EASY Vegan Mozzarella Cheese (10 minutes)

vegan mozzarella cheese shown gooey in a black sauce pan.

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.

Tapioca Starch and Bubble Tea
Instagram photo I took in 2014 of my Bubble Tea

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….

vegan mozzarella cheese shown gooey in a black sauce pan.

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.

vegan mozzarella cheese shown gooey in a black sauce pan.

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!

4.14 from 23 votes
EASY Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
5 mins
Total Time
10 mins
 

Stretchy, gooey vegan mozzarella cheese. EASY to make. Made with cashews.

Course: Sauce, Side Dish
Cuisine: Cheese, Vegan
Servings: 8 servings
Calories per Serving: 65 kcal
Author: Pasta-based
Ingredients
  • 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
Instructions
  1. *Use the quick soak method for cashews if you don’t already have them soaking overnight.

  2. Add all ingredients to a food processor or high-speed blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy (2-3 minutes).

  3. Add ingredients to small pot on medium-high heat. Stir constantly until thick. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator.

Recipe Notes

Nutrition Facts
EASY Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
Amount Per Serving (2 tbsp)
Calories 65 Calories from Fat 27
% Daily Value*
Fat 3g5%
Sodium 3mg0%
Potassium 90mg3%
Carbohydrates 6g2%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin C 0.5mg1%
Calcium 3mg0%
Iron 0.7mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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25 Comments

  1. Reply

    Thomas

    July 25, 2017

    Does it get more like block cheese when it cools?

    • Reply

      pasta-based

      July 28, 2017

      5 stars
      Hi Thomas – no, it stays soft and spreadable after cooling. For something you can shred, freeze the cheese in a silicone container.

  2. Reply

    Tobias Lienhard

    August 15, 2017

    1/4 of water, and not 11/4, I suppose.

    • Reply

      pasta-based

      August 15, 2017

      5 stars
      1 + 1/4 cup water, sorry it looks odd – I updated the recipe card. Thank you for pointing that out!

      • Reply

        Tobias Lienhard

        August 16, 2017

        Oh, thank you.

    • Reply

      Nancy Pahl

      April 25, 2018

      5 stars
      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.

  3. Reply

    Cheryl Lynn

    September 24, 2017

    Can I use this cheese in baked dishes ..? Will the cheese melt if heated and remain gooey..not liquify.?

    • Reply

      pasta-based

      September 25, 2017

      It should remain gooey, Cheryl! It’s never liquified for me and I’ve used it for baking many times. Enjoy!

  4. Reply

    Michelle

    October 4, 2017

    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!!

  5. Reply

    Koalafriend

    October 9, 2017

    How lomg does this keep in the refrigerator?

    • Reply

      pasta-based

      October 9, 2017

      Use within 7-10 days! You can probably go a little longer than that, but just to be safe.

  6. Reply

    Estefhani Martinez

    November 8, 2017

    5 stars
    It looks great! I will be trying this recipe today! 🙂

  7. Reply

    Alpa

    November 20, 2017

    Can we substitute onion/garlic powder? We don’t eat onion/garlic
    Thanks

    • Reply

      pasta-based

      November 20, 2017

      Yes, you can leave it out if you need to!

  8. Reply

    Sarah Maloney Carter

    December 10, 2017

    Could i sub the cashews for another nut?
    Allergic here but this lools great.

    • Reply

      pasta-based

      December 14, 2017

      You can sub cashews with sunflower seeds! It might taste slightly different but it comes out just as creamy and gooey.

  9. Reply

    Nelli Kisliuk

    January 12, 2018

    Can you substitute tapioca starch with corn starch?

    • Reply

      pasta-based

      January 13, 2018

      You can try it, but it won’t be as stretchy.

  10. Reply

    Brittany Roche

    January 24, 2018

    5 stars
    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.

    • Reply

      pasta-based

      January 30, 2018

      What a great idea to sub tofu, I’ll have to try it next time!

    • Reply

      Giuliana

      May 29, 2018

      5 stars
      How much tofu did you use?

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