How To Choose The Best Store-Bought Vegan Cheese, According To An Expert

A few years ago, you'd be hard-pressed to find store-bought vegan options beyond some Vegenaise and maybe some frozen black bean burger patties if your local grocery store was fancy. Nowadays, there's an overwhelming amount of options when it comes to vegan food. We wanted to get some tips on how to pick out the best vegan cheese from the grocery store, so we talked to expert, Nisha Vora, New York Times Best Selling Cookbook Author of "Big Vegan Flavor."

According to Vora, she doesn't buy store-bought vegan cheeses that often. So, when she does make her way to the grocery store, she does her best to prioritize products with a short ingredient list, and that melt well if that's the use she's after. She also looks for a "rich, somewhat tangy flavor." As she explains, "If a product is fermented or cultured, that's usually a good sign of its quality." Looking for minimal ingredients, not to mention pronounceable ingredients, is an excellent tip when shopping for any type of food that's new to your cooking routine.

Not sure where to begin on your vegan cheese hunt? We recently released a ranking of 16 vegan cheese brands ranked from worst to best.

When shopping for your go-to vegan cheese brand, here are the things you should evaluate: taste, texture, and spreadability. Of course, taste plays a major factor and as Nisha Vora mentioned, capturing the tang of real cheeses is important, but things like texture and spreadability are crucial to your cheese-eating experience as well. You'll want the texture to replicate the creamy or gooey version of the cheese you're looking for. Spreadability is important for cheeses you're using on toast or dipping crackers into. 

There are a few base ingredients used to make vegan cheeses, well, cheesy. Things like soy, seeds, grains, and oils can all be used in these cheeses. Two ingredients to look out for are starches and nuts. Vegan cheeses that use starch to replicate the stretch of non-vegan cheese can be a bit heavier on your system. So, if you want a cheese that is still rich and tangy but not as overbearing as starch-based cheeses, go for ones that use nuts as a primary ingredient.

If you want to try your hand at making vegan cheese, check out this cashew ricotta recipe. Vegan ricotta is not as good for those melty, gooey dishes, but it'd make a great toast topper or ravioli filling.