Best Vegan Cheese For Pizza
A pizza without cheese is like a cake without the cream or fries without sauce, you can have them alone but it wouldn’t taste the best. Turning vegan is a big decision and staying put to it is quite difficult for the people attached to animal-derived food and animal by-products.
As vegan, we do not eat dairy generated products, so, cannot have dairy generated cheese. This makes it difficult for cheese lovers to stay put to their vegan diet. Like there are several non-dairy milk alternatives, there are brands that have come up with vegan alternatives to cheese.
Pizzas we find in market are non-vegan for the fact that it contains non-vegan ingredients like milk, cheese, disodium inosinate and many more ingredients. Some Pizzas Brands like Pizza Hut, do provide vegan pizzas, but, the vegan homemade pizza with vegan cheese is something everyone would opt for. So, here we have compiled all the vegan cheese brands that will make your homemade vegan pizza a delight.
While switching to vegan cheese, one question first comes to our mind which is ‘Is dairy cheese healthy?’. So, lets first understand how healthy cheese is and then check out some best vegan cheese brands.
Is Vegan Cheese Healthy?
Dairy cheese is a great source of calcium for the body. Along with calcium, it also contains sodium, cholesterol and saturated fats. It is recommended by several health specialists to keep the intake of dairy cheese minimal.
This is because high intake of saturated fats leads to cardiovascular diseases or type-2 diabetes or a liver disease. Heavy consumption of dairy products may also lead to various other severe diseases like osteoporosis, asthma and digestion issues.
With an increase in the number of fast foods that contain cheese and more number of kids having it, the chances of them getting severe diseases in the early stage of life increases. When having vegan cheese, you are saving the planet and the ecosystem and you are saving your body from any severe effects of dairy cheese on it. You can further understand in the article ‘The real deal with cheese‘.
Best Vegan Cheese For Pizza
| Rank | PRODUCT NAME | SCORE | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
1st Place |
|
Violife Cheese By Violife |
4.8
|
Check Price |
|
2
Best Value |
|
Follow your Heart Cheese By Follow your Heart |
4.7
|
Check Price |
| 3 |
|
Field Roast Chao Slice By Field Roast |
4.7
|
Check Price |
| 4 |
|
Go Veggie By Go Veggie |
4.6
|
Check Price |
| 5 |
|
Tofutti By Tofutti |
4.5
|
Check Price |
As we discussed earlier, dairy cheese is not safe and might cause a major damage to your health, but what about vegan cheese, are they healthy and safe? The vegan cheese brands mentioned here provide healthy products to its customers. As vegan products are natural and organic ones, they are healthy and safe for everyone.
It may occur that you tried a brand and you didn’t like the taste, then, do not give up. Try another brand, you might find your preferred taste. This is because, every brand manufactures the vegan cheese differently and hence, they taste differently. Some might like the taste of one brand while some may like the taste of another.
Also, there are various types of vegan cheese so your choice might vary as per the dish you are preparing. Like if you are preparing a pizza, you might need cheese from the brand that tastes well when melted. So, here we are to help you choose your vegan cheese brands for you to have the least number of trial and errors while selecting your cheese.
1. Violife
A 100% vegan, world wide known brand Violife is inspired Greek heritage. If you wish to have a vegan, dairy-free but melty, creamy and tangy vegan alternatives to cheese then you will love Violife’s Vegan cheese.
There are a variety of flavors you can choose from like original flavor slices, grated, creamy and the Mediterranean block.
These vegan cheese blocks look similar to that of the dairy version but the taste differs as it is plant-based and contains no allergens. With this vegan cheese and other vegan products required in the recipe, you can prepare a healthy vegan pizza at home.
2. Follow your Heart
The company with soy-based vegan cheese that has no gluten and GMO in it is Follow your Heart. Their product range includes Mozzarella, Nacho, Monterey Jack and Mozzarella cheese. Along with this, the cheese comes in shreds, blocks and slices.
Also, there are certain soy-free options available for the customers to choose from. You can make your own vegan pizza easily with this cheese.
The mozzarella cheese from Follow your Heart melts easily on your pizza. This non-dairy cheese tastes like the real cream and it just melts that way in the mouth. You can spread it over your bagel, dips, and many more dishes.
3. Field Roast
Considered as one of the best vegan pizza cheese, it is a collaborative effort between a Greek cheese maker and a Taiwanese family that produces fermented tofu called chao.
Their aim is to manufacture and create a plant-based kingdom and celebrate the joy. They believe in creating an original version of cheese with chao slices and not to imitate the real world dairy cheese.
You can make your own vegan pizza with their creative vegan cheese flavors like creamy original with chao tofu, tomato cayenne with spicy pepper and coconut herb with black pepper.
These cheese flavors can be easily peeled and shredded and it melts so well with the recipe that it joins the flavor of the recipe and enhances the taste. The company also produces dairy-free mac ‘n’ cheese in creamy and chili flavors. All the products by Field Roast contain no gluten or GMO.
4. Go Veggie
With the motto of providing “healthier ways to love cheese”, Go Veggie makes all types of Vegan cheeses. They prepare vegan slices from Cheddar to PepperJack to Mozzarella, all kinds of cheese.
If you wish to prepare a completely healthy vegan pizza, then you can definitely try out the Go Veggie cheese with creams that come in classic plain, garlic, strawberry and chive versions.
With Go Veggie, you can prepare your vegan homemade pizza by choosing a category that suits you the best. The categories are defined as vegan, soy-free, lactose and lactose-free. Also, you can select the kind of cheese as per usage like do you require singles or bars, spreads, grated toppings, cream cheeses or dips.
5. Tofutti
Starting with plant-based ice cream, Tofutti, now offers a great variety of plant-based products. Among the company’s products, one of the top products is “Better than Cream Cheese” which provides cheese made with tofu, soybean and olive oil.
It has some of the best tasting vegan cheese among all its competitors. Started in the 1980s, the New Jersey-based company was one of the first cheese-making companies ever.
Evolved with time, Tofutti offers varieties of cheese like Original, Garlic & Herb, Whipped and Herbs & Chives. The company also makes American, Ricotta and Mozzarella cheese slices which are dairy-free sour cream.
6. Treeline Cheese
Treeline cheese is a probiotic company, which means its products do not include dairy, soy, casein, gluten or lactose and is completely organic. They use natural ingredients in their products like Brazilian cashew nuts, salt, pepper and acidophilus.
For flavor, they use natural ingredients like herbs, chilly, pepper and garlic. You can make vegan pizza with Treeline’s soft French-style cheese that includes Herb-Garlic, Chipotle-Serrano, Sea Salt, Pepper and Garlic.
The aged nut cheese by Treeline is firm, tangy and creamy which you can have in classic or cracked pepper flavors. The ingredients in the nut cheese are free from gluten, soy and palm oil and are a natural source of probiotics and fiber. You can use it when you conduct a pizza party at your backyard, it is healthy with a great taste that cooks great in Propane gas ovens.
7. Miyoko’s Creamery
Founded by Miyoko Schinner, a vegan cookbook author and an entrepreneur, Miyoko Kitchen started with a brand new idea of artisan vegan cheese which was formed using traditional methods of making cheese along with the flavorful taste.
Miyoko kitchen challenged the stigma that turning vegan means having a non-tasteful life. They added a variety of flavors in cheese like classic double cream chive, double cream garlic herb, French-style winter truffle, high sierra rustic alpine and many more.
In fact, they also came up with cashew-based fresh vegan cheese as an alternative to buffalo mozzarella with which you can make cashew cheese pizza. This is one of the favorite vegan cheese brands among the Americans. They use organic cashews and coconut oil, filtered water, sea salt and such ingredients for the preparation of cheese.
All the cheese flavors that they offer are vegan, GMO-free, organic and cholesterol and gluten-free. This cheese melts well at a higher temperature, so if you are using a wood-fired oven, then this cheese brand suits the best. This cheese tastes great with Nachos. You can try out vegan nacho cheese recipe.
8. Daiya Foods
Daiya Foods is one of the leading plant-based food brands who is a leader in vegan dairy products in the market. The Daiya’s vegan shredded cheese is available in Cheddar, Pepper Jack and Mozzarella styles which are a lot cheesier and melting kind.
Their cheese gives your homemade pizza a look of dairy cheese. You can prepare your favorite vegan mozzarella pizza using Daiya’s cheese. It gives a flavory experience of the dairy cheese.
The nutritional value of this vegan cheese isn’t that great but, it is free from animal products, cholesterol, gluten, eggs, dairy and artificial ingredients. The Daiya shreds are made of tapioca starch, potato proteins, coconut oil and are free from soy. It contains a good amount of calcium and has no trans fat and cholesterol.
9. Punk Rawk Labs
An all-women owned company, Punk Rawk Labs, makes artisanal cheese that tastes like the dairy one. With natural ingredients, the company manages to prepare and ferment the vegan cheese same as dairy cheese.
The flavors of best tasting vegan cheese by Punk Rawk Labs include Cashew Original, Bold Cashew Smoked and Cashew Herb.
The taste and texture of this vegan cheese are similar to dairy cheese. If you love to have cashew cheese pizza then this cheese is for you. Other than cashew, they also have macadamia nut cheese that has a refined flavour and a resemblance with cream cheese. It is ideal for other dishes like pasta, sandwich and more.
10. Vtopian
Vegan cheese at Vtopian is made from handcrafted and organic vegan cashew cheese which includes no dairy, gluten, egg, peanut or grain. The cheese is completely natural and includes fresh herbs and spices in it.
At Vtopian, there are a variety of vegan cheeses for pizza like Peppercorn Brie, Chive & Dill, Reserve Sharp Cheddar, Aged white cheddar, and caramelized onion.
Other than pizzas, the artisan cheese of Vtopian can be used for sandwiches, bagels, cheese platter and many more.
How Does Non-Dairy Cheese Taste like?
Traditionally, when the vegan concept was discovered and the brands had come out with several vegan alternatives to cheese, they didn’t taste well. They tasted somewhat like plastic as the cheese had poor imitation. It lacked any flavor and so, the idea stuck everyone that vegan cheese doesn’t taste well.
Since a decade, the vegan cheese brands have developed their product a lot. With products like nut cheese, cashew cheese, and many more, they have been able to create a variety of cheese as people might have their personal preference for cheese.
The products used in preparation of vegan cheese depends on the brand and the type of cheese they manufacture. Some common products they use include soya protein, vegetable oil, tapioca flour, nuts, nutritional yeast (Learn Yeast’s vegan status with us) and natural enzymes. They do not include any dairy-based or animal enzyme products. If you still do not like the taste of it, you can try out vegan cottage cheese recipe at home.
Wrapping Up
With a variety of vegan cheese options, you can select the brand and cheese as per your personal requirement and preference. A vegan lifestyle enhances your physical as well as mental well-being. Vegan cheese as compared to dairy cheese is a lot healthier and reduces the risk of major illnesses like cardiovascular diseases or a major liver disease.
