This Vegan Mozzarella Cheese is creamy, plus it slices, shreds, and melts!!! It takes only a few minutes and a blender to make – no actual cooking involved! Everyone loves this amazing vegan cheese! You simply must try it!
Melty-stretchy gooey 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 is:
- Creamy
- Slices
- Shreds
- Melts
- Is quick to make
- Healthy
So excited for your try this stuff!
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. If you like spice, check out my Vegan Pepper Jack recipe and if you’re more of a smoky person, you’ll definitely love Vegan Smoked Gouda.
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 or Modernist Pantry).
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!)
The Steps 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. (Photo 4)
Pour immediately into heat safe dish (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:
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!
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 tho! 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.
The long answer is also yes, but it won’t have quite as firm a texture and may not be quite as melty.
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, getting your ingredients together 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!!!
IF you like this post you might also be interested in:
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Real Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Cashews Rinsed under hot water for several minutes
- 1/4 cup Refined Coconut Oil
- 1/4 cup Tapioca Flour
- 1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast Flakes
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Kappa Carrageenan
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 1/4-1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 1/2 cup Boiling Water
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!
Karasi Mills
January 26, 2020 at 7:05 pmHi there! The flavor of this is amazing and I’m so happy that you’re shared this with us! Here’s a tip to make things safer- don’t use boiled water. I’m a lab scientist and have lots of recipes like this for making petri dishes. The key is to blend it really well with cold water then heat it on low, stirring occasionally. I used this technique tonight, and the key is to heat and stir until the mixture pulls together and completely off the sides. This creates a perfectly consistent texture and can cool in the pan (fridge) or pour into another container. This should work 100% of the time. One really shouldn’t ever blend boiling water. Thanks again!
Rebecca
January 27, 2020 at 8:49 amThanks so much for your comment! Totally understand your perspective on blending just boiled water. Gotta be SUPER careful! Stovetop cooking this cheese is a great alternative and it sounds like you have the method down with the low and slow… thanks for sharing!
Randy Coombs
February 3, 2020 at 12:22 amThere seems to be a concern with carrageenan lately to the point where a lot of products are labeling themselves as carrageenan free. I can’t find enough research indicating it is bad for the gut. What is your take on this?
Rebecca
February 3, 2020 at 9:57 amI’m in the same boat as you. I just am not convinced that it’s a problem; and it’s such a wonder ingredient! And, personally I haven’t noticed any stomach upset. At any rate, I try to be careful using any refined products in large quantities, so even vegan cheese for me is a treat, not an everyday staple.
Donna
February 10, 2020 at 4:59 pmThank you. I’m still waiting to try this, it’s wrapped in paper towel and cling wrap. I’ll wait until tomorrow to see how it is. I will say that I’m on a kick to find a great recipe for vegan cheese. I’ve altered some recipes to make them to our liking. They are supposed to be sliceable however it’s barely there. This hardened right up. I did take a bit of remnants from the mixer and popped it on a triscuit and then in the microwave. I was super impressed with the meltability of this cheese.
Rebecca
February 11, 2020 at 9:36 amGlad you like it so far! Let us know what you think once you have a chance to try it!
Chel
February 10, 2020 at 10:07 pmHi! Whats the nutrition portion based?
Rebecca
February 11, 2020 at 9:46 amThe block of cheese is estimated to serve 10 people. That works out to about 1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons per person. Hope that answers your question!
Robin Dorland
February 11, 2020 at 3:54 pmHello Rebecca, I have a question about your recipe.
It’s very unclear to me what the measurements are states in the the list of ingredients.
Does ‘1 1/2 cup/tsp/tbsp’ of water, kappa or whatever mean: “One half a cup/tsp/tbsp” OR “One AND a half cup/tsp/tbsp”? Please explain this, because I am very eager to try this, but I don’t want to screw it up and let the ingredients go to waste.
Thank you.
Rebecca
February 11, 2020 at 3:56 pmSorry that it is unclear… 1 1/2 means one AND a half. Hope that helps!
Robin
February 16, 2020 at 2:00 pmThank you for a great recipe! Just made this, it is great tasting! Everyone feels it tastes like true Mozzarella, win win! I cant wait for this to be gone so I can make it with the full 1/2 cup of cashews LOL, I saw 1/4 cup and that’s what I used. They will really think its good then! Now I’m off to make the Cream Cheese recipe with my newly arrived Kappa Carrageenan.
Rebecca
February 16, 2020 at 6:53 pmGlad you loved the recipe, even with the adaption! Haha! Thanks so much for the comment!
Deb
February 17, 2020 at 2:44 pmLove this cheese! I make it every week and have shared the recipe with many! I feel like I am relying too heavily on cashews for my family lately. Do you think you could sub sunflower seeds?
Rebecca
February 17, 2020 at 4:06 pmSo glad you like the cheese! Some readers have subbed the cashews for soaked and rinsed sunflower seeds and tell me that it works well! I haven’t personally tried it, but it seems like at least a partial substitution would be fine. Also, blanched and soaked almonds would be a good sub! Hope that helps!
Sarah
February 20, 2020 at 9:09 pmHi there, really syked to try this as my previous attempts at vegan cheese have failed (I’ve got allergies to anything dairy).
One question, is there an alternative I can use for the coconut oil? I have an issue with coconut and I’ve been told to avoid it whenever possible
Rebecca
February 21, 2020 at 5:55 pmI’m so sorry, but there really aren’t any good alternatives to coconut oil in this recipe! That is one of the ingredients that helps the cheese to become solid, and also be able to melt! Not the same kind of cheese, but this nacho cheese is super yummy and doesn’t require any coconut oil!