This vegan homemade cultured cashew yogurt is a breeze to make and it's got all the goodness and flavor of yogurt made with milk without any of the unhealthy fats. It's thick and tangy and delicious and filled with great-for-you probiotic cultures.
I love this vegan cashew yogurt so much, it has pretty much replaced the quick, non-cultured yogurt I'd blend up in the past to eat or add to various dishes.
I loved yogurt in my pre-vegan days and I've never really been able to wrap my head around storebought vegan yogurts, which just don't taste right and their texture is almost always completely off. Call me picky.
So the last time I bought a cashew yogurt off the shelf that had live cultures, I decided to try making my own. Partly so I didn't have to spring six bucks for a small tub of yogurt, and partly so I didn't have to rush to Whole Foods each time I needed some.
I also wanted a thicker yogurt, and the storebought ones are too thin for my liking.
I loved the result, and I started to make my own, using some of the storebought yogurt as a starter.
This is really a very simple recipe -- all you need are the cashews and the starter (any vegan yogurt with live bacterial cultures will do), a bowl, and a blender, and you're all set. The result is a thick, creamy, tangy yogurt that tastes gorgeous.
I love eating this yogurt by the spoonful, but I especially love stirring in some berries, or using it to top granola. It also works great in Indian curries, raitas and biryanis, when the recipe calls for yogurt.
Try making some today. It takes minutes, and it is, like any homemade yogurt, a gift that keeps on giving. You'll never need storebought again.
You can also make vegan yogurt in the Instant Pot.
Recipes to make with vegan yogurt:
Vegan Yogurt Recipe
Homemade Cultured Cashew Yogurt
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews or cashew pieces
- 1 cup filtered or distilled water (this helps the cultures grow faster than chlorinated tap water would)
- Either 1 tablespoon vegan yogurt to use as a starter. Be sure to use one with live, active cultures. Or you can use probiotic pills, see next ingredient
- 2 vegetarian probiotic pills (if not using the vegan starter. I use the Now PB8 Probiotic Acidophilus capsules, which are vegan.)
Instructions
- Place the cashews and water in a blender and blend to a very smooth paste.
- Place the cashew paste in a ceramic or glass bowl. Microwave for 10-15 seconds or until slightly warm. You can skip this step, but I like that it gives the bacteria a head start.
- Stir in the starter or, if using probiotic pills, open the capsules and empty the powder into the cashew paste. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and place in a warm spot, like a cold oven with the pilot light on, or, in hotter temps, on the countertop.
- Let it stand for six hours or overnight. The set yogurt should be very thick and tangy.
Anonymous
Thank you for making your recipes print friendly!
Mesia
So I did mine and it came out watery. I followed your measurements. Not sure what happened or what I did wrong. Would love some advice.
Vaishali
Refrigerate it. It should thicken after refrigerating.
Margaret
Can I make this with store bought cashew milk instead of making it from scratch?
Vaishali
Storebought cashew milk could work but the yogurt will be thinner.
McFIggy
I want to make it. But, was wondering if I can replace the capsules with extra vegan yogurt(and how much??). Also, can I use almonds instead? If yes, is the process the same? Do I need to strain out the solids as some recipes say?? Thank you!!
Nathalie
Hi,
This is my first time making vegan yogurt. Is it normal for the yogurt to triple in size after 6 hours? It is also a bit curdled and has liquid at the bottom. Thanks!
Vaishali
It will puff up a bit but it doesn't usually triple. You are likely in a very warm climate. Does it taste like yogurt? If it tastes off or bitter discard it.
Robbie Jones
Wow! I love this recipe! I was skeptical on the first pass. I used my Vitamix and the mixture was very runny at first. Thanks to a comment above, I thought to use a seed germination mat which usually runs 75-85 degrees (approximately the same as a stove light--unfortunately, I have an electric stove). I also used 2 probiotics instead of starter. When I checked the final product, the texture was great--nice and creamy, but I thought I'd let it get too tangy. After a few hours in the fridge, the taste had mellowed a bit and I LOVE it!! In pre-vegan days, I often used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream so the extra tang worked. I am currently making my second batch and I will play with the timing. If the way we went through the first batch is any indication, I'll have another batch in the queue soon! Thank you for an awesome recipe. I look forward to trying others on your site.
Robbie Jones
**Update-This has now become an (at least) once a week recipe for me. Soooo good--taste, texture is so much better than the non-vegan varieties. Thank you again for an amazing, easy recipe!
Maria Gross
Thanks for really tasty yogurt that I managed to pull off at the spur of the moment! I did not want to use a microwave so I made sure that the water the cashews were soaked in was hot. I have an electric oven so no pilot light possible. But I took it down to my home's boiler in the basement and parked the mason jar right on top of it with a taco warmer (an insulated cloth pouch) right over the bottle. I was able to serve it for dinner the next evening after 12 hours. Tangy and delicious.
Question: If I want to make the yogurt with 2 cups of cashews how many probiotic pills should I use? It's 2 for 1 cup ... is it 4 for 2 cups of cashews? Thanks.
Maria
Vaishali
Hi Maria, that's a really good question. I would say that you would need to add 2 more capsules if you doubled the recipe. So happy you made the recipe--love the ingenuity! 🙂
Gc
Hi... Should I presoak the icashew nuts for a few hours or I can blend that straight?
Vaishali
Depends on your blender. If you have a high powered one no need to soak. Otherwise soak for at least 30 minutes.
JJ
I had to get creative with this because I don't have an instant pot or a gas oven and it's October, so... But what I DO have is a pet warming mat that I bought in case the winter gets cold like last year-still clean and unused. So I wrapped my glass container of cashew blend up in the warming mat, set it to 110°, and about ten hours later, et Voila! Yogurt!
Vaishali
Hahah I love the creativity. 😀 What a great idea.
Robbie Jones
Thank you for posting this, because you gave me the idea of using my seed germination mat! 🙂
dyanne allegrini
I tried this last night in my VitaMix.. It wasn't a paste at all but very runny.. I put it in my cold oven with the light on for a hours and it was still runny when I took it out at 10pm.. I put it in the fridge and it has firmed up a little but not much.. I used Kite Hill plain unsweetened as my starter.. Any suggestions what to add to it to use as a salad dressing? Not sure what I did wrong but I'll try again.. Thanks for any tips or help you can provide.
Vaishali
Hi, was it rather cold where you are? That can slow down the development of the yogurt, even with the oven light on, and you would need it to stay out for longer. I haven't used Kite Hill but if it has live cultures it should have worked. Or try making the yogurt in the Instant Pot, which takes the guesswork out of the equation: https://holycowvegan.net/vegan-instant-pot-yogurt/
To turn it into a salad dressing you can try whisking it with a touch of balsamic vinegar, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, salt and ground black pepper.
Marjie
I used my homemade cashew yogurt for my starter and now the new yogurt is trying to rise. It still smells good and looks like the first yogurt that I had made. Any suggestions? Do you think that if I get some more store yogurt that it may still work out? I only made it yesterday and so it has only been on the counter for 24 hours.
Anu
OMG!!! Is this some kind of sorcery? I made this in an electric yogurt maker and it's fabulous!!! Eating out of the jar with a spoon!
Vaishali
Awesome! 🙂
M.K.
I love this Yogurt. I make it every week. I leave it for 19hrs in my oven with light on. But this means, for almost 2 days I can't use my oven. The day I want to make the yogurt, I don't turn on the oven, because otherwise, it will end up being too warm. Then of course when I make the yogurt for 19hrs I can't use my oven. I was wondering if I could use a yogurt maker. I found this at Amazon. It doesn't have a time control, but I think it was the cheapest yogurt maker. 🙂
Dash Bulk Yogurt Maker Machine with One Touch Display
I am open to any other ideas. Thank you again.
Anu
I made this for the first time in a yogurt maker and it turned out great. Mine is a cheap one I got from a resale shop.
Marianne
I made this yesterday and let it sit in oven over night, which was close to 20 hours, as I made it early. I think that might have been too long as it tastes too tart. Any thoughts? I can use it in recipes but not with just fruit.
Love your recipes!
Vaishali
Hi Marianne, leaving it in the oven too long will definitely make it tangier. I usually leave mine in the oven with the light on for about 12-16 hours, depending on how warm or cold it is outside. Taste it to see if it's tangy enough for your liking, then refrigerate immediately to stop if from fermenting further.
If your yogurt turns out too tangy, use it in cakes--I love yogurt in cakes and it helps make them really tender and moist. I have a turmeric cake on the blog I just posted last week, and also a white chocolate raspberry cake and a vegan lemon yogurt bundt cake. Search them up using the search engine on the blog. Or you can make a south Indian style yogurt rice, which is quite a treat. https://holycowvegan.net/vegan-cucumber-yogurt-rice/
Finally, a tangy yogurt is great in raita, like this one. https://holycowvegan.net/cucumber-raita-soy-free/
Marianne
I already made your lemon bundt cake delicious.
But my question is could less time in oven make it taste better?
I think 20 hours might have been too long. Going to try it again.
Marianne
Shelley
I'm so glad somebody asked about this...I just tried the recipe last night (which looked beautiful btw), put it in the oven to do its magic, and completely forgot about it until now (about 3:30 p.m.). Looks like there might be a bundt in my future...darn!
Treena
Hello I’m happy to have found your recipes. 🙂 Is it possible to make this in a crockpot? We don’t have a working oven or anything warmer than room temperature. Thanks
Vaishali
Hi Treena, if you have a multicooker like an Instant Pot, most have a yogurt function. But in a crockpot, at least the one I have, you can't vary the temp except from high to low, and even the low setting on a crockpot would be too high for the bacteria in yogurt. Recipes for crockpot yogurts that I've seen online don't seem to do anything different from what you'd do in a stove--ie. they ask you to heat the milk in the crockpot, cool it, then stir in the starter and leave it in a cool crockpot.
If you don't have a working oven, and if it's cool at room temperature where you are, I'd recommend heating the cashew milk on the stovetop until it until lukewarm (not hot, as that would kill the bacteria). Stir in the starter, swaddle the container in a blanket to keep it warm, and leave in the warmest spot in your house.
sanchi
can I use any other nuts or ingredient to prepare the yoghurt? I believe too many cashews will add in a lot of calories.