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The Big Vegan Cheese Review

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When it comes to things like pizzas, it's a good idea to increase the fun factor by topping it with some vegan cheese. Vegan cheeses have improved vastly over the last decade and it's often difficult to keep up with the latest offerings. I've always wondered how vegan cheeses would fair side by side in regards to flavor, meltiness and overall authenticity. In this review I'll show you how well these cheeses faired in those regards and let you know which topping came out on top.

This review includes what I believe are the best vegan cheeses currently on the market. There are likely dozens more but the ones reviewed are known for their quality. They are becoming easier to find in specialty food stores more and more every day. I didn't include some of the fine fermented nut-based vegan cheeses on the market in this review because I felt that they wouldn't have sufficient melt factor to compete with the other cheeses in this review. In the future Veganbaking.net will be conducting more cheesy research and doing a nut-based vegan cheese review is something that I'd love to investigate.

I'd like to give props to Quarrygirl's Best Vegan Cheese review for also shredding some light on this subject.

The Vegan Cheese Contenders

I tested cheddar and mozzarella style vegan cheeses from what I believe to be, as of this writing, the top four vegan cheese manufacturers listed below.

The Vegan Cheese Contenders

Clockwise from top-left:
Teese Cheddar Style, Daiya Cheddar Style Shred, Cheezly Mature White Cheddar Style, Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cheddar, Teese Mozzarella Style, Daiya Mozzarella Style Shred, Cheezly Mozzarella Style and Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella.

I performed a melt test by putting the vegan cheese shreds on italian bread and placing it in an oven preheated to 350F. I increased the temperature by 25F every 10 minutes and recorded the melting point of the cheeses. The picture above shows how the cheeses melted after going through the temperature range up to 400F, then held there for an additional 10 minutes. In the picture above I placed cheddar on the top row and mozarella on the bottom row.

I didn't take the temperature of the vegan cheeses any higher than 400F because that's the temperature most people are going to cook their pizzas at home. It's unrealistic to expect customers to cook their pizzas in a 500F oven. At pizzerias this is not the case so some of the cheeses in this review that had poor meltability may in fact have better melt performance in specifically designed pizza ovens.

Teese Cheddar Style

Teese Cheddar Style is from the people at Chicago Soy Dairy. The describe it as having "an excellent mild cheddar flavor, giving it the potential to be used in a wide assortment of dishes. It is amazing on cold sandwiches or round crackers, but really shines when melted in a "roast beef" sandwich, panini, or in a simple "grilled Teese" sandwich!"

The Taste Test

Teese Cheddar had a mild cheddar flavor and a slightly pasty texture. It was slightly reminiscent in flavor and texture of, dare I say it, Velveeta cheese slices. Despite this, it still makes a relatively good topping melted. This vegan cheese melted at 400F making it suitable for pizzas made at home. Due to its moist, oily texture, it would not be ideal unmelted on a sandwich or in a salad.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Texture Unmelted: 2
Texture Melted: 4
Cheesyness: 3
Overall: 4

The Melt Test

Ingredients

organic soymilk (filtered water, organic soybeans), corn maltodextrin, soybean oil, palm oil, sea salt, carrageenan, vegan natural flavors, corn derived lactic acid (vegan), annatto titanium dioxide (a naturally occurring mineral).

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 oz (28g)
Fat: 7g
Protein: 0g

Teese Mozzarella Style

From the Teese website "The authentic taste and excellent melt characteristics of this Teese flavor is why it's our most popular product... and why it is used in some of the best pizza restaurants in the country! You'll love Mozzarella-style Teese in everything from lasagna to a rueben!"

The Taste Test

Like the Teese Cheddar Style, the Teese Mozzarella Style had a mild flavor and a slightly pasty texture. This vegan cheese also melted at 400F. Due to its moist, oily texture, it was more authentic to Mozzarella than the Teese Cheddar was to cheddar. I would love this on a pizza.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Texture Unmelted: 3
Texture Melted: 4
Cheesyness: 4
Overall: 4

The Melt Test

Ingredients

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 oz (28g)
Fat: 7g
Protein: 0g

Daiya Cheddar Style Shred

Daiya is the newcomer on the vegan cheese market as of this writing. Their website describes Daiya as a "new dairy-free vegan cheese that tastes, shreds, melts and stretches like dairy based cheese. Daiya is not made with casein, the protein found in dairy products or soy, common to many other non-dairy cheese alternatives."

The Taste Test

The Daiya melted quicker and more consistently than all of the other vegan cheeses in the review, melting at 350F. Once melted, it was delightfully stringy and chewy. I knew I liked it when I wanted to keep eating it. It had a very authentic cheddar cheese flavor and texture.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Texture Unmelted: 4
Texture Melted: 5
Cheesyness: 5
Overall: 5

The Melt Test

Ingredients

Purified water, tapioca and/or arrowroot flour, canola oil and/or sunflower oil and/or safflower oil and/or coconut oil, pea protein, salt, yeast, vegetable glycerin, natural flavors, xanthan gum, sunflower lecithin, enzymes (no animal rennet or animal enzymes), bacterial cultures, citric acid and/or annatto.

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 oz (28g)
Fat: 6g
Protein: 1g

Daiya Italian Style Shred

The Taste Test

This vegan cheese performed similarly to the Daiya Italian Style Shred. I loved its melty chewiness and authentic cheezy flavor. It would do well in a Cesar Salad. It also melted at 350F like the Daiya Italian Style Shred.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Texture Unmelted: 5
Texture Melted: 5
Cheesyness: 4
Overall: 4

The Melt Test

Ingredients

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 oz (28g)
Fat: 7g
Protein: 1g

Cheezly Mature White Cheddar Style

Cheezly is a British vegan cheesee which was recently purchased by Redwood Foods. It's apparently pretty recent on US shores. Cheezly "is free from animal ingredients. So it's perfect for vegetarians and vegans, as well as people who are lactose or casein intolerant. What's more, there are no nasties." I was thrilled to find that this cheese was devoid of all nasties.

The Taste Test

This vegan cheese was complex sharp and reminded me of artisan style cheeses. The sharp, authentic flavor made me want to keep eating the cheese. It never melted, even after being subjected to 400F. This vegan cheese would do very well in pasta or ground up on pizza due to its sharp cheddar or parmesan notes. This could be life-altering in a cesear salad. It wouldn't melt sufficiently for a pizza but I don't care; the flavor more than makes up for it.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Texture Unmelted: 5
Texture Melted: 2
Cheesyness: 5
Overall: 4

The Melt Test

Ingredients

water, potato starch, non-hydrogenated vegetable fats & oils, soy protein, yeast extract, thickener: carrageenan; salt, flavoring, emulsifying salt: tricalcium phosphate; colour: carotene.

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 oz (28g)
Fat: 4.9g
Protein: .98g

Cheezly Mozzarella Style

The Taste Test

In contrast to the Cheezly Mature White Cheddar, this vegan cheese melted at 400F into a slightly pasty texture with relatively authentic cheese flavor. Tasters were dvided on whether the melt was satsisfyingly cheesy or excessively pasty. Unmelted, this vegan cheese had a chalky mouthfeel which was not preferred. Its flavor was still more complex than the other three mozzarellas

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Texture Unmelted: 1
Texture Melted: 3
Cheesyness: 5
Overall: 3

The Melt Test

Ingredients

water, non-hydrogenated vegetable oil, tofu, soy protein, rice starch, thickeners: carrageenan and locust bean gum; salt, dried yeast, tricalcium phosphate, spirit vinegar, acidity regulator: trisodium citrate; raw cane sugar, flavoring, yeast extract.

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 oz, (28g)
Fat: 7.1g
Protein: 1.5g

Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cheddar

As of this writing Vegan Gourmet appears to have the best distribution, being available in Whole Foods stores nationwide. This vegan cheese is described on their website as "Great for veggie burgers, macaroni and cheese and mixed with Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella Cheese Alternative makes a great pizza topping. Vegan Gourmet Cheddar Cheese Alternative melts down to a creamy, smooth cheese sauce in a fondue pot, sauce pan, casseroles, or in the microwave."

The Taste Test

In my 400F test, this cheese didn't melt. Vegan Gourmet states on the package that it melts at 500F. I find it unrealistic to bring a pizza to 500F in a home kitchen oven just to get the cheese melted. This concern would be different in a pizza kitchen however because they would be more adequately prepared to bring the pizza up to the recommended 500F level. The texture unmelted was slightly waxy and the flavor was the blandest of the bunch. I would still reach for it if I were making a pizza and I had nothing else available.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Texture Unmelted: 3
Texture Melted: 1
Cheesyness: 2
Overall: 2

The Melt Test

Ingredients

filtered water, expeller pressed canola oil, soy protein, tofu (water, soybeans, calcium sulfate), soy protein, inulin (a natural extract of chicory), natural flavor, sea salt, agar, brewer's yeast, carrageenan, calcium lactate, annatto, lactic acid.

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 oz (28g)
Fat: 4g
Protein 2g

Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella

The Taste Test

This vegan cheese fared similarly to the Vegan Gourmet Cheddar, exhibiting little meltability and profound flavor. Due to its moistness, it melted slightly more and was more similar to mozzarella than the Vegan Gourmet Cheddar was to cheddar. I would still reach for this vegan cheese in the absense of the other brands.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Texture Unmelted: 3
Texture Melted: 1
Cheesyness: 2
Overall: 3

The Melt Test

Ingredients

filtered water, expeller pressed canola oil, tofu (water, soybeans, calcium sulfate), soy protein, inulin (a natural extract of chicory), agar, sea salt, natural flavor, carrageenan, calcium lactate, lactic acid.

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 oz (28g)
Fat: 8g
Protein 1g

Vegan Cheese Nutrition Notes

I was a little surprised how the vegan cheeses measured up in regards to nutrition. Since they are largeley soy based I'd expect them to have protein levels approaching the 7 grams found in traditional dairy-based cheeses. This is likely because the vegan cheeses are largely made up of vegetable starches, oils and flavorings. The fats found in these cheeses are mostly healthy; low in saturated fat and high in monounsaturated fat. Having said that, these vegan cheeses offer very little nutritional value.

My favorite Vegan Cheese of the Bunch

When I'm looking for vegan cheese I'm interested in authentic cheese flavor and a chewy, stringy consistency when melted. I'm not interested in flavors that are overly salty or increasingly bland. I'd prefer to shy away from consistencies that are cottage cheese or paste-like. Out of this bunch the Daiya Cheddar Style Shred and Mozzarella Style Shred came closest to reproducing the authentic cheese experience for me. It's remarkably stringy, chewy and melted very similarly to dairy based cheese.

My second favorite of the bunch is Cheezly Mature White Cheddar. Like the Daiya vegan cheese, I knew I loved it when I just kept wanting to eat more. The Mature White Cheddar is sharp and reminded me how much I loved really sharp cheddar as a kid. This cheddar did not get high marks for melting, however. The Cheezly Mozzarella was a notch below the Mature White Cheddar. Better meltability didn't help it overcome the Cheezly Mature White's Cheddar's superior flavor and authenticity in my opinion.

The Teese vegan cheeses were more on the mild side. I would avoid putting them in salads but would love them on pizza.

The Vegan Gourmet vegan cheeses were the most lackluster of the bunch, showing mild flavors and poor meltability. I would still reach for this vegan cheese at my local specialty store because I still enjoy its flavor.

It will be interesting to see what the future has in store for vegan cheeses. Daiya has clearly made a breakthrough with the quality of their cheese and I believe it's only a matter of time until other vegan cheesemakers follow suit.

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