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Some of this cheese is nuts…literally. From creamy spreadable herb cheeses to faux-grated parmesan, check out the best vegan cheese substitutes you can buy in 2019.
If you ask the average vegan what the hardest part of making the switch was, you’ll most often get a resounding “cheese.” Sure, almond milk’s not as creamy as cow’s milk, and nothing packs a protein punch quite like eggs in the morning, but when it comes to lusted-after foods, cheese is sort of in a category all its own (you won’t see a trendy shop in Brooklyn dedicated to yogurt, after all).
Related Reading: The Best Vegan Mayo Ever | Are Oreos Really Vegan?
That’s why we’re so happy that due to some awfully clever food innovators, vegans no longer have to live a completely cheeseless existence. And while it’s tough to compare to the real thing, an ever-growing crop of delicious vegan cheese options continues to hit the market. From creamy vegan cream cheese to sharper shredded vegan cheddar for nachos, and even gooey vegan cheese sauces, these are some of the best vegan cheeses you can buy today. (But if you like to DIY, learn how to make vegan cheese at home.)
Over pasta, garlic bread, or anything else that calls for grated parmesan, this crumbly cashew cheese has a salty, nutty flavor, just like the real stuff. Made with organic ingredients including hemp seed, nutritional yeast, and spices, you’ll get the cheesy taste, added benefits of protein, and none of the woes that come with a dairy allergy.Buy Now
vegan cheese sauce is a good choice for a gooey mac n’ cheese, to pour over steamed broccoli or cauliflower, or to stand in for queso. While it’s not going to have all the flavor of real cheese sauce or a bechamel, it’s the next best thing if you have vegan priorities. Buy Now
Related Reading: Mmm, Soy Good: The Best Vegan Foods at Trader Joe’s
If you’ve got a thing for soft, herbed, spreadable cheeses like Boursin but need a vegan option, then you’d be wise to snag a package of this soft and creamy nut cheese. Treeline cheese comes in a few great-tasting flavors including scallion and cracked pepper, and classic herb and garlic (pictured above). Excellent on sandwiches or simply smeared on crackers.Buy Now
When you just need a delicious slice to layer into your vegan bacon club or for grilled cheese to accompany a bowl of tomato soup, this smoked provolone “cheese” is here for you.Buy Now
This sturdy Greek vegan cheese is made with coconut oil and tofu and melts down nicely over a burger, bread, or piece of chicken (fowl or faux). A dose of cracked black pepper kicks it up, too.Buy Now
Nachos, quesadillas, chili, baked potatoes, grilled cheese. You know what to do with this vegan cheddar cheese substitute. Completely dairy-free, soy-free, and gluten-free as well as vegan, it’s also shredded for easy melting. Buy Now
Got a few vegans popping over unannounced? Put this wheel of sharp farmhouse “cheese” out with some sliced and seared vegan chorizo and crackers. And wine. Yes, lots of wine.Buy Now
While cashews and other nuts are used for a lot of the new vegan cheeses, tofu still makes a great candidate for the softer substitutes like vegan cream cheese. Creamy as the real stuff, Tofutti packs in some protein atop your bagel, too.Buy Now
Okay, so this one isn’t technically just cheese, but Daiya shredded vegan mozzarella sits on top of one of my favorite vegan frozen pizzas in the game.Buy Now
In our latest Chow-To episode, senior video producer Guillermo Riveros visits the queen of vegan cheese, Miyoko Schinner, to learn how to make vegan cheese at home, talk about the dire state of the dairy industry and the promise of the plant-based economy, and take a tour of Miyoko’s factory, as well as her animal sanctuary, both located in Petaluma, California.
As plant-based eating grows ever more popular, we’re seeing more and more animal-free products on shelves, from the Impossible Burger to multiple brands of vegan cheese. But when Miyoko Schinner first went vegan, that was definitely not the case.
A vegetarian since the age of 12 (a choice she made based on her abiding love for animals), Schinner decided to go fully vegan after learning more about the dairy industry; while she adored cheese, she couldn’t support its manufacture, which even on small farms that truly care about animal welfare, can’t ultimately have the cows’ best interests at heart (because there’s always the bottom line, after all).
Luckily, Schinner also loves a challenge, so she set about learning how to make vegan cheese that tasted delicious, and she’s been perfecting the art since the 1980s. In 2012, she wrote a book on vegan cheese, with recipes that use various non-dairy ingredients including nuts and plant-based milks.
When she started her company, Miyoko’s Creamery, she was making small 40-pound batches of cheese, but demand quickly outstripped supply—they went online on a Friday and by Monday had $50K worth of orders. Since then, she and her team have had to solve the problem of scaling up production, but remember: she loves a challenge.
And people love her vegan cheese.
It comes in an array of sophisticated flavors like Double Cream Chive, Rustic Alpine, Black Ash, and Smoked Farmhouse; there’s also vegan cream cheese and cheddar-y vegan cheese spread.
So what’s the secret to its appeal?
There are several ways to make vegan cheese, but it achieves its true glory through the magic of fermentation. The cashew cheese recipe Schinner shared with us includes both sauerkraut brine and miso paste (both packed with probiotics and good bacteria), and the mixture sits for at least 24 hours in a warm place. In that time, the pH drops and the smooth blend gets more acidic, cheesier, and thicker. Nutritional yeast also contributes to the cheesy umami flavor.
This very basic vegan cheese is a delicious starting point for your own creations, but it also tastes great as-is. You can experiment with how long you let it age (up to several weeks in the fridge after the initial fermentation), as well as try different mix-ins (like mushrooms, chives, or garlic), or even coat it in various spices or herbs while it cures. If you have a set-up for cold smoking, you might try that too.
There’s no denying that plant-based eating is becoming more mainstream—for reasons ranging from health and environmental concerns to personal politics.
While the dairy industry is in decline, with plummeting milk prices, gargantuan stockpiles of unsold cheese, and small farm closures all too common, Schinner does not see the plant-based economy as the enemy. Rather, she believes it’s not only more compassionate to animals, but to farmers too. Existing production facilities can, in theory, be converted to produce plant-based products that consumers want, and land currently devoted to raising cows can be used to grow ingredients for those products.
She supports all up-and-coming plant-based ventures, too, rather than seeing them as competition—because, as she says, the only way to effect real change is to work together, and that includes growing the category of earth and animal-friendly dairy alternatives.
The best German recipes are perfect for fall, and especially for Oktoberfest (and yes, they all pair beautifully with beer).
Munich may lay claim to the original, but Oktoberfest is also an excuse for food and beer lovers everywhere to drink up and gorge on meat, potatoes, and doughy things with the rapaciousness of a squirrel in the days before hibernation. Between the platters of wurst and stacks of knotty pretzels, the celebration is a glutton’s dream come true. It’s also a great occasion to reacquaint yourself with all of those classic German dishes that you haven’t had since your last visit to the biergarten. So pour yourself a Märzenbier and get into the Oktoberfest spirit with these nine recipes that are all about feasting without reservations, Bavarian style .
Beer and sausages are the backbone of many a German-style feast. With this recipe, you get a bit of both by braising brats in dark beer, which infuses them with tons of malty and yeasty flavor. (And if you want to really get into the Oktoberfest spirit, make your own bratwurst to use in this dish.) Get our Beer-Braised Bratwurst recipe.
Related Reading: A Guide to German Beer
Oktoberfest isn’t exactly the best time of year to be of pig: many of the festival’s signature dishes revolve around some form of Schweinefleisch. This traditional recipe features pork two ways, with sausages and ribs surrounded by a steamy bed of sauerkraut and potatoes. Get our Slow Cooker Pork and Sauerkraut recipe.
One alternative to all the pork is Hendl, a simple roast chicken. Don’t expect to get your choice of white or dark meat, however. The bird is usually split down the backbone and served by the half, so that you can get your fill of each and every part. Get our Basic Whole Roasted Chicken recipe.
In between all those rich meats, you’ll want something to cut through the grease (ummm, leave out the bacon if you want). Braised cabbage brings a shock of tartness (and color) to a landscape otherwise populated by brown foods—and despite the bacon, it’s still a palate cleanser, thanks to a generous dose of cider vinegar and sharp mustard tempered by brown sugar and chicken stock. Get our Braised Red Cabbage recipe.
Bavarian potato salad eschews the mayo in favor of vinegar (and lots of it). Our take amps it up even further, adding in capers, bacon, and other ingredients that pack a wallop. Get our Warm German Potato Salad with Bacon recipe.
If you’re worried that your celebration spread is short on vegetables, there are ways to sneak them in. This cucumber and potato salad hybrid brings a welcome bit of green to the feasting table. Get our Warm German Potato-Cucumber Salad with Dill recipe.
Take a break from all the meat and vinegary sides with herb-flecked spaetzle. Browned and coated in a slick of butter, the chewy, pasta-like nubbins of dough bring a stomach-filling comfort to help buffer against the excesses of all that beer. Get our Fresh Herbed Spaetzle recipe. (Or try our Cheese Spaetzle recipe if you want to bump the richness up another notch.)
Get ready to do the twist. Oktoberfest snack time means grabbing a pretzel, preferably one with a touch of salt and a squiggle of hot and spicy mustard. Get our Soft Pretzel recipe.
You need something to slather on the aforementioned soft pretzels and the many meats you’ll be eating. Making your own mustard is much easier than you might think—plus, way tastier than most store-bought stuff. This grainy mustard includes dark porter beer and caraway seeds for extra depth of flavor. Get our Beer and Caraway Seed Mustard recipe.
Staunch traditionalists wouldn’t be caught dead quaffing anything other than malty märzenbier by the liter. But if your tastes lean toward something lighter, go for a radler, the low-alcohol mix of lager and sparkling lemonade that is believed to have been invented in Munich. Get our Traditional Radler recipe.
You could make a German apple cake or stollen for your Oktoberfest dessert option, but why not go all out with a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte? You may not actually have room for a slice for several hours after the main event, but you’ll be glad this dark chocolate and cherry-laden confection is waiting for you when your stomach does start grumbling again. It pairs well with roasty, dark porters and stouts if you can take another beer by then too. Get our Black Forest Cake recipe.
If you’ve recently purchased General Mills Gold Medal flour, you may want to trash it, as it could be contaminated with E. coli.
General Mills has recalled five-pound bags of their Gold Medal Unbleached Flour with a “better-if-used by” date of September 6, 2020 (displayed on the bag as 06SEP2020KC). These bags were sold at several retailers nationwide, including Walmart and Target.
Affected products have a UPC of 016000 196100 on the package.
If you do have one of these bags of flour in your pantry, the FDA advises you throw it away—do not cook with it. If you are affected by the recall, you may contact General Mills Consumer Relations at 1-800-230-8103 or visit www.generalmills.com/flour.
While no illnesses have been linked to this particular batch of flour, just a few months ago, there were 21 instances of illness in nine states that were linked to E. coli in other flour brands.
E. coli 026 (the type found in General Mills Gold Medal Flour during a routine quality control inspection) is killed by baking, frying, sauteing, and boiling, but it is a potentially deadly strain of the bacteria that could still contaminate your hands, counters, and cookware in its raw state.
Not-so-fun fact: This is also why you’re advised to never eat raw cookie dough—not because it contains raw eggs, but because raw flour can harbor dangerous bacteria!
Related Reading: 1o Hidden Kitchen Hazards
Only five-pound bags of Gold Medal flour with the 06SEP2020KC date and 016000 196100 UPC code are affected; all other Gold Medal flour is safe to keep and cook with.
Most food holidays may be faintly ridiculous, but we’ll celebrate any one of them if it means an excuse to eat something delicious (like we need one of those…). September 18 is National Cheeseburger Day, and that means it’s the perfect time to make the ultimate cheeseburger: the Juicy Lucy.
Invented somewhere in Minnesota (exact origins continue to be debated), the Juicy Lucy—or Jucy Lucy—is a cheeseburger that deceives you when you first behold it.
Looking for all the world like a plain beef patty with nary a crumble of blue cheese or shred of cheddar in sight, it actually contains a gooey molten core of cheese stuffed right into the burger that oozes into (and out of ) every bite.
Just because you have beautifully fatty, gooey cheese enriching each morsel, doesn’t mean you can get away with sub-par beef. For a truly juicy, delicious burger, choose a blend of high-quality chuck with at least 15 percent fat, if not 20 percent. Grind your own if you can.
This burger recipe flavors the beef with the usual salt and pepper, as well as a bit of garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce. Mix them in with your hands only until everything is combined (doing it with a fork or spoon makes it easier to over-mix and that leads to dry, dense burgers and general despair, so don’t be shy about getting in there).
Related Reading: The Best Meat Delivery Services and Butcher Subscription Boxes
Don’t over-handle the meat when you’re forming the patties either (seriously, you don’t want to toughen it up), and be sure to let the burger rest for a bit once it’s done cooking. Not only does that ensure you don’t burn your face off with lava-like molten cheese, it lets the burger juices redistribute.
American cheese is not fancy, but it is perfect for burgers and the traditional choice for a Juicy Lucy. Nothing melts quite so smoothly—but a close second is a nice cheddar. Just don’t go too fancy with your choice of cheddar or the flavor will overwhelm and the ooze factor won’t be on point (i.e., the aged stuff is best saved for crackers). You can also try a pepper Jack.
If you secretly love American cheese and recognize its superior melting abilities but still just can’t bring yourself to buy it, try a homemade American cheese recipe. (It’s an amalgam of Comté, cheddar, and gouda cheeses, plus sodium citrate and iota carrageenan, and melts like Velveeta.)
In any case, you’ll stuff a thick stack of cheese between two burger patties and then seal the edges together (don’t leave any gaps or you’ll lose your liquid gold), then cook them on a grill or griddle.
Related Reading: The Best Grilled Cheese You’ve Never Had
This is a simple burger and simple accouterments are called for. We like the sharpness of pickles to cut through the rich meat and cheese, and a basic, soft bun (no need for fancy brioche, and anything too crusty will ruin the soft, gooey perfection of the burger bite, but do lightly toast the cut sides in butter for the ideal burger vehicle).
Put some ketchup on it if you must, or even mustard. If you’re a lily gilder, top it off with an extra slice of cheese and caramelized onions—maybe even some Russian dressing (sort of an animal style deal).
You can make these on a grill pan or griddle indoors or an actual grill outside if the weather’s holding up where you are; either way, you’re in for a cheesy treat.
Related Reading: How to Make Healthier Fries
No one wants to choke down a tough, crumbly, dry hamburger, so learn these 7 simple tricks for making a perfect, juicy grilled burger every time.
Summer is coming closer to its end and grilling season too, but September 18 is National Cheeseburger Day, so it’s the perfect time to give it one last go. Don’t let it be an overdone, leaden disc of sadness. Ensuring tender, juicy burgers and not dry, dense hockey pucks has to do with both sourcing and technique. Chowhounds have shared a few simple tricks and tips over the years, starting with buying the right ground beef.
Some say you shouldn’t actually grill burgers (more on that below), but we say if you do, just do it right.
Tip #1: Avoid extra-lean grinds. The higher the fat content, the moister the patty. A burger with beef that’s 80 percent lean (i.e., 20 percent fat) is luxurious and juicy, Brandon Nelson explains on Chowhound.
Related Reading: The Best Meat Delivery Services and Butcher Subscription Boxes
Tip #2: Minimal handling is just as important. Form the patties gently, compressing as little as possible (this applies even if you’re making a smash burger—more so, maybe, in that case). Just as overworking pastry and dough will make it tough, so will over-handling your meat. (While we’re on the subject of handling meat, proper food safety technique will also help prevent foodborne illness, the bane of any BBQ.)
Tip #3: Make an indentation in the middle of each patty. Just press your thumb (not too firmly) into the meat and the divot will prevent it from puffing up and will allow it to cook evenly, mike0989 says. This one is also endorsed by Jon Lemon, culinary director of Bareburger; see more BBQ tips and tricks from chefs.
Tip #4: Don’t press the patties with a spatula as they cook—that just forces out the juice. Your spatula is strictly for flipping, and only once.
Tip #5: Keep in mind there’s carryover cooking time, so pull the burgers off the grill just shy of your target doneness. They’ll be just right when they hit the table, cstr says. Conversely, pull them off when they already look perfect, and by the time they hit your bun, they’ll be overdone.
Tip #6: If you just can’t resist buying lean ground beef, try adding a bit of water to it, valerie says. A little extra moisture helps even well-done burgers stay juicy and tender, even if they’re made from 90 percent lean ground beef. Mix in 1/4 to 1/2 cup water per pound of ground beef before forming your patties to reap the tenderizing benefit of H20.
Tip #7: Try stuffing it with cheese and adding fat via toppings. The classic Juicy Lucy is a great option for anyone who wants a really luxurious burger, since it’s full of molten cheese:
Along those lines, adding fatty, moist condiments like aioli, bacon jam, ripe tomatoes, and sliced avocado will help boost your burger’s juicy factor (and flavor), but can’t totally save a bone-dry patty, so follow the tips above to ensure your burgers stay perfectly moist on the grill, and then go to town with the toppings. Check out 15 Non-Traditional Burger Recipes for Summer BBQs for ideas. Or you can take a cue (pun fully intended) from Gordon Ramsey and just grate butter straight into your burgers.
There are those (chefs included) who advocate against cooking burgers right on your grill grates, as you can lose a lot of the flavorful juices and fat—which sometimes also causes flare-ups that char your meat to a crisp (in a bad way). Many suggest placing a cast iron griddle on your grill for cooking burgers to get a perfectly seared crust and juicy interior, and maybe still a lick or two of smoke.
How do you like to cook your burgers, and what are your secrets for perfect results? Let us know in the comments!