Name: Dairy Free Cheese Powder
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 2 Cups Nutritional Yeast, (I use non-fortified nutritional yeast, see notes section below for substitutions); 1 Tablespoon Shiitake Mushroom Powder, (see notes section below for substitutions); 2 Teaspoons Granulated Onion; 2 Teaspoons Granulated Garlic; 2 Teaspoons Dry Miso Seasoning, (or use Dulse Flakes (or salt to taste)); 2 Teaspoons Vegan Lactic Acid, (optional); 1 Tablespoon Date Powder, (also known as date sugar, see notes section below for substitutions); 1 Teaspoon Ground Turmeric; 1 Teaspoon Ground Mustard Seed; 1 Teaspoon Paprika, (I used sweet paprika, but smoked paprika could also work); 1 Teaspoon Dried Thyme; ¾ Teaspoon Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Dairy Free Cheese Powder is a delicious and easy seasoning to make at home in just 5 minutes. Use this simple vegan cheese powder recipe to season vegetables, pasta, popcorn, and more! You can also mix it with non-dairy milk to make a dairy-free cheese sauce!

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A portrait-oriented photo of a white bowl filled with vegan cheese powder, a spoon lifting up a spoonful of it.

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Ever since I went whole food plant based, I’ve been looking for interesting yet healthy ways to season my vegetables, whole grain pasta, potatoes, beans, and grain bowls. While sauces such as my plant based nacho cheese sauce are fantastic, I wanted an even quicker option. Something that can sit in my cabinet for a long time without going bad (whereas a cheese sauce will only be good for 5 days in the refrigerator).

Enter my homemade vegan cheese powder! Cheesy is my favorite flavor profile, although umami is a close second. If umami is more your thing, I have an awesome umami mushroom seasoning too.

This homemade vegan cheese powder is super delicious, healthy, and is easy to make and even easier to keep on hand. Just put it in your favorite large spice jar (or a mason jar is fine!) and shake onto all your staple foods like potatoes, veggies, and more.

It’s also a highly customizable recipe. You can play with the amounts till you find a blend you really enjoy. I’d take notes on this process so you can come back to the perfect blend again and again.

I’ve been playing with this vegan cheese powder recipe for about 6 months, experimenting with the flavors I enjoy the best. I’ve also been weaning myself away from salt, so that’s part of it.

My dairy free cheese dust uses one ingredient that has salt in it, but that’s easily removed. You can substitute things like dry miso seasoning or dulse flakes, or leave it out!

No matter how you make it, this vegan cheese seasoning is a keeper. Shake it directly on your veggies or potatoes, or make a sauce for pasta (see the How to Use section for details).

Ingredients

See the recipe card at the bottom of this page for the full ingredients list (with amounts) and instructions.

Nutritional Yeast: The base of this vegan cheese powder is nutritional yeast as it adds great cheesy flavor. I personally use non-fortified nutritional yeast, but you can use whatever brand or kind you like. (See the section below this for substitutions.)
Shiitake Mushroom Powder: If you’re not a mushroom lover, don’t worry, this is not a dominant flavor at all. Most of the ingredients in this recipe work together to create unique flavor profile for the dairy free cheese powder. This shiitake mushroom powder adds a good umami boost to the recipe.
Granulated Onion and Granulated Garlic: These both contribute a lot to the cheesiness of the vegan cheese dust.
Dry Miso Seasoning: This adds the saltiness to our dairy free cheese powder. Or if you use salt, go ahead and add salt to taste with this recipe (start with a teaspoon or so).
Vegan Lactic Acid, Optional: This adds to the cheese flavor and is an ingredient in most vegan cheese products. It is perfectly safe especially in small amounts, but I understand not everyone wants to buy it.
Date Powder: Also known as date sugar. This is just powdered dates and the little bit of sweetness helps to balance the flavors in the vegan cheese powder.
Turmeric: Adds color! You can skip it if you don’t care. I also add this spice wherever I can for turmeric’s unique health benefits.
Mustard Powder: A little zing of ground mustard seed adds a nice balance to this vegan cheese powder recipe!
Sweet Paprika and Dried Thyme: For flavor! I feel these add a lot of cheesiness to the plant based cheese seasoning.
Black Pepper: I always recommend fresh cracked black pepper because it tastes SO much better than store bought ground black pepper. It’s the difference between me hating and loving the spice! I use an electric pepper mill due to a disability in my hand that makes it hard to use a conventional pepper mill and it makes a big difference. Also, black pepper should always be taken with turmeric to increase the bioavailability of the curcumin.

Substitutions

Nutritional Yeast: Hate nutritional yeast or just can’t have it? I’d add just add more of all the other spices. If it gets too concentrated, blend in some dehydrated potato flakes.
Shiitake Mushroom Powder: This is not a dominant flavor at all, but you can omit it if you can’t have mushrooms. If you can have mushrooms but you can’t find shiitake powder, try blending in dried mushrooms like porcini. (There is also a seasoning from Trader Joe’s that is a mushroom seasoning, but it’s fairly salty so if you’re using it, go light on it.)
Granulated Onion and Granulated Garlic: Only skip these if you can’t have them; they add a lot of flavor!
Dry Miso Seasoning: You can use dulse flakes instead, or omit it. Or if you use salt, go ahead and add salt to taste with this recipe (start with a teaspoon or so).
Vegan Lactic Acid, Optional: Omit if you don’t have this.
Date Powder: If you don’t have this, you can skip it. If you feel the vegan cheese powder tastes too “sharp,” you can add just a pinch of any kind of dry/granulated sugar you have on hand.
Turmeric: Optional, omit if you prefer.
Mustard Powder: Optional, omit if you prefer.
Sweet Paprika and Dried Thyme: For flavor! I feel these add a lot of cheesiness to the plant based cheese seasoning.
Black Pepper: Optional, omit if you prefer.

A portrait-style photo looking down into the blender filled with blended vegan cheese powder.

How to Make Dairy Free Cheese Powder

Watch me make this recipe or follow the step-by-step instructions below. Note that it may start 10 seconds or so before the recipe video starts.

Add all ingredients to the blender: While it’s possible to just mix these all in a jar, the nutritional yeast usually comes in small flakes, not a powder, and the vegan cheese powder has a better flavor when it is all blended together thoroughly.
Blend: Blend on high for about 20 seconds. Turn off the blender and shake gently to get the plant based cheese powder unstuck from the sides.
Taste: Pinch a bit of the vegan cheese dust between your fingers and taste it. Make any adjustments and repeat step 2.
Storage: Use a funnel to transfer the contents of the blender into a large spice jar, mason jar, or your preferred airtight container. Store in a cool, dark, dry place like a cabinet. This vegan cheese powder should last for up to 6 months.

A portrait style photo of a woman's hands funneling vegan cheese powder into a large spice jar.

Expert Tips

Make the recipe as written the first time: Unless you’re a seasoned (hah) recipe developer, make the recipe as written the first time you make it so you know what I intended it to taste like (CHEESY!). After you’ve made it, you can start to play around and customize it to your preferences.
Take notes: Speaking of which, when you do start playing around, take notes on what you change! That way, when you make it again (and you’ll want to make it again because it’s so good), you’ll be that much closer to perfecting it for your own use.
About the sodium: This recipe does contain some added sodium (due to the miso) because that’s how I personally enjoy it. I’m not using a ton of it (I use a teaspoon or two of it at a time), and I’ve calculated how much/little sodium it adds to my daily intake and I’m fine with it. If you can’t have any added sodium, go ahead and omit the items that contain it.
Use salt? Similarly, if you’re used to eating salt and you’re okay to continue with that, go ahead and add a teaspoon or two of salt to this recipe, otherwise it probably won’t taste very good to you if you’re accustomed to things tasting fairly salty. That being said, dry miso and dulse are great tools to transition away from using salt.

How to Use Vegan Cheese Powder

I shake this dairy free cheese powder on just about everything:

Broccoli, green beans, Brussels sprouts, veggies of any kind
Popcorn—you can use a little spray bottle filled with water, coconut aminos, or even pickle juice (I’ve heard great things about this but haven’t tried it personally) to make the seasoning stick to the popcorn)
Cooked grains and pasta
Cooked potatoes (whole, diced, mashed, etc.)
Stews and curries—instantly add more flavor to any dish
In soup, too, like my Potato and Cauliflower Soup or Cabbage Mushroom Soup
Use this plant based cheese powder in a sauce to make any base (like cooked potatoes or beans, raw cashews, raw sunflower seeds, or silken tofu)

You can also mix this dairy free cheese powder with a small amount of warmed non-dairy milk to make a quick cheesy sauce for cooked pasta. Simply mix the plant based cheese powder with warmed non-dairy milk and your favorite thickener (use cornstarch or arrowroot powder if you’re going to cook it on the stovetop which results in a smoother sauce, or just use a little nutritional yeast or dehydrated potato flakes to thicken it immediately).

A portrait-style photo of two large spice jars filled with vegan cheese powder (left) and umami seasoning powder (right) on a brown granite counter.

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