This is my love language. Ooey, gooey, stretchy, melty, where have you been all my life- vegan mozzarella. I'm pretty sure I just made all my vegan dreams come true. I made this recipe four times this week, FOUR. That's how amazing this is. Just dip some tortilla chips in this bad boy and welcome to heaven.
You can also use this anywhere you would like a melty mozzarella experience, which is, um, everywhere! Let's see... pizza, lasagna, grilled cheese, dips, the possibilities of deliciousness are endless.
I haven't even gotten to some of the best news yet. This takes only 7 ingredients, one of them being water. It takes only 15 minutes to make, AND it doesn't even have any oils or "bad stuff". Can you tell I'm excited? I'm SO excited.
So what makes it stretchy and gooey. Tapioca! Who knew right? It's the main ingredient in Daiya, a well-known brand of vegan cheese, and I found that Somer McCowan from the blog Vedged Out also used tapioca starch in her Fresh Moxarella Cheese. She is one smart cookie, er.. well some smart cheese, because she knew what was up. I adapted her original recipe to make a mozzarella that suited my own taste buds but be sure to try her original recipe and check out her blog. So many delicious vegan recipes to be had!
Back to tapioca. Tapioca provides this amazing stretchy, melty quality that any good vegan cheese deserves. It is an absolute must for this recipe. Any other starch will make a thick sauce, but only tapioca will give it that stretch. If you can't find it in stores you can pick it up on Amazon here.
This recipe will stay in a melty stretchy state, even when cold, but if you are looking for a grate-able cheese, try my recipe for The Best Vegan Mozzarella.
To make melty stretchy gooey vegan mozzarella:
To make Melty Stretchy Gooey Vegan Mozzarella: Boil the cashews for 10 minutes until softened. Then toss into the blender with the remaining ingredients, and blend until completely smooth. It will be very watery, don't worry, it will get cheesy!
Pour it in a small sauce pan, and heat over medium-high heat. Stir to keep anything from burning. You will start to see clumps forming.
Then all of a sudden, magic! Everything comes together and makes this cheesy, melty, deliciousness. Keep stirring and cooking for another minute or two, to make sure it's finished firming up. It should take about 5 minutes to cook total. That's it! Done. So easy.
If you want to save it for later, store in an air tight container in the fridge. It won't firm up like a hard cheese, it will stay pretty soft, but let's get real, who needs hard mozzarella anyways?
Serve as a dip, spread onto some toast, dollop onto pizza, do whatever your creative cooking spirit tells you. Don't worry if you eat it all in one sitting (cause I would never do that), you can always make more.
Bon appetegan!
Sam.
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Melty Stretchy Gooey Vegan Mozzarella
Servings: (makes about 1 cup)
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Ingredients
- ½ cup raw cashews,, softened (see step 1)
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons tapioca starch, (also called tapioca flour)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
Softening the cashews:
- Softening the cashews first helps them blend. If you have a high-powered blender you may be able to skip this step, but if not, this step is important to get a smooth cheese. You can either boil or soak the cashews. To boil the cashews (the fast method): add the cashews to a small pot, cover with water, and boil for about 10 minutes until the cashews are very tender. To soak the cashews: add the cashews to a bowl, and cover with water. Let soak for 4 hours or overnight until tender. Drain and rinse cashews before using.
To make the vegan mozzarella:
- Add the cashews along with the 1 cup of water and all the remaining ingredients to a blender. Blend until completely smooth. It will be very watery.
- Pour into a small saucepan and put over medium-high heat. Continually stir. The cheese will start forming clumps, keep stirring and it will continue clumping until the mixture turns from watery to a thicker melty cheese sauce. This takes about 5 minutes. Serve hot or allow to cool and store in an air-tight container in the fridge for 2 - 3 days. The cheese will get thicker as it cools but will stay in a melty state.
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Notes
- Tapioca starch is essential for this recipe. It's what gives the cheese it’s gooey and stretchy texture. Any other starch or flour will not get the same result.
- If you want to return the cold mozzarella back to dipping consistency, reheat over medium heat while stirring constantly so it doesn't burn. Once it is hot and bubbling it might have thickened up too much. You can thin it out by adding a splash of water at a time, stirring it in until desired consistency is reached.
- To ensure a smooth cheese, you may also want to pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth before cooking to remove any cashew bits that didn't grind up. This will ensure a smooth cheese texture.
Nutrition
Tamar says
Gonna give this a try with cornstarch as that's all we have at the moment; it's Christmas Eve and my dad totally spaced on my vegan cheese (we make pizza every year for Christmas) and all the stores are already closed!
Sam Turnbull @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
Oh no! I hope the cornstarch worked well for you and you got to enjoy your Christmas vegan pizza!
Nik says
Second pic looks like there's a fly being cooked, bottom left. Oh well each to their own lol.
Sam Turnbull @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
Haha! I does look like that! That is actually just the the blade of the blender jar poking out, but now I can't unsee it!
Jules says
I make this all the time and use it in many different ways. I pour it over pizza and enchiladas without cooking first and bake (the cheese sets up great this way); I cook it down sort of loose for grilled cheese and quesadillas (easy to spread and thickens as they cook), and I use it as sauce for mac and cheese (I cook it to full thickness but then thin it back out with milk; probably unnecessary, but mac and cheese sauce needs milk in my mind lol).
It's a huge hit, and I've saved a ton of money not buying vegan cheeses, plus the ingredients list is great.
I make double or triple batches. My kids adore it, and I love how easy and versatile it is. I'm a notorious recipe modifier, and I do this one exactly to the recipe every time. The taste is just perfect as it is.
I can't say it tastes exactly like dairy mozzarella, at least not the really real stuff. That cheese relies heavily on the dairy proteins for its structure, and we haven't identified a plant analog just yet. But it does taste very similar to the shredded kind, only much better in my opinion.
Diane says
That is a terrific tip that you can pour it over pizzas uncooked and let it set up in the oven! I just tried this tonight and it worked like a charm - pizza was in the oven on bottom rack for about 9 minutes at 475 C and the mozzarella bubbled and even browned in spots. This is a huge time saver, thank you so much Jules! And thank you Sam for your fantastic recipe. This one is another winner! 🙂
Diane says
(Sorry, that should say 475 F)
Sam Turnbull @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
What a great tip! I will try this for sure 🙂
Nikki says
I love this recipe and have used it many times over the years.
Curious if it freezes well? I have never tried and don’t want to risk ruining it!
Sam Turnbull @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
Yes! It freezes wonderfully! So happy you love it 🙂
A says
Amazing!
Kay says
This worked out wonderfully for pizza night and some leftover for a layered dip.
Sam Turnbull @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
Amazing! So happy you enjoyed it Kay!
Reva Fish7321 says
Can I use a food processor, instead of a blender?
Sam Turnbull @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
I don't think that would make it smooth enough, it would likely still be quite grainy. A blender is the way to go!
Emma says
This is my absolute go-to for a quick, easy and DELICIOUS cheesy fix. It doesn't last long!