Spreadable, stretchy, and gooey, this is the best vegan cheese for pizza! It's so easy—you can whip it up in the blender in 20 minutes, including soaking the raw cashews.
And it's so delicious that I created a simple pizza sauce recipe, so pizza night is an absolute breeze.
Like many vegan home cooks, I've experimented with vegan cheese recipes. I cracked the secret with vegan tofu ricotta, but this pizza cheese is in a class by itself. It holds its own when added with fresh basil for a divine vegan Margaretta pizza or fully loaded with veggies and crumbled tofu sausage or plant-based bacon. I'm serious - it's pizza nirvana.
Table of Contents
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- 8 simple ingredients, including water, that you can find at most large grocery stores.
- No pre-cooking, so unlike other recipes where you stir the cheese in a small saucepan, there's no minding the heat. I've left it blending for 5 to 15 minutes, and it's always perfect.
- A clean eating recipe with no added olive oil or coconut oil, so the texture is cheesy, not oily after melting.
- It spreads over homemade pizza (or nachos or cheese sandwiches) and melts with a slightly stretchy texture for satisfaction, bite after bite.
Recipe Ingredients and Notes
Cashews. Use raw cashews. They are lightly roasted during processing, with no oil or salt added. They are white with a mild flavor. Blanched almonds are the best substitute.
Tapioca starch. Also known as tapioca flour. I first used this firming agent to make flavored cashew mozzarella cheese. I added it to this pizza cheese recipe to give it a little body. Cornstarch, cassava flour, potato flour, and arrowroot are good substitutes. A pinch of agar agar powder is another good option.
Miso paste. Slightly sweet with umami flavor. I used white miso paste, but you can use a soy-free kind, too.
Nutritional yeast. 'Nooch' adds a dose of cheesy flavor. There are some substitutes for nutritional yeast that may work for this recipe, but for this recipe, yellow mustard would be the best alternative.
Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the complete list of ingredients with measurements plus recipe instructions.
Recipe Variations
- Use less water for firmer cheese that you can scoop and use for vegan Caprese salad. Make cheese balls with an ice cream scoop or a small measuring cup.
- For a nut-free version of this recipe, use ground sunflower seeds.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Place the cashews in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 15 minutes.
Step 2: Drain the cashews and add them to a blender with the remaining ingredients plus ¼ cup of water.
Step 3: Blend at a low speed and gradually increase until smooth. Add more water as needed.
Step 4: Spread cheese over a prebaked pizza crust with sauce and veggies. Bake until the cheese is slightly melty and brown.
Pro Tips
I recommend starting with ¼ a cup of water to start blending and then adding as you go. This compensates for different measurements and cashews.
Taste the cheese after blending and adjust the ingredients as desired. Add more lemon juice for a tangy flavor or salt or nutritional yeast for the saltiness.
Denise's Tip: Cashew cheese and dressings thicken as they sit. If you make pizza cheese ahead, give it a quick stir and add more water if it gets too thick.
Serving Suggestions
Through my quest for the best vegan cheese for pizza, I discovered this cheese is wonderful over vegan lasagna or for topping a big pan of enchiladas.
It is great to keep in the fridge to make quick cheesy flatbread pizzas or spread over toasted pita pockets with mushrooms, black olives, and vegan bacon bits. Oh, the places we can go with our pizza - it's all about this cheese and our creativity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Blended vegan cheese for pizza can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 days unless you use it within a few hours. It can be transferred to a small bowl or kept in the blender at room temperature. Give it a stir before using.
Vegan pizza cheese can be frozen for 3 months in a freezer-safe container or bag. Let it thaw thoroughly before using. If it is too runny, stir in ½ a teaspoon of tapioca starch to thicken it. If the cheese appears gritty, run it through the blender or a small food processor.
Replace cashews with sunflower seeds for the best nut-free option for vegan pizza cheese. I recommend grinding sunflower seeds in a spice grinder before blending. After experimenting with sunflower seed sour cream, grinding, not soaking, yields the smoothest texture.
Even if you use a high-powered blender, I recommend always soaking cashews before blending. Soak them in boiling water for 15 minutes or in very hot water for an hour. Soaking overnight is another easy option.
If you try this recipe with silken tofu, omit the water when blending the ingredients. I recommend adding an additional teaspoon of tapioca flour to help it firm a little more. It tastes delicious but may not be quite as stretchy as cashew cheese.
To make vegan nacho cheese, add an extra tablespoon of nutritional yeast plus ½ teaspoon of turmeric for color and flavor. Substitute half the water for ¼ a cup of pickled jalapenos with the liquid from the jar. Add ½ a teaspoon of garlic powder, onion powder, and ¼ a teaspoon of cumin. Blend and melt over tortilla chips for delicious nachos.
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👩🏻🍳 Recipe
Best Vegan Cheese for Pizza
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Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon miso paste
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon tapioca starch - see notes
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Place the cashews in a small bowl and cover them with boiling water. Let them soak for 15 minutes while you gather the rest of the ingredients.
- Drain and rinse the cashews. Add them to a blender with the remaining ingredients, plus ¼ cup of water.
- Start blending at a low speed, adding more of the remaining water until the mixture is smooth. The cheese should be slightly runny and spreadable.
- Spread the cheese on a prebaked pizza crust with sauce and toppings until the cheese is slightly firm and brown.
Notes
- Cornstarch, cassava flour, potato flour, and arrowroot are good substitutes for tapioca starch (tapioca flour)
- Soaking cashews is one way to avoid a gritty consistency. I also recommend using a blender because the shape pushes the ingredients downward and compresses them. This is better than the larger container of a food processor. The longer you blend, the smoother the consistency.
- Store vegan pizza cheese for 5 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Stir it before using.
- Freeze cheese for 3 months and thaw it before using. Stir and add ½ a teaspoon of tapioca starch if it is too runny. If the cheese is slightly gritty, blend it for a few minutes.
- Use ground sunflower seeds for a nut-free option. Sunflower seeds have a strong flavor. Adjust the lemon juice and nutritional yeast accordingly.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimation only.
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