3 Ingredient Quick Vegan Mascarpone- No Cashews, No Tofu!
This creamy vegan mascarpone is made with just 3 simple dairy free ingredients using the traditional method. No tofu, no nuts, quick to make, and perfect for both sweet and savory!
Why this is the *only* vegan mascarpone recipe you need:
If you’re looking for the most perfect vegan mascarpone recipe, then you have *arrived.*
This recipe is it.
A super creamy, smooth, mildly sweet and lush mascarpone that’s all dairy free, and SO simple to make.
We’re talking 3 ingredients, none of which are nuts, vegan yogurt, tofu, or the like. And the result? A dairy-free mascarpone suitable for anything from your favorite vegan dessert to your favorite vegan pasta dish.
This mascarpone is especially good when paired with my vegan ladyfingers in this top rated vegan tiramisu recipe!
This mascarpone is versatile, quick to make (only 5 minutes of actual work), and just SO delicious. You’re going to love it!!
What is mascarpone?
If you’ve never had mascarpone before, then you’re in for a treat, because this one is nearly identical to the classic dairy version.
Mascarpone is essentially the Italian cream cheese. It’s very very milld, and almost sweet in flavor, and is made by coagulating and simmering heavy cream with lemon juice or an acid. Then strained and served!
While traditional mascarpone is usually just 2 ingredients and since pea milk is lower in fat than heavy cream, we’re adding some more fat back at the end to create that super creamy texture!
The only 3 ingredients you need:
When I said simple, I really meant simple– like my vegan ricotta. Here’s what you need:
- Pea milk: The lovely thing about this vegan mascarpone is that it’s both gluten-free, soy free, and nut free. Pea milk acts very similarly and a great dairy-free substitute to regular dairy milk (which is why it’s also a great substitute in vegan buttermilk!). You can use soy or almond milk (NOT shelf-stable though). However, to keep it nut free and soy free, use pea milk.
- Lemon juice: Or apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, white vinegar, or another vinegar. This will help curdle the proteins in the pea milk, similarly to dairy milk.
- Heavy vegan cream: Or coconut cream or full-fat coconut milk here- either or! The heavy vegan cream will help to create a super lush and smooth mascarpone texture. I like to use Plant Crock or Silk here!
And that’s truly it! In terms of equipment, you’ll also need a sieve, cheesecloth, a large bowl, a saucepan, and a food processor. Other than that, let’s get started!
Overview: Step by Step How to Make Vegan Mascarpone:
The full measurements are found down below in the recipe card. However, this is a walk through of the entire process!
Why not just use tofu?
I’ve tried to use tofu (both firm tofu and silken tofu) for a homemade vegan cream cheese and a homemade mascarpone. Personally, I really didn’t like the texture, and I felt it did taste of soy. However, previously, I did use soy milk for this recipe. And for some reason, the acid must neutralize the soy flavor, and the mascarpone does NOT taste of soy. A bonus!
What’s more, we’re honoring the traditional method of making mascarpone by using this method, and by using pea milkThis is how mascarpone is traditionally made, and I felt it was really cool to incorporate some of the longstanding traditions into our vegan baking skills!
Additionally, if my home bakers feel called to, you can even use your own homemade pea milk or soy milk- how lovely would that be?! Everything from scratch!
How to use this vegan mascarpone:
What you’ll love about this dairy-free mascarpone is that it’s not only great for vegan desserts, for for vegan savory dishes as well.
Aside from just dipped some fresh berries or fresh fruit into this vegan mascarpone cheese, here are my top 10 favorite uses for vegan mascarpone:
- make the most amazing vegan tiramisu recipe (it’s top rated!!)
- in my amazing brown sugar maple mascarpone cheesecake
- use it in a vegan mascarpone cream to top on any dessert
- mixed into whipped cream and dolloped on top of this vegan olive oil cake
- top your favorite soup recipe with it (especially this Tuscan white bean soup!)
- swap it into your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe!
- dollop it on homemade vegan pizza (or gluten free pizza!)
- incorporate it into your favorite vegan pasta sauce or dish
- on top of vegan pancakes or French toast
- as a cake or cupcake filling to your favorite cake recipe when made as a mascarpone cream
- stir it into vegan mashed potatoes in place of vegan sour cream
- spread it on toast or a homemade bagel, as you would vegan cream cheese!
Storage tips:
After you’ve made your homemade mascarpone, you can absolutely use it right away (but it might still be a little warm!). Or you can store it for later!
To store your vegan mascarpone: Spoon the mascarpone into a sealable storage container. Seal it, and keep it in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
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3 Ingredient Quick Vegan Mascarpone- No Cashews, No Tofu!
- Prep Time: 1
- Cooling time: 10
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: Cheese
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This creamy vegan mascarpone is made with just 3 simple dairy free ingredients using the traditional method. Quick to make, and perfect for both sweet and savory!
Ingredients
- 4 cups (960 mL) pea milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/3 cup vegan heavy cream or coconut cream
Instructions
- Prep: Place a large sieve over a large bowl with a piece of cheesecloth. Set aside.
- Heat: Pour the pea milk into a medium saucepan, along with the lemon juice. Stir to combine, then turn the heat on to medium heat. Let the mixture cook until it’s foaming on the top, about 5 minutes. See photos in the blog post for reference. It should almost be overflowing. Those are the curdles.
- Strain: Pour the mixture into the sieve with the cheesecloth, and let stand for at least 10 minutes to cool down. Once the pea milk is easily handleable, squeeze the cheesecloth closed and gently squeeze out and drain any remaining liquid. Discard the liquid once you’ve squeeze it all out.
- Blend: Add the pea curdles to a food processor or high-speed blender along with the vegan heavy cream. Alternatively, you can use an immersion blender. Blend the mixture until consistent and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Store: Scrape the mascarpone into a sealable storage container and store in the fridge for up to 1 week. Alternatively, you can use right away, but it might be a little warm still! Otherwise, you can chill it for 30 minutes, and then use in your recipes.
Notes
Pea milk: I have tried this recipe with both soy milk and almond milk. Both will work, however, please do not use shelf stable soy milk.
Why not tofu? Please see blog post for explanation!
I made this for tiramisu and just tried a taste plain- it has a very lemon forward flavor. Did I do it right? I used lemon juice and Ripple milk and was able to separate the curds and made a beautiful marscapone cream with this recipe but I’m hoping my final tiramisu doesn’t taste lemony.
Hi there! Unmmm where do you find pea milk? And do I understand that a shelf stable milk is not recommended? Thank you
Oh any grocery store! I use Ripple- and definitely don’t use shelf stable milk, it won’t curdle! You can use soy milk if you’re having trouble finding the pea milk.
Hello, I tried to male my own pea milk and it did not curdled. I tried with home made almond milk and it id not curdled. What seems to be the problem? Any suggestions?
Hi Silvia! I’m so sorry to hear that! So with any homemade milk, there’s going to be room for human error. I’m not sure what would cause your almond nor pea milk to not curdle if homemade, but store bought really works here- Ripple is my favorite!
can I use homemade pea milk? I have lots of chickpeas from the can. do you happen to have a recipe for it? thank you!
I have not tried this with homemade pea milk, but I’m not sure it would work with chickpea milk. I’m so sorry!
Unfortunately I have just tried with pea milk Sproud Barista and it did not curdle 😞 Any advice on why?
Will try now with fresh Alpro Soya and hopefully it works cause I need this game changer!
Hi Giada! It didn’t curdle because it was a shelf stable/non-refrigerated pea milk. The same will happen with a shelf stable/non-refrigerated soy milk. Whatever they put in there to make it shelf stable somehow prohibits the curdling of the proteins. I recommend only using refrigerated!
Oh ok, that is valid for every milk then. I misunderstood in the notes the advice to use fresh soy milk thinking that shelf stable pea milk would have been ok.
Thank you for the kind reply 😊
One more thing I noticed is that the amount of the overall final product with the heavy cream is around only 220gr for almost 1L of milk. Is that correct or should it be more on the stove to curdle more?
No it’s okay!! I’m so sorry that it failed because of that! And that is correct! It will separate the protein from the water so you’re left with a “whey” that you can actually use in soups or smoothies 🙂
This is a great recipe, but it took me a few (4 actually!) tries to get this right:
– I first used almond milk and tried mixing with lemon juice and white wine vinegar. Neither worked great – it curdled a bit, but not enough to actually produce much
– I then tried soy milk (silk brand) based on other reviews. With lemon it was better…but with white vinegar it worked great! Exactly as described. (Turns out soy milk has more proteins than almond milk – hence it works better!)
– I also made the mistake of double layering my cheesecloth at first (I was new to using it!) Don’t do this – you’ll squeeze out too much good stuff!
– I also ended cooking for longer than the recipe said (probably 5-10 mins). Resist the urge to stir the mixture while cooking
Used this in this website’s tiramisu recipe – worked great!
My last note is that this website was incredibly difficult to use / read on chrome (it jumped around a lot and would not load properly). I almost gave up, and then found that it worked in safari. In case others are experiencing the same thing, wanted to note!
Overall, thanks for a great recipe! My dairy-free husband thanks you! 🙂
Hi Britt!
Thank you for taking the time to share your lovely family recipe with us! I’m so excited to make it but did have one question – what brand of pea milk do you use?
Fantastic question, yes! I use Ripple pea milk- it’s lovely! 🙂
All pea milks in the UK contain rapeseed oil. Rapeseed oil before it is processed for human consumption is commonly used as a pesticide/insect killer, therefore initially is poisonous, so I do not like to have it in anything I eat. Can you recommend any other protein milks that I can use please? I love the idea of dairy-free cheese and can’t wait to try this recipe. Thank you in advance.
Hi there! You can use soy milk here 🙂 Or some say almond milk can work, I haven’t found success with it but some people in the comments section said it’s been successful!
if you use pea milk ,can it not be shelf stable ……the only pea milk I can get has other ingredients in
Hi There! Definitely don’t use shelf stable pea milk and you can use soy milk if you’re having trouble finding the pea milk. 🙂
Hi! So you make it as noted and then just use it in whatever dish? Add sugar or whatever to it
Hi Beth! Exactly! Now there are so me caveats as some recipes (like making a mascarpone frosting for instance) it may or may not work- I think it’s because vegan heavy cream is just not as stable as traditional heavy cream, but it DOES work in my vegan tiramisu and for savory recipes as well!
Hi! Sorry I know subs for soy milk has been asked a bunch on this post already but I’m wondering if this has been tested with pea protein? I’m curious since it has the same protein content
Pea protein works just great!! I used Ripple and it worked 🙂
Hi Britt,
Thank you for this recipe. I’m looking forward to making it. A quick question, if I wanted to use this as a fruit tart filling what type of sugar would you suggest adding? And how much?
Hi would cashew milk work instead?
Thanks!
Hi Katie! I’m SO sorry, unfortunately this won’t work with cashew cream, as cashews contain no protein so it won’t react with the lemon juice. I’m working on a vegan oat-based cream cheese that I’m hoping to be able to spin into a mascarpone as well, but unfortunately I’m still developing it!
Hi Britt,
I was planning on using this recipe to make a dairy free tiramisu but I was wondering if there were any substitutes I could use for soy milk since I’m allergic to soy.
Thanks!
Hi Kate! Pea Milk is a great substitute for Soy Milk in this case! 🙂
recipe sounds amazing, I wonder if you’ve tried with almond milk instead of soy?
Hi Sofia! So happy to have you here! You can use soy OR almond milk (NOT shelf-stable though). 🙂