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This Almond Milk Pepper jack shreds and melts. Super easy and quick to whip up. Free of Dairy, egg, soy, gluten. can be made corn-free
Eek. We are finally moved from blogger to WordPress. New theme, new platform and new everything. And while I try to learn the ropes on this, there might some hitches and delays here and there. First post published!
The feed got refreshed, so if you subscribe by email, I apologize for the extra email with the recent posts. The subscription mails have now returned to normal frequency ie. one email per post. I plan to change it to a weekly newsletter in the future to reduce the number of mails.
A quick post today with this Easy Vegan Pepper Jack Cheese. This vegan cheese has almond milk, starches and agar to thicken and stretch, Chickpea flour for taste and texture and voila! You can also make this with coconut milk or cashew milk. The cheese with cashew milk will be whiter on melting. The almond milk cheese shreds with a large grater! Use it on a Pizza or grilled Sammie.
Even writing up the post is a learning process. The dang editor. Any who, while you all are here, please browse around the site, report any issues in the comments on the post, or on my Facebook page and let me know what you think :).
The site move was accomplished with the least amount of my hair graying with the help of Rika (veganmiam.com). Rika under Rika Studio also does web design, WordPress customizations or transfer and consulting. She is still helping me out night and day with the learning curve! I cannot recommend her enough!
More Vegan Cheese Recipes from the blog:
Try this Cauliflower Cheddar Slices
Some Cashew Mozzarella made into Mozzarella Sticks!
Green Goddess Gouda
This Pepper Jack shreds! If you want to make it really hard, try pomona’s pectin like this recipe.
Almond Milk Pepper Jack cheese
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups almond milk, divided
- 1.5 Tbsp tapioca starch or use arrowroot starch
- 1.5 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch
- 1.5 Tbsp chickpea flour
- 2 Tbsp or more nutritional yeast
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp or more lemon juice
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder or use 1 tsp garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 2.5 tsp agar powder, see note for agar flakes
- 1/2 tsp or more red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Grease a glass container with extra virgin olive oil and keep ready. In a bowl, whisk 1/2 cup almond milk with the starches, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, spices and salt.
- In a pan, add 1 cup of almond milk and agar powder and heat on medium heat, Bring to a rolling boil and cook for 4 mins.
- Reduce heat to low and slowly add in the almond milk starch mixture from step 1 and mix.
- Increase heat to medium and continue to mix and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add in the pepper flakes and fold in. Carefully (the mix will be hot) taste and adjust salt, tang (lemon juice) and spice. You want it to be slightly more saltier, spicier in the liquid state.
- Take off heat and pour in a well greased glass container. Let set in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Use a large grater to shred and use.
Notes
for variations: Use other plant milks like cashew milk or coconut milk. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Almond Milk Pepper Jack
Allergen Information: Free of Dairy, egg, soy, gluten. Can be corn-free
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups almond milk, divided
1.5 Tbsp tapioca starch or use arrowroot starch
1.5 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch
1.5 Tbsp chickpea flour
2 Tbsp or more nutritional yeast
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp or more lemon juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder or use 1 tsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp onion powder
2.5 tsp agar powder
1/2 tsp or more red pepper flakes
Method:
1. Grease a glass container with extra virgin olive oil and keep ready. In a bowl, whisk 1/2 cup almond milk with the starches, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast. extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, spices and salt.
2. In a pan, add 1 cup of almond milk and agar and heat on medium heat, Bring to a rolling boil and cook for 4 mins.
3. Reduce heat to low and slowly add in the almond milk + starch mixture from step 1 and mix.
4. Increase heat to medium and continue to mix and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
5. Add in the pepper flakes and fold in. Carefully (the mix will be hot) taste and adjust salt, tang (lemon juice) and spice. You want it to be slightly more saltier, spicier in the liquid state.
6. Take off heat and pour in a well greased glass container. Let set in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Use a large grater to shred and use.
Note: if using agar flakes, use 2.5 to 3 Tbsp of the flakes and cook with the almond milk for 12 to 15 minutes in step 2 and mix to completely dissolve.
for variations: Use other plant milks like cashew milk or coconut milk.
Shredded up on a Pizza below. No that is not hair, its just onion skin. Pizza recipe here.
Hey Richa, just wanted to let you know I recommended this recipe to my friend Brooke. She is vegan and transitioned her family (she has 3 kids) to a vegan lifestyle 3 years ago….but they have struggled with wanting cheese (the kids), especially recently, so I suggested she make this and it was a huge hit with them!
thanks for the recommendation Brandi. so glad the cheese worked out well!
could you use oat milk?
oat milk gets a bit odd after heating. try it and let me know how it turns out.
Hi Richa, could I use rice milk instead of almond milk?
My son and I have both been diagnosed with all sorts of food allergies – so I’ve been scouring Pinterest for recipes, substitutes, etc. and came across yours, which looks amazing. I hope this isn’t a silly question but you say clearly 1.5T for cornstarch and chickpea flour is this different from 1/2T? If so, how?
Thanks
I am not sure about what you are asking. It is 1.5 Tbsp chickpea flour (garbanzo bean flour/besan) And 1.5 Tbsp cornstarch. you add both the ingredients. If you cannot use chickpea flour, you can use a different flour like unbleached white flour or rice flour.
Hi Tisha, I think I get you – 1.5T is the same as 1T + 1/2 T
(.5 is equal to 1/2)
Thank you for this recipe Richa. I’ve got all ingredients except the agar – I’m looking into where I can go to get this in my corner of London immediately (i don’t have time to waste waiting for on online order) this recipe demands I sample it now! 🙂
Better late than never? I believe she means 1 and 1/2 T. “1.5” is just the decimal version of 1 and 1/2.
Hi I’ve been vegan since March and haven’t touched any vegan cheese subs so don’t have anything to compare it to, but this cheese is awesome!! I didn’t have agar/tapioca starch/almond milk so I subbed Koko dairy free (what I had to hand) and cornflour (which in UK seems to be more like corn starch – I’m from the US originally) for both the starches, put a dash of turmeric in for a really yellow cheese. Mine didn’t turn out cheese blocky like yours (more like hardset cheese jello!) and I wouldn’t attempt to grate it, but it’s amazing! It’s comparable to Velveeta but the chilli flakes make it, such a good idea. Would be a great nacho/dip cheese. Thanks so much for this recipe and others I’ve pinned loads! :))
I’m happy to have found your blog today! I’m just experimenting and trying to make different vegan cheeses. I just wonder, because you use three different starches/thickeners in the recipe, I don’t have tapioca or arrow, how can I replace them? I usually only use agar agar and it has worked pretty good. 🙂
the starches and flours help with the consistency. Just plain agar or pectin etc sest the up the cheese more like a gel. since there arent any other volume ingredients like cashews in this cheese, the starches add a bit of volume and texture, especially when it melts. You can omit some if you like. It will change the texture slightly, thats all.
I’ve made this several times, but unfortunately can’t seem to get it right. Following the recipe(omitting the onion powder, using tapioca and arrowroot starch) it didn’t hold its form at all, no way to grate it that. However the taste was great and baking it gave amazing results. Increasing the amount of agar and starches up to double the amount of the recipe made it more firm and sticky, it could hold its form somewhat well, but sadly still no where near grate-able.
Maybe you’ve got an idea of what might have gone wrong?
Thanks for all of your amazing recipes!
oh no. What agar are you using? The only suspect here seems like agar, either it isn’t activating well or something else.
the recipe calls for agar powder. if you have flakes, use about 3 Tbsp of flakes and cook them for 15 minutes at step 2 until completely dissolved. hope this helps!
It probably really is the agar. The powder I used consisted (for whatever reasons) of 80% maltodextrin and 20% agar, so even when I used double the amount of it, it obviously still wasn’t near the amount of agar called for. I bought “pure” agar powder now and will give feedback of how it’ll turn out soon, although I’m pretty sure its gonna be fabulous 🙂
I tried this cheez today and I must say it tastes really good except for the almond milk… It’s really overwhelming. But I’m kinda surprised because you’re using it in almost all your cheeses… Would it be possible that the almond milk in the US is different from the one we have here in France ? I must say I’m kinda disappointed because I actually hate almond milk haha, but I was hoping like in your recipes with coconut milk the taste would disappear too (I may be a little bit stupid too). Anyway I’ll try again with another nut milk next time !
Hi Chloe, It could be different. The almond milk here has a bit of gum to thicken. Different brands use different gums or starches to thicken and most taste slightly different than the other. home made almond milk also tastes different. It also depends on the almonds. older almonds give a sharper nut taste to the milk etc. If you do not like almond milk, then try some other non dairy milk like soy, other nut milk or coconut milk.
With all the flavors in the cheese, i couldnt really taste it. but taste is definitely personal, so try other milks as a base.