16 Homemade Vegan Cheese Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What are the ingredients in vegan cheese? ›

What Ingredients Are in Vegan Cheese? Vegan cheeses are 100% animal-free and made using vegetable proteins. Usually, they're made from soy; nuts, such as cashews and macadamias; and vegetable oils, such as coconut oil. You can also find cheeses that derive from agar, tapioca, peas and arrowroot.

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.

Nutritional yeast – It gives this dairy-free cheese the nutty, savory flavor of the real thing! Garlic and onion powder – They add delicious depth of flavor. Apple cider vinegar – It gives this vegan cheese a bright, tangy finish.

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.

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. The last one is phenomenal in dairy-free quesadillas!

Real Vegan Cheese (RVC) is a grassroots, non-profit research project working to produce real cheese using cellular agriculture. We add the genes for cheese proteins to yeast and other microflora, and turn them into little protein factories, then make real cheese by adding plant-based fats and sugars.

Plant-based alternatives to milk include almond milk, soy milk, and oat milk. For eggs, you can use substitutes like flaxseed or chia seed eggs, mashed bananas, or tofu. Cheese alternatives include options made from nuts (like cashews or almonds), soy, or nutritional yeast-based varieties.

If you're really trying to stick with a whole food plant-based/vegan way of life, making your own vegan cheese is often healthier than store-bought -- which can have gums, oils, and fillers in spades. And good news: making dairy-free cheese is really easy!

Why does vegan cheese taste sour? ›

Updated a year ago. As a rule, freshly fermented cheese tastes slightly sour after one day. If it has become very sour after a short time, you may have used too much starter culture or your container is in a very warm place.

Like regular cheese, vegan cheese can be part of a healthy diet when used in moderation — but it's best to avoid highly processed options. However, not all vegan cheeses are created equally. Some versions are highly processed and have less nutritional value than others.

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.

Sliced Cheese

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). They also melt quite well.

Many plant-based substitutes for animal products, such as vegan cheese, are also categorised as ultra-processed based on the NOVA classification system because they typically contain ingredients such as protein isolates, seed oils, emulsifiers, gums, additives.