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.
no turkeys were harmed in the making of this post
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.
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.
The cheese ball is also incredibly good with crackers, raw or otherwise.
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.
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.
To start at the beginning of the potluck, click here:
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.
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.
Vedged Out 
Oh MY! This looks and sounds incredible, Somer, and I love that it’s like a holiday decoration! Gorgeous.
It’s right up your alley too! I owe you a email and some congratulations! I’ll get to you soon! I’ve been a crazy lady! Xx
I’m officially drooling. I grew up in the midwest and Cheese Balls like this were practically mandatory around the holiday season. I’ve never seen a vegan version before so thank you!
There are other vegan cheeseballs out there, but none anything quite like this one. I hope you love it as much as I do!
I follow a no-oil-added diet, so I am wondering what purpose does the coconut oil serve? Do you think it could be simply omitted or substituted with something else? Thanks!
Shari, the coconut oil gives it a deliciously creamy flavor. You could use an extra cup of soaked cashews, but the cheese ball won’t firm up the same in the fridge because coconut oil goes solid when it’s refrigerated. So you won’t be able to form it into a ball, it’ll be more like a dip. Hope that helps.
Thanks for asking! I wanted to know too.
Oh man this looks amazing Somer, you are the vegan cheese queen!
Thanks so much! Hope all is going well with you my friend! xx
I was waiting on this recipe! I wonder if there is a way around the oil…I’ll work with it 🙂 Thanks for sharing another great cheese recipe, Summer!
I just commented before to another reader that you could use an extra cup of soaked cashews instead of the coconut oil. However, it won’t firm up the same on the fridge and you won’t be able to roll it into a ball, so it’ll be more like a cheese dip 😊
Thanks ! And sorry I spelled your name wrong 😦 I hate when ppl do that to me. I can’t figure out how to edit my comment
You are fine! People spell my name wrong on a daily basis! It’s confusing! Please don’t think anything of it, because I don’t ! xx
Wow! This is awesome! Omg, I cannot wait to try this 😀 Thanks for sharing such a cool recipe!
Anytime babe! Enjoy!
Made it this weekend… absolutely stellar and delicious!! Thanks!!!
Yeah! My first response! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! xx
Absolutely! I made little mini balls (using a cookie scoop) and shared them around the office. Converting the skeptical one delicious recipe at a time!
What store do you find White Miso in? Or what section of the store would I most likely find it?
Hmm, it’s in different places in different stores. It’s always in the refrigerated section. Sometimes it’s next to produce. Your best bet would to go to a health food store though as some of the major chains may not carry it.
This is seriously SO awesome!! Thanks for sharing :).
This looks amazing! I’m looking for vegan holiday recipes for a party I’m going to.
Will this work if I use brown rice miso instead of the white miso? It’s the only kind I can find where I live, and even that was tough to track down. And I’d rather not order anything additional online.
The cheese ball looks just stunning, by the way! Yum!
Sure! It shouldn’t make much of a difference in the finished product 🙂
Also, I forgot to ask, how big is the cheese ball? Or, like, how many cups of it does the recipe make? I’m trying to gauge how much I’ll need to make.
And how soft does it get at room temperature? Melt to a puddle or sag into a weird dome?
Thanks!
It’s about 2 cups worth of cheese ball.
It gets fairly soft after several hours at room temperature, it doesn’t necessarily melt or sag, but just gets very soft. You could divide the recipe into two cheese balls and keep one in the fridge while the other is being eaten to ensure that you don’t get soft cheese ball syndrome.
I LOVE that you arranged your veggies to look like a turkey! What a great recipe!
Hey Somer, just wanted to let you know that I included your recipe in the list of my favorites from this VVP! The post is here, if you want to see it: http://wp.me/p3LYmB-b5
Thank you for your recipe!
-Alina from Vegan Runner Eats
Thanks so much! It looks like a great round up!
Yum! I used to eat cheeseballs over the holidays but haven’t since I gave up cheese- this sounds delicious!
Looks great.
How long do u think this would last in frig? Thinking of making ahead for holidays?
I think it would keep up to one week in the fridge, but it’s never lasted that long enough around here for me to find out 🙂 I would roll it into a ball on serving day.
thank you! Just what I wanted to hear. Cant wait to try it out.
This totally takes me back my days working at Hickory Farms.
I love the Turkey food art and even more love that I have all of the ingredients in my pantry to make your cheez ball.
Moving to the top of my list for “To Do’s” For Thanksgiving, Sharing!
I am going to make this for my Thanksgiving Appetizer. I may add some liquid smoke and crushed red pepper to mine. Thanks for the recipe.
There’s all ready cayenne and smoked paprika to give it that flavor profile, but go for it if you want more!
I am making this now, but mine is a fairly dark brown, not pretty and orange like yours. Were my tomatoes too old, they were pretty hard? It tastes great if you can ignore the color. Anybody else have this issue?
It must have been the sun dried tomatoes, mine were a pretty bright red color and fairy soft. I’m sorry!
Well it’s delicious despite the color, I will definitely be making this again soon with a new package of tomatoes. For today I will refer to it as a cashew and sun dried tomato ball, won’t factor in the “cheese” since it does not resemble any I’ve ever seen. Try, try again!
I served this for Thanksgiving to my omnivorous family, and it was a huge success! It is so delicious!
Awesome! I’m so glad to hear it! Thank you!!! 🙂
I made this for my thanksgiving appetizer, it was awesome! Everyone loved it, even the non-vegans! Thanks for making awesome recipes! Keep it up 😉
I made this fantastic vegan cheeze ball yesterday & love it truly!! It is amazing,….wonderful,….& even fabulous too, just like you,…! 🙂 xxx
No way! You are cooking up a Vedged Out storm! LOVE!!!
yeahh, much love! 🙂 xxx
HOLY MOLY!!! As a non-vegan kid, I used to beg my mom to buy cheese balls at the grocery store. I loved those port wine and cheddar balls like no kid should. I figured I’d never have anything like it again but boy was I wrong. I just made this and it is amazing!! I didn’t have the sherry and now wish I had tracked some down but I will next time. Without it, this is still really amazingly tasty. Thank you for working out the details on this tasty treat.
We had this at our (almost completely) Vegan Potluck Thanksgiving Dinner and it was INSANE INSANE INSANE!
I had some leftover and added it to a homemade vegan Broccoli Cream Soup and it turned into a wonderful “cheezy” Broccoli soup that was seriously the best thing I have EVERRRRR made!
Somer, you did it again! This looks amazing! I bow to you!
Thank you for your post. This looks so wonderful I can’t wait to try it for myself. I’ve made my own vegan cheese before but never thought of a cheese ball.
I tried this tonight. I could never get all of the coconut oil to blend in. I hope when I refrigerate it, I can mix it together evenly.
Did you use a high speed blender or a food processor? A normal blender isn’t powerful enough to mix this.
I did use a Cuisinart food processor. After reviewing the recipe, however, I realized that the cashews I used were not raw. I’m sure that is the problem.
Cuisinart should definitely do the job, but if you soaked the cashews prior to processing, they should have still worked. Sorry!
Loved this recipe! We were supposed to save it for Christmas day, that didn’t happen… I suggest subbing preserved roasted red peppers (i.e. in a jar in liquid) as it guarantees a lovely orange colour and didn’t hurt the flavour at all.
I just finished making a half recipe of this – I am also making a cranberry and pepita “cheese” log so I thought better not have too much. I already regret the decision though, because this is so super delicious. My sister is visiting for Christmas and this is a surprise for her – she’s going to be so happy. I think you’re a cheese ball genius 🙂
Hi Somer, this looks so good. I am brand new to veganism, I always thought I could never make the step from vegetarian to vegan, then I discovered/realised that dairy really didn’t suit my body. I’m so excited by all the awesome vegan blogs and don’t feel daunted by this move – especially when I see recipes like this!
Anyway,my question; I have some coconut oil in the fridge which is solid, should I melt or grate it in? Thanks, Carole
Sorry for the late response to this Carole, it is best if the coconut oil is at room temperature for this recipe.
We made this cheese ball on Christmas Day and enjoyed it with some pulp crackers and some packaged GF crackers. We were all stunned by how fabulous your cheese ball is! We kept eating it until it was almost gone. We’ve decided that your cheese ball recipe will be one of our continuing Christmas traditions. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!
Well, here I am again, one year later…just finished making your cheese ball recipe again, as I said I would after making it the first time last Christmas. We have been looking forward to it, and the little taste I took of this batch is already so tasty… looking forward to taking it out of the refrigerator tomorrow and diving in to it! You created a truly inspired recipe! Thanks again for sharing it! Merry Christmas!
I made this last night for a small gathering of 3 couples, all Omni but me. It was so yummy, everyone enjoyed it and less than half remained at the end of the evening! I made a small change, using an extra 1/2 cup of cashews and only 1/4 cup coconut oil. It was warm and very soft right out of the Vitamix, so I put it in a bowl and popped it in the freezer for a couple of hours. After that I was able to shape it into a ball easily. It softened but kept it’s shape even after being at room temp for a few hours.
Wow, it is awesome, lovely vegan cheese ball, I will make it later, thanks for sharing! 🙂
I am making this for the second time today. It is a fantastic recipe that is so easy and quick to prepare. The hardest part is waiting for it to set so I can eat it. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!!
I had to hop over here to tell you that I made this for a dinner party this past weekend and it is THE MOST AWESOME VEGAN CHEESE I HAVE EVER TASTED!! So, so fantastic! There were omnis at the party and everyone who tasted it thought it was CHEESE. And thanks, too, for bringing back memories of my teenagehood when I used to eat this kind of thing at the holidays. . . it tastes exactly like the cheese balls of my memory! Truly a spectacular recipe. Thank you so much! 😀
Love love love comments like these! So glad you enjoyed this! Xo