How to Make Cashew Cream (Creamy & Dairy-Free!)

Cashew cream is the vegan invention for adding creaminess to dairy-free soups and sauces! And it takes 5 minutes hands on time. Here’s how to do it.

Cashew cream is something Alex and I have avoided for years. It’s too trendy. And it can’t be The Good, we thought. Well we were wrong because after trying it we were sold! It’s not great to eat straight (although it’s really good!). But there is Then so many ways to make plant-based recipes too creamy without dairy. It’s basically dairy-free sour cream, mayonnaise, heavy cream and yogurt all rolled into one. Read on to find out how to make cashew cream and how we like to use it.

What is cashew cream?

Cashew cream is a creamy mixture of soaked cashew nuts and water. You can use this vegan sauce in all sorts of variations recipes such as dairy-free substitutes for things like sour cream, cream, yogurt, or mayonnaise. This is what makes our creamy vegan marinara pasta and wild rice soup so creamy, for example.

For a vegan sour cream with a slightly firmer texture and flavor, try our vegan sour cream. It contains cashew nuts and some tofu to give it more body.

What’s in cashew cream?

For this cashew cream recipe, all you need is cashews, water, and kosher salt. You can use raw or roasted cashews, but buy unsalted nuts if possible. If your cashews are salty, use about half the amount of salt you need and adjust the spices as needed. Remember: you can always add more salt, but you can’t take it out!

How to make cashew cream

Honestly, the only “hard” part about making cashew cream is remembering to soak the cashews for 1 hour before you plan to use them! Once soaked (see some notes below), mix with water or broth and salt to create a thick, creamy sauce. Using vegetable broth enhances the flavor so we like to use it when we have it. It’s especially nice when you can find the broth packaged in 1-cup servings in the store. However, this recipe is just as good with water, so we use that a lot too.

Which mixer to use?

It is very useful to have a high speed blender for this recipe! It mixes quickly and gives the right creamy sauce consistency. You can use a commercial high-quality blender, but you may want to soak your cashews longer, even overnight, to get the right consistency. If you have a poor quality blender, this recipe probably won’t work well. Maybe it’s time to invest in a new blender!

Ways to use cashew cream

There are countless ways to use cashew cream or soaked cashew nuts. Here are some of our favorite ways to use cashew cream in recipes:

1. Add to the pasta: In this creamy vegan pasta marinara sauce, it’s blended into a creamy tomato sauce that’s similar to a vodka sauce
2. Make a vegan sauce: In our Refried Bean Tacos, cashew cream is used as the base for the creamy chipotle sauce that accompanies it. Same concept for these Greek Nachos and Easy Vegan Tacos.
3. Incorporate into soups: Our Wild Rice Soup and Vegan Creamy Tomato Soup recipes magically get creamy by adding and pureeing soaked cashews.
4. Use it as vegan cheese: The cashew cream base is used for all kinds of vegan cheeses, like our famous vegan nacho cheese.
5. Use it as vegan sour cream: Drizzle it on top of nachos like our Loaded Tater Tot Nachos. Or throw some in our Veggie Chili to make a vegan chili.
6. Use it as vegan mayonnaise: Our No Mayo Potato Salad uses a version of that and it’s freaking amazing. Or use it as a substitute for mayonnaise in our chickpea salad sandwich.

However you try it, let us know what you think in the comments below!

This cashew cream recipe is…

Vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, plant based, dairy free and refined sugar free.

Looking for more must-have recipes?

From vinaigrette to homemade yum yum sauce, our must-have recipes are easy to make at home! Here are some more of our basic and DIY recipes: