Easy recipe for a vegan Mozzarella Cheese made out of cashews. You'll only need 7 ingredients! This Cashew Mozzarella is perfect for pizza, quesadillas, or grilled cheese sandwiches!
Lately, I've been experimenting a lot with vegan cheeses and this vegan Cashew Mozzarella cheese was one of my favorites! It's quick and easy to make (if you have the cashews already soaked). Did you know that you can store cashews soaking in water in the fridge for months? It's really useful if you plan on making vegan cheeses but you don't know when exactly.
For this Cashew Mozzarella Cheese, you'll only need 7 ingredients:
- cashews
- tapioca starch (makes it stretchy!)
- garlic clove
- nutritional yeast (makes it cheesy)
- salt
- lemon juice
- and water
Uses for the Cashew Mozzarella ...
- pizza (I like to make a minimalistic Margherita pizza with only tomato sauce, cashew mozzarella, and fresh basil (after baking), but feel free to add more toppings if you like!)
- lasagne (this cashew mozzarella makes a creamy top layer!)
- grilled cheese sandwiches (you can also make your own sandwich bread!)
- quesadillas (spread it onto 2 tortillas, add the fillings, fold the cheesy sides together, heat in a pan until crispy - yumm!)
- mozzarella sticks (cut the mozzarella in sticks, coat in breadcrumbs, and fry)
- caprese salad (sliced mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, and basil)
As you can see, I've made a delicious Margherita Pizza with the cashew mozzarella. It was absolutely divine! I also sprinkled crushed pepper onto the mozzarella before baking.
Cashew Mozzarella
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashews (raw, unsalted, soaked see step 1)
- 4 teaspoons tapioca starch
- 2 small garlic clove
- 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in water overnight. The next day, rinse and drain the cashews.
- Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth. You might have to scrape down the sides a few times.
- Transfer half of the cheese mixture into a saucepan and bring to medium heat. Keep stirring until it gets stretchy and comes together in a ball. Repeat for the other half. Then transfer the cheese balls into a container, let them cool off, close the lid and let it chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- You can slice it and use it on pizza, in quesadillas, in grilled cheese sandwiches or however you would use regular mozzarella!
Tiffany says
I love this recipe! I’ve made it several times now. The cheese doesn’t melt but with how amazing it tastes, I really don’t care. I prefer this over store bought vegan cheeses for pizza. They just melt into a chemical tasting goo. Highly recommend this recipe!
Moshe says
Nutritional yeast is sold in two formats: flakes or granules. There is a significant difference in weight and volume. Could you specify the amount by weight or which type you used to measure the volume.
Bianca says
I use nutritional yeast flakes ;)
Hannah Pham says
It smelled really good but it was a bit soft.
Mary says
Can I use pinon nuts instead of cashews?
Jeanne says
I made this cheese wow was wonderful. But quick question why add water and not a non dairy milk product ?
Bianca says
you can absolutely use any kind of plant-based milk instead of water.
Daniel says
There is something off about this recipe. I have made it three times, because my wife likes the texture for her thin crust pizza, but I have made many cashew mozzarella recipes and they all turn out white. I believe the error is that it says 4 teaspoons of tapioca starch when it should be 4 tablespoons. Most mozzarella recipes have tapioca starch in tablespoon measures. That is the only thing I can think. I haven't tried that yet, but will next time to see if there is a difference and will update. I also drop a quarter teaspoon of salt and it is much better.
Sparkypinx says
Will this recipe freeze?
Anita says
We are just getting into the dairy-free thing and this is the second time I've tried to make a vegan cheese for our Friday night pizza.
It turned out an unappetizing gray in color and not white like in the picture above. Would that be because of the cashews or because the nutritional yeast is a grayish brown color? Can anything be done to make it whiter?
Bianca says
I'm guessing it is because of the nutritional yeast. Or do your cashews have lots of leftover skin on? Then this could be the reason for the color. But there are lots of different nutritional yeast brands out there with slightly different flavors and colors. You can also try using less nutritional yeast to lighten the color.
Elaine says
Has anyone tried freezing? The taste is delicious! It made the stretchy ball. I don’t mind the yellow color.
Linda says
I’ve made this several times and really love having “cheese” in my fridge for sandwiches, salads, etc.
Has anyone tried using different nuts for this? Pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts?
keto3000 says
This looks delicious but is there a substitute for the tapioca?
Diane says
@keto3000, I have always used arrowroot powder and it seems to work just fine
Carol says
Can you shred it? Can you freeze it?
Carol says
Why doesn’t it melt. Cheese is supposed to melt
Carol says
I wonder if you freeze it maybe you can shred it
Carol says
What about using agar agar to firm it up?