Kick Ace Extra Sharp Raw Vegan Holiday Cheddar Cheese Ball. Virtual Vegan Potluck Edition.

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Ah, the Holiday Cheese Ball. When you’re standing around snacking on it at a family gathering, you feel like you’ve got the most coveted spot in the kitchen. If you take this to a real live potluck, you’d better guard it fiercely so it doesn’t simply disappear while your back is turned, leaving you cheeseless and forlorn.

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Thankfully, this is a virtual potluck, so nobody can hork this from me. Though, I have to admit to scrambling at the last minute to put this post together since the last cheese ball I made disappeared in the middle of the night last week. Apparently, I’m not the only one in this house who is obsessed with it. Luckily, the recipe is ridiculously simple with only about 10 minutes of hands on time.

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You can serve the cheese ball with any of your favorite raw vegetables, we even put sliced honey crisp apples on our tray, the combination of the sweet crisp apples and the piquant cheese was amazing.

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The cheese ball is also incredibly good with crackers, raw or otherwise.

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Kick Ace Extra Sharp Raw Vegan Holiday Cheddar Cheese Ball

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups raw cashew pieces, soaked in purified water overnight
  • 2 packed tablespoons dry pack sun-dried tomatoes, snipped into small pieces with kitchen scissors then soaked in the purified water with the cashews. Note: if your sun-dried tomatoes look brownish, so will your cheese ball. Use fresh, bright red sun-dried tomatoes for best results.
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 tablespoon dry sherry (optional)
  • 1 heaped tablespoon mellow white miso (use chickpea miso if you are sensitive to soy)
  • 1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry ground mustard powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
  • dash cayenne
  • 1/2 cup organic unrefined coconut oil, warmed to room temperature (liquid)

Method: 

Pour the soaking water off the cashews and sun-dried tomatoes and then rinse them with fresh purified water. Drain well.

Place the soaked cashews,  sun-dried tomatoes, nutritional yeast, dry sherry, miso, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, onion powder, mustard powder, smoked paprika, turmeric, cayenne, and coconut oil in a food processor or high-speed blender and pulse until the mixture starts to form a paste, scraping down the sides as necessary.

Blend or process until the mixture is completely smooth, scraping down the sides occasionally. If your food processor or blender is struggling to blend the mixture, add purified water, 1 tablespoon at a time to help it to keep turning over, using no more than 3 tablespoons of water. This process takes up to 10 minutes in a food processor and a few minutes in a high-speed blender.

Scrape the soft cheese into a container that holds at least 2 cups. Cover and refrigerate for 4-6 hours or until the cheese is quite firm. Scrape the cheese out of the container and place onto a clean surface. With your hands, form the cheese into one large ball or two or more smaller balls.

See notes below for topping/variation ideas.

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Notes: The organic unrefined coconut oil does leave a slight coconut flavor in the finished product. If you prefer, you can use refined coconut oil for no coconut aftertaste.

The cheese ball can be served as is or rolled in any variety of chopped nuts and or herbs. I used sliced almonds, but walnut pieces or pecan pieces with some fresh minced parsley, thyme or sage would be amazing.

The cheese ball gets softer as it reaches room temperature, so it’s best if it’s kept chilled until immediately before use.

Kittee at Cake Maker to the Stars created a super rad cultured version of this cheeseball here.

If you are in a hurry to get this cheese ball on the table, Angela Liddon at Oh She Glows made an adapted version of my cheese ball (only available in her e-book). In her very similar version, she places the cheese mixture in a parchment lined baking dish and freezes it for 30 minutes before rolling it into a ball. I’ve tried this and it works very well.

A word about coconut oil: I have had many readers ask if this cheese ball can be made without the coconut oil. You are welcome to try it, but I DO NOT recommend it. The oil adds a beautiful melty mouth-feel to the cheese ball, helps it to firm up and makes it taste ultra-delicious. This was never intended to be a low calorie or fat free food, indeed the cashews alone are very high in fat. This cheese ball was created especially for Holiday or other special occasions and it is to be treated as a special occasion food. I have had readers reduce the oil by half with favorable results and you are welcome to try the same if you are concerned about the fat content, but this will still be a very rich and high fat food. If you are strictly opposed to oil for whatever reason, you could try using coconut butter instead of the oil, but I haven’t tested that in my kitchen. For those allergic to coconut oil, you could try palm oil instead, but there are concerns about whether or not this is a sustainable product, so please do your research first.

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To start at the beginning of the potluck, click here:

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If you run into any broken links along the way, (some bloggers show up a little late to the party) here’s a list of the bloggers in the potluck to help you get back on track. Pretty cool to see over 150 bloggers from all around the world flaunting their vegan awesome! Use the buttons below to Go Back to visit the lovely Holcomb Hollow. Go Forward to see what Sensual Appeal brought to the party.

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Cheese ball reviews: Thanksgiving Joy, Holy Cheeseballs, My Favorite Vegan Cheeses, Vegan Party Appetizers, LalaRaw, What I ate for Thanksgiving.

Adaptations: Smoked Jalapeno Cheeseball, Vegan Buffalo Cheddar Cheese with Coconut Bacon, Party Hearty Cheeseball.

Featured Articles: One Green Planet, Sunwarrior, Veg Kitchen, Key Ingredient, Chic Vegan, Buzz Feed, Vegan Lifestyle Magazine.

340 comments

    1. Thanks Kammie! This one is incredibly realistic! I think you’d be pleasantly surprised! 🙂 Sorry about the snafu last night! Glad we got it all worked out!

      Reply

  15. Awesome recipe! I’ve seen those vegan cheese recipes where you have to wait days and days for the cheese to “cure” or whatever and I am just way too impatient for that. So this looks totally doable, thank you!

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  19. I have been wanting to make a vegan cheese ball for the holidays & your recipes looks so good! I can’t wait to make your recipe soon!

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  22. If this tastes even half as good as it looks, then I’ll be in heaven when I make this. One of the hardest things for me trying to go full vegan is my love of cheese – very hard habit for me to break. And I LOVE holiday cheese balls — yes, I’m the one hovering over it at the buffet table. I won’t think twice about elbowing Gramma if she gets between me and my cheese ball. I’m making this today! Thanks for posting!

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    1. I promise, this is heaven in a cheese ball. If anything, it’s better than it looks! You sound like me! I totally hover around the cheese ball, I would totally elbow anyone that got in my way! Here’s to a dairy free holiday! 🙂

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    1. Looks like I’m invoking lots of childhood memories here! I hope you love this Dianne! I think it’s so much better than the original! We’re not missing anything! xx

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  32. This recipe blows my mind. So creative, and so gorgeous! I am absolutely making this for my holiday party in a few weeks.

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  33. This looks so good! I’ve only attempted homemade vegan cheese once, and it didn’t turn out so well, but this recipe looks really yummy! I will definitely have to try it out!

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  35. Oh wow, Somer! What an impressive recipe. It looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it. Sadly, I’m a bit low on coconut oil- how did I let that happen?! 🙂

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  36. Somer, I think you’ve created another VVP winning recipe! You never cease to amaze me with your vegan cheeses. I have to make this one, it looks amazing. I love the veggie/fruit/cheeseball turkey, too cute!

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    1. Thanks Shira, don’t know why I can’t stop with the cheesiness, but real cheese simply makes me ill. Glad I can create lovely substitutions. Xoxo

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  39. Yes! This looks amazing! Reading the ingredient list, this is one of the most exciting recipes I’ve seen, lately. Thanks so much!

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    1. Aw! So sweet of you! I really tried to make the recipe out of ingredients that are easily accessible and that many people with well stocked pantrys would all ready have on hand! I’m happy it makes you happy! 😊

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  40. Are you kidding me!? A cheese ball was one of the things I was going to miss most about my first vegan Christmas! Screw the turkey! And I have everything on hand to make this. Thanks for sharing 😀

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    1. What a good idea for the hostess gift! You’d just have to make sure to pack it on ice, then get it in the fridge when you arrive until it’s ready to be eaten!

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  44. Haha AWESOME:) At first, I thought it was a pineapple! Then, I thought it was cheezly cheese mashed up into a ball! And then I read the recipe and went WOW. Seriously, turmeric is amazing^_^ And the cheese (cheeze?) ball looks delicious.

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    1. That’s so nice! Yeah, I served this to an omnivore friend and her two young children one day when we had a luncheon. None of them could stop eating it and the children were calling it cheese! Now that tells you something! 🙂 xx

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  47. Yum! I love all the flavors you used. I don’t usually make vegan cheese because I haven’t missed it very much, but this one is definitely going on my short list of recipes to try. I think I’ll make it for my family at Thanksgiving. Thank you, Somer!

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    1. Lucky! Cheese has been the hardest for me, I used to swoon over the cheese aisle at whole foods. Although I haven’t looked back (as in eaten it), I still miss it’s creaminess. I didn’t go veg because I didn’t like it 😉

      Let me know if you make it! I’m dying for some feedback on this bad boy! xx

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        1. Yeah, I know a lot of vegans get over it. Maybe I will too some day, until then, I’m having loads of fun creating vegan cheese recipes that sing 🙂

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          1. Hi Somer! I made this for Thanksgiving. I used chickpea miso, regular paprika, a little less coconut oil and toasted pecans. It worked beautifully and was delicious! It did have a coconut flavor, but I didn’t mind. The color was also a little darker, more like the color of cooked pumpkin. The kids loved it. The only problem is I have some leftovers and I am trying hard not to eat it all tonight. 🙂 Thank you for an easy and fun recipe!

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            1. Awesome! I made it today with refined coconut oil. I love it either way, but I know some don’t like that coconut flavor as much as I do. The color of your cheeseball could be affected by your sun dried tomatoes. Another reader wrote in and mentioned her tomatoes were kinda old, hard and dark. They turned her cheeseball brown! My sundried tomatoes were very fresh looking and bright red. Anyway, so glad you let me know how it turned out for you!!! Everyone was loving this so much today at our house. Xoxo

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  49. This cheese ball would be a total winner at any holiday table! Can you believe I’ve never had a cheese ball, vegan or otherwise? With this recipe, I think that’s going to change soon! xx

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