Easy Dairy Free Cream Cheese

Flavor packed Dairy Free Cream Cheese is made in under 15 minutes and has garlic and chives to make your breakfast bagel just right! Mix in potato casseroles too!

Do you love to smear cream cheese nice and thick all over a bagel? Yeah, me too!  Do you like garlic and chives cream cheese? Thumbs up!

In fact, garlic and chives cream cheese has always been my favorite but then I became vegan so I had to put my mind to work. We need that creamy taste!

What really puts me in heaven is cream cheese made with garlic paste because it is just plain more garlicky. The recipe below is a really nice flavor but I want you to know I used double the garlic.

You can buy it in the store in a jar or tube and the stuff is just delicious.  You can also make it at home.

How Do You Make Garlic Paste?

• Buy a nice full bulb of garlic that is not sprouting.  The garlic is still good when it’s started sprouting but it will take a little more cleaning.
• Cut the very bottom off of the cloves of garlic and remove all of the skins. It comes off easily and a paring knife will grab the little pieces that cling on.
• Lay the garlic on a cutting board. Take a big cleaver and lay it on its side over the clove, one clove at a time. Push down (hard) on the cleaver and smash the clove.
• Do this to all the cloves and then start to chop your way across the smashed clove pile. 
• Lay the cleaver down on its side again at a very steep angle, almost as flat as the board) and at one edge of the mass of garlic. Smear across the garlic.
• Push it into a pile and chop again and smear again and do this same process until it all looks like a paste. Probably four to six times.
• There you have it.

It is hard to figure out how many this batch would serve.  The reason being is I spread my cream cheese on thick. But normal people? I would say this batch would serve 12 people.

You can still spread it on pretty thick at that. So if it’s for breakfast that would equal 12 bagels.

Pro Tips

• If you have one of those expensive high-speed food processors then you don’t need to soak overnight.  About 4 hours would do it.
• Buy fresh chives and snip them with scissors. If you can’t find fresh chives then spring onions (scallions) would taste really good too.
• If you have garlic that is sprouting a little then cut in half lengthwise and make sure you cut out the darker green stem going down the center.
• You can use roasted cashews but leave out the salt and the flavor of the cream cheese would be a bit different. Make sure you soak them through.
• I like to add some of the chives into the processing because the color turns a little bit.  Barely but it does.

Don’t bother freezing this dairy-free cream cheese. It will be gone in no time.

Especially if you use it as a dip. Yes! Use it as a dip with pita chips and you could spread on crackers too.

Uses for Garlic and Chives Cream Cheese

• The obvious has been stated as a spread on breakfast bagels and toast.
• Use it as a dip or spread as I also mentioned above.  You can scoop it on a slice of celery too.
• Add some to mashed potatoes. Keep tasting until you get the strength you like. They would be perfect in this Mashed Potato Casserole recipe.

A little side note: an apple and Green tea go great with bagels and cream cheese.

What Do You Think?

If you take a photo of your extremely flavorful cream cheese I would love to see it. Follow me over on Instagram and tag me on your photo @vegan_in_the_freezer.

Your opinion means a lot to me and if you’d like to leave a comment and possibly a star rating I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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5 from 1 vote

Easy Dairy Free Cream Cheese with Garlic and Chives

Flavor packed Dairy Free Cream Cheese is made in under 15 minutes and has garlic paste and chives to make your breakfast bagel just right!

Course Breakfast, Vegan Cheese

Cuisine Condiment

Prep Time 10 minutes

Soaking Time 9 hours 20 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 12 Servings

Calories 62kcal

Author Ginny McMeans

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chives to be mixed with cashews in a food processor
• 2-4 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons fresh chives, snipped

Instructions

• Cover the cashews with fresh water and let soak overnight.
• Drain the cashews and add to a food processor.
• Add the garlic apple vinegar, lemon juice, garlic paste, salt 1 tablespoon chives and only 2 tablespoons of the water.
• Process, off and on, until the mixture is smooth.  If you would like it a little thinner add some more water.  I can't imagine you would need over 4 tablespoons water total.
• Stir in the chives at the end so that you have fresh chives showing in your cream cheese.

Notes

Don't bother freezing the cream cheese.  It will be gone in no time.

Especially if you use it as a dip. Yes! Use it as a dip with pita chips and you could spread on crackers too.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Easy Dairy Free Cream Cheese with Garlic and Chives

Amount Per Serving (1 Serving)

Calories 62 Calories from Fat 36

% Daily Value*

Fat 4g6%

Sodium 195mg8%

Potassium 75mg2%

Carbohydrates 3g1%

Protein 2g4%

Vitamin A 45IU1%

Vitamin C 1.9mg2%

Calcium 6mg1%

Iron 0.7mg4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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