in the oven (or put on the grill) for an even better result.
- Top with chopped chives if desired.
Serving Ideas
There are so many ways to enjoy this sunflower seed cheese. Try it as:
- a spread on wraps or flatbread
- a dip for vegetables
- a topping for burgers
- a spread for crackers
- a pizza topping
- an addition to salads like this broccoli salad or this spaghetti squash salad
- or a warm topping for main dishes like this Gluten-Free Chili Mac or this Gluten-Free Hamburger Helper
So many options!
Recipe Notes
- Note that the miso and nutritional yeast are optional. They add a nice extra flavor, but the sunflower cheese tastes great even without!
- Paleo : If you're 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: You can substitute chick pea miso for the soy miso if necessary.
- Storage: You should be able to store this vegan cheese in the fridge for about a week.
- Baking Notes: Baking the cheese isn't needed, but it will result in a firmer top and sides, which I personally love. It's a very spreadable cheese whether it's baked or not.
Other Vegan Recipes You'll Love
- almond feta – another fantastic dairy-free cheese.
- snickerdoodle cookie dough – a super fast sweet treat.
- vegan ranch dressing – tastes great on everything.
- dairy-free chocolate ice cream – super rich and so easy to make!
- dairy-free sugar-free whipped cream – a lovely topping for desserts and more.
Garlic and Chive Sunflower Seed Cheese (Dairy and Soy Free)
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw 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 at least 8 hours or overnight (up to 24 hours) in water with 1 teaspoon of salt.
- Drain and rinse.
- Place the sunflower seeds and the remaining ingredients in a high-powered blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
- While processing, you can stop every so often to scrape down the sides of the blender / processor if needed.
- Taste the mixture, and add more seasoning if desired.
- Form the cheese into whatever shape you'd like. You can free form it, make one or a few smaller wheels of cheese, or use a silicone mold to make it into any desired shape.
- Serve raw, or you can also bake this vegan cheese recipe for even better results. Following are the directions to do so.
- Preheat oven to 200F. Spread the mixture or form into a disk a parchment paper lined pan,approximately ¾ inches thick.
- Bake for about 40-50 minutes.
- Top with chopped chives, if desired.
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
-
- Raw vs. Roasted Seeds: It's very important that you use raw sunflower seeds for this recipe. Roasted seeds will give it a completely different taste, and you likely won't enjoy it.
- Miso and Nutritional Yeast Options: While the miso and nutritional yeast are optional, they add a nice extra flavor.
- Paleo: If you're 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: 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.
- Baking Notes: Baking the cheese isn't needed, but it will result in a firmer top and sides, which I personally love. Either way, this cheese will still be very spreadable.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
I'd love to hear how you like this sunflower seed cheese after you try it!
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 :).