Replacing Cheese? What! Dairy free option!

I know what you're thinking. You can't replace cheese. Nope not even close!

Well, I thought the very same thing when I went vegan for 2 years. But after lots of trial and error, I came up with pretty good vegan cheeses. Will they ever be tasty as the real thing? (hmmm maybe, but it's pretty darn close!)

Vegan cheese has it's own unique flavor to it. It's like it's own branch of cheeses but it's made from plants rather than dairy. Kind of like goat cheese and dairy cow cheese. Two different cheeses with its own unique flavors. But they are really tasty though. Vegan cheese, is like that.

You can make vegan cheeses out of tofu, cashews, almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, Brazilian nuts, or any other nut you can come up with. If you have a nut allergy, you can simply use unsweetened coconut milk or any other non dairy milk. I prefer to use SoDelicious unsweetened coconut milk. It's very neutral in flavor.

To create that tangy flavor in vegan cheese you can either add sauerkraut juice, lemon juice, or vinegar. It helps replicate that natural tang in dairy cheese.

Now if you want that creaminess flavor. It's all about the fat in your cheese. Nuts are great for making plant base cheeses because they are full of so much fat. This helps make that creamy taste. You can also add vegan butter or vegan mayonnaise. This will give it a more creamier flavor. However, if you don't mind the high fat involved from the oils. (Only eat those cheese's in moderation, just sayin ;)

So if you're wondering how do you get that added cheesy flavor. It's nutritional yeast! Nutritional yeast is a yeast that has died and dried out to create a cheesy flavor to foods. A little bit goes along ways. It's naturally full with vitamin B12. Which you normally would get from meats. Its has great health benefits such as improving immunity, digestion and even fighting cancer!

Wondering how you get the plant base cheese to melt and get stretchy like real cheese. You can add tapioca flour. This flour helps create that stretchy texture like real melted cheese.

You can find this flour in almost any grocery store.

The rest is just flavorings of choice. Like garlic salt, onion powder, chives, peppers, liquid smoke, and much more. You can customize your cheese they way you see fit. What's your next cheese creation? Let me know, in the comments below.