My daughter is vegan, she likes to keep to her diet and her beliefs, so whenever she and her boyfriend come over for dinner I try to accommodate hers and her boyfriends lifestyle. I came up with this delicious vegan cashew cream. Its honestly amazing, it has great flavor and the texture is smooth and creamy. It comes together easily and it pairs well with fresh basil and some garden fresh tomatoes (or freshly canned tomatoes). Toss it all together over pasta and you have a delicious light meal, without a lot of fuss. This is also great for lactose intolerant individuals or those of you that are just reducing your dairy intake. Even my die hard non vegan, carnivores in the home gobble this up, it’s that good!
This cashew cream is a great plant based recipe that is super versatile. It can be used in place of heavy cream or sour cream. My daughter uses it over her baked potatoes with lots of chives, salt and pepper and in her rice bowls with the addition of cilantro.
This basic cashew cream recipe is 2 parts cashews and 1 part water. This gives the consistency of Greek yogurt or sour cream. I like to kick it up a notch if I’m using as a sour cream replacement. I add a hit of Dijon, onion powder and white wine vinegar.
I usually use this cashew cream in place of heavy cream for a sauce. We eat a lot of pasta in this family and it’s so easy to add some fresh or canned fire roasted tomatoes, fresh basil and garlic for a delicious vegan pasta dinner, that everyone loves.
You can play with this to make it your “own”, want something cheesy add some nutritional yeast, add lime and cilantro instead lemon for a delicious burrito bowl sauce, add any variety of fresh herbs and spices to customize it your way.
Pro Tips
You need raw cashews for this recipe, not roasted or salted. Yes, roasted and salted are delicious, but nutty is not the flavor we’re aiming for. Raw cashews for this recipes are where it’s at – we need a nice, smooth, neutral taste.
I recommend soaking your cashews in water for about 4 hours. I have an excellent blender (Vitamix) and I could forgo the soaking, but I like the way the cashews blend super smooth once they’ve been soaked. It’s really easy, and doesn’t take any time to prepare. You just take your cashews cover them with water for about 4 hours (up to overnight), drain and rinse – See! Very easy!
*Use in place of heavy cream or half and half. Great for cream sauces!
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashews – raw/ unsalted
- 1/2 cup water (may need additional depending on how think you want your sauce)
- 2 1/2 Tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 – 3 cloves of garlic – minced
- 1 teaspoon salt (I like Redmonds)
Instructions
- Take your cashews and place them in a bowl and cover with water. Let soak for 4 hours (up to overnight). If you have a good blender – like a Vitamix you can probably omit this step. That being said, I have a Vitamix and I still soak my cashews – I just think the sauce turns out smoother and creamier.
- Take your soaked cashews, olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic cloves, salt and water and throw in your blender. You want a smooth and creamy consistency; so set on high and let it blend for a few minutes – you can add additional water to the sauce if needed (start with a Tbsp at a time so it doesn’t get too runny).
- Remove from blender with a flexible rubber spatula – so you get out all that goodness.
Now if your me…. your going to add a can of fire roasted tomatoes or 2 cups of fresh paste tomatoes to a bowl, fresh basil – a lot of basil, like at least a 1/2 cup – cut julienne style with a 1/4 cup of olive oil and salt (if you are using fresh tomatoes -so the tomatoes release their juices). Using canned tomatoes you can omit the salt. Toss in some freshly cooked hot pasta and add your delicious cream sauce over the top. Mix all together – Voila! Dinner is served!
Sour Cream – Cashew Version
- Replace 1 Tbsp of lemon juice with white wine vinegar, use dijon mustard (to taste I start with 1 tsp) and onion powder 1/2 tsp. I also make sure to go easy on my garlic reducing from 2-3 cloves down to only 1 clove.
- Enjoy!
References Adapted By:
Jeanine and Jack, How to Make Cashew Cream [Blog Post] Retrieved from: https://www.loveandlemons.com/cashew-cream/