Cream cheese is traditionally not vegan, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a simple tofu cream cheese at home using vegan ingredients. This vegan tofu cream cheese can be whipped up within 7 minutes.
I’m all about making vegan versions of cheese products including Vegan Feta Cheese, Vegan Mozzarella Cheese, and Vegan Nacho Cheese. And as per requests of many readers, I wanted to share my vegan cream cheese recipe.
Here is an easy way to make a creamy, whole foods cheese replacement using tofu and pantry staples, so you can enjoy creamy, cheesy goodness while saving money and without leaving the house.
Related Recipe: Everything Bagel Seasoning
TOFU CREAM CHEESE
DAIRY-FREE | NUT-FREE | GLUTEN-FREE
This easy tofu cream cheese recipe is a simple way to make any bagel, pasta, or dessert (tofu frosting) more creamy and full of flavour. Store in the fridge for up to 7 days, or freeze it, and use in countless recipes!
How To Make: Vegan Cream Cheese
INGREDIENTS FOR TOFU CREAM CHEESE (VEGAN):
- Firm tofu
- Nutritional yeast
- Miso paste (white is preferred)
- Coconut oil (Refined/deodorized)
- Lemon juice
- Apple cider vinegar
- Salt
- Onion powder (optional)
- Garlic powder (optional)
- Dried dill (optional)
- Unsweetened soy milk (optional)
OPTIONAL CREAM CHEESE FLAVOURS:
- Herb and garlic: add in 1 tsp garlic powder and 1/4 cup freshly chopped herbs
- Everything bagel: 2 tbsp everything bagel seasoning
- Vegan Smoked Salmon: 1 tsp fresh dill & ¼ cup chopped carrot lox
- Strawberry: skip the savoury herbs in the original recipe, add ½ cup mashed strawberries and 2-3 tbsp powdered sugar
KITCHEN EQUIPMENT I USED:
- Measuring Cup and Spoons
- Food Processor or Vitamix
- Wooden Spoon
- Tupperware Container
- Tofu Press (optional)
Related Recipe: Best Vegan Feta Cheese
- 1-454 g block firm tofu
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp white miso paste
- 5 oz melted coconut oil (refined/deodorized)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp dried dill
- Unsweetened soy milk as needed to blend
- Place tofu, nutritional yeast, miso, coconut oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and dried dill in a blender or food processor and puree until very smooth, scraping down the sides.
- It gets quite thick, so you will need to help it along with a damper or wooden spoon. This may take some time, let it blend.
- Taste and salt as needed.
- Place tofu mixture into a sealable Tupperware or bowl. Cover and place in the fridge.
- Spread onto your favourite bagels, or crackers or use in recipes.
Hey, I’m Candice & welcome to The Edgy Veg! I veganize popular food recipes for vegans, plant-based diets, eco-conscious eaters & people who are trying to eat more plants over… y’know animals or by-products of animals. I hope you enjoy this tasty vegan recipe!
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If you make this recipe, let me know what you think by leaving a 
star rating & comment below. It truly helps me & I really appreciate any support! Feel free to share your food photos on social and tag me @edgyveg so I don’t miss it!
Hey there, thanks for sharing this awesome recipe! I made it with a couple of changes – using roasted garlic instead of the garlic powder. Sometimes, the cream cheese develops bubbles overnight, and goes bad pretty quick. Any suggestions on how to avoid the bubbles formation in the cream cheese, and whether at all the shelf life can be extended naturally in any way? I like to make a big batch for my family… thanks so much
I swapped 2/3 of the coconut oil for fat free plain Greek yogurt (one 5 oz container). The result was more of a soft spread and a little tangier (think I will skip half the lemon juice next time) but VERY good! (One container of yogurt and 3 1/2 TB coconut oil)
To make cream cheese made from Tofu is just amazing & it is really, really good. Made it for the first time last week and made another batch yesterday. So much quicker & cheaper than the nuts based cheeses. Thanks Candice.
Do you press the tofu first?
Yes! But you don’t need to worry about pressing it too much, even just with a kitchen towel and your hands should squeeze out enough liquid
Hey, this sounds amazing. One question for a beginner like me: can you omit the miso or what is its purpose? Thanks so much!
Miso adds umami flavour so if you leave it out you will be missing out on some flavour
Has anyone tried this to stuff jalapeno poppers? I was wondering if it would work for that.
Why not use silky tofu and less coconut oil?
This was incredible, and I almost like it better than Tofutti because this has better nutrition!! That’s saying a lot for a diehard Tofutti fan over here! I didn’t have miso so I swapped it for half tahini half soy sauce.
I made this for recipe specifically for plain cream cheese morning bagels. He gets heart burn with coconut oil, so I used earth balance vegan sticks. He really loved it! I thought it was salty and grainy still despite using vanilla almond milk to make it smoother. But I used a food processor and probably should have used the vitamix instead. I should’ve waited on the salt. I will try again in vitamix and wait on the salt. I will say though adding jam made it a lot less grainy! I will try your plain cream cheese recipe for the frosting too. Plant based diets take some adjustments and we just keep trying! Thanks.
This is a game changer! I’ve been looking for a low(er) calorie vegan substitute for peanut butter and this is it.
I used canola oil rather than coconut and its working out. Going to try to reduce the amount of oil next time to bring the calorie count down. I’ve found that this recipe as written packs more calories than the nutrition data on the recipe suggests.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi there, I made the vegan mozzarella for my son and he loved it. I’d love to make this cream cheese also, but he is allergic to coconut, could this be swopped out for another oil? If so what would you use? Thank!!
You really need coconut oil to get the right texture for cream cheese. I only tested it with coconut oil so I don’t want to steer you wrong giving you bad advice, sorry I couldn’t be more help!
I didnt use the coconut oil, just left it out and it was like a soft spread but all good 🙂
For a sweet cream cheese can i add only the nutritional yeast and leave out the miso paste?
The miso adds an umami flavour but you can skip it if you wish!
Would it be possible to use this cream cheese for a cheesecake recipe?
It should work great! Make sure you leave out the savoury spices of course
This was sooo good I coul have eaten it straight out of the container.
I did! 🙂
Hi I just calculated the nutritional values for this recipe and my sodium and calorie count is way off from the values suggested for thi recipe.
Total sodium without the salt = 700.3 so per 1/4C = 87.5mg
Total calories = 1992.6 so per 1/4C = 249.1cal
Total net carbs =39.54 so per 1/4C = 4.94g
Total fats = 124.6 so per 1/4C = 15.58g
Could you please share the product brands you use to match the nutritianal values that you suggests? Thank you
Sorry if our nutrition values didn’t show up being the same! I base my nutrition values on the ingredients I use at any given time. I do this to give you a guide but if nutrition numbers are very important to you I urge you to do these calculations yourself based on ingredients you are using!
may I know how long it can keep in refrigenator？
This should keep perfectly for 3-5 days in the fridge before the flavour starts to change.
Is there any way at all to extend the shelf life of the cream cheese??
You can freeze it and thaw in the fridge overnight before using 🙂
this tasted amazing!! thank you!! the tanginess is spot on to cream cheese’s. i calculated the nutritional facts on this, but somehow got a WAY larger calorie count than yours. 1 tbsp of coconut oil = 120 calories. 5 oz is like almost 10 tbsp of coconut oil.
This recipe is amazing. The combination of spices give it a nice sharp tang. The coconut oil helps iit set up in the fridge so it’s great for spreading. I made this recipe straight up twice except I used chive instead of dill (my personal preference). Firm or soft tofu works. Yesterday we made macaroni and cheese with it- just added a little cashew milk and topped it with Chao Cayenne cheese crumbled. Thanks so much- it’s a family favorite. Glad it just popped up when I was looking for a bagel recipe. 👍
My husband says he thinks this tastes better than regular cream cheese and he’s soooo picky about vegan recipes. This is going to be a staple in our household!
Looking forward to more recipes like this one!
This receipe is yummy!
I couldn’t hold myself from adding fresh green oinions a clove of garlic and a teaspoon of dryed ground shiitake mushrooms
You are the beeeeest!
If all I have is red miso but don’t have the ability to go to the store to get white miso , would that be an okay swap out? I know it would affect the color which I don’t really mind but would it affect the flavor ?
Turned out great. Can’t wait to try it tomorrow on my bagel 🙂
can oatmilk be used instead of soy?
I haven’t tried but it should work! It might just add a touch of sweetness to the recipe
Can you use another plant based milk besides soy? Also is extra firm tofu okay?
I always use soy milk but another thick milk like cashew, rice or oat should have a similar result. Extra-firm should be alright, you just may need to blend a little longer to get a smooth result.
I attempted to print just your recipe but got 4 pages colored pictures also. Why do I need all the damn pictures? Are you getting a royalty from the printing ink people?
Next time just click ‘print recipe’ it automatically prints just the ingredients and directions 👍
Would firm silken tofu work? I’ve been having trouble finding regular tofu in these pandemic times.
Can I leave the oil out? Would I need to replace it to keep the texture accurate “
It definitely helps to include the oil but you could opt for any neutral flavoured oil you like (avocado, grapeseed, refined coconut etc.)
I’m wondering the same. Did you try it without oil?
Just made this an enjoyed it on toast!! So simple and so yummy! I used my food processor as my blender isn’t the greatest so I didn’t get the creamy texture like Candice did that didn’t change the flavor!
Super easy and beginner friendly! Way better than any store bought cream cheese!
As a vegan chef and vegan food truck owner I would highly recommend this cream cheese recipe! ♥️ It’s so easy and takes no time at all. Give it a try yourself!
When you say skip the savoury herbs for a sweet cream cheese, does that include the miso and nutritional yeast?
To make the cream cheese sweet, I would include the miso and nutritional yeast because they make it “cheesy”. But skip the garlic, onion, dill
Sounds great and much cheaper! Curious if coconut oil could be swapped for something else? Thanks!!