Vegan Cheese Alternatives that Taste Semi Like the Original

Hey everyone,

So on my quest to find vegan alternatives I wanted to do a cheese breakdown and go into my favourite recipes and recommendations. There are massive amounts of cheese alternatives that come in a variety of textures, flavours and bases, from Parmesan alternatives that have very little in common with the real cheese but have a similar texture and flavour, to ones that look like cheese but have nothing of the same taste.

Within the UK, I’ve tried to test out all kinds of different brands and I’ve used in these recipes some that I’ve been happy with. Most I’m not in love with because there is this generic cheese flavour recipe using yeast, that I just think tastes like fake tan smells. It’s not at all like a cheese, there’s none of the complexity or acidity, it’s like dried and biscuity. But there are some textural similarities that I think I can recommend. One of those is the Violife Grilling Cheese. It just has nothing at all in common with great halloumi but I’ve used it on here (skewers and stuffed pepper recipe) because you can make it work as a substitute. The thing I didn’t like about it, was that it felt like it became gummy when cooked in an oven, you have to grill it or pan fry it as a whole piece, (it comes in a prepared square) and it retains its shape. Cut up and baked it can be totally off.

I sadly don’t like the flavour at all of violife products and I know some of the big fast food restaurants have used them in the vegan movement of last year, such as Pizza Hut, but they don’t have a great taste in my opinion. I tried the parmesan a few times (risotto recipe), but my personal favourite Parmesan alternative is the Flavour Fusion products by the Good Karma company. They were exhibiting at the Vegan Fest in Brighton and were amazing, I was mega impressed because they were like a dried spice in texture, sort of like a dryer Parmesan but the flavour and different variations were awesome and worked as toppers, finishers and to bring that missing flavour in cheese based sauces.

Another popular vegan cheese which used to be my go to when I was in school, was Sheese, which Papa Johns use in their vegan food. That one is again, another weird tasting cheese that I used to force myself to like, but if I am to be totally honest I think it’s a gross taste. I used to have Free and Easy powder cheese sauce (yuck) and Sheese. Not today!

The next brand of cheese I really love is the Applewood cheese as it has a lovely flavour, it has more depth than a lot of the vegan cheeses and it actually melts. It’s great for different types of things, in toasted sandwiches or grated on top of a chilli, I love it. Surprisingly, my next favourite brand is the Free From brand by Sainsbury’s. They do coconut based cheeses and for whatever reason they just are so much easier to work with, it’s phenomenal. The cream cheese is used in so many desserts and cream bases that have come out great, the cheesecake I did on here and also a new butter icing cake coming up. I would also recommend their Greek style cheese, it has more of that odd flavour that I dislike in vegan cheeses but it crumbles and you can make it work, it also goes gooey on top of things like a pizza topping. The best one they do in my opinion is the chive flavoured cheese because it just tastes like the flavour of the additives and disguises that it’s not actually cheese. What more can you say.

Asda do a popular one also which is a cheddar alternative but I prefer the Sainsbury’s, I just like the flavour combos they have. Finally, for a mozzarella alternative I definitely have to recommend a Green Vie cheese, it just works awesome, I used there cheeses in the recipe above for Calprese Salad, which involved basil leaves, tomatoes, balsamic glaze and olive oil.

If you wanted to create a substitute to a cheese sauce for use with pasta and any type of baked dish, the easiest one is to create a bread sauce and add a cheesey flavour to it. My carbonara recipe here is a great one.

If you wanted to have an alternative to a cheese that was more vegetable based, try this one, which is butternut squash based.

For a dipping cheese sauce that melts and gives the most amazing drizzly effect, try this burger cheese recipe.