The Stretchy Vegan Mozzarella Cheese of your dreams, made with just 5 ingredients and in 15 minutes! Perfect for grilled cheese, lasagna, pizza and more!
Prep time: PT5M
Cook time: PT10M
Total time: PT15M
Rating
4.89 stars (226 reviews)
Keywords
vegan cheese, vegan mozzarella
Ingredients
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked
1 1/3 cups water
1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh from about 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons tapioca starch
Categories
Side Dish
Cuisine
American
Italian
Steps
Boil 2 cups of water (I just heat up water in my tea kettle). Pour the water over the cashews and let soak for 5 minutes and up to an hour.
Drain the cashews, and add them to a blender along with 1 1/3 cups fresh water (not the water you soaked the cashews in), lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, salt and tapioca starch. Blend until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed. It will be very watery at this point.
Now pour the watery mixture into a small saucepan and bring the heat to medium. Begin to stir with a spatula or spoon.
After a few minutes, it will begin to get clumpy. Keep stirring, constantly until suddenly it will become super gooey, stretchy, thick and smooth. It will become one big mass of stretchy vegan cheese. Remove from heat as soon as this happens.
Use immediately, or store in a covered container in the refrigerator. It is easiest to use immediately, because it will thicken up more in the fridge and be less stretchy. So if possible, especially for using on pizza or lasagna, make right before using.
For pizza, drop 1-2 tablespoon sized balls onto the crust and pat down a little bit. Or spread it all over. It will brown in the oven. For lasagna, drop dollops of the cheese all over the top towards the end of cooking time. Or place between bread and grill for grilled cheese.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 59 kcal
Carbohydrates: 6 g
Protein: 1 g
Fat: 4 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Sodium: 149 mg
Sugar: 1 g
Reviews
Amanda on 2026-06-21 (5 stars): I made this many times but always forget to comment. Your recipes are amazing Nora! Today I whipped this up for a tofu parmigiana and the cheese was the best part. Thank you so much for simple, delicious recipes. Your ingredients are fantastic and mean even my little one can enjoy. 10 stars from me.
Julian on 2026-06-21 (5 stars): This turned out incredible--normally I'm not one to comment on recipes but thought I'd share my modifications for anyone else who is allergic to cashews/tree nuts. I substituted them for a mix of about 75% raw unsalted sunflower seeds and 25% hemp hearts (I bought both of these at Trader Joe's). I added about two teaspoons of olive oil so it would brown easily (I put mine on pizza). Additionally, I reduced the salt and added about a tablespoon of white miso and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast for an extra "cheesy" taste. Overall, just a super fun recipe to make, tastes way cleaner than store-bought vegan cheese, and--miraculously!--browned in the oven under the broiler in a way that was eerily similar to real mozz! Thanks again for the fantastic recipe!
Beverly on 2026-05-03 (5 stars): This was amazing! Super fast, made a large batch. Pizza night was a success! And this was my first ever attempt at plant-based cheese on a night I was tired. FWIW, I may decrease the lemon juice and/or vinegar just as personal preference next time but recognize that other palates differ.
Chris on 2026-04-02 (5 stars): Great recipe! I added nutritional yeast (nooch) as well as some msg to add to the umami. Will def make it again.
Lori on 2026-02-18 (5 stars): I have made this multiple times and so incredibly delicious! I love it on top of .pizza as well as eggplant parm. I followed the instructions exactly and added some nutritional yeast
Laura on 2026-01-11 (5 stars): Wonderful! After reading a few reviews below and looking at a few different recipes, I used this recipe as a base and left out the lemon, added a tsp of miso, a half tbsp nutritional yeast, a pinch of msg, a little extra salt, and 1 tbsp of a neutral oil so it would brown (and it did)! Caveat: it was definitely gooey, but not sure how much all this changed the end texture as I haven't tried the original recipe as written. My only mistake was not putting more on my pizza. Lesson learned! Thanks so much!
Alf on 2025-12-31 (5 stars): Gooped up perfectly and was still easy to spread on the lasagna. It had a distinct lemon flavor, which I liked but is something to be aware of. Also, cleaning the saucepan was not trivial for me, but so worth it.
Claire Scanlon on 2025-12-26 (5 stars): I made this topping with my Vegan Stuffed Shells recipe. I usually use the store brand Miyoko’s but there is some kind of supply chain problem.
I really think it’s a great substitute. Pretty remarkable to create this. I followed the recipe as written but wanted that top browned texture. I added some olive oil to the mixture and got the results I wanted! Came out great!
