By Alex Koons

Say cheese and die! Mozzarella, cheddar, Gouda, Brie—one of the most delicious things on this planet is cheese. But for many years, it was a rough go finding the right plant-based replacement for cheese if you catered to a vegan pizza crowd.

In 2024, there are various vegan cheeses out there. Many try, but a lot of them come up very short. That’s mostly due to the use of anti-caking agents, the way it kind of melts like plastic, and the phlegm-like texture in the back of your throat when eating it.

The cheese we are gonna make today will have none of that.

This recipe is super simple: You just need to procure eight magical ingredients. Plus, this is really a base recipe that you can build off of by yourself. So you can adjust water or tapioca, or add garlic salt, paprika and some turmeric for a cheddar-looking thing. The possibilities are endless.

To start, though, let’s keep it real simple and get you a better vegan cheese in your fridge, stat. You’ll need a kitchen scale and a blender or food processor—that’s it!

Recipe: Making Homemade Vegan Mozzarella Cheese

Ingredients
160g cashews (soaked overnight)
95g refined coconut oil
62g tapioca flour
12g nutritional yeast
27g kappa carrageenan
25g lemon juice
16g apple cider vinegar
24g salt
737g boiling water

Instructions
Weigh out all ingredients. Melt the refined coconut oil. Put the ingredients into a high-powered food processor or blender. Measure out the boiling water and add to the blender. Blend on high for about 30 seconds before stopping to scrape the sides to make sure everything is incorporated. Do this one more time, 30 seconds later, then mix for another 2 minutes. (Total mix time: 3 minutes.)

Pour the mix into a container of your choice. Let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before putting it in the fridge. After 3 hours, the cheese should be ready to grate or slice. The colder it gets, the easier it is to use!

For step-by-step visuals, check out my video for making this cheese!

Alex Koons is an industry consultant and the owner of Hot Tongue Pizza and co-owner of Purgatory Pizza, both in Los Angeles. This article was originally published on January 9, 2023, and has been updated to keep the content fresh and relevant.

Food & Ingredients, Recipes