5-Ingredient Tofu Cream Cheese
4.30 from 60 votes

This simple, 5-ingredient tofu cream cheese is one of my favorite homemade vegan staples! It’s so easy to make and perfect on bagels or toast. I include four of my favorite flavor additions with the basic recipe. But you can experiment with adding your favorite herbs, spices, fruits, and more.

Four small, white ceramic pinch bowls are filled with a 5-ingredient tofu cream cheese.

When I was in college, the local bagel shop happily carried tofu cream cheese. Not only that: they had many varieties of tofu cream cheese, including scallion, vegetable, and strawberry.

I fell in love with tofu cream cheese in my four years of undergraduate life. Somehow, it took me many years of being vegan myself to create a homemade version of the tofu cream cheese that I’ve always loved.

This 5-ingredient tofu cream cheese is a DIY alternative to store-bought. It’s simple, fast to make, and the best part is that you can modify it to include lots of different flavoring additions. I give three of my favorites in the recipe—scallion, dill, and sun-dried tomato—but you can get creative with your own favorite additions.

How to make tofu cream cheese

Making this tofu cream cheese is really easy. It’s a matter of adding extra firm tofu to a food processor and puréeing it to a silky smooth consistency. I add umeboshi plum vinegar, a specialty condiment, for an unmistakably tangy flavor. The vinegar helps to create some of the natural tanginess in cream cheese. But I’ve got notes below on how to substitute the vinegar if you don’t have it.

Otherwise, you don’t need to add much to the cream cheese! Nutritional yeast, salt, and lemon juice create the appropriate “cheesy” flavor.

Once the tofu is blended, you’ll have two choices. You can either serve as is, plain, or you can chop up and mix in your favorite flavoring additions.

An angled photograph of four small pinch bowls, each filled with a creamy spread, against a white surface.

Tofu cream cheese ingredients

Extra firm tofu

It’s important to use extra firm tofu for the tofu cream cheese recipe. Silken tofu will be much too liquidy, and even firm tofu is a little too soft. I like to press the tofu gently before blending, between two tea towels. But you don’t have to press for a long time or use a tofu press for this recipe. My go-to tofu brand, including the extra firm tofu used in this recipe, is Nasoya.

Umeboshi plum vinegar

Umeboshi plum vinegar has a distinctively salty and sour taste. This type of vinegar is often used as a seasoning in Japanese cooking, and many macrobiotic recipes call for it as well. I’ve read that it can be used in place of fish sauce, though I think it has a much fruitier flavor.

This is the vinegar that I like to buy and keep in my pantry, but you may find other varieties in a local specialty grocer.

If you don’t have umeboshi vinegar at home, that’s OK. The trick is to simply re-create the sourness and saltiness that the vinegar would provide. I suggest doing this by adding additional lemon juice and fine salt. There are instructions in the recipe for substituting.

Lemon juice

Lemon juice also helps to create sourness and acidity in the tofu cream cheese. I recommend freshly squeezed lemon juice only—bottled won’t have the same brightness or fresh flavor.

Nutritional yeast

Nutritional yeast is a magical plant-based hack ingredient for creating “cheesy” flavor. I use it in my go-to cashew cheese, my cashew parmesan, my tofu feta, my pesto, pizza pasta bake, skillet lasagna, and more.

You won’t need a lot of nutritional yeast in the recipe—just a tablespoon or two, depending on how cheesy and predominant you want the flavor to be.

Fine salt

While Kosher salt is my go-to salt for cooking, I use fine sea salt in the tofu cream cheese. The fine texture of the sea salt is best for smooth blending in the recipe.

My three favorite flavor options

While I love the tofu cream cheese plain, I also love to experiment with add-ins and flavors. Here are my three favorites.

A creamy vegan spread, pictured top down in a small bowl, with scallions mixed in.

Scallion

The scallion flavor is very savory and a little pungent. I love using it on bagels. It’s also shockingly good if you add a bit of crumbled or sliced vegan bacon!

A bowl of vegan tofu cream cheese, which has been mixed up with chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

Sun-dried tomato

Maybe my favorite of the three! Savory and extra tangy, thanks to the sun-dried tomatoes. I prefer to use tomatoes that aren’t oil-packed (these are my favorite—they’re pre-cut, which makes life easy). But you can use any sun-dried tomatoes that you get your hands on.

This version is great on a panini with roasted vegetables.

Dill

Light, bright, and lovely for a springtime slice of toast.

Storage

The 5-ingredient tofu cream cheese will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Can I freeze the tofu cream cheese?

I’ve found that some of the smoothness and spreadable quality of the cream cheese diminishes when it’s defrosted. So I think you can freeze it in a pinch—if you’d like to save some that you won’t have time to use. However, the tofu cream cheese is best when it’s freshly made.

Three round, small ceramic bowls of a creamy, white dip rest against a white surface.
Four small, white ceramic pinch bowls are filled with a 5-ingredient tofu cream cheese.
4.30 from 60 votes

5 Ingredient Tofu Cream Cheese

Author – Gena Hamshaw
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients

Optional mix-ins:

  • 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped scallion tops
  • 2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes hydrated in warm water and drained if necessary, chopped

Instructions

  • Blend all of the base ingredients in a food processor fitted with the S blade or a high speed blender till smooth (at least 2 minutes in a food processor). Taste; adjust lemon and salt as desired. Pulse or fold in your mix-ins of choice. Enjoy.

Video

A slice of square toast has been topped with four different varieties of vegan tofu cream cheese. It rests on a fluted white plate.

The tofu cream cheese is a regular meal prep staple in my home. I hope you’ll enjoy this simple, homemade vegan condiment as much as I do!

xo

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Categories: Dips, Vegan Cheeses
Ingredients: Tofu
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, No Oil, Tree Nut Free, Vegan
Recipe Features: 30 Minute or Less, Quick & Easy

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Recipe Rating




    24 Comments
  1. 5 stars
    This came out so good, I was basically licking the bowl. I’m surprised that this recipe isn’t rated even higher. I had a slightly smaller package of tofu, so I adjusted for that and salted to taste as recommended. I was delighted at the yummy taste and the umeboshi vinegar wasn’t overpowering. When I taste cream cheese on it’s own compared to this, I feel like this recipe has more (and better) flavor. Mine didn’t come out super thick like packaged cream cheese, but I could press the tofu better next time if needed. For today, I wanted to make a dip and the texture was perfect. I’m going to see about finely chopping up black olives and dipping in celery sticks for a pseudo stuffed celery experience. Thanks for the delicious recipe! It’s a keeper.

  2. 5 stars
    I cannot believe it took me so long to make this. It was so easy, inexpensive, and as much as I love Kite Hill this has less ingredients (no oil and more protein).

    I used ume vinegar AND ume paste, for a little extra oomf.

    I wonder if I could use a probiotic in this for a cultured flavor profile?

    • Hi Jax,

      I’m sure that you could! I haven’t tried it with a probiotic yet myself, so can’t advise precisely, but I think it could encourage fermentation. I’m so glad that you like the recipe—love the idea of adding some ume paste, too!

      G

  3. This looks really promising. I’ve tried other vegan recipes for cream cheese featuring tofu. Each has a really soy forward taste. Do you find that the umeboshi mitigates/cloaks the beanie soy flavor?
    I can see how tofu would add the needed heft and texture in replicating cream cheese, but I wonder if adding a fat might mask the soy flavor? Thank you for any input. I really love your books! Best from a library worker! 😀

  4. 5 stars
    Wow Wow Wow. Absolutely a winner.
    Made it yesterday and will make some more today 🙂
    So good on baked potatoes, yum.
    Thanks for sharing.

  5. A wee quibble – nutritional yeast is not plant based. Yeasts are tiny little organisms; the ones in commercial nutritional yeast are no longer alive (unlike active bread yeast). I think few vegans have any ethical or other concerns about eating these little guys, but wanted to mention this in the interest of accuracy 🙂

    Looking forward to trying the recipe! Do you think it could work in an icing, like for carrot cake?

  6. Hola! Thanks for this recipe! I made it today because I craved it so much after eating bagels with cream cheese in New York for the first time last week. There’s no vegan cream cheese here in Mexico so I’m grateful for a recipe with simple ingredients. Now, I have to say that I had to add a lot more salt than as well as fresh garlic and chives – but it turned out amazing! I have both your recipe books and can’t wait for the next. Best wishes from Mexico!

    • Hi Autumn! It’s not quite the same, because the plum vinegar is super salty. So you can make the swap, but you may need to add some salt to taste 🙂

    • Hi there!

      I’m honestly not sure—I’ve only used commercial vegan cream cheese in cheesecake recipes. You can certainly try, but I can’t promise the results! If it works out, let me know. Thanks for reading.

      🙂

  7. 5 stars
    Thank you so much for this!!! Since going plant based 10 months ago we havent missed any cheese or dairy but lately have felt like something was missing from our sourdough bagel consumption. Did a garlic and dillweed version and i cannot wait to try others.

  8. 5 stars
    Dear Gena, wanted to let you know I made this to share at a little art reception we had in our neighborhood for an art show my neighbor and I have up. Not a vegan in the house but me, and the crowd LOVED this spread. One person even took some home with her to have in her lunch the next day. I just sent her the link to the recipe. <3 Thanks for being a part of a really fun time! Sold six paintings! xoxo

  9. Omg, I was literally just wondering how I could make a good homemade alternative for this. Thank you so much for sharing this Gena!

  10. Gena–this looks fab! And so easy! I am a big fan of a splash of umeboshi plum vinegar here and there, so I totally get how this could make this recipe pop! I will have to try it when the kids come out next. Sorry to hear you’re feeling overwhelmed. Glad you’re calling on known comforts to help you through ((hugs)). You can do this!! Thank you from another friend who feels a bit overwhelmed herself xoxo