Easy Vegan Nut-free Stretchy Mozzarella Cheeze Sauce

Name: Easy Vegan Nut-free Stretchy Mozzarella Cheeze Sauce
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: Vegan
Ingredients: 1 block (396 grams) firm tofu, drained; 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt; Juice of 1 lemon; 4 tablespoons tapioca starch; 2 cloves of garlic (if you do not have a high-speed blender you may need to mince these first) or 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 teaspoon onion powder; 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (use unfortified for a more authentic color); About 1/2 cup of water (you want it slightly thicker than cake batter)

October 17, 2019 by 💚 Liz 34 Comments

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I have been looking for a melty, stretchy, vegan nut-free mozzarella cheese / cheeze sauce for a long time. Let me first say that for vegans, there's so many more options now than ever before.

We have multiple tasty options at stores. But, most of them have oil in them, and I try not to consume oil. That's why I made my own Vegan Nut-free Mozzarella Cheeze!

Additionally, many are cashew-based. I have no problem with nuts but I do tend to overdo it on them, so I try to limit my consumption.

In response to all of this, I challenged myself to make a tasty, stretchy, melty, oil-free, nut-free, mozzarella sauce. Spoiler alert: I did it (duh, you're reading this post). Guess what else? It was ridiculously easy.

So instead of nuts, what is the base for my mozzarella? Tofu (noticing a theme here? I like tofu lol). Besides the tofu, this sauce only has 6 other ingredients.

Ingredients for melty vegan mozzarella cheese

What Ingredients do I need for the Vegan Nut-free Mozzarella Cheeze?

Nutritional yeast is a logical ingredient here. It has a cheezy flavor, it’s healthy, and it’s relatively easy to come by.

However, if you want your mozzarella to LOOK like mozzarella (i.e. not bright yellow, but an off-white color), you’ll need to purchase unfortified nutritional yeast.

This doesn’t have the extra added ingredients that make regular nutritional yeast bright yellow. I actually prefer the taste of unfortified, and it’s what I use in most of my cooking (except when I need to color a recipe like my traditional cheeze sauce.

The ingredient that makes this mozzarella stretch is surprisingly common: tapioca starch. Tapioca starch or tapioca flour (same thing, just don't buy the one that's called cassava flour--it's not the same thing) is one of the many gluten-free flours available and is made from cassava, a plant native to countries in South America.

It is a great binder, and in certain amounts can make whatever it's in start to stretch. Feel free to play with the amount of tapioca starch in this recipe to make the mozzarella perfect for your use.

What Tools do I Need?

You'll only need a blender, a saucepan, and a stove to make this Vegan Nut-free Mozzarella Cheeze. After blending, you'll be cooking it on the stove top for just a few minutes, stirring constantly.

The cheeze will be a sauce at first, then will start to curdle and clump--this is normal. After a few minutes it will come together as a gooey, stretchy, melty cheeze that can be used in any way you like.

When using this sauce, it can be a bit troublesome to work with. I recommend using two spoons or small spatulas to "scoop" a dollop out and drop or spread it onto the intended dish. It can be further baked or broiled and the top will turn a lovely golden brown color and crisp up just like real cheese.

Anything Else?

I’ve shown you a few ways in this article that I like to enjoy this cheeze, but I’d love to hear what you’d put it in. Tell me in the comments below

As always, let me know if you make this recipe and please tag #Zardyplants and mention me @Zardyplants so I can see your beautiful recreations! If you tag me on IG, I will share your post in my stories :)

<3 Liz

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