Cultured cashew yogurt is a delicious dairy-free alternative that is probiotic, and full of healthy fats and protein. It will leave you feeling satisfied, whether you have it with fresh fruit and granola for breakfast, or a swirl of fruit sauce for dessert.
Creamy Cashews
Cashews are ideal for making non-dairy alternatives. When soaked and blended, they become thick and creamy. They have a mild flavour and culture well, which makes them ideal for non-dairy ferments!
Cultured cashew yogurt can easily be turned into:
- Sour cream: with the addition of some lemon juice.
- Cream cheese frosting: for a probiotic, sweet treat.
- Cashews are also perfect for making a creamy cashew and miso cheese.
How to keep the culture warm
The trickiest part of making cashew yogurt is keeping it warm while it cultures. You can use a traditional yogurt maker to make a bunch of individual pots of cashew yogurt. I have a folding fermentation box (affiliate link) that I use for a lot of different ferments. I find it particularly handy for making tempeh.
However, you don’t need to invest in a yogurt maker. This batch of cashew yogurt makes enough to fill 1 large mason jar or a few small mason jars, which can be cultured in any warm location. Here are a few ideas:
- Wrapped the jars up in a warm blanket and leave them next to your hot water heater. (I did this for a few years and it always worked.)
- Put the jars in the oven with the oven light on.
- Stick them in a cooler with a hot water bottle.
- Put a few small jars into a slow cooker and use the keep warm setting.
Cashew Yogurt
Soaked cashews are ideal for making creamy dairy-free products. Cultured cashew cream is perfect for making sour cream, yogurt and creamy cashew frosting. Here’s how to make probiotic cultured cashew yogurt.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 3.5 cups 1x
- Category: Yogurt
- Method: Fermented
- Cuisine: Vegan
Ingredients
- 3 cups cashews
- 4 cups of water (as needed)
- 4 tbsp yogurt culture (see notes)
Instructions
- Soak cashews in water for 1-2 hours. There’s no need to soak for longer than 2 hours because cashews soften quickly.
- Drain the water and place the cashews in a blender. Blend the cashews until they are smooth and creamy. You will need to add water. Just use as much as is required to achieve the desired consistency. For a thick cream use very little liquid (about 1/4 cup) for a more yogurt-like consistency use up to 1/2 cup of water.
- Slowly heat the cashew cream to 110 F (40 C), whisking occasionally to ensure even heating. This can be done in the microwave or in a small pot on the stove.
- When you’ve reached 110F, remove the cashew cream from heat and stir in the culture.
- Pour the warm cashew cream into glass jars for culturing.
- Maintain at 110F (40 C) until the cashews have soured. It will take at least 4 hours, or if you like a strong yogurt then you can culture for up to 24 hours. See the section above for ways to keep your culture warm without a yogurt maker.
- Store in the fridge and use within 3 weeks.
Notes
- Make sure you have an active culture. You can buy single use cultures online or use a good vegan yogurt
(affiliate links.) You can also culture cashews with a dairy-based yogurt culture, though the flavour won’t be quite as good. - Use high quality cashews, as the initial flavour of the cashews will greatly affect the flavour of the cashew yogurt.
(affiliate links.) You can also culture cashews with a Keywords: diary-free, high protein, gluten free, paleo, keto, whole 30, probiotic, breakfast, snack, healthy
so simple. thank you. One question. Should it taste sour? I left mine in oven in towel overnight and when I checked it this morning I don’t see the bubbling like you see when making regular milk yogurt. It also does not taste sour. It taste really good but not sour. I want to make sure I am getting benefits of the cultures.
Thank you, Robin
I’ve done it several times, and It doesn’t bubble, but it always gets quite sour after just a few hours. However, I use a very strong culture. It should probably taste about as sour as the original culture. Some strains are just more sour than others. If you know that your culture was good, then it’s most likely probiotic!
Great recipe, the image looks so tempting. I’ll give it a try.
Thanks!