How to Make Cashew Cream

Cashew cream is one of those go-to concoctions vegans have come to rely upon. But since we know how good it is, we're here to spread the word among omnivores too.

We'll cover how to make your own cashew cream, including the best tools for the job, and how to adjust the flavor and consistency depending on how you plan to use it. Because not only is cashew cream delicious, it's versatile too.

How to Make Cashew Cream

It actually couldn't be easier to make this staple. All you really need are cashews and water.

Soak the cashews in water for anywhere from half an hour to overnight. Then pop them into your blender or food processor and whirl until they turn smooth and creamy. The more water you add, the thinner and more pourable your cashew cream will be.

You can skip the soaking step, but we don't recommend that. Even if you want to make quick cashew cream, soaking the cashews makes them easier to blend, for smoother, creamier results. Likewise, using a blender will also yield better results than a food processor. Use what you have, but if you already own both, opt for the blender.

Seasoning Your Cashew Cream

You don't have to add a single thing to your cashew cream if you don't want to. Food52 likens it to ricotta cheese or crème fraîche. Leave cashew cream unseasoned if you're not yet sure how you want to use it; store it in the refrigerator for a week or the freezer for a month.

For savory uses, blend your cashew cream with salt, lemon juice and garlic. For sweet uses, blend it with vanilla extract and honey or maple syrup. Check out these guidelines from Reboot With Joe for recommended proportions.

Recipes Featuring Cashew Cream

Now that you know how to make cashew cream, here's what to do with it. These four recipes will convince you to add cashews to your grocery list. Get ready to start soaking instead of snacking.

Creamy Spinach Sweet Potato Noodles With Cashew Sauce

We've made this dish from Pinch of Yum before, and we wholeheartedly recommend it. Even the carnivores thought it was great. Plus it's another excuse to get out the spiralizer, which is always fun.

You can add bacon or roasted chickpeas, as Lindsay suggests. Or serve it as a bed for grilled chicken breasts, with more cashew cream drizzled on top of the chicken. This is one of those recipes that's well worth eating, even if you're not vegan.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup With Lemon Cashew Cream

Another vegan dish that's delicious for everyone is this soup from One Green Planet. Roasted red peppers and Hungarian paprika give it a rich, smoky flavor. You'd never know it was full of cauliflower either, since it's all blended together.

While you don't have to add the cashew cream, why not? We suspect once you drizzle it over the top of this soup, you'll want to add it to all of your vegetable-based soups.

Vegan Pumpkin Muffins with Cashew Cream Cheese Frosting

We're all for making these muffins from Connoisseurus Veg, but what really caught our eye was the frosting. It looks almost like a glaze, which makes us want to use it to top waffles, Bundt cakes and other baked goodies made with shaped pans.

You can control how thick or thin your frosting turns out, depending on how much milk you add to it. If you don't use all the frosting on your batch of muffins (or your Bundt cake or weekend waffles), just freeze the leftovers.

Raw Cashew Dreamcake

We found this recipe from My New Roots thanks to a post from Umami Girl (which includes other fantastic cashew cream recommendations). Not only does it look incredibly gourmet, Sarah insists that it's practically foolproof.

Don't be put off by buzzwords like raw and vegan. This cashew cream dessert simply a no-bake cheesecake made with cashews instead of cream cheese. Hopefully the recipes above gave you some confidence in cashews as a stand-in for dairy cream and cheese. If nothing else, we think the photos of this cake are pretty convincing. Enjoy!