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, have you by any chance tried this recipe with Cashew Milk in place of blended cashews and water? If not, do you think that might work?
I don’t think that would work, but I haven’t tried it. Using real cashews makes it thick and creamy, but it might work!
Good Morning. Can I just check, the water you start with is 1 and 1 3rd or a 3rd cup?
Thank you.
Hi! Yes 1 plus 1/3rd cup water. Hope that helps!
Wow this is really amazing! I just tried the recipe for the first time and turned out very good! I am allergic to cashews so I used sunflower seeds. Thank you for a great recipe!
Hi Tina. I’m glad the cheese turned out well for you using sunflower seeds! Thank you for sharing your review!
This recipe has changed my life. I was missing cheese and am so happy to have found this incredible recipe. My kids love the cheese leftover cold as well! Thanks Nora!
Hi Michelle. I’m so glad to hear that you and your children love the cheese! Thank you for sharing!
This blew my mind, eerily close to the real thing! I used it for eggplant parmesan. I REALLY needed the comfort food tonight–thanks so much for this. : )
Hi Johanna. I’m so glad you love the cheese, and that it brought you comfort! Thank you!
So easy and absolutely delicious! We made pizza scrolls (like cinnamon rolls, only with marinara sauce and vegan pepperoni instead of cinnamon sugar) and put a dollop of this mozz on top of each one, but I can’t wait to make more and use in grilled cheese. Thank you for another fabulous recipe – I never would have though that I was capable of making vegan cheese!
It’s really great to hear this cheese was easy…and delicious, Kari! I’m so glad! Thank you a lot for taking time to share your kind review! Happy cooking!
So good! And approved by my picky 4-year old too. I made this as written and it is so yummy and tasted great on our gluten-free pizza. The high MSG content of nutritional yeast gives me migraines, and it’s hard to find yummy vegan cheese recipes that don’t contain it. This is perfect. Thank you!
I’m thrilled you love the cheese, Nikki! Thanks a lot for taking you time to share your kind review! Enjoy the cheese!
This is SO good and SO easy! Thanks for your kitchen wizardry.
Thanks Jennifer!
In the mozzarella can I use all lemon juice instead of AC vinegar? Allergic. Or rice vinegar or white?
Yes, you can use all lemon juice or white/rice vinegar. No problem!
I am sensitive to AC vinegar. Is the mozzarella possible without it? Rice vinegar or white?
Also for the Mayo can I use all lemon juice?
A new Oster blender works with soaked cashews for me.
Yes, any of these kinds of recipes are fine to sub either more lemon juice or white vinegar/rice vinegar. I’m glad your blender works for you, thank you for sharing.
I love love love this recipe. I use it all the time at home! Can this be frozen and used later? Asking because I live in Pakistan and my friends and I are looking for an easy to make/use recipe for a pizza place that is open to making vegan cheese pizza for the vegans in my city! Hard to find ingredients like agar agar and nooch here so looking for something easy with simple ingredients like this.
Hi Tamara in Pakistan! I’m glad you love the cheese! 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. I hope this helps!
Hi Nora! Tofu swap for cashews was a success! Incredible recipe! Thank you thank you for making my QUESO FUNDIDO dreams come true! I’ll explain…here to share my highly successful swaps: Half the amount of ACV per everyone’s advice; 1/2 cup drained firm tofu in place of cashews to keep calories down bc my end goal here was to add chorizo and I know I won’t be able to stop eating it – SO – tofu makes me feel less guilty than cashews haha. Once the cheese was ready I browned and added an entire pack of Trader Joe’s soyrizo, ate it with corn tortillas, almond milk sour cream and fresh cilantro and OMG it was absolutely SUBLIME. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Also, the tofu lends itself perfectly to people w/out high speed blenders as it blends up nice and smooth no problem. Thank you so much for your inspo, this will definitely be a new staple in my house!
Hi Melissa. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Nora,
Would arrowroot work instead on tapioca?
Hi! The cheese will get thick but not stretchy when using arrowroot, so I wouldn’t recommend it.
Superb recipe ♥️ Thanks so much Nora! Instead of directly cooking it on a saucepan, I used a “double boil” method to prevent the cheese from burning!
Thank you! I’m glad you are enjoying the recipe!
not sure if I cooked it too long or not enough what is the normal cooking time on the stove
It depends on what heat you are cooking it on, but on medium/high heat it takes me 5-10 minutes. It will go from being watery, to clumpy, to stretchy and in one mass. The video shows this process well, if that helps. Thanks!
Recipe worked perfectly! Used the cheeze on pizza, nachos, grilled cheese, and quesadillas. Wonderful addition!
Hi LD. I’m glad it worked perfect for you! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Nora may I please ask you a quick question? There are several of your recipes I’ve been eager to try but hesitate because I do not (yet) have a Vitamix. If I wanted to make this recipe using my food processor do you think that’s possible? Would you suggest soaking the cashews overnight in the fridge?
Hi Jules! It can be challenging to achieve the same creamy results without a Vitamix or other high powered blender. It might work okay in a food processor, but the end result may still be a little grainy. Yes, I would soak them overnight if possible, to get them as soft as you can. Hope that helps!
It does help! Thank you for your replies.
You are welcome!
Hi there Jules, I don’t have a Vitamix either but I do have a NutriBullet and it works great for blending cashew smoothly. Sometimes I have to blend in batches because of size but if you have one for smoothies it works great in place of a Vitamix!
Nora!!!! You have outdone yourself and may I say that is the same compliment that I received from my husband when I made this cheese on Sunday for our Lasagna Dinner. Mm mm mm so yummy and even the next day when heated it up in the microwave, the lasagna was soooo good. I used your lasagna recipe too. Awesome. Can’t wait to make this cheese again. I am new to Plan base life so your website is GREAT!
Hi Kendra. It’s great to hear from you! I’m glad you and your husband enjoyed the cheese and lasagna! Thank you for using my recipes! Happy cooking!
Hi- I followed the directions exactly but unfortunately my cheese came out tasting like vinegar. Any suggestions? Thanks!
You can just leave out the vinegar if you don’t like the extra tang, or use more lemon juice instead. Thanks!
This vegan mozzarella is a game changer. I just had the most delicious caprese salad made with it chilled, we love it melted on pizza, and it turns lasagna into something out of this world.
I’ve also made it replacing the cashews with soaked, blanched and peeled almonds and it’s exquisite that way as well and has an even milder flavor for pairing with tomatoes and basil.
So quick, comes together so well on the stove, and is one of those recipes that is in a permanent rotation for our household.
Hi Kelly. I’m so glad you love the cheese! Thank you for sharing!
I want to thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes. They are truly my favorites and I can count on them 100%!!
Hi Cathy. Thank you very much, and thank you for using my recipes!
This was so good, easy, and quick! I put it in whole wheat tortillas with sautéed mushrooms to make quesadillas. Thank you!
Hi Staci. Sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Wow! Are you a chemist? That was like some weird science! It worked perfectly! I’m amazed at how much this tastes like mozzarella! I made the best vegan veggie pizza with it! Thanks for sharing!
Hi TaLawnda. LOL! I love creating new recipes! I’m so glad my cheese worked out perfect for you! Thank you for sharing your wonderful comments! Enjoy!
Excellent recipe, once again. Easy to prepare and so tasty. I followed your suggestion and added the 1/2 cup nutritional yeast. Thank you Nora for sharing.
Hi Isabelle. I’m glad the cheese turned out good for you, and that you like it! Thank you for using my recipes, and for taking the time to share!
Hi Nora!!
I’m so excited to try this recipe tonight to make some pizza sandwiches in die oven- just a question- can I add nutritional yeast to the mixture before heating it up to give an extra cheese flavour or will it change the outcome?
Thanks so much!
Yes, you can! I do this sometimes with a little pinch of turmeric for a “cheddar” effect. I’d add about 1/2 cup. Thanks and enjoy!