What’s the best vegan cheese for pizza?

While learning how to make the best possible pizza at home I got annoyed by the cheese on my pizzas looking and/or tasting different every time I tried a new type. I hope this settles once and for all the best types and ways to use commercial vegan cheese on pizza.
COME HANG OUT:
Instagram: / boldflavorvegan
TikTok: / boldflavorvegan
Threads: www.threads.net/@mike_trabert
Facebook: / bold-flavor-vegan-1043...
Reddit: / boldflavorvegan
GEAR:
Pizza Steel: amzn.to/3ZDdQKq
Pizza Peel: amzn.to/3ZtdK8g
Food processor: amzn.to/3AD1V3s
Chef's knife: amzn.to/3jMvCIl
My camera (Sony Z-V1): amzn.to/3XYYDDV
Chapters:
Follow Your Heart Shreds: 0:00-00:54
Daiya Shreds: 0:55-1:34
Melting Hack #1: 1:35-2:21
Block of Cheese: 2:22-3:07
Melting Hack #2: 3:08-3:46
Cheese Slices: 3:37-4:25
Miyoko's Block: 4:26-5:08
Miyoko's Liquid: 5:09-5:59
Recommendations: 6:00-6:28

[@Karen-bj7lc]

Making good pizza at home is SO satisfying. Thank you for the tips!

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

True THAT. I just got all the equipment and have been making it a lot. Maybe I’ll make a vid on my process one day.

[@maggiepabellon5635]

@@BoldFlavorVegan have you already done the vegan pepperoni renegade food and Reagan Louisville already

[@BlueFlame_l.o.g]

This is such a Great video! Really appreciate how you went the extra mile to experiment with the different types of cheese 🧀 This is Excellent!

[@jadeburns4429]

I honestly very much disagree on one of them, I've tried all of them multiple times and by far the absolute best one if you follow the instructions on the container is the liquid mozzarella, it's genuinely been life-changing for me honestly

[@thatveganchick668]

I agree. The liquid mozz is a game changer.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

I'll experiment more with it for sure - as I mention in the video I cooked it for the same time as the other pizzas and it probably needed longer in the oven. I also used the suggested amount on the bottle for a 10" pizza and that was too much IMO. Next time I use it, I'll cook it for longer, add some salt, and maybe use a tablespoon less and let you know how it goes.

[@jadeburns4429]

@Bold Flavor Vegan yeah in my experience I use the air fryer at 400, for 10-12 minutes and it turns out perfect 🥰

[@nightskylights4501]

"life-changing??" Really? I don't think you know what 'life changings' means! I can't even say it's 1st word problem, because

[@joeb4142]

@@nightskylights4501It’s a common vernacular expression homie. Relax.

[@JacKAsterisK]

I love the testing! So cool that you identified problems and updated your method accordingly, instead of just straight comparing all the cheeses. My favorite combo has been Be-Hive cheese (kinda expensive though, since I order online) mixed with Miyoko's liquid mozz and some Follow Your Heart or Violife parm on top. I use a pizza oven though so I'm not sure if it works as well in a normal oven.. I haven't tried the Daiya blocks though, I certainly will now, thanks! Speaking of Be-Hive, I mainly order from them for their pepperoni since it's seriously next-level. Since you're the seitan master I'd be curious of your thoughts if you ever get some.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

I thought these tricks might help but didn't try them out until I was filming, really glad they worked out! Mixing the mozz and parm sounds great, I think a lot of pizzarias do that normally so that makes total sense. Had never occured to me though. A lot of people focus on the cheese, but really great pizza is about layering flavors. As far as Be-Hive, I've never heard of that brand and will keep an ye out for sure!

[@Allhailbillcoleman]

I had a really good result when I mixed daiya cutting board shreds with good planet shreds. Good melt, pull, and a clean mozerella style flavor. Give it a shot!

[@landonrush340]

Really digging your videos. The vegan hams are badass. Violife is my go to for cheddar and mozzarella

[@MattBuck777]

I’d imagine just like dairy pre shredded cheeses their coated in some gmo crap to keep it from sticking together. So hand shredding a block of cheese will always melt better.

[@binkuspinkus8400]

interested to see how this goes!

[@user-sw7js4jw7v]

Great video and tips! I happen to really love that liquid Mozz from Miyoko’s for homemade pizza. There’s even a local non-vegan pizza joint that uses that for their vegan pies, it’s great!

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Oh wow - I've never heard of a pizza shop using that before. I bet it performs great in those super hot pizza ovens.

[@user-sw7js4jw7v]

@@BoldFlavorVegan it definitely does! Gets a really nice color on it. Makes me wish I had a big pizza oven!

[@LeJimster]

I always wanted to try Miyoko's cheeses, but they dont sell outside of the US. I work in an Italian style chain restaurant that does vegan pizza, we use something called mozzarisella and it's horrible to work as it comes in frozen and it melts into more of a sauce. It tastes fine but i prefer to use it in small amounts personally. We have another brand call Sheese in the UK and their fake mozza is probably the best I've had so far, similar to Daiya but a lot cheaper at least in my market.

[@stephensano9156]

Loved this video as it narrows the category of Mozzarella cheese accurately. Traditional Italian pizza has olive oil added on top before placing it in the oven. That said, adding oil to the cheese makes perfect sense as does adding oil to any pizza for extra mouth feel.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Thanks! And for sure - in hindsight - I wish I had used a better oil. Could really up the flavor while helping the melt.

[@HeronCoyote1234]

I’m surprised you didn’t test Violife.

[@binkuspinkus8400]

interesting; i haven’t bought the new Daiya shreds yet because i’ve been unimpressed in the past. I guess i’ll give them a shot!

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

All the vegan cheese keeps getting better every year. I bet the food processor trick would work on those too. If you try that out let me know how it goes!

[@wayne00k]

Great review - thanks! Can you link to your pizza dough recipe? Cheers Oh, one tip... lay your grater on its side and you can take advantage of the whole length of the grater's surface

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Great tip! For this video I used this recipe linked below for its simplicity since I had to manage the logistics for making ~10 pizzas. It is pretty good, but I think that since there is so little yeast, you don't get a nice fluffy crust (that is personal preference though, it might be great for others): www.bonappetit.com/recipe/no-knead-pizza-dough Right now I'm experimenting with fermented doughs, biga and poolish, once I get a dough and homemade cheese recipe that I like I'll probably make a full video about my pizza making process. That might be a next year thing though - pizza making is such a surprisingly complex art and each element is it's own rabbit hole.

[@SunDragon1221]

From the look of it, you'll be able to make a pretty solid cheese blend if you combine the Havarti with one of the more melty cheeses

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

That sounds like a great idea. A lot of pizza places use pecorino and mozz so I think there is something here.

[@guppygills]

that jalapeno havarti block is one of my favs! i like eating slices of it with slices of apples as a snack 😋

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

That sounds bomb. Yeah, I think that one and the other Daiya blocks are underrated.

[@jorats]

I really like the Silk mozza and the Violife mozza. I’ll def try the food processing trick next time.

[@carollen5633]

Joanne Bouchard/// yes that is a good idea. We can freeze first for about 40 minutes. Take care

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

So many cheeses to try! Let me know if you think it improves those too.

[@DakotaWeatherhead]

Best method for cheese I've done so far, is cooking it on the stove top with a good plant Milk (Oatly, Ripple, or Next Milk) seasoning it, then adding it to my pizza. It does indeed bubble and get melty at this point. You can even add more tapioca starch for increased stretch.

[@Pluralofvinylisvinyls]

“Nut milk” is mostly sugary water tho.

[@thatveganchick668]

I’ve had only slices when I’ve needed shredded, but I just stack the slices and cut them with a knife…much easier than trying to shred them.

[@nancyherrmann2491]

While in Walmart going over to the soy tofu section, Walmart now has its own vegan shredded mozzarella cheese. Haven't tried it yet primarily bought it for making a pizza.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Really? Wow, everyone has vegan cheese these days. Pretty amazing. Just 10 years ago buying vegan cheese was something you had to go to specialty stores for incredible how far it has come.

[@nancyherrmann2491]

@@BoldFlavorVegan $3.99

[@TravisH-nm9fy]

Thank you for posting this ! I will definitely grab some next time im at Walmart, ive had good luck with Great Value products.

[@alittleheavenonearth]

@@BoldFlavorVeganyep! Vio life is absolutely insane good lol highly addictive 😅😅😅

[@alittleheavenonearth]

Yep!!

[@tamcon72]

Uprating despite dad puns. [scowls] Really surprised that Daiya, which I have always thought tastes like melted white Crayola crayon, was the winner, but perhaps it was their reformulated recipe, which I rarely see in these parts. Last year sometime, I saw a vegan food blog hack--which I can't find now--recommending just blitzing one's favorite vegan cheese shreds in a small blender, or a measuring cup with a stick blender, with an equal volume of neutral-tasting plant milk to ensure that it melts fully. I will look for the cheeses you used here because I'm curious to see if they result in a superior pizza with less trouble. Thanks for posting!

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Sorry to hear that puns are nacho favorite thing. For me, the take away is less about any specific brand, but more that shredding blocks (or slices) is almost always going to yield a better result than using shreds due to the added starches. This is also the same for non-vegan pizza cheese. If you watch any non-vegan pizza making videos they all grate blocks of low moisture mozz. Come to think of it - I don't think I've ever seen someone on YT use pre-packaged shreds. Also, I think it is difficult right now, for whatever reason, for large scale vegan cheese makers to mimic the complexity of white cheese, so using a harvarti, gouda, or whatever other "flavored" block adds a nice complexity lacking from vegan mozz.

[@IDontWantThisStupidHandle]

I've been vegan for over two decades now -- I tried Daiya when it first came out and HATED it (my non-vegan friends at the time loved it, and said it tasted just like dairy cheese, so maybe it was too close for me?). I was hesitant to try their reformulated cheeses, but they are heavenly now -- far and away much better than their original formula. If you get the chance, you have to try them!

[@qikstar]

First video I seen hating on Follow Your Heart, which always works especially shredding it a bit

[@sunnyshealthcoaching]

Derek Sarno puts his in a food processor with a little bit of vegan yogurt or sour cream! He says it gives that bubbly liquid type texture with a tangy flavor

[@user-bv7mk8id5t]

I break the v cheese up with my hands and I mix different cheeses together. I also add the follow your heart parm as I use that for flavor. I like using original daiya as it was oddly better in texture but lacked flavor. But mixing that with other cheeses seems to work really well, I use more of the parm though. I make pretty decent fresh pizza. Also I use the daiya cheddar flavor for pan pizza, again original (which is hard to find now) as like a crust. I got that idea from ATK. But it’s so good. I will be stealing your oil idea. Now I want pizza 🙈.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Those all sounds like awesome ideas! Combining flavors/textures is a key for sure.

[@joshyg4260]

You can mix shreds that don't melt with water instead of oil and you get the same result, but less greasy.

[@RogueAstro85]

Great video! I'm sure your forearms are nice and sore from kneading all that dough! The biggest issue I have with vegan cheese is that there's never enough salt. Dairy cheese has an absurd amount of salt and for some reason every vegan cheese manufacturer is too afraid to add enough salt. I used to use the myokos block and toss it in the food processer with extra salt. I'm wondering if adding a bit of oil to it would make it more melty

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

I actually used a no-knead recipe for that reason! And yes, I 100 percent agree, NOT ENOUGH SALT. The wonderful fermented flavors are there but they are muted due to the lack of sodium. I don't know if they are trying to keep the sodium on the label down or what is going on. Sometimes I add a pinch or two of a 50/50 salt/MSG blend right before launch in the oven.

[@nicklaskoch]

Try Oatly fraiche 200ml with Violife 200grams, shred the block, and you get more cheese effect on the pizza.

[@juliedesnick7401]

Violife is the preferred vegan cheese where I live in LA area.

[@markgoodrum4543]

Well over in the UK I've been experimenting making copy cat papa johns with different cheeses. Next one is a deep dish pizza hut one It'd be really interesting to see you mske a video using UK vegan cheeses Here's a few that I've tried and maybe you can too Applewoods smoked or non smoked (easily melts better than the others and tastes good) Cathedral city (melts decent, has the tanf of cheddar) (Careful with cathedral and apple woods as they have non vegan counterparts) Wicked kitchen (probably least like cheese) Plant kitchen (from M&S) Plant menu (aldi brand of vegan cheese) Vio life Plant chef Sheese Ilchester (melts on par with applewoods) I haven't tried enough of the other brands here like nurishh and other random ones but if you happen to import some over, it would make a cool video

[@carollen5633]

Hi bro! I haven't tried any commercial vegan cheeses yet. I do make my own with homemade almond milk. Very economical to make. However a good thing to know which commercial cheeses are best to take when travelling. Thank you, take care.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

That is really cool - I've dabbled in vegan cheese making, but I haven't made anything that I think would work well on pizza yet. Hopefully this helps people decide what cheese to buy!

[@carollen5633]

@@BoldFlavorVegan /// Bro, when all else fails, there's commercial cheese to save the day. At times my mozza cheese fails, so I make it into a thick white cheese sauce. I make a Pesto and Cheese Sauce pizza, no tomato sauce, and top it with black olives, onions and cooked Beyond Sausage sliced. The Pesto sauce is a vegan type and the marriage between the Pesto sauce and Mozza sauce is very delicious. Just an idea. Take care.

[@sevind7]

hey! Do try Ilchester Vegan and also their Applewood Vegan products if you can find them. They are available in Canada and the UK to my knowledge. I've never found a cheese that melts and behaves as closely to the real deal.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Never heard of that brand, I'll have to keep an eye out. Thanks!

[@thomaswest4033]

Personally I mix miyokos cheese with daiya and I find it gives it a nice taste.

[@xprotestorx]

I use a mix of Daiya mozzarella shreds and the liquid Miyokos and think that’s the best.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

I've heard this is a really good mix.

[@xfourxshadowsx]

Tip to get melted cheese with pretty much any cheese I've tried is too microwave it covered 2-3 minutes. Maybe stir ~halfway through for certain brands. Then put on crust and bake pizza or use for whatever else.

[@nocontextwhatever]

Nice! You gotta try Violife cheese too! 👍

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Will do!

[@twothirdsanexplosive]

Surprised you didn't try Field Roast Chao. Because they don't have mozzarella specifically or not available to you locally? It's in Target in my area so I thought it'd be widely available these days. Oh also VioLife as I see that at my area stores often too.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

This is what a trip to 3 stores yielded and I don't think I saw those. Probably should have gone to better stores! I actually have tried shredding their blocks on pizza and it was great. Would probably also work well with the oil trick. For me I think the moral of the story is that grating a block will likely always be better than shreds, regardless of brand.

[@broadwaybroad]

I’m new to not eating dairy and am the kind of person that could eat a block of cheese in a sitting. I had a slice of Follow Your Heart Smoked Gouda for a snack yesterday and it was the closest to real cheese I’ve ever had.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Oh nice! That is really good to know. If you find other cheeses that you think are close to the dairy versions it would be much appreciated to learn about that as I haven't had the latter in a long time.

[@julezthealien2467]

Do you think these would apply to making a vegan lasagna? I really would like to make one.

[@margegelsleichter1738]

My fav is Violife 😊

[@IDontWantThisStupidHandle]

If you ever travel to Eastern Canada, try Gusta (I live in Québec, where it was created, but I know they sell it in Ontario -- I think they're branching out to the Maritimes as well, but I'm not sure). Perfect melt, goeyness, and taste (it doesn't pull, but I don't care about that, and I've never found a vegan cheese that pulls like dairy cheese), and (usually) cheaper than the bigger name brands, to boot!

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Ohhh, I'll have to try that out if I can ever get my mitts on that. Please have a bagel for me, one of my food highlights from visiting Québec many years ago.

[@IDontWantThisStupidHandle]

@@BoldFlavorVegan will do! :) I know Montréal bagels are different than NY bagels, but The Preppy Kitchen just published an accidentally-vegan bagel recipe this week -- I made them, and they are amazing. I highly recommend his recipe if you don't already have one of your own. :)

[@ibrwse]

Ohh does Gusta make a mozz?? I've found their sausage to be just okay but I don't think I've had their cheese yet

[@eeshaanpp]

gonna have to disagree on Follow Your Heart! something about the flavor is so addicting. 😋 they use Follow Your Heart at some pizza chains like Mellow Mushroom and Toppers. also not sure if putting it through the food processor would do anything to help the texture, but i'll give it a shot.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Love Mellow Mushroom! I'm looking to recreate their fluffy crust right now actually. As I said in the video, I liked the flavor, just wasn't a huge fan of the texture hence the food processor trick.

[@leapintothewild_original]

Glad to know that's what they use because I had my one and only restaurant vegan pizza at Mellow Mushroom and the 'cheese' was gummy and literally stuck to the roof of my mouth like peanut butter - just disgusting stuff!

[@WorstJavaPlayerLT4]

Where did you get the crust

[@extropiantranshuman]

2:54 exactly which is why I just take slices of cheese and put them on top and bake. I don't shred. Where's your just placing slices on top? It gives the best goo.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

That probably tastes great! I didn't think it would look very good to have the squares there so I didn't test that one out as I was also going to aesthetic.

[@extropiantranshuman]

@@BoldFlavorVegan when it melts it doesn't look like that and it looks better than shreds. Plus you cut the slices to form.

[@KigurumiAlice]

For cheese pull in ads they use glue 😮 to create that affect

[@Lilyanna298]

❤

[@Proambler]

Check out Nu Mu shredded mozerella!

[@Lamar-kh7lw]

Ha! Thanks for showing us how to make our "gouda" pizzas even "feta"!🤣

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Puns are so grate.

[@MrMaxKeane]

Ahh mate, this must've been brutal. We really appreciate the lengths to which you go in the name of science... Eating all that pizza is pure dedication :)

[@carollen5633]

Max Keane/// wish I could have been there 😍

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

It's all in the name of science 🫡. I may or may not be taking a break from pizza for a while.

[@christinebaghdeser6400]

Curious if you can do some experiments using Violife cheeses.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

I've heard so much good stuff about them since posting that I might just have to!

[@christinebaghdeser6400]

@@BoldFlavorVegan Woohoo! That would be awesome. :D

[@Alan_bui]

Tried Violife cheese ? Pretty good in my book

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Not on pizza! I'll have to try that out. So many cheeses, so little time.

[@TLM860]

What about Violife?

[@extropiantranshuman]

thoughts on just doing grits as cheese?

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Like stone ground grits? That is an interesting idea. You'd really have to season that well for sure.

[@extropiantranshuman]

@@BoldFlavorVegan I'm not sure - whatever they make polenta from.

[@veganatrix77]

First of all, you didn't even include Violife, which has an AMAZING vegan cheese line. For shreds, my trick is to wash it off and add a touch of oil. Miyokos round does best as slices, and I always give it a minute under the broiler. The liquid is just so-so, in my opinion.

[@alittleheavenonearth]

Daiya is like rubber 😅😂😂😂😂😂

[@lindaglover3321]

Violife is great

[@chloro8306]

Huh, interesting. Miyoko's mozzarella block always melts well for me.

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

Yeah, lots of testing left to do. This was just one pizza one time. I'm sure others get different results.

[@mikemcdonnell7663]

when making vegan pizza should i put the vegan meat on raw or pre cooked?

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

It depends on what it is so there is no universal answer. In general, the less oil in the product = higher chance of it burning at high temps.

[@mikemcdonnell7663]

it is the meat of the nearest vegan@@BoldFlavorVegan

[@InfiniteQuest86]

Daiya always tastes like coconut to me, which is almost never the flavor you want with cheese.

[@kingjulian_08]

Blend it like you did the other cheese and add oil and then put it on there.

[@acolhimentoveg]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@tvtalkwithavi]

No Chao or violife shreds??? 😮😮😮

[@roger_is_red]

Trader Joes almond mozzarella is incomparably the best, but it isn't completely vegan. If you add a little Go Veggie parmesan to the TJ's mozzarella you can't tell the difference from milk mozzarella. Jeannine

[@Theo-1984]

Your greasy vegan pepperoni pizza still looks much better. T_T

[@janerainbow22]

Should I give Daiya another go? Never liked it. Always thought it was responsible for giving vegan cheese a bad name. Because of taste texture etc, I have pronounced it more appropriately "dire", because it is, imo. With all the competition, have they improved. Miyokos cheeses are quality cheeses, imo, but the best cheaper cheeses come from Violife

[@extropiantranshuman]

parmela is really hard to eat. That would've been funny to watch.

[@lizardmilk]

Vegan mozzarella just isn’t there yet. Good, but not great. I’m holding out hope for something new soon.

[@DanteVelasquez]

I'm surprised you don’t make your own vegan cheese!

[@BoldFlavorVegan]

I do for sure but sometimes I just like to buy it and that led me to this question. Surprisingly, I wasn't able to find an answer on the internet already so thought I'd give this a whirl and hopefully help some people out!

[@RavenRains]

hehe gouda

[@StillaGeeskii]

Violife is better than all the above👨🏾‍🍳

[@zukashake9717]

it's amazing you didn't try the violife vegan cheese, its the best. do your research next time

[@skellener]

Numu best vegan cheese. Only sold to restaurants. Not consumers.

[@SteveRuprecht]

NONE embrace cheeseless pizza!

[@mrich9654]

Daiya anything tastes like plastic.

[@lorianncostello531]

I dont think you can compare the jalapeno havarti to mozzarella. What about them were you comparing? Sadly, these all look unappealing to me. Wrong texture, wrong taste, wrong look. I can eat a soy curl and think yeah, pretty chicken-y, but you’re not fooling me with this cheese. Im not going to drop the $6 for fake cheese that’s all wrong. Somethings you cant fake, and I fear vegan cheese is one of them. No reflection on your efforts tho!

[@brandonscarberry8728]

Cheese is indeed the reason I will never be vegan. Tastes so good, and protects against death of all kinds.

[@flemblemming7851]

Wdym by protects against death of all kinds?

[@thomassthegreattm4117]

They don't even stretching 😢

[@theself5382]

Quick answer: NONE

[@63ah1275]

No, no, NO! I'll stick with real food.

[@Kaijuus]

Vegan cheese?? F just don't eat pizza if you are Vegan.

[@Nahmate1337]

A better option is to not choose vegan ”cheese”

[@eeshaanpp]

have fun with your fermented bovine secretions mama 🥱

[@dabulls23able]

Dont be vegan is the best type