Love your cheese so much that it’s the one thing that’s stopping you from committing to the vegan lifestyle? Fret no longer! Whether you love having cheese on its own, cheese in your cooking sauce or as a topping on your pizza, there are now vegan friendly substitutes that you can use instead!
1. Nut Cheese
An option that is now available to buy straight from the shelves or one that you can tackle in your own kitchen is nut based cheese. By using nuts rather than dairy, you can even start to experiment with different types of nuts to provide different textures and flavours. Cashew nuts are very smooth and soft, macadamias are creamy and almonds are grainy. Nut cheese is an excellent substitute for your standard dairy based cheese and you can use it exactly as you would dairy cheese.
2. Nutritional Yeast
Nutritional yeast is a yellow yeast that usually comes in either a powder or flaky form. Not only is it full of nutritional benefits, such as B vitamins, zinc and protein, but adding it to certain dishes enhances the flavours and can give a cheese-y like flavour. It is commonly used as an alternative to Parmesan cheese in dishes such as “creamy” pastas. Sprinkle it over your popcorn or toss it through your pasta!
3. Tofu
For your milder cheeses, such as mozzarella, use some sliced tofu instead. You’ll be surprised to find how similar the texture and taste is especially when it is mixed in throughout your dish. You can even add some herbs and vinegar to your tofu to give it a more feta like flavour.
4. Straight from the shelf!
And if you’re not one to be adventurous in the kitchen, you can actually buy vegan cheese straight off the shelves made by brands such as Biocheese and Tofutti. As usual, always look out for any hidden ingredients and double check with the manufacturer if in doubt.
What’s your favourite vegan cheese substitute?
2 Responses
Rick
Just eat real cheese. Dairy cows live a luxurious life compared to meat cattle and the product is far superior to vegan rubbish. There is no reason to exclude good quality dairy from your diet. It encourages more sustainable farming and less animal slaughter. Vegan dairy alternatives are more environmentally detrimental than natural dairy so where is the benefits?
darthvegan
Hi Rick,
Thank you for stopping by and for taking the time to voice your opinions regarding dairy and cheese, however, I’m not sure where you are sourcing your information from? Dairy cows do not live a luxurious life unless you consider it being luxurious to have babies being removed from their mothers so that their mother’s milk can be farmed for human consumption and for the mothers to be pushed to their absolute limits to produce as much milk as possible (you can read more here http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/milk-life-is-no-life-at-all-for-dairy-cows/). Also, how are vegan dairy alternatives more environmentally detrimental when you can simply make it from nuts in your own kitchen?
I hope to hear back from you – I am always happy and open to having a civil discussion