If you’ve been looking for a super-healthy, easy-to-make cream cheese substitute, look no further!

When we took a trip to New York City a few years ago, we were thrilled to see all the delis and bagel shops had house-made tofu cream cheese. It’s a simple tofu puree that doesn’t exactly taste like cream cheese, but it definitely does a good job of recreating the cool sensation and creamy texture of the real thing. It’s also, like, a million times healthier. As soon as we had it on a bagel sandwich, we were hooked, and that became our go-to breakfast for the rest of the trip.

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I’ve noticed most other recipes for tofu cream cheese use silken tofu, but I find that super firm tofu is much better for recreating the thick and creamy consistency of real cream cheese. Even firm silken tofu is better suited for sour cream than cream cheese, in my opinion. Again, the flavor of this recipe is not going to trick your tastebuds into thinking you’re eating real cream cheese, but the texture and appearance are pretty much spot on. It actually reminds me of whipped cream cheese, which used to be my favorite kind before I gave up dairy.

For me, this cream cheese is totally a sandwich spread, but you could also use it to make vegan cream cheese frosting, or simply use it as a dip. Come to think of it, I bet this would be really good on toast with avocado… might have to try that tomorrow. If you try this recipe, let us know down in the comments how it turned out, what you did with it, how you seasoned it, etc… we’d love to hear your feedback.