This Vegan Mozzarella Cheese is creamy, plus it slices, shreds, and melts!
It takes only a few minutes and a blender to make this dairy-free mozzarella - no actual cooking involved! Everyone loves this amazing vegan cheese. You simply must try it!
Melty-stretchy gooey mozzarella cheese is something that I think all of us vegans dream of. Except now you don't have to just dream about it!
You can make it in your kitchen in about 5 minutes with just a handful of ingredients!
This Vegan Mozzarella Cheese...
- Is deliciously creamy
- Slices
- Shreds
- Melts - this is an amazing vegan cheese for pizza
- Is quick to make
- Healthy, thanks to a couple of nutrient-loaded ingredients, such as cashews and nutritional yeast flakes
I am excited for your try this stuff!
Shred this mozzarella and use it in my vegan manicotti or vegan stuffed shells stuffing, add it to pizza, serve it as part of a vegan charcuterie board, or simply snack on it!
What does Vegan Mozzarella taste like?
This Vegan Mozzarella is very mild and neutral flavored. It is rich and creamy, and has bit of that satisfying cheesy 'chew'.
I think it tastes a lot like string cheese actually.
It makes the perfect vegan pizza cheese, and I truly believe it is the best vegan mozzarella recipe.
What is Vegan Mozzarella made of?
- Refined Coconut Oil - Please don't miss the word refined. It doesn't taste like coconut but it still turns solid at cooler temps and just has that wonderful richness.
- Tapioca Flour This helps solidify the cheese, and also adds a 'stretchiness' to the texture.
- Kappa Carrageenan - This ingredient is what makes the cheese able to go from liquid to solid and back to melted state. It's a wonder ingredient and not widely sold. (find it on Amazon.
- Raw cashew pieces - These make the cheese creamy in texture and add lots magnesium, potassium, iron, and healthy fats to this vegan cheese
- Nutritional yeast flakes - Nutritional yeast is loaded with nutrients like niacin, Vitamins B1, B2, B6, B9, and B12, and it gives vegan cheese a wonderful realistic cheesy flavor
The one challenge of making this cheese is that it takes a few unusual ingredients that not everyone has on hand. But please believe me, it's SO worth it! (See all the rest of the ingredients in the photo below!)
How to make Vegan Mozzarella:
Assemble all your ingredients (Photo 1). Rinse Cashews under hot running water for several minutes. (Photo 2) Put all ingredients in the blender except for the water. (Photo 3)
Carefully! Add HOT (just boiled!) water to blender and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides of blender with spatula once if needed. The water must be JUST BOILED. I mean, HOT! (Photo 4)
Pour immediately into heat-safe dish (this will be your mold - no need to oil the mold) and place in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight. (Photo 5)
Slice, grate and enjoy!
Expert cooking tip for making cashew cheese:
Don't skip rinsing the cashews! (If you don't want run water over them for several minutes, soak them in super hot water for about 5 minutes and then rinse again.) This step really helps to decrease the 'cashew' flavor in the recipe, while still using the wonderful creaminess of the cashew!
What kind of mold to use to make vegan mozzarella?
Any small heat-safe container will do, but I like making mozzarella into a round shape so it resembles a mozzarella bowl. The 2-cup container from this set of Pyrex containers is perfect!
How long does vegan mozzarella last in the fridge?
This cheese will last about 4-5 days in the refrigerator... if it makes it that long. 😉
Can you freeze Vegan Mozzarella?
Sure! It does get a little softer in texture after thawing, but if you think you can't eat it all, by all means freeze it! (Most people have trouble making it last that long though! Check out the comments below! )
Does Vegan Mozzarella Melt?
Yes! This vegan mozzarella does melt at higher temps, so if you're baking a pizza you're in for a melty treat! It also works great melted in quesadillas, shredded over lasagna, and breaded and fried as vegan mozzarella sticks!!
Can you use Agar powder in place of the Kappa Carrageenan?
The short answer is yes. Double the amount recommended in the recipe for Kappa Carrageenan and replace with Agar Powder. Make sure to use Agar Powder, not Agar Flakes.
The long answer is also yes, but it won't have quite as firm a texture and may not be quite as melty. Which is still perfectly fine for many uses!
What I would NOT recommend substituting:
Don't replace the lemon juice with Lactic Acid. For some reason, the quick blending process used here does not work well with this substitution and your cheese may not set properly.
For a slightly drier cheese:
After your cheese block has hardened, you can wrap first in a dry paper towel, and then tightly in plastic wrap. This will remove any excess moisture.
For a softer cheese:
Decrease Kappa Carrageenan amount to 1 tbsp. This texture is ideal for making Mozzarella Balls.
Whew, reading about the ingredients is SO much harder than actually making this, I promise. I cannot wait for you to try this so you too, can successfully make and enjoy yummy, healthy, Real Vegan Mozzarella Cheese!!!
Other recipes you will love:
- Vegan nacho cheese
- Vegan feta cheese
- Best vegan egg salad
- Easy vegan buttermilk biscuits
- Vegan smoked Gouda cheese
- Vegan pepper Jack cheese
- Vegan cream cheese
- Vegan herbed cheese
- See my web story for 10 vegan cheese to try!
If you’ve tried this Vegan Mozzarella Cheese recipe or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I LOVE hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food!!!
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Real Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
Ingredients
- ½ cup Raw cashew pieces, Rinsed under hot water for several minutes
- ¼ cup Refined coconut oil
- ¼ cup Tapioca flour
- 1 Tbsp Nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 ½ Tbsp Kappa carrageenan
- 1 Tbsp Lemon juice
- 1 ¼-½ tsp Salt
- 1 ½ cup Boiling water
Special equipment
Instructions
- Select a heat-safe preferably glass dish that can hold approx 3C and set aside. (This is your cheese mold.)
- Rinse cashews under HOT water for several minutes.
- Put your water in a small pot on the stove to boil.
- Add all ingredients (except the water!) to the blender. Add the cashews first and then everything else on top of the cashews.
- Carefully add (so you don't burn yourself!!!) the boiling hot water into your blender. Put the blender lid on! And blend immediately until completely smooth.
- Stop blending once if need be to quickly scrape sides of blender and resume blending right after.
- Immediately transfer your cheese to your chosen dish/mold as it will start to solidify quickly as it cools.
- Place in refrigerator to chill. No need to cover yet.
- After 2-3 hours or when fully chilled, remove cheese block from dish/mold and wrap in paper towels and then tightly plastic wrap. The flavor gets better over a day or two but it’s great as soon as it’s hardened, too. Yeay! You are officially a cheese-maker!
Hi!
Do you think Guar Gam could work as well?
Thanks!
I have never tried it!! But doing some research, it looks like guar gum doesn't work as well in acidic foods, and since this mozzarella recipe uses lemon juice, I am afraid guar gum might not work... but I have not tried it! If you give it a try, please report back!
Hi Kate, Thanks for the recipe. The first time I managed to leave out the Lemon juice! It was also very quick to set and it was almost hard before the blender had done its job. I put the mixture into a silicone mould but the last bit was already set and it was a bit "Bitty" I tried again and used the lemon juice much better flavour though for me I would use a little less salt.
This time I only use 2/3 rds of the Carrageenan It was a little less quick to set but not by much! But I was able to get most of it into the mould. I think this for me is nearer to the right amount. Finally, why does my cheese look less white than yours?
Thanks once more and if I make any other changes that I feel may help others I will come back and post again.
Hi Roger! I have no idea why my cheese came out whiter... maybe our cashews were a slightly different color?
Hi Kate, So today I tried the cheese grated to see how well it melts. The answer is mine did not melt at all I took a picture but there doesn't seem to be a way to attach one. The toast was just buttered bread with the grated cheese on top then placed under the grill. The toast where there was no cheese was black, but the cheese remained the same. It tastes OK my problem seems to be the colour (which you may be correct) and the level and speed of the set. It grated perfectly well. I just wondered if you had any suggestions to improve meltability? Perhaps one more try but preferably if you can help. I still think of 2/3 rds the original amount of carrageenan it is still too hard and maybe this is not helping the melt either.
Many thanks for a great site.
Sadly this did not work for me. It was looking good when it first went to chill starting to solidify on the top. However when I went to remove it from the mold it was completely soft. I did try to wrap it in the hopes it might harden but sadly it did not. Not sue where the problem was, I used the instructed amounts of agar powder. I have made cheese balls before so not my first time, not exactly sure what happened.
Hi Dawn, it definitely comes out softer with agar powder and not as firm as mozzarella, but it should still be firm enough to make a spreadable cheese, cheese ball, or a soft sliced cheese. Maybe there was just a little too much liquid?
Hi Kate!!!
Thank you so much for the recipe
Can you tell me why only boiled water for blending?
Best Salva
I believe it's because the kappa needs to be dissolved in the water in order to work and for the cheese to set correctly. So it just has to be as hot as you can get it, preferable straight from a boiling kettle - as long as your blender jar is heat-safe.
I don't have lemon juice, but I do have: apple cider vinegar, malt vinegar, distilled white vinegar, and rice vinegar. I know you said not to sub lactic acid, but if your had to use one of what I listed, which would be best? Thank you!
Hi Melissa, I think apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar would be best, but it would definitely yield a different flavor than lemon juice. Do you have lime juice?
I am going to try this recipe this weekend. Is there a particular brand of nutritional yeast that you think provides the best flavor for mozzarella? Thank you.
Hi David, I love Bragg's and usually use that, so that's what I would recommend!
Can I sub cashew flour in place of raw cashews an if so would it be 1-1?
I am so curious to hear whether you used cashew flour instead of raw cashews?? I think cashew flour might leave you with a crumblier cheese instead of a solid cheese? But I am not sure! Please reply back and let me know which one you ended up using.
Hello Kate,
I am planning to make your recipe, but I just want to make sure before. I bought nutritional yeast POWDER Everland, Engevita), is it ok? If so, how much do I use? Thank you!
It should be OK, but it is probably a fine powder, while the nutritional yeast I use is flakes.. so since powder packs a little more into the same amount of volume, I would use just a little less than the recipe calls for. But I'm just guessing here! Let me know how much you end up using and how it turns out!
I made this recipe twice last night and unfortunately both times, it came out pretty bland, even with ingredient adjustments. The first tine it seemed “gritty” (even though my cashews were quite soft) so I preblended my cashews before adding everything else but still was somewhat “gritty” and flavourless. Not like a neutral mozz flavour but a watery bland taste. It firmed up quite fine, shreds great, but am just underwhelmed by the texture & flavour. I will still tinkle with it to see if I can get it to what I am looking for in a mozz cheese 🙂
Sorry to hear that! Definitely play around with the flavor! I find that the lemon juice and salt really do help make it taste very cheesy and a little "tangy" like cheese.
I used agar agar, and refrigerated the cheese overnight before trying it. It was soft, like ricotta, but had a great flavor. No grittiness or cashew taste. I put it on a pizza, in dollops, which did not melt, but still, tasted great. I'm going to use it in a sandwich next. Thanks for the recipe! I'll try making it again.
Enjoy!!
This was so easy to make! It turned out perfect! Mine was ready to eat with 30 minutes of pouring it into the mold. You’re not kidding about working fast...it sets up VERY quickly? I can’t wait to try it again with some herbs mixed in!
Ooh yes definitely try it with herbs! Look for my herbed cheese recipe, it is so good!