16 Homemade Vegan Cheese Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What are the ingredients of vegan cheese? ›

Vegan cheese is usually made from soy, nuts, vegetable oils, and various other natural ingredients like peas or arrowroot. Vegan cheese is seen as a healthier alternative to cheese by some, and may reduce your risk of heart disease due to its lower content of fat.

Components of typical imitation cheese include water, vegetable fat, rennet casein, emulsifying salt, sodium chloride, and a preservative (O'Riordan, Duggan, O'Sullivan, & Noronha, 2011). Starch can be used for full or partial replacement of rennet casein.

The more common types of vegan cheese being manufactured, distributed, and produced through this market are mozzarella, Parmesan, cheddar, Gouda, and cream cheese non-dairy based cheeses.

How to store homemade vegan cheese? Once set, the leftovers can be kept, covered, in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze it, in an airtight freezer-safe container, for up to 3 months.

Parmela Shreds

Parmela nailed it (don't ask us how). These cashew-based shreds not only taste like cheese, but they also melt perfectly. Varieties include Mild Cheddar, Sharp Cheddar, Mozzarella, and Fiery Jack.

As vegan blog Wag Free Food notes, coconut oil, coconut milk, and coconut cream are popular ingredients to make vegan cheese. The high-fat content of coconut makes it easier to create a creamy, decadent, cheese-like product.

Following a crackdown by Maharashtra's Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), fast food giant McDonald's has assured customers that it only uses "genuine, high-quality cheese" in its products.

Many cheeses are made with animal rennet, which comes from the fourth lining of the stomach of ruminant animals, usually a young calf. Here, find out why cheese is not always a vegetarian-friendly choice and how you can find cheese not made with animal products.

Violife is the kingpin of vegan cheeses — and for good reason. The brand manufactures numerous vegan cheese products including mozzarella, cheddar, and Mexican-style shreds, vegan cream cheese alternatives, mature cheddar cheese slices, cheese alternative dips, feta, and shaved parmesan.

Vegan milks are made from a wide assortment of beans, nuts, seeds, and grains. The most popular varieties are soy milk, almond milk, and oat milk. Other popular brands are made from coconuts, peas, cashews, hazelnuts, or rice.

What vegan cheese melts? ›

Nuts were a game-changer for vegan cheese because they provide a lot of fat: 100 grams of cashews have 44 grams of fat, versus 6.4 grams of fat in the same amount of soybeans. This allows for richer flavor and texture that gets closer to imitating animal milk dairy.

Much like regular cheese, vegan cheeses can have a place at the table as part of a healthy diet — but they shouldn't be relied on as a sole source of nutrition. Too much of any single food could be unhealthy, especially if it's replacing other vital nutrients or food groups.

Fear not, you can save them for later by putting the vegan cheeses in to your freezer. We have had fantastic results with freezing most of the vegan cheeses we have tried over the years and never had one come out bad after freezing. They're texture has remained the same after defrosting and none have been ruined.

Some of the more processed types of vegan cheese contain large amounts of refined oils, preservatives, color additives and sodium while being mostly void of substantial nutritional value. In general, foods like this should be consumed minimally, if at all.

Is vegan cheese healthy? In terms of health, vegan cheese is generally considered better for you than dairy cheese as it's lower in saturated fat and often has added vitamin B12, which contributes to a healthy nervous system.

Field Roast Chao Creamery Slices: I love the original creamy vegan cheese slices from Field Roast/Chao Creamery. They're made from coconut and fermented tofu, which makes them tasty enough to snack on raw (they don't have any artificial or off putting taste).

Vegans can eat cheese that is comprised of plant-based ingredients like soybeans, peas, cashews, coconut, or almonds. The most common types of vegan cheeses are cheddar, gouda, parmesan, mozzarella, and cream cheese that can be found in non-dairy forms.