Publised on 31/05/2019. Last Updated on 31/05/2019 by Richard
Vegan mozzarella cheese that melts, browns and stretches like the real thing! Revolutionise your vegan pizza game in minutes!
Heads up: this recipe was updated on 7th Nov 2022. If you'd like to follow the original recipe, skip to the "Variations" section of this blog post.
This is the updated, more affordable, easier to make and arguably even better tasting version of my vegan mozzarella recipe. It's ideal for pizzas, grilled cheese sandwiches, pasta bakes - YOU NAME IT!
It takes literally minutes to make and stores in the fridge until you're ready to use it! And guess what? It uses even fewer specialist ingredients than before! Too gouda to be true? Read on and find out!
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🥫Vegan Mozzarella Ingredients
Here's a run-down of everything you'll need to make my vegan mozzarella! I've simplified this recipe and done away with as many difficult to source ingredients as I can without sacrificing the quality of the cheese! Hopefully, this means you'll have most of these ingredients in your pantry anyway!
- Silken tofu - Use a soft variety if you can find it. Got a soy allergy? See the notes under the "Substitutions" section below!
- Rice vinegar - To give our cheese just a little extra tang! If you don't have rice vinegar, see the "Substitutions" section below!
- Agave syrup - Sugar also works fine! Agave just blends more easily because it's already a liquid.
- Nutritional yeast flakes - For that cheesy umami kick.
- Tapioca starch - This is what makes the vegan mozzarella melty and stretchy!
- Sea salt
- Vegetable oil - Cheese is mostly fat, so for authenticity we need a little oil! Any neutral vegetable oil will do.
- Water
As always, full quantities are in the recipe card at the bottom of the page!
🔪 Method!
Let's take a look at the processes involved in making homemade vegan mozzarella! It's insanely easy and I just know you're gonna breeze through it!
1. Assemble your ingredients! Everything can all go in the same cup or blender together at this stage. No need to separate wet and dry ingredients! Just throw em all in!
2. Blend everything! To get super smooth vegan mozzarella you'll want to blend as well as you can. If you have a high-speed blender, use it! If you don't, use a food processor or immersion blender!
3. Cook the mixture! You'll now need to transfer the mixture to a saucepan and place over a medium/low heat. You'll need to keep whisking constantly as the mixture will catch and burn if you're not careful!
4. Bingo! The sauce will thicken and become very stretchy. It'll happen quite suddenly and usually after a good few minutes of nothing at all happening, so be prepared! Your vegan mozzarella is now ready to use!
Hint: Once cooked in the saucepan, your vegan mozzarella is ready to use on pizza, pasta you name it! But remember, for perfect results I'd advise grilling/broiling or baking your cheese before serving. This will improve the texture and the flavour, plus you'll get to see it melt and brown!
🔄 Substitutions
Got some dietary requirements but still wanna make the best vegan mozzarella on the planet?? No problemo! This recipe is naturally:
- Gluten free - No elements of this recipe contain gluten! So go wild!
- Soy - The recipe includes tofu, which is obvs soy-based but this can easily be replaced for your favourite soy-free plant milk!
- Dairy - Not a huge surprise, but this vegan mozzarella is FREE FROM DAIRY! Oh, you already knew that? Ok, cool. Glad we're on the same page..
If you've made this recipe with some swaps, let me know how it worked out on my instagram!
🍽 Vegan Mozzarella Variations
Look, this recipe is magic, but you may want to take things a step further! Here's how!
- Too Gouda To Be True?! - Make your own melty smoky vegan gouda instead of mozzarella! In the recipe card at the bottom of the page, just add the "Smoked Gouda" variation ingredients before blending!
- Original recipe - This recipe is an update, but if you're loyal to the original, you can find the former ingredients list in the notes section of the recipe card!
Looking to try some other vegan cheeses? Why not whip up some grateable vegan cheese, for use in your sandwiches! You might also be a fan of my vegan Philly cheesesteak recipe or my vegan cauliflower cheese!
🫕 Equipment!
You won't need much to get cracking - just a few bits of essential vegan mozzarella kit!
- Blender, Immersion blender or Food processor
- Small saucepan
- Whisk
❄️ Make Ahead!
My vegan mozzarella will store for a few days in a sealed container in the fridge. Just spoon it over whatever and grill/broil until golden and bubbling. Alternatively one of my fave things to do is to chill until spoonable then freeze until firm. The vegan mozzarella will keep for good few months in the freezer and can be grated more easily over pasta and pizza!
🙋♀️ Vegan Mozzarella FAQs
A: Vegan mozzarella is made from a blend of vegetable oil, tapioca starch and cheesy flavoured ingredients like nutritional yeast. The tapioca starch helps it to melt and stretch like real mozzarella!
A: Dairy mozzarella is not vegan, since it's made from animal products. You can easily make your oven vegan mozzarella though, using the recipe below!
Vegan Mozzarella
Equipment
- Blender, Immersion blender or Food processor
- Small saucepan
- Whisk
Ingredients
- 50 g silken tofu OR sub for 60ml of any plant milk
- 2 teaspoon rice vinegar OR sub for any neutral flavoured white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon agave syrup OR sub for 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
- 5 tablespoon tapioca starch
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 90 ml vegetable oil OR sub for any neutral oil
- 300 ml water
FOR SMOKED GOUDA VARIATION ADD:
- 3 teaspoon liquid smoke
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon extra salt
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in the cup of a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Alternatively blend with an immersion blender or food processor until smooth.50 g silken tofu, 2 teaspoon rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon agave syrup, 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes, 5 tablespoon tapioca starch, 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, 90 ml vegetable oil, 300 ml water
- Transfer to a small saucepan and place over a medium low heat. Whisk constantly until the mixture is thick and stringy. The liquid will start to thicken suddenly so do not leave unattended. The thickened vegan cheese should resemble fondue or melted stringy cheese. Remove from the heat.
- Use immediately or transfer to a container and store in the fridge until you're ready. The cheese will not set but will become thicker and more spoonable when chilled. For best results, cook this vegan cheese under the grill or broiler for a few minutes - this way it'll melt, bubble and brown to its full potential.
Olen
By definition, your old version is a savory cashew pudding, not cheese...which, by definition, is coagulated milk (vegan or animal) protein and is low carb. Try replacing the tapioca starch with Iota Carrageenan (which forms a stretchy gel, whereas Kappa C forms a jello-like gel like the agar). But, it has at least 4-5 times the gelling strength as agar...about 1 tsp is enough for this recipe. Just be sure the mixture is heated to at least 180 degrees or it will not dissolv. It sets when the misture cools to about 150 degrees. (Virtually all online recipes have carrageenan added to a mixture, to which boiling water is added. But, it never gets hot enough to dissolve the carrageenan, so much too much must be added.) Replace 2/3 of the nutr. yeast with white miso or sauerkraut juice, as true aged cheese flavor is mostly from bacterial curing & only partly from yeast. The vinegar for "tang" is better than the lemon juice in some recipes, but vegan source lactic acid would be better yet. What is missing in every "vegan cheese" recipe online is the butter flavor of butterfat in "real cheese". A half tsp of vegan butter flavoring would make a world of difference. I hope these tips are useful.
Diana
Great recipe thanks! I didn't add agar agar didn't have any, but it came out just as good...stretchy. It has a really satisfying pizza cheese flavor.
Frances Redpath
Finally! The perfect melty vegan cheese and believe me I've tried lots. Maybe the psyllium husk is what makes it? Made it for pizza one night, froze what was left then grated half and sliced the other half. Amazing on burgers too. I subbed in 1 tbsp lemon juice for 1 tbsp water to add a bit of tang.
Ruby
Is 3 tsp of liquid smoke the right amount? In other cheese recipes they use ~ 1/2 tsp, at most. I feel like 1 tbsp of liquid smoke would be too much, right?
Olen
Ruby...3 tsp is exactly equal to one tablespoon; and 2 T equals an ounce (ie: 4 T to a quarter cup).. How much L smoke you use depends on the strength & brand, as well as your personal taste. Colgans is weak, and I won't buy it. Wright's is good stuff and much stronger. 1-1.5 tsp is probably enough for this recipe...but, again, it depends on how smoky you want the end product.
The great vegan over hype
I dont k ow what everybody is on, but I made this and it is just gross. Basically unedible slime. Please stop overhyping bad recipies and wasting peoples time.
Olen
Replace the tapioca starch with IOTA carrageenan, which forms a stretchy gel (kappa carrageenan forms something more akin to Jello). Just make sure to dissolve it in boiling water if your not going to heat the whole mixture to at least 180 degrees. Carrageenan has much more gelling ability than agar...but most online recipes have you add way too much, because, with their instructions, most does not dissolve. 1 tsp would be plenty....compared to multiple tablespoons of tapioca starch.
Lucy
Yeah, this is the real deal! And so easy to make. Taste and texture are so spot on that we had non-vegan friends in disbelief. Worked such a treat on our margarita pizza. Thank you so much for sharing.
Steve
Flavor is good but man, the texture is so bad it’s hard to describe without sounding juvenile. Really, really off putting to the point where I threw the batch away. I don’t blame the author: getting the texture of real mozzarella seems to be impossible. But this one really made me pause and wonder if I could swallow it.
olen
Steve...see my comments about replacing the tapioca starch with Iota Carrageenan. The problem with using tapioca is that you are creating something that is a cross between dough & pudding. In fact, its both...but certainly not cheese. Tofu by definition is real cheese (that is, colagulated milk proteing). But, without the casein protein of animal milk, it doesn't melt or stretch. The Iota Carrageenan replaces it, without giving the "snotty" texture of tapioca starch. Just be to heat it enough so it dissolves, don't over use it (ie: use a tsp or less for every T of tapioca)...and don't replace with Kappa Carrageenan, whose gel is firmer, but not "stretchy-melty".
Dee
This did not taste like mozzarella and had the consistency of phlegm.
madeline
Okay so, I MADE AN ACCIDENTAL EDIT and there was no gloop factor! For some reason, I have been making this recipe exactly as is, but instead of the 50g silken tofu i have been using the whole 375g BOX (I’m not sure how i made this error)!!!
I’ve cooked it this way three times and loved it, on pizza, pasta bakes, however today I noticed it required only 50g and adjusted my recipe….and the gloop factor was not appealing. When I used the large amount of silken tofu, (250-300g would be ideal) it was thinner but much milkier/creamier and it still bubbled/browned in the same way.
Don’t give up on the recipe, just add more tofu!
Tatiana
Can I put on the pizza with the other ingredients and bake it? Or should I put it on when pizza is almost done?