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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!
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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 Â
- 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
InstructionsÂ
- 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 Â 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.
Hi there! I am really enjoying all your amazing recipes and was so excited to try to make this cheese! Unfortunately as I was reading it I accidentally admitted the nutritional yeast as I didn’t see it in the recipe directions! Only in the list of ingredients! I tend to be a step-by-step sort of cook and because I didn’t see it in the written directions I skipped right over! We shall see how it comes out! Going forward when would I add the nutritional yeast? Did I somehow miss it in the directions? Thank you so much for your guidance! I have been vegan for four months now and your recipes has really helped make it a wonderful journey!
Ah, yes i missed mentioning it in the directions. thanks for catching that. The ingredients usually are used in the order listed, so it is added after the chickpea flour and mixed into the almond milk at step 1. Updated the recipe now. The cheese might not taste very cheesy. You can use it on a pizza and sprinkle some nutritional yeast over it once it is melted.
There’s a shortage of agar, worldwide. Is there anything that can be used in its place?
how about fruit pectin? or use chickpea flour like https://fettabbau-trim.today/2014/09/nut-free-vegan-nacho-cheese-slices.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Kappa carrageenan
Hi from Norway! I found this recipe last week and was super excited as it looked amazing 🙂 Ordered the ingredients I didn’t have and finally tried to make it this week. Yesterday I made pizza but the cheese didn’t melt. It did taste good though, so it’s definitely a good option for pizza, but I wondered what went wrong. (The picture of your pizza looks amazing!) I have only tried to use it once, so I don’t know… but was thinking about temperatures. Do you know if a lower temperature would maybe help? Thanks anyway for a fabulous recipe!
Hi Kristine,
The cheese melts at high temperature. If it didn’t melt, then it could one of 2 things. The temperature in the oven didnt get high enough or the toppings were quite cold and needed more time to heat up. Since the cheese is on the toppings you used, the cheese would also need more time to heat up. You can broil the pizza for a minute or so to help the cheese melt.
The cheese melts and then sets again as the pizza cools. It sets faster than dairy cheese. So it could have melted and set already when you sliced the pizza.
You can add some more oil to the cheese recipe, so it stays melted a bit longer. Let me know how it works out.
Thank you so much for your reply. I have tried twice now, one time using the grill function and one time just normal heat in the oven. The cheese did not melt, it looked the same as before putting the pizza in the oven, just that the edges of the cheese got burnt (still tasted great though!). The pizza sauce, toppings and cheese came straight from the fridge though, so it was all cold. Thanks for all your tips, next time I will add more oil and also let the topping heat up a little before adding the cheese.
Hi again! I have tried to make this cheese a second time now. I added more oil, and this time the cheese melted! Hurray! Delicious. The only problem was that this time the didn’t really harden in the fridge, so I wasn’t able to shred it. It was more like a thick cream cheese. Would you happen to have any ideas to fix this too? 🙂 Maybe more agar? More starch?
I am so grateful for this recipe, I enjoyed my pizza soo much!
🙂 it depends on the oil. some oils stay liquid when cold so too much oil would keep the cheese from setting well. you can add more agar since agar also has variable results depending on brand.
you can also spread the cheese mix on a greased baking sheet and let it set. once set, you can make thin slices to use as shreds.
Could this be made with soy milk instead of almond milk?
Yes.
AHHHH this recipe just changed my life. I just made it today and it’s incredible! Your are a vegan GENIUS. Thank you!
Awesome!
Can’t wait to try this! Does it matter what size of glass container I use and did you use homemade almond milk. Thanks
You want to use a small container else the block will be too thin. I used unsweetened almond milk from a carton, I don’t remember which brand. Homemade should work well too. It might have a stronger almond flavor, so adjust the seasoning to mask it.
Hello! When I make this recipe, the flavor is perfect!!! However, when it cools, it adopts a very funny taste; I’m thinking it’s the thickeners? I am using cornstarch, arrowroot, and agar. Do you have any advice on that? Thank you for your wonderful blog and so many delicious, healthy recipes!!!
It could be either of the starches as they have their own flavors that might be detectable depending on your taste buds. Could also be chickpea flour, it tastes bitter raw-ish if not cooked long enough to cook fully. It can also be the almond milk if you are using a brand almond milk. some brands add many gums and thickeners which alter the flavor/texture on being heated for long. What is the funny taste closest too, like a spoilt nut, flour, is it bitter ? You can possible taste the tiny amounts of the starches, flour etc ingredients to figure out what the cheese taste is close to.
The texture is near-perfect. The taste, however, wasn’t really what I was expecting. There’s something in there that completely puts me off. I first thought it was the almond milk, so I made another batch with unsweetened soy milk. But I still didn’t like the taste. I might try again without the apple cider vinegar (maybe take more lemon juice instead) and some nutritional yeast, which can often save cheesy recipes. Or could it be the chickpea flour? I’ll keep experimenting because I like the texture a lot.
hmm. Can you tell me more about the taste? There could be many reasons. The extra virgin olive oil gets rancid sometimes,old vinegar can add quite a stale flavor profile. It can be chickpea flour as well (if it taste bitter or raw floury) if the flour did not fully cook through, simmer a few minutes longer. Chickpea flour once cooked is mellow. You can use regular flour but the texture is different compared to chickpea flour. With the leftover cheese, you can make cheese sauce for pasta, melt the cheese with some non dairy milk and add more nooch and spices and herbs, taste to fix the flavor.
Hi Richa, this is a weird question but, is this cheese healthy? I say this because of the starchs, I don’t know how healthy are this types of flour, could you help me with this info?
Thanks a lot
Hi Elizabeth, I have not studied nutrition, so its hard for me to say much. healthy is a term open to many interpretations.
This cheese gets used over multiple servings depending on how you use it. It has almonds, agar and whole chickpea flour which is a fabulous thickener, and some starch for texture. You can also make cheese with no starches like cashew cheeses but then the texture would be different and it will be a spreadable cheese, and not meltable.
hi I would to know if this cheese melt like real cheese thanks
it melts a little bit