One of my go-to seasonings is this vegan hemp cashew parmesan “cheese.” Made with hemp, cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and salt, this is one of the simplest recipes imaginable, and it’s oh so versatile.

It has been a couple of years since I shared my original vegan parmesan cheese recipe (sunflower seed parmesan). This is how I make it most often, now: with a combination of hemp and cashews. While there are hundreds, if not thousands, of vegan parmesan recipes out there, I still wanted to share my version, since I make it so often and use it almost every day. I sprinkle it on pasta, salads, bowls, and popcorn. I eat it on its own as a snack. Heck, I’m even planning to add it to a salad dressing recipe I’m working on today! Vegan parmesan is one of the most versatile seasonings you will ever make, and while it doesn’t masquerade as its dairy counterpart (for one, it doesn’t melt), its flavour is rich, salty, and “cheesy” all at once, thanks to the combination of nuts, seeds, salt, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast. As long as you have a food processor, you can whip this up in less than two minutes!

What’s so healthy about this vegan parmesan “cheese?”

Beyond its delicious flavour and its ability to turn virtually any dish into something extra special, this “cheese” has a lot going for it from a nutritional point of view. You might have noticed that hemp features in many of my recipes, and that is because it is so darn good for you! It’s rich in magnesium, iron, protein, and is said to have the ideal ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 essential fatty acids. On top of that, cultivating hemp has a low environmental footprint compared to other crops, since very few inputs (pesticides, fertilizer, or water) are required.

Cashews are particularly rich in copper. While other minerals, like magnesium and iron, seem to get all the attention, adequate copper intake is also incredibly beneficial to your health. As the amazing World’s Healthiest Foods notes, “copper is a component of the enzyme superoxide dismutase, which is important in energy production and antioxidant defenses.” Copper also contributes to the cross-linking of collagen and elastin, which helps provide flexibility in blood vessels, bones, and joints.

Nutritional yeast, an inactive yeast made by culturing yeast on a nutrient medium for several days, is very high in the B vitamins, making it an excellent way for vegans to ensure that they are getting enough of these important micronutrients! B vitamins are known to enhance cellular energy production.

And I’d be remiss not to mention sea salt! I believe that sodium gets a bad rap. On top of its ability to add incredible flavour to a dish, the body needs sodium to send messages from the brain to the body and to regulate heartbeat. Particularly if you eat a natural foods diet and you are physically active, you probably should not be worrying about your sodium intake. (That is, unless you have a genetic history of hypertension.) In fact, not consuming enough salt can be dangerous if you sweat a lot. The only recommendation I will make is to opt for unrefined sea salt over refined table salt. Table salt has been stripped of all of the other amazing minerals that sea salt contains, and I find it too intensely salty. Of course, like most things, salt is best enjoyed in moderate amounts. All I am trying to say is that sodium is a mineral that our bodies need, and it is certainly not something to vilify or avoid at all costs!

how to make cashew hemp parmesan

This is a one-step kind of recipe! Just add cashews, hemp, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and salt to a food processor, and process until a coarse powder forms. Transfer into a container or jar and store in the fridge.

Watch this video to see how it’s made!

Uses for vegan parmesan

I mentioned it earlier in the post, but here it is again. You can use vegan parmesan wherever you would use dairy parmesan: just know that it doesn’t melt the way that real parmesan does. Here are a few of my favourite applications:

Salads
Bowls
Pasta
Popcorn
Salad dressings
And more! The possibilities are endless.

I hope you enjoy this simple, versatile recipe. If you make it, leave a comment and rating below to let me know how you enjoyed it. And if you post a photo to Instagram, be sure to tag @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen so that I can feature it in my stories!

Enjoy!! 🙂