Vegan Cheese

But I Love Cheese…

Anytime I tell somebody I’m vegan, this is the absolute first thing they ask about. “I couldn’t do that. I love cheese too much!” they say. So many people who are interested in transitioning to a vegan diet say that it would be the most difficult for them to give up cheese.

Now I could go into the scientific stuff, how cheese is actually addictive and that’s what keeps you thinking about mac n’ cheese, and queso, and mozzarella sticks, but also I know that I’ve been there. I’ve been in the transitional phase between vegetarianism and veganism, and I know that cheese is just generally delicious. So it is infinitely helpful to have alternatives when transitioning and not just stuff that claims it’s a tasty cheese alternative, actually delicious vegan cheese, shreds that melt for pizza and nachos, parmesan for your pasta dishes, slices for sandwiches, and wheels for wine and cheese nights.

Get your crackers and wine ready! There is so much to try.

You don’t have to give up anything when you transition to veganism, you get to try so many different kinds of cheese and diversify your palette and plates. 

Something to remember when you are trying new vegan cheeses is that you aren’t eating dairy cheese so it’s not even fair to judge how it compares to that, you’re eating something different, often substantially healthier, made of nuts, or tofu, or other veggies. So yes, it’s going to be different. Taste it for what it is, not for what isn’t. 

Vegan cheese is amazing. Think about how hard they had to work to please former-cow-cheese-loving people. There are so many different types, flavors, textures and substitutes. They’re made out of a variety of ingredients to fit in with any allergy or sensitivity you have.

Plus, the vegan options come without the pain and suffering of animals that dairy options cause (and I know as a vegetarian, I didn’t think I was causing animals harm by consuming animal products, but unfortunately the dairy industry does perpetuate violence. Just do some google searches.)

Anyway, I’m very excited to be sharing with you my favorites, because I, too, need my nachos and pizza.

Use these for your grilled cheese and tomato soup, Plant-Based Fajitas, nachos alongside your guacamole, or other awesome vegan meals you make.

Here’s my review of a few different brands of vegan cheese. (But don’t take my word for it, try them out yourself!)

My favorite vegan cheeses

Miyoko’s Kitchen

Miyoko’s Kitchen makes cheese fit for any fancy wine and cheese night. Its excellent quality of ingredients, which also means it’s not the right fit for vegans on a budget, fits its wine country origins. This is your special occasion cheese. Their website says “European tradition. Californian innovation,” so you can get properly excited about this option.

This is usually the vegan cheese that we bring out for cheese nights and appetizer platters.

One of Miyoko’s cheeses that I’m obsessed with is the Sundried Tomato Garlic Double Cream Cheese Wheel. The only ingredients in that wheel are:

Organic Cashews, Filtered Water, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Dried Tomatoes, Sea Salt, Organic Rice Miso (Organic Rice, Water, Salt, Alcohol, Koji Culture), Nutritional Yeast, Spice, Cultures.

Miyoko’s also has healthy butter as well that is indistinguishable from cow butter. I’ve heard that it browns like cow butter too.

Violife

Another favorite of mine is a brand called Violife, which is based in Greece. Already pretty cool right? I used to see this brand a lot on my social media but could never find it in stores. Recently though, it’s become much more accessible and I get so excited when I see a new product in my local Whole Foods.

Just Like Feta is a block of feta-like cheese and, oh my goodness, I could actually eat the whole block in one sitting. It’s excellent on crackers, on a salad, whatever you’d put feta on. It has a satisfying texture, a nice heaviness to it, and not that many ingredients.

 Filtered Water, Coconut Oil, Potato Starch, Salt (Sea Salt), Glucono Delta Lactone, Flavor (vegan sources), Olive Extract, Vitamin B12.

Honestly, I love all of the Violife products I have tried so far.  Just Like Shreds (Cheddar, Mozzarella, Colby Jack) are lovely and melt nicely. They have great slices including Smoked Gouda, which is absolutely my favorite cheese flavor.

They also have other blocks! I haven’t had them yet but look how good this looks!

 Chao by Field Roast

Chao is made by Field Roast, which is a plant-based meat company. What makes this cheese different is that it’s made from fermented tofu. (Something to be aware of if you’re avoiding tofu.) They have a great collection of sliced cheeses. The Creamy Original Slices have these ingredients:

 Filtered water, coconut oil, modified corn and potato starch, potatostarch, fermented chao tofu (soybeans, water, salt, sesame oil, calcium sulfate), sea salt, natural flavor, olive extract (antioxidant used as a preservative) and betacarotene.

I use their Garden Herb slices as a block cheese. So i just cut it as if there were no slices. It’s perfect with crackers, appetizers, olives, that type of thing. I prefer this flavor served like this because I find it too strong to put on a sandwich or burger.

Daiya Cheeses

Daiya is most accessible and most affordable in my experience. It was the first vegan cheese I had. They’ve been around for a long time, so people have developed opinions about the cheese. But, if you weren’t a fan in the past, you should give them another chance. They have significantly upped their game. They’ve changed their recipe and now it’s a solid cheese alternative that I usually have on hand.

Daiya has Mozzarella Style Shreds that are great for making pizzas and lasagnas where the cheese is the star of the show and needs to melt and stretch well.

Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds is one we keep on hand to throw together an incredible fondue (that has won blind taste tests against traditional dairy fondue!)

The ingredients for the Cheddar, for example, are:

Filtered Water, Tapioca Starch, Coconut Oil, Expeller Pressed: Canola and/or Safflower Oil, Vegan Natural Flavors, Chickpea Protein, Salt, Potato Protein, Tricalcium Phosphate, Lactic Acid (Vegan), Konjac Gum, Xanthan Gum, Yeast Extract, Fruit and/or Vegetable Juice Color.

Go Veggie Vegan Parmesan

Go Veggie has decent ingredients (I’m judging it more harshly the farther ingredients get from their whole-food form) and this cheese has a great texture if you’re looking for a replica of the shake parmesan. Ingredients look like:

Soy base (soy protein concentrate, filtered water), instantized rice flour, coconut oil, rice maltodextrin, natural vegan flavors, rice flour, rice meal, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, vegetable glycerin, lactic acid (non-dairy), citric acid, vitamin A acetate, soy lecithin. Non GMO.

Follow Your Heart

Follow Your Heart Parmesan is always in my fridge. Sometimes I eat it straight out of the container. It’s a great addition to salad, pasta, pizza, all of the classic parmesan uses. I use it all the time in a homemade dressing I make for parties and nobody even notices that it’s vegan cheese. The ingredient list is less appealing than the cheeses listed above because of things like canola oil, palm oil and food starch. 

(vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, non-gmo, soy-free) Filtered Water, Organic Palm Fruit Oil†, Modified Food Starch, Canola Oil, Natural Flavors (Plant Sources [Contains Autolyzed Yeast]), Vegetable Glycerin, Less than 2% of: Lactic Acid (Vegetable Source), Calcium Lactate (Vegetable Source), Sea Salt, Sodium Phosphate, Carrageenan, Bamboo Fiber, Nutritional Yeast, Calcium Phosphate, Organic Chickpea Miso (Organic Handmade Rice Koji, Organic Whole Chickpeas, Sea Salt, Water, Koji Spores), Sunflower Lecithin, Citric Acid, Annatto. † Rainforest Alliance Certified

I think they have pretty solid slices that melt well. I prefer them to Daiya for sure. One of my favorites is Smoked Gouda, which I already told you is my favorite flavor of cheese in general.

What are your favorites? Do you have others that I should try?

* If you click through those links to make purchases on Amazon you help me out, too! As an Amazon Associate, For Goodness Seyks earns from qualifying purchases when you use any of our affiliate links!

Tags: vegan cheese, lactose free, dairy is scary, dairy free, plant-based cheese, follow your heart, Daiya, Miyokos, grilled cheese, antidairy, vegan.