Discover the Delicious PlantBased Cheeses You Never Knew Existed

Veganism has sprouted in popularity in recent years due to increased concern for the environment, as dairy, poultry, and animal production continues to dominate the use of water, land, and resources within the agricultural sector, (via CNET), as well as the health and moral drawbacks that come with consuming animal products. And while consumers can now enjoy tons of vegan products like BEYOND burgers, JUST egg replacers, and plant-based sausages, there is one thing the vegans can't seem to get right — cheese.

The science of replicating the texture, taste, and melting characteristics of cheese is the most difficult part of manufacturing a good vegan cheese. And while there are recipes to make your vegan cheese at home with ingredients like cashews and nutritional yeast, you're unlikely to have the ingredients (and food science knowledge) to replicate the compounds found in pre-packaged, vegan cheese brands. Here are the brands that are hitting the mark with vegan cheese and those falling a bit behind the curve. Prices may vary.

We have very distinct memories of trying Go Veggie for the first time and being incredibly unimpressed by the flavor and quality of this dairy-free cheese. But to give the brand a second chance, we sampled its cheddar-style shreds made with modified potato starch as its primary ingredient. The issue with this ingredient is that it doesn't spread like saturated fat (such as coconut oil). And if you're buying cheese for a taco night or your morning breakfast burrito, you probably want it to be able to spread.

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We found that this cheese was the most plastic-like of all the dairy-free cheeses we sampled. It lacked any recognition of cheese flavor and stayed in tiny shreds when we tried to melt it in the microwave. And at $4.29 at the time of publication, we would have liked to have a vegan cheese with some resemblance to our beloved cheddar. Go Veggie also offers other products like slices and cream cheeses, but we think we're going to leave this brand on the shelf for now.

Tofutti is likely most recognizable for its vegan cream cheese, but we decided to switch it up and sample its dairy-free American cheese slices. These slices are made with Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified palm oil, maltodextrin, and tofu. Therefore, these slices are not suitable for folks with soy allergies.

We ran into several issues with this Tofutti product — the foremost being it not melting. Instead of melting, we found that this cheese liquefies into a tiny oily puddle. And if your next reaction is to eat the slice unmelted, we would caution against that too. There was very little flavor in the cheese that resembled the classic American grilled-cheese-quality slices of our childhood. Moreover, if this is the only cheese you have and you feel obligated to use it on something, you could mix it into a veggie burger or disguise it as something else — just don't call it American cheese.

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Daiya is a major brand in the dairy-free cheese scene. Besides its selection of shreds, slices, sticks, and cream cheeze, you'll find many of its products in the frozen section of the grocery store such as its cheezecake, vegetable crust pizza, and frozen burritos. For the sake of comparison, we choose to try its cheddar-style shreds. These shreds are made with tapioca starch, coconut oil, and chickpea protein, and are priced at $4.99.

The first thing we noticed about these shreds was the texture. Eating out of the bag was plasticky, brittle, grainy, and unpleasant. Granted, most people don't eat shreds (even dairy ones) straight out of the bag, so we decided to try and melt this cheese. The Daiya cheese was very globby when it was melted down and didn't spread evenly over the vegan nachos we tried to make. While there was a bit more flavor than the Go Veggie cheese we sampled, its poor texture makes Daiya one of our least favorite cheeses.

Yes, it's the same Babybel that manufactures the snacking cheeses in the little red wax discs — just vegan. The brand released its plant-based snacking cheese in early 2022. These small snacks, which come in bags of six, are made with modified food starch, coconut oil, and calcium citrate. Each bag is listed at Target for $4.49, or about $0.75 per piece.

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Babybel snacking cheeses are limited in scope because the lineup only contains one product. And unlike other dairy-free cheeses, it's made for snacking rather than for melting. Peeling these tiny cheeses is like a little bit of euphoria from our childhood, and the inside of the cheese resembled almost the exact flavor of cream cheese. There was a subtle tangy aftertaste on the cheese that made it feel like we were eating a ball of mozzarella. The texture was a bit like biting into a piece of clay — which was equally as disturbing as it was cool. Overall, we wouldn't go out of our way to pack one of these cheeses in a lunchbox.

The Laughing Cow carries a few plant-based products including its spreadable cheese alternative in original and garlic and herb flavor. Each cheese circle includes eight foil-packaged wedges for easy snacking and food on the go. This cheese is made with almond milk and fortified with vitamin B12 — which is a vitamin found solely in animal products (or fortified vegan products like this one) and helps prevent anemia and nervous system damage, (via The Vegan Society). These wedges also include coconut milk for creaminess, as well as food starches and pea protein for structure.

We were more impressed with the garlic and herb version of the Laughing Cow. The original lacked flavor and tasted a bit more gelatinous than the garlic and herb flavor, which had an undercurrent of spice that made the texture of the cheese a little less distracting. While we wouldn't eat this cheese regularly because of its texture, it might be a feasible option for someone building a dairy-free charcuterie board.

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CHAO creamery is an offshoot of Field Roast — which makes some of the most delicious vegan sausages we've ever had. So naturally, our expectations for CHAO's creamy original slices were very high. CHAO uses coconut oil, fermented tofu, and vegetable starches to craft its cheese. Each package contains 10 slices for a total of $4.13. While there was a nice cheesy flavor to these slices, we were a bit distracted by how salty these slices are. If CHAO were able to rein in the saltiness a bit more, the slices would have scored a little higher on our ranking.

The texture of the slices was easy to handle and peel apart — which is important since CHAO does not individually wrap its slices. When melted, we found that the cheese resembles its sliced shape, but has some give to it as a dairy-based cheese slice would. We liked that the cheese didn't ooze like other brands and found that the flavor complemented our vegan burger patty well.

Kite Hill focuses most of its products in the yogurt realm but has expanded to include butter alternatives, sour cream alternatives, filled pasta, and our sample,  cream cheese. Kite Hill uses an almond milk base for its cream cheese along with enzymes, xantham gum, and mushroom extract (which the brand notes is used to preserve freshness). There are several flavors of dairy-free cream cheese available, including strawberry, garden veggie, chive, and everything. We purchased an 8-ounce container of the original cream cheese for $6.19, which makes it one of the most expensive cream cheeses we sampled.

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The flavor of this cream cheese is strong and acidic, which has a strong resemblance to dairy-based cream cheese. There is a very little aftertaste, as well. However, several Amazon reviewers of this product found that it molds very easily, although we did not see any signs of spoilage when we purchased this product.

Miyoko's is a high-end plant-based product company that makes everything under the sun from plant-based butter to vegan artisan cheese wheels. The only vegan product we could get our hands on from Miyoko's was the organic cashew milk mozzarella, which was priced at $8.49 for an 8-ounce package. The exorbitant price for this product is unrealistic for many consumers, so we would put the brand into the sometimes buy category rather than the fridge-cheese category.

In sampling this product, we were first reminded of our past run-ins with Miyoko's — most notably its fish-free cream cheese that sent us running from the Trader Joe's refrigerator aisle. It's safe to say the organic cashew milk mozzarella was a much more enjoyable experience than the lox-flavored cream cheese alternative. The texture of this cheese was soft and sliceable but resembled more of a creamy cheese spread than a mozzarella alternative. We found that this dairy-free alternative melts well in baked ziti and has some gentle flavor notes that make it resemble real mozzarella.

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Nurishh offers a suite of dairy-free cheese products, including its slices, shreds, snack cubes, and cream cheeses. We sampled three varieties of the brand's cream cheese products: original, chive and onion, and strawberry. Unlike other

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