EASY Stretchy Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
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The Stretchy Vegan Mozzarella Cheese of your dreams, made with just 5 ingredients and in 15 minutes! Perfect for grilled cheese, lasagna, pizza and more!
Meet the vegan mozzarella cheese of your dreams! Stretchy, tangy and oh-so-delicious. I love using this mozzarella on pizza and my new favorite place for it is on top of Vegan Lasagna. Oh my goodness, it takes the lasagna to a whole new level of amazing!
This cheese also makes a mouthwatering vegan grilled cheese sandwich, which I love alongside tomato soup. Talk about an easy meal that kids and grown-ups will love!
I’m sure you could use this vegan mozzarella in many more ways that I haven’t even discovered yet. I’m thinking french onion soup, eggplant parmesan, quesadillas, dips… The possibilities are endless.
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How do you make Vegan Mozzarella?
It’s very easy. First, you soak your cashews in hot water for 5 minutes (or up to an hour). Drain them, and add to a high powered blender with all the other ingredients. Blend; the mixture will be very watery.
Add to a small saucepan and stir constantly over medium heat. After a few minutes, it will start to get clumpy. Keep stirring. And then all of a sudden it magically turns into smooth, stretchy vegan mozzarella! That’s it, it’s ready to use.
How to brown vegan mozzarella in the oven:
I’ve discovered something new lately about this cheese. It will totally brown and bubble in the oven, like real mozzarella would! Simply spray the cheese with a little oil (I used olive oil spray), and broil for 5-10 minutes in the oven. I spread some cheese on sourdough bread and broiled it, and wow, it was incredible cheesy bread. I think this would work on top of casseroles (like lasagna), pizza and more.
What is tapioca starch and where can I find it?
You can read more about tapioca flour/starch here at Bob’s Red Mill. Tapioca starch and flour are usually the same thing, but not always. It’s made from the crushed pulp of the cassava root.
It’s a white powder and works similarly to cornstarch as a thickener. It’s absolutely necessary and perfect for making this vegan mozzarella. If you don’t see it in your local store, you can order it on Amazon here. It’s pretty inexpensive, and one bag will last you a long, long time.
How to use vegan mozzarella:
- Grilled Cheese – Spoon the cheese between two slices of (vegan) buttered bread and grill for a fantastic grilled cheese.
- Pizza – Spoon dollops of cheese on top of pizza crust along with other toppings of choice and cook as you normally would. You can also try to spread it all over the pizza (this works best when the mozzarella is very fresh).
- Lasagna – Spoon the cheese all over the top of the lasagna in the last 20 minutes of baking in the oven. Bake uncovered with the cheese, and broil if desired to brown in spots.
- Anywhere else you’d like! Dip chips into it, make quesadillas, in enchiladas, etc.
Recipe adapted from Minimalist Baker.
EASY Stretchy Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh from about 1/2 lemon
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons tapioca starch
Instructions
- Boil 2 cups of water (I just heat up water in my tea kettle). Pour the water over the cashews and let soak for 5 minutes and up to an hour.
- Drain the cashews, and add them to a blender along with 1 1/3 cups fresh water (not the water you soaked the cashews in), lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, salt and tapioca starch. Blend until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed. It will be very watery at this point.
- Now pour the watery mixture into a small saucepan and bring the heat to medium. Begin to stir with a spatula or spoon.
- After a few minutes, it will begin to get clumpy. Keep stirring, constantly until suddenly it will become super gooey, stretchy, thick and smooth. It will become one big mass of stretchy vegan cheese. Remove from heat as soon as this happens.
- Use immediately, or store in a covered container in the refrigerator. It is easiest to use immediately, because it will thicken up more in the fridge and be less stretchy. So if possible, especially for using on pizza or lasagna, make right before using.
- For pizza, drop 1-2 tablespoon sized balls onto the crust and pat down a little bit. Or spread it all over. It will brown in the oven. For lasagna, drop dollops of the cheese all over the top towards the end of cooking time. Or place between bread and grill for grilled cheese.
Video
Notes
- Tapioca starch/flour is essential in this recipe, cornstarch will not create the same "stretchy" quality.
- I've never tried it with another nut, but I suspect raw slivered almonds could work.
- If you want the cheese to brown in the oven (like it looks on the bread in the post above), simply spray with a little oil and broil for 5-10 minutes, watching carefully. This is wonderful for lasagna, pizza, or just atop bread for cheesy bread.
- I have frozen this and while it is still edible, it definitely tastes best fresh. It will keep in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. But again, it will be the most stretchy and easy to work with immediately.
Nutrition
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290 Comments on “EASY Stretchy Vegan Mozzarella Cheese”
Made the recipe and followed the instructions exactly. Consistency was perfect, but it was basically pretty flavorless. Next time, plan on adding 1/4 cup more almonds and some nutritional yeast (1/4 cup?), along with about double the salt. May also try using some almond milk to replace some of the water.
I’m a bit confused because you say you followed the instructions exactly, but you talk bout adding more almonds? The recipe doesn’t call for almonds, and in fact the cheese would taste quite different if you used almonds instead of raw cashews. Raw cashews are mild, creamy and are the best choice here. Aside from that, this cheese isn’t supposed to be full of flavor, but is more mild like real mozzarella. For the best taste, use raw cashews. Totally fine to add more salt to taste, nutritional yeast if you want and whatever else.
Hello,
The only tapioca I was able to find is not a powder, it’s more like the texture of a course salt. Do you think that will work or I should keep looking for a powder form?
Thanks!
Sorry, that won’t work. You are looking for tapioca starch, also sometimes called tapioca flour, not just plain old tapioca. It should be powdery, like cornstarch. Thanks!
Hi Nora,
Just wondering if almonds could be substituted for cashews, have allergies to cashews ?
I’ve never tried it, but it might work with raw slivered almonds that have been soaked very well.
I just made your mozzarella. It’s great. So much better than anything I’ve bought. Thank you
You’re welcome!
Can I make it into cheese shreds? If so, how?
This recipe, not so much. It won’t work. But you could go make my Shreddable Vegan Mozzarella instead.
Okay first time trying and it turned out as described. The only thing, in the video, the “cheese” looks really white, mine is kind of a beige colour – like the colour of cashews. How did you make yours so white??
I’m not sure, it’s always as white as in the videos. Did you use roasted cashews? Sometimes those are darker in color. Raw cashews once blended are very white.
Tried it and found it to be as you described it. Cooked a bit too much and it became a ball. Is that acceptable?
It’s probably fine, but try to cook it a bit less next time so it’s stretchy and doesn’t burn.
I’m so confused, my cheese also stayed pretty liquidy without solidifying. It was like a fondue. I used brand new tapioca, this was my first attempt. I stirred for almost 20 minutes on medium and even boiled it a tiny bit to see if that would help and it’s still liquid. Can you please post a photo of the final product and what it should look like? I referenced the photos above but they don’t sound like what the description says. Thank you!!
Something went wrong for sure! It should not be like fondue, or liquidity at all once finished. It should be stretchy, similar to melted cheese. It’s not a sauce, but it’s not completely hard cheese either. The photos show what it looks like, and you can also watch the video to see the magic happen. You didn’t specify if you used tapioca starch, just tapioca so I’m wondering what you used? That is the ingredient necessary for making the cheese turn stretchy and cheesy, nothing else works the same. Hope that helps!
Thank you for your quick reply! I used the same Tapioca starch that you have the image of for Bob’s Red Mill. My computer wasn’t showing me the video last night, I just watched it and mine didn’t look like that at all. Yours almost looks like lumpy cottage cheese at first before it gets gooey, mine didn’t do that either. Do you think it could happen if I soaked the cashews for too long? I will definitely try again! I still used it on top of the lasagna (your recipe was amazing!!) I’m bound and determined to figure it out! 🙂
Interesting! Try turning the heat up as well, because it needs to get hot enough to make the switch to gooey. I don’t think soaking the cashews too long would matter. Do you have a powerful enough blender to smooth the cashews and other ingredients? That is so odd!
Thanks, Nora! I will try with the heat a bit higher next time. Yes, the cashew liquid was totally liquified. I’m a rookie with a lot of new vegan recipes (Vegetarian for 17 years) and will continue to experiment and try new things! Thank you for having so many delicious options to choose from! I will become a gooey cheesy master!
Super, the best vegan “cheese”ever, ten stars.
Thanks!
I just made it in a sandwich with roasted red peppers mushroom and spinach it was amazing! I wanted to eat it by the spoonful. Thank you!
You’re welcome!
I finally tried this tonight after being intimidated to work with tapioca starch, and now I wish I’d tried it so much sooner! This was incredibly easy, and the consistency was great for the quesadillas I made. I’m excited to try this with so many other recipes now. Thank you so much! I really appreciate how your recipes never, ever disappoint.
You’re welcome!
This is the best vegan cheese recipe in the whole entire world wide web! My husband and I use it for everything. It is easy and fast to make and it is delicious Beyond Compare!