This cruelty-free vegan “foie gras” is SO buttery, creamy, and surprisingly close to the real one! It is prepared from raw cashews and infused with aromatics like miso, nutritional yeast, tahini, and truffle oil. Even meat-eaters are amazed by how good this vegan foie gras tastes!
I’m SO EXCITED to share this recipe with you guys! I present you with the most astonishing vegan foie gras, taste and texture-wise.
Making foie gras vegan is quite a challenge. The real one has a silky and soft texture with a buttery and subtle taste. This vegan foie gras has that rich and creamy texture that melts in your mouth, just like real foie gras.
This recipe is the result of over 10 trials, testing with tofu, flavorings, herbs, agar-agar, mushrooms, chestnuts, and many other ingredients until achieving what I believe is the most accurate vegan foie gras.
📘 What is Foie Gras
Foie gras is a popular French delicacy made of duck liver. It is often served during the Christmas holidays as an appetizer.
I’m not going to go into details. You know how foie gras is made. The ducks are force-fed with a metal tube that is inserted into their mouths. If you have never seen how the ducks are treated, make a quick search on Google images. I guarantee you will feel disgusted or might even shed a tear. I did eat foie gras in the past, and I really liked it but was not aware (or maybe didn’t want to know) of what was happening.
Thankfully, this “foie gras” is completely vegan and made from plant-based ingredients!
🥣 How to Make Vegan Foie Gras
It starts with cashews that are soaked overnight or for at least 4 hours.
Next, blend the cashews with all the other ingredients until completely smooth. When it comes to the ingredients, we are using:
- Cocoa butter and refined coconut oil: Both are essential to creating that melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- White miso and nutritional yeast: Both bring umami and saltiness.
- Cognac: Since cognac is used in the authentic recipe, we are using it here as well to add fruity notes.
- Tahini: For a mildly nutty and earthy flavor.
- Truffle oil and shiitake powder: It’s hard to describe the taste of truffle oil, but once again, it is used as an aromatic.
- Black pepper: For a hint of spiciness.
Once your mixture is smooth, transfer it to a springform pan and let it harden in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
To make it look even more authentic, you can recreate the yellow grease on the outside with a mix of refined coconut oil and turmeric for the color. It’s completely optional and has absolutely no impact on the taste. It just makes it look more like real foie gras. I didn’t do it here.
💬 FAQ
While I personally would not recommend it, some readers had success replacing the cocoa butter with coconut oil. You have to be aware that if using only coconut oil, the foie gras will be a lot softer at room temperature.
Unfortunately, no. Cognac brings a ton of flavor to this foie gras. Do not worry; considering the low amount used, it is perfectly safe to serve to kids!
Yes, shiitake powder is not essential to this recipe.
If you want to shape it into a log, I recommend using 3 stacked cake rings.
Vegan foie gras is often served chilled as an appetizer. Spread a thin layer of foie gras on toasted bread, and enjoy!
It will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
If you are looking for a vegan foie gras recipe, look no further! This is the best recipe you can find! And this foie gras will definitely be on our table on Christmas Eve!
🇫🇷 More French-Inspired Recipes
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The Best Vegan Foie Gras
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw cashews
- 1/4 cup deodorized cocoa butter melted
- 1/4 cup refined coconut oil melted
- 2 tbsp water
- 3 tbsp white miso
- 2 tbsp and 1/2 tsp cognac
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 1 tsp truffle oil
- 1/2 tsp shiitake powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper or white pepper if you prefer
Yellow fat (optional)
- 3 tbsp refined coconut oil
- 1/8 tsp turmeric
Instructions
- Soak the cashews overnight or bring a large pot of water to a boil, pour over the cashews in a bowl, and let sit for 3 hours. Drain and rinse the cashews.
- To make the shiitake powder: Grind 3 dried shiitake mushrooms in a small grinder or food processor until you get a very fine powder. Set aside 1/2 tsp powder and keep the leftover in an airtight container for other uses.
- Add the cashews to the bowl of a blender with the water, white miso, cognac, nutritional yeast, tahini, shiitake powder, and truffle oil.
- Melt the cocoa butter in a small saucepan and measure 1/4 cup of melted cocoa butter and add them to the blender. Do the same for the coconut oil.
- Add the salt and pepper and blend until completely smooth, scraping down the sides from time to time. The mixture will be very thick, if you don't have a powerful blender, use a food processor.
- Stack two 3-inch (2.75-inch tall) cake rind molds and line them with parchment paper (sides and bottom). Pour the mixture into the molds and flatten the top. Alternatively, you can use any pan you have on hand: round, rectangular, etc. Smooth the top using a knife and cover it with plastic film.
- Place in the refrigerator for at least one day, it will become much firmer and the flavors will have time to merge.
- For the yellow fat (optional): Melt the refined coconut oil and turmeric over low heat and mix well. Let sit at room temperature until the coconut oil becomes spreadable again. Using your fingers, spread some colored coconut oil around the foie gras to make it look like yellow fat.
- Serve cold and spread on toasted bread, crackers, etc. This vegan foie gras pairs well with sweet white wines.
Video
Notes
- You must absolutely use deodorized cocoa butter, otherwise, the cocoa butter taste will cover the main flavors.
- The miso is important in this recipe, use white miso (with a pale yellow color), if your miso is darker use half the amount and reduce the salt. Using a strong miso will make the foie gras too salty and cover the taste of all the other ingredients.
- This foie gras has the same texture as the real one, which means it will soften at room temperature.
- For a slightly more reddish color: add 1 tsp of tomato paste. It won’t affect the flavor.
Mon dieu! It looks like you managed the impossible, Thomas – Bravo! I’ve never had foie gras (thankfully!) but I have plenty of omnivore friends who have. I plan to test it on them. Thank you so much! ps – I have made the Camembert and it was marvellous!
Thanks Monique! And I’m glad to hear you loved the camembert! 🙂
Hi again Thomas, could dried porcini be used instead of shiitake or would that change the flavour profile too much?
I don’t think it would really change the flavor.
Hello Bonjour , I am french and I Want to thank you SO much for the recipe !!!! I did it and it was Fabulous ! I just have à question.I did not used tahini because I forgot it and now I hesitate to add it next time because I really liked thé recipe without.what add thé tahini to the taste ? Do you think I have to try with ?
Cheers
Hi, I’m really glad to hear your like the recipe! 🙂 Tahini adds more fat and improves the taste, it adds a very subtle nutty flavor. You should try the recipe with all the ingredients, but if you like it without tahini it’s okay too.
Hello ! I am French and I really want to try this recipe but I don’t have any cup measure. Is it ok to convert the measures online? If not, do you know what would it be in grams or centiliters? Thanks a lot !
Hi Laurène,
You could convert the measures online yes, but I’m not sure it’s always very accurate. I recommend you buy some measuring cup, you can find some on Amazon France.
Hi Thomas
Thank you so much for all your recipes I’m really excited to try your cheeses as well I just received the mould 🙂
I just made this “faux gras” and it taste really bad… I followed the recipe and I don’t understand why you can only taste the cacao butter…
The texture is fine, the colour as well, I didn’t forget anything but it didn’t work out well…
Any idea?
I was so happy to bring it today to a Christmas function…
Hi Maeva,
I’m very surprised to hear you could taste the cocoa butter, I made this recipe three times last month and it turned out great each time. I think the problem might come from your cocoa butter, what brand are you using?
I use cocoa butter from Barry (I’m sure there are several other great brands), it has a pale yellow color and a very subtle smell. It is undetectable in the final recipe.
I have no idea for the brand
I live in Australia and bought mine from “the source bulk food store”
I might go and ask them if there is something special with it…
The measurement is correct it’s 1/4 cup of cocoa butter right?
I would advise to try to try another brand then, yes I double checked the recipe and the measurements are correct. 1/4 cup melted cocoa butter.
Thank you
I will let you know if I try it again with another brand
Yes Thomas I am a Chef in Australia and that Cacao Butter is more than likely virgin cacao butter – I have never seen refined cacao butter here so as you warned this is why the recipe tasted like cacao.
Cheers – well done on the recipe – I have to find the correct cacao butter to give it a try.
Just FYI
Cocoa butter is sold in (at least) two variants: crude and deodorised. Crude is just filtered after the butter is separated from the cocoa mass and still contains lots of flavours and aromas. Deodorisation is done with steam. Chocolate makers typically want to add deodorised cocoa butter to their chocolate recipes, because they don’t want to introduce an additional flavour offset (they want to let the flavour be defined by the cocoa mass and additional flavourings only). Also, deodorised keeps better, which is important for the food industry.
Since plenty of people interested in the type of recipes on this blog are probably buying from organic/raw/whatever sources, chances are high you indeed bought an unrefined butter. Like Thomas writes: deodorised shouldn’t have more than a faint cocoa aroma.
Thanks for the additional information!
I just checked online and it seems the cocoa butter I’m using has been deodorized, even if it’s not written directly on the packaging. I updated the recipe and amazon link to a deodorized cocoa butter.
Thank you for the tip!!
I just bought some deodorized after your advice 🙂
Hope the next one will be better!
Thank you for this!
I tried 4 other recipes before finding your version, but none taste as close as yours.
Your title isn’t false advertising, it is really the best vegan foie gras.
Bravo!
Thanks, glad to hear you liked it!
Bonjour. Quelle est la quantité d’eau nécessaire pour cette recette? Ce n’est pas indiqué dans la liste des ingrédients. Merci par avance.
Bonjour Cindy,
Merci de me l’avoir fait remarquer, c’est rectifié (2 cuillères à soupe d’eau).
Merci! Je le fais ce soir 🙂 .
Bonjour Thomas!
Merci pour ta recette! J’aimerais la tester pour le repas de Noël de samedi mais j’ai couru tous les supermarchés bios et les boulangeries, impossible de trouver du beurre de cacao desodorisé.. J’en ai commandé sur internet mais pas sûr qu’il arrive à temps..
Pense tu que je puisse faire sans? Ou bien en le remplaçant par plus d’huile de coco, ou bien un autre ingredient qui ferait l’affaire?
Bonjour Lia,
Il n’est pas toujours noté sur l’emballage que le beurre de cacao est désodorisé, par exemple la marque Barry ne l’indique pas.
Je n’ai jamais essayé mais je pense que tu peux remplacer par de l’huile de coco, le foie gras risque d’être un peu plus mou, il faudra dans ce cas le sortir vraiment au dernier moment. Bonne chance !
Merci pour ta reponse! Au final le colis vient d’etre livré donc je m’y mets 🙂
Bonjour Thomas,
J’ai très hâte d’essayer votre recette. Je me demandais si vous avez essayé de le cuire?
Bonjour Yanick,
Non je n’ai pas encore essayé de le cuire, je pense qu’il aurait tendance à fondre.
WOW tried this for christmas and it was delicious, thank you so much for the recipe!! Everyone loved it 🙂
The texture is perfect, tender and firm, melting in the mouth.. The flavors are fine and the mix of those different ingredients really reminds the taste of foie gras!
Bravo Thomas!!
Thanks for the great feedback Lia! I’m glad to hear you liked it 🙂
Thank you for this amazing recipe: truly a culinary accomplishment! I just made it and it is already delicious – I cannot wait to see how it tastes after 24 hours. I plan to serve it at parties and special occasions in the future.
I followed the recipe exactly except that I forgot the pepper, oh well. I don’t miss it but will add it next time.
Just in case anyone is curious, these are the gram measurements I ended up with (I didn’t weigh the liquid ingredients, the salt or the shiitake powder):
230 g cashew nuts
45 g deodorised cocoa butter
45 g deodorised coconut oil
53 g white miso (Hikari shinshu shiro)
31 g tahini
7 g nutritional yeast flakes
Thanks Jen!
Pepper is optional, I also forget to add it sometimes.
Thanks for giving the measurements in grams, I’m sure it will help other people that don’t use cups.
Hi Thomas,
I don’t drink alcohol. If I don’t use the Cognac in the recipe will it make a big difference in the finished product?
thank you…can’t wait to try making your cheeses, thank you for all your hard work and kindness!
Hi Susana,
It does make a difference in the finished product, I grew up eating foie gras that had cognac in it, so I’m used to this taste, but I think it would still be very tasty without it, I never tried though.
If it’s because of the alcohol content, you can bring the cognac to a boil and let it cool completely. The alcohol will evaporate and you will still have the flavor. Also it’s easy to find small bottles of cognac, you don’t have to buy a large one. Good luck!
Hello Thomas,
thank you for responding so quickly. That is excellent helpful information and good tips.
Keep up the amazing work!
Hey Thomas !
Your recipe looks amazing ! One quick question though, regarding the Cognac : shouldn’t I reduce it in a pan before adding it to the mixture ? I’m afraid it’s going to give a very strong alcohol taste to the whole thing, and after all, when making foie gras, the Cognac (I usually mix it with White Porto) is always cooked with the liver, and only the sugar remains.
What’s your opinion on that?!
Hi Solène,
For different reasons, I didn’t want alcohol in this terrine, so I bought a little bottle of cognac and flambéd it (watch out for your hair, the stuff goes up much more quickly and much higher than, say, port wine). You can keep the leftover flambéd booze in the fridge and use it for other recipes.
Hope that helps and that you’ll enjoy this treat as much as we did.
Thanks for sharing this technique Carole! 🙂 It will be useful for people avoiding alcohol.
The safest way I’ve found is this: pour your cognac into a small, high-sided saucepan, bring to a boil. TURN OFF the heat, after having first ignited the end of a bamboo skewer (I suppose long fireplace matches would work as well). Stand back and lower your lit skewer down towards the surface of the cognac — and watch the flames.
Hope this helps!
Hey Solène,
Thanks! You don’t have to reduce it, I have made this recipe many times and never found it to have a strong alcohol taste. I guess it all depends on your tastes though, before going vegan I had several different foie gras and some had a stronger cognac/porto flavor than others.
Before I attempt making the Vegan Foie Gras, I have a question. My daughter has a terrible aversion to coconut oil. Can I substitute avocado or grape seed oil? Or, can I double the amount of cocao butter? I’m terribly excited about making this as I have never tasted the original.
Thanks so much.
Hi Janet,
I’m afraid a liquid oil won’t work the same way as coconut oil. Maybe you could try replacing the coconut oil with 2 tbsp of grape seed oil + 2 tbsp cocoa butter.
Hi Thomas,
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I have been trying to find a truffle oil that is not made using synthetic ingredients. I might give up and leave the truffle oil out.
I am sorry if someone has already asked, but do you think it’s worth doing the recipe if I leave out the truffle oil?
Regards
Ruth
Hi Ruth,
Yes! It won’t taste exactly the same, but you can add an extra tablespoon of cognac for more flavor.
I am very excited to try this recipe. I ordered the deoderized cocoa butter wafers following your link to Amazon. I just received them and the package says “use externally either alone or as an ingredient in homemade natural soaps, body butters etc..”. Is it okay to eat? It seems to be for body products only, not food. Please advise. Thank you!
Hi Kari,
Since it’s 100% cocoa butter I think it can also be used as an ingredient for food, a reviewer of this product said he used it to make chocolate. I can’t find any article stating there are two types of cocoa butter.
There is a HUGE difference between food grade and cosmetic grade products. The most obvious is that the solvents and other processing chemicals may not be safe to consume. The equipment, transportation and packaging also have different requirements and may contain unsafe chemicals. Do not trust reviewers, be sure to eat only products labeled as being safe to eat, period!
Thanks for the useful info Lisa, the link has been changed to a food safe cocoa butter.
The current link in the recipe is NOT deodorized coco butter. I ordered it and used it in this recipe and the end result is ….. well not “foie gras”.
I try again with deodorized coco butter. Thank you.
I love the creativity and it looks great, maybe you should call it “Mock-Foie Gras” instead? Since the definition of the word means “fatty liver”. Anyway nice job!
Hey Thomas! Just wanted to say thanks for the recipe! It’s absolutely amazing!
Thanks Elena! 🙂
I’ve made this and it is real tasty. I do want to know how long it will last in the fridge and if it can be frozen? Thank you.
Your recipies look amazing! I can’t wait to try them! Thankyou for sharing your wonderful creations you are truly inspiring!
Would love to try this recipe. But I’m just wondering why there are ads from Kroger featuring Perdue Chicken (clearly not vegan) inserted into the text of the recipe…Hmmm. Don’t fault you for trying to make some money off of your blogs and fab recipes, but is there something that could be done about this (especially in the middle of a recipe)?
Hi Susan,
Sorry about that. You are the first one to tell me about it, and since ads are not the same depending on the country you live in, I have never seen any ads like that.
I will investigate with my ad network to see if I can block some advertisers.
Hi Susan,
I just wanted to keep you updated on this. I blocked the ads featuring animal products from displaying in the recipe text.
Was excited to try this recipe but researching where to buy “truffle oil” it turns out to be just a petro chemical, 2,4-Dithiapentane. Will look for a substitute.
Thank you for the inspiring recipes, Thomas!
Keep up the amazing job! Love every single post you make.
Hi Thomas, Can your Vegan Foie Gras be seared?
Hi Pat, yes it can be. You obviously need to fry it in some oil or vegan butter so it doesn’t stick too much, but it caramelizes well and I personally like it seared. A recipe with seared foie gras will probably come in the future 😉 Good luck!
Hi Thomas, this sounds great. Can I pan fry it to achieve a little caramelisation and serve it warm.
Can’t wait to try this. Many thanks David.
Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to your seared foie gras recipe!
Hi David,
Yes you can pan sear it and serve warm.
Thank you, looking forward to making it.
For affordable “truffles” which could be added to the “foie gras,” you can wash and rinse canned California black olives (which come in a very mild and bland “brine”) then marinate or simmer them in some truffle oil until they absorb the truffle flavor. You can then chop the olives extremely small, if you like your paté flecked with little bits of black “truffle,” or use the largest size whole pitted California black olives if you want to want to create a black “truffle” center down the middle of your bloc or torchon of paté! Be sure to use the California-style canned olives for this. They are extremely bland and boring in flavor, which makes them perfect for marinating in truffle oil to change their flavor! European black olives are brined in much saltier, vinegary solutions and will end up tasting like olives rather than “truffles.”
Another variation you might like to try would be to substitute port wine for the cognac (many traditional foie gras recipes call for the livers to be marinated in port wine).
Also, real foie gras terrines and torchons have a slightly pink color. I suspect this can be achieved by adding a slice of cooked or canned beet to the mixture as it is being blended. It would be worth trying!!!
You are correct, foie gras is also made with port wine. I used cognac here because it is stronger in taste and gives this vegan “foie gras” a richer flavor.
Oh my gosh, I just discovered your website and all of your recipes look SO good! (-*-*-)
This is magic, it’s like I finally received my Hogwarts acceptance letter: maybe I could become a witch too! (thank you)
I’m actually french,
I live in England at the moment and I, too, often dislike the pride most of my people take from French gastronomy… Don’t get me wrong : Some aspects of the French culture which evolves around food I think are super nice!
But what is this pride about? People didn’t come up with the recipes themselves!
And as you say: it’s all about Meat, Cheese and Tradition at all costs… >_<
… But then I guess this is a big generalization and cruelty against animals is an issue everywhere anyway.
Enfin ! Bonne continuation à toi ! (Et pardon pour mon anglais imparfait.)
Je vais suivre le blog à partir de maintenant et tester toutes les recettes !! 🙂
Merci Léa! 🙂
I can’t agree more! The worst is when you see foie gras makers proud of what they are doing, saying on TV they treat their animals well when it’s totally not the case.
Fortunately, things are really starting to change in France, slowly but surely. Most supermarkets are now offering vegan products and their product line keeps growing, it seems media are also less reluctant about talking about veganism in a good way.
Oh yeah that is the worst. My granddad made foie gras once when I was little, in his small family farm. He never went on TV but he also says that he’s always treated his animals well. He really believes what he’s saying… It makes me sad. x)
Ah that’s true actually! Each time I come back to France I see some nice change, it’s encouraging!! :’)
I just found you and you are quite simply a genius! I also live in France and hate the way some animals are raised, especially the poor ducks, our area (Dordogne) is the foie gras kingdom so I am thrilled to find this inspirational vegan substitute. Keep on the good work, you are truly inspirational and thank you very much for sharing so generously
Thanks for your message Nia 🙂 Seeing farmers being proud of their work and “products” on TV is really the worse. I still don’t understand how such practices can be allowed…
In defense regarding duck and geese livers, I would like to point out that you can have perfectly decent foie gras without the abuse. I live in Alaska where being a vegan is very difficult if you have to subsist for your food (forage your local surroundings, and I doubt you’ll find chickpeas or cashews lying around). In the fall right before the Canadian geese leave for Down South, they gorge themselves silly with food. If you’re lucky to get a few, you’ll discover their their livers are HUGE, just as the force-fed geese. I am not defending force-feeding. I feel it is not natural and definitely cruel. However, I don’t mind if the geese do it as a natural behavior (getting ready for a long flight). Before you remove this comment from a vegan page, I do want to point out that I, as a carnivore, do visit vegan sites for recipes because I happen to like what I see. Do not condemn me or my food choices because I live in a place where I couldn’t possibly eat enough calories to keep my internal combustion engine going, let alone the calories needed to do everyday things. (2000-3000 kCals are required just to not to go hypothermic living in Kotzebue, AK.) And I still lost weight living up there.
Anne Hupe your comment is not relevant, not interesting and completely out of line. Eat your calories as you want, who wants to hear about that !!??
Don’t worry Ann, I’m not going to remove your comment, everyone has their own opinions. I’m not preaching the vegan lifestyle and prefer to let people make their own choices.
Even if ducks are feeding themselves, they are still being killed though. However, I don’t know how it is to live in Alaska, and what kind of food you have access to, so I cannot judge.
Hey Thomas!
I really want to try this recipe but I can’t stand the taste and smell of coconut. Can I replace it with cacao butter and normal oil?
Thank you very much!
Sarah
Hey Sarah,
I recommend using refined coconut oil in the recipe, it is odorless and has a bland taste!
Bonsoir Thomas !
J’ai testé cette recette (sans les shiitakés malheureusement, je n’en avais pas et j’étais trop pressée d’essayer) et le résultat est loin de ressembler à vos photos. J’obtiens un bloc dur et cassant, même en le gardant à température ambiante.. Ce n’est absolument pas onctueux, la texture rappelle plutôt celle d’une margarine très solide.
Je n’ai rien modifié sinon les champignons. Avez-vous une idée d’où peuvent venir ces différences ?
Merci d’avance 🙂
J’espère que le fait que j’écrive ce message en français ne pose pas de problème !
Bonne soirée 🙂
Bonjour Anaïs,
Je pense que cela doit venir de vos proportions car j’ai réalisé cette recette plusieurs fois sans problème. Pour ce qui est du beurre de cacao et de l’huile de coco, ils doivent être mesurés fondus. 1/4 cup de beurre de cacao doit être est égal à environ 50g je pense. Concernant les noix de cajou, 2 cups font à peu près 300g.
Normalement le foie gras devrait avoir une texture fondante, très ressemblante au vrai.
Merci beaucoup pour cette réponse rapide ! J’avais pesé 55 grammes d’huile de coco et de beurre de cacao, je vais réessayer en diminuant les proportions.
Je pense que le problème doit être ailleurs alors car 5g ne devraient pas changer beaucoup la texture en principe.
Salut Thomas,
J’aimerais savoir si tu as déjà essayé de conserver plus longtemps via congélation ou stérilisation? Et quel était le résultat?
Merci d’avance 🙂
Salut Noemie,
Je n’ai jamais essayé de stériliser ce foie gras, par contre il se congèle plutôt bien.