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.
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?
Tapioca flour is a starch extracted from cassava. Tapioca starch and flour are usually the same thing, but not always.
It’s a white powder and works similarly to cornstarch as a thickener. The difference is it’s the key to making cheeses like this stretchy instead of just thickened. It’s absolutely necessary and perfect for making this vegan mozzarella.
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.
Hi Nora! I made the vegan lasagna and WOW it was soooo amazing! I was absolutely blown away! Easy and delicious! My question is about the vegan mozz — the texture seemed a little off but I used all the ingredients. I plan on making the lasagna again and was hoping you could give me a pointer to make sure the mozz turns out just right! The texture was a bit more clumpy than stringy. Any thoughts?! Thanks so much!
I’m glad you enjoyed the lasagna, thank you. I’m wondering if you made any substitutions with the cheese, like using cornstarch instead of tapioca starch? Tapioca is key to it becoming stretchy, anything else just won’t work.
Hi Nora! Ana here, I followed it to a T! I used tapioca starch. Maybe I left it on the heat for too long? I thought I took it off right away, but maybe not fast enough! I’ll try it again, and cross my fingers! Thanks, Nora!
You are welcome, Ana. Thanks!
Brilliant!
My family and I loved how the texture came out for this recipe. I didn’t have lemon so used lime. The flavor was a bit tangy for us. Would it be a difference is lemon was used instead of lime? What would the result be like if lemon was omitted from the recipe?
Thanks!
If you don’t like the tang, feel free to omit the lemon juice altogether, or leave out the apple cider vinegar instead. Or both, but then there will be no tang at all. Glad you enjoyed it!
All I can say is WOW !!
If I could give this recipe 10 stars I would….this “cheese” is amazing and so simple to make.
I’ve just made my first batch. I only soaked the cashews for mins but it worked amazingly well. I then roasted it on a tray with a bit of olive oil – Yum !
I’ve been cooking for years and years both at home and in restaurants. I switched to being vegan about 2 years ago but as vegan find I really miss the taste and texture of proper cheese, especially in cooking.
I’ve tried loads of shop bought vegan cheese and (in my experience) most of it tastes nothing like the real thing it’s supposed to emulate.
This however does – it’s creamy, stretchy and very much like ordinary Mozzarella except better.
I can imagine all sorts of uses for it from pizza to lasagne to cheesy sauces etc.
So….
THANK YOU !
THANK YOU !
THANK YOU !
Hi Sara. Thank you for your amazing comments! I am so happy you love the cheese! Thank you for using my recipe!
Excellent! This by far had the best ‘mozzarella’ mouth feel! My kids loved it and it was so easy to make! I think this will be a weekly staple at our house
Hi Devin. I’m so glad your family loves the cheese! Thank you for sharing your comments, and enjoy!
Sooooo much better than anything I’ve found in the store. I’m so happy about the possibilities of food I can make now. Thank you!!
Glad you are enjoying, Shannon! Thank you!
It says the recipe makes 8 servings, but how much is in a serving?
I haven’t measured it exactly, but maybe around 1/2 cup? You would have to divide it into 8 equal portions to know exactly, and I don’t personally worry about it so I’m not sure. Thanks!
Can I use cornstarch if it’s all I have and can’t buy tapioca starch/flour
It won’t be stretchy, but it will be thick. Some people don’t seem to mind this, but it will be quite different than the original recipe.
I literally eat this by the spoonful. I’ve made this four times now and today I quadrupled the amount. I love having it in salads or really just by itself. I buy processed vegan cheese but there’s nothing I’ve come across in the stores that resembles this. Last time I left it on the stove too long and it became quite tough. This time I took it right off the stove as you say in the recipe and yeah I’m literally eating it by the spoonful. Also, I added a tbsp of citric acid to the quadrupled recipe and it added some extra tang. Thanks for the amazing recipe.
You’re welcome!
This worked great for lasagna. Was wondering if this could be chilled and grated to spread easier over a pizza?
Glad you enjoyed it! I’ve actually tried freezing it, then grating it, and it worked, but not that great. I find it easier to spread it or dollop it on pizza right when it’s fresh, before it thickens up too much. Hope that helps!
This is a delicious home made vegan mozzarella cheese. It is easy to cook ,and you spend less then 10 minutes on it. And your wonderful cheese is ready. My whole family loves it. Thank you for the recipe!
You’re welcome!
This turned out so good! So easy too! I smeared it over pizza and it browned beautifully in the oven and was all melty and gooey! Will definitely make again
Wow! So excited about how well this worked.
Hello I read online that cassava flour and tapioca flour were the same. I used cassava and I don’t know if that was a mistake? As it was grainy
No, they are different even though they come from the same plant. Tapioca is the starchy part of the plant, which is what you need here. So that’s why it turned out grainy. It will be much better with tapioca starch/flour. Hope that helps!
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!
I have some experience with vegan cheeses and the same thing happened. It stayed at fondue texture. That said, yum! Taste-wise it was one of the best I’ve had and is definitely worth another try. The flavor is so much better than store-bought. I will still use it in my lasagna and am sure it will turn out fine.
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!