THIS stretchy, gooey, easy vegan mozzarella cheese is SIMPLE to make and comes together in just 10 minutes (if you have your cashews soaked. If not, use the quick-soak method which takes about 15 minutes)!
It’s made from cashews and tapioca starch! Tapioca starch is an interesting ingredient if you’ve ever cooked or baked with it before.
When it’s dry, it has a fine texture – almost like powdered sugar – then it has the most interesting texture when it’s wet and it turns thick and gloopy combined with water and heated.
When I worked in NYC, I would get “Bubble Tea” or “Boba Tea” most days during my lunch break. If you’re not sure what that is, Bubble Tea is a milky, sugary, flavored iced tea with chewy tapioca balls that sit at the bottom of the cup.
They give you a huge straw to suck up the tea and tapioca balls with. It’s delicious and fun to drink!
If you’ve never had it, I recommend looking it up in your city and finding a Bubble Tea place to try it out. They usually have soy or almond milk to substitute, too.
Being vegan helps you discover things you’ve never even heard of.
Like tapioca starch – it’s made from Cassava Root, like Yucca. Think root vegetable ground up to make a very fine flour. Mixed with a few other ingredients and some water, you can easily make a stretchy, gooey, flavorful cheese.
This easy vegan mozzarella cheese recipe tastes so good! We make it pretty often for pizza, quesadilla, meatball subs, pasta, stuffed in meatloaf….
To make this Easy Vegan Mozzarella Cheese Recipe, blend all the ingredients in a food processor or high speed blender. If you don’t have pre-soaked cashews, you can use the quick-soak method and boil the cashews for 15 minutes.
Just a quick note: if you’re using a food processor – don’t double the recipe. I tried that once and it was too much liquid for the food processor to handle. You can make two batches separately and then heat it up together, but don’t double the amount of liquid that goes into the food processor because it will just leak out of the lid. For a blender, you’ll most likely be fine with doubling the recipe.
Be prepared, because this easy vegan mozzarella cheese comes together quick…
At this point, the mixture should be very liquidy and smooth. Pour the liquid into a small pot over medium-high heat and stir.
Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn, for about 2-3 minutes. Small clumps will start to form as the mixture thickens. After another minute or so of stirring, you’ll have cheesy, gloopy, Vegan Mozzarella Cheese!
Store the cheese in the refrigerator. It will be a little less stretchy once cold, but it won’t harden up completely.
If you make this cheese, let us know what you combined it with! Also, take a photo and tag us on Facebook or on Instagram @pastabased!
Stretchy, gooey vegan mozzarella cheese. EASY to make. Made with cashews.
- 1.25 cup water
- 1/2 cup cashews (soaked overnight or using the quick soak method)*
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch (aka tapioca flour)
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
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*Use the quick soak method for cashews if you don’t already have them soaking overnight.
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Add all ingredients to a food processor or high-speed blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy (2-3 minutes).
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Add ingredients to small pot on medium-high heat. Stir constantly until thick. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator.
Thomas
Does it get more like block cheese when it cools?
pasta-based
Hi Thomas – no, it stays soft and spreadable after cooling. For something you can shred, freeze the cheese in a silicone container.
Tobias Lienhard
1/4 of water, and not 11/4, I suppose.
pasta-based
1 + 1/4 cup water, sorry it looks odd – I updated the recipe card. Thank you for pointing that out!
Tobias Lienhard
Oh, thank you.
Nancy Pahl
I chose this recipe from among others like it because it told about the quick soak method for the cashews.
It tastes good, and has a perfect texture for nachos, pizza, tortelini, etc.
Cheryl Lynn
Can I use this cheese in baked dishes ..? Will the cheese melt if heated and remain gooey..not liquify.?
pasta-based
It should remain gooey, Cheryl! It’s never liquified for me and I’ve used it for baking many times. Enjoy!
Michelle
Any ideas what I can sub the nuts for….we are going vegan but the cheese is hard to give up. I was super excited to find a recipe buttttt we are super allergic to nuts. 🙁 help please!!
pasta-based
I’ve seen some recipes using white beans instead. I haven’t tried it yet though, I’ll test some nut-free recipes out soon!
Nancy Pahl
Try these: http://www.thevegancorner.com/mozzarella/
Koalafriend
How lomg does this keep in the refrigerator?
pasta-based
Use within 7-10 days! You can probably go a little longer than that, but just to be safe.
Estefhani Martinez
It looks great! I will be trying this recipe today! 🙂
Alpa
Can we substitute onion/garlic powder? We don’t eat onion/garlic
Thanks
pasta-based
Yes, you can leave it out if you need to!
Sarah Maloney Carter
Could i sub the cashews for another nut?
Allergic here but this lools great.
pasta-based
You can sub cashews with sunflower seeds! It might taste slightly different but it comes out just as creamy and gooey.
Nelli Kisliuk
Can you substitute tapioca starch with corn starch?
pasta-based
You can try it, but it won’t be as stretchy.
Brittany Roche
I’ve made this recipe twice – once as it’s written and another subbing silken tofu (with only 1/4 cup water) for the cashews. Both were kickass!! Love this stuff; we used it in the Italian Meatloaf recipe, on a pizza, and mixed in with our regular cheddar-y mac n cheese sauce. Everything we’ve made with it has been incredible.
pasta-based
What a great idea to sub tofu, I’ll have to try it next time!
Giuliana
How much tofu did you use?