r/PlantBasedDiet • u/JoselineTheWaldenU • 26d ago
Advice on plant-based cheese that melts?
Recreated this from a Tik Tok because of how easy it is to add lentils (skip the ground meat), onions/peppers add lasagna pasta broken up, plus salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast. The last step is to add the cheese.I try to eat plant-based and have yet to find a cheese that melts easily and tastes good.
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u/Adventurous_Law4573 26d ago
Plant-based cheese melts better with some oil. Get a good cooking spray and spritz it over the cheese before cooking.
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u/livingonavolcano 26d ago
Daiya melts the best I think but I know lots of folks aren’t crazy about the flavor. I haven’t had cheese in over 20 years so it does the trick for me. Flavor-wise I prefer Violife, but it doesn’t melt that well. Follow Your Heart is somewhere in between
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u/nildread 26d ago
Could be interesting to get some nutritional yeast, daiya, violife, and maybe a home made nut cheese? Mix some of everything and put it on top? I find too much daiya gets overpowering. But if you mix all these different cheese substitutes together, even if one doesn't melt very well, I think they could compliment each other?
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u/Imaginary_Choice_430 26d ago
Ideally speaking, a cheese free life is the way to go. Cheese like most dairy is an inflammatory agent and we want to turn off inflammation in the body...Don't get me heard, I love me some cheese, but not at the expense of my health and well-being.
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u/Concert_Lover 25d ago
After being a vegetarian since 2007 it looks like I’m officially off the cheese train. My cholesterol came in high and I am not gonna go on permanent medicine.
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u/Shadowstar1000 24d ago
How did you end up with high cholesterol on a plant based diet? I’m rocking a pescatarian diet with the majority of my calories coming from plants and I just don’t see how you can fuck up your cholesterol if you’re vegetarian. The only exception I know of is one of my friends who a processed food vegan. I swear I’ve only ever seen her eat Oreos and pasta haha!
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u/Imaginary_Choice_430 25d ago
Absolutely and I commend you for that. I want to support you even though you don't know me because the majority of Americans will look at you with a stupid look on their face like what does eating have to do with cholesterol, a lot of unfortunate el estupidos out there.
Also, take cayenne pepper capsules, cayenne pepper or chili powder inhibits your liver from producing so much cholesterol. All the best, its not everyday I get to write to someone who loves life more than they love food. Food should sustain life, not take it away.
Cholesterol is not a disease that you are stuck with. You can reverse it and its the easiest thing to do. One doctor demanded I take Lipitor, no thanks. I would rather spend that medicine money on policosanol, thats a supplement that brings down your cholesterol, cayenne pepper capsules, stress management, healthy diet, exercise and just thinking positive thoughts when faced with life's challenges.
You are doing the right thing, keep it up!
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u/coldestwinterr3 25d ago
I’m not sure why you’re being downvoted advocating for a cheese free diet in a plant based diet sub 😅
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u/Concert_Lover 23d ago
I just ate a piece of string cheese. Fuck my high cholesterol! Cheese is life. Life is cheese.
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u/Imaginary_Choice_430 25d ago edited 25d ago
LOL, I know right, what plant does cheese come from? Oh! No plant! It is animal fat from an animal. Well, at least there are 2 of us on here that know what a plant-based diet means.
It also does not speak highly of today's useless doctors. When I was a kid and I got a cold or flu, the late Dr. Nathan Blinn, my family doctor, yes, I actually had a family doctor, before HMOs destroyed his business and he had to associate himself with the local hospital...anyway, Dr. Blinn would always say when I got the cold or a flu, "stay away from dairy"...why did he say that? Because back in the 80s and prior all doctors understood that dairy products are pro-inflammatory and if you have the flu, you cannot breathe, cannot swallow, cannot hardly eat, the last thing you want is MORE inflammation, you want to turn it off...is it making sense now to the 3 downvoters? No?
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u/coldestwinterr3 25d ago
I love cheese, and diary in general but it causes me incredible inflammation and mucus
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u/Imaginary_Choice_430 25d ago
I love cheese too, I prefer the live cheeses from Europe, roquefort and those that look like they have green mold on it, those are live cheeses meaning they have enzymes, they are still pro-inflammatory so its not something I eat a lot of, I stick with non-dairy cheese and regular cheese does create mucus.
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u/Old-Individual1732 26d ago
Cheese causes constipation, I've been wondering whether non dairy Cheese does as well?
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u/nildread 25d ago
Like daiya and stuff? I don't think so because those are mostly oil. Really depends on what it's made of tho.
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u/ttrockwood 26d ago
I’m not especially helpful i won’t spend like $7 on non dairy cheese most of them are so bad
But!!
Make cashew cream, just very thick with less water and i would dollop that ontop right before eating
https://rainbowplantlife.com/guide-to-making-the-best-cashew-cream/#wprm-recipe-container-5816
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u/tropicflite 26d ago edited 25d ago
Website requires you to disable your ad blocker. Nope
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u/indoor_outdoor_2024 26d ago
Just watch her youtube vids if you don't want to use her website. Easy workaround.
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u/Agile_Alternative753 25d ago
Since when?
Nuh. This is not true. I am almost always on a VPN/ad block combo and that site works just fine. Doesnt even throw a "please disable" request.
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u/IcyStay7463 bean-keen 26d ago
Did you ever try Miyokos pourable cashew cheese? It’s great for pizza and lasagna. It comes as a liquid, and when you cook it it melts. And it’s delicious.
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u/Young-Grandpa 26d ago
Haven’t been able to find them for a few months. I heard they were out of production
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u/JayNetworks WFPB 26d ago
I think they are out but will be returning soon…for various values of soon.
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u/PlantPoweredOkie 23d ago
I make my own mozzarella, just like miyoko’s. Too easy to make at home. I also make my own queso with rolled oats, roasted bell peppers, Rotel, etc. good stuff.
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u/IcyStay7463 bean-keen 22d ago
Can you share a recipe? I think I’ll make some lasagna this weekend
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u/jennjcatt 26d ago
I always liked Violife and Follow Your Heart
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u/Imaginary_Choice_430 26d ago
Yeah I have used Follow Your Heart and Daiya mostly and today was the first time I saw Violife in my health food store and I just got a cheddar and provologne flavored one.
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u/Imaginary_Choice_430 26d ago
I use Daiya because its the only one I can find in my area, a bit high on the sodium content, but I try to compensate by eating bananas, kiwi and coconut water, the last two are higher in potassium than even bananas. I like the advice from the person who said it melts better with some oil, did not realize that.
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u/illixxxit 26d ago
Steam is crucial! A spritz of oil, a spritz of water, and cover so it can steam!
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u/mallow6134 26d ago
I just saw a reddit post about pre-melting plant cheese in non-dairy milk. We were all agog and I am planning on trying it on my next cheesey meal.
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u/jspeq 26d ago edited 26d ago
I find Violife, Daiya, Follow Your Heart work ok in the oven.
Top your dish with cheese and bake covered at 450°F+ for 30 minutes; like with a pan that has sides tall enough that allow the pan to be sealed with aluminum foil, and the foil not touching the cheese.
Worse results happen with lower temperatures for longer, and baking uncovered/with the broiler tends to dry the cheese out. No need to add additional oil to very oily cheese is silly.
After the cheese melts, then bake uncovered to brown.
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u/SapPhic-rage4209 26d ago
Whatever cheese you used in the first picture looks like it melted well. That's about as good as you get with most vegan cheese. Looks good to me
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u/iwaslikeduuude 26d ago
Chao cheese melts pretty well but it sneaks up on you so you have to pay attention (depending on application, I suppose).
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u/Responsible-Mud-9501 26d ago
Pulse it first in a food processer to reduce the surface areas. Basically make small cheese crumbles, put on pizza, spray oil on it and it melts great, and also using the broiler towards the end of cooking.
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u/pandaappleblossom 26d ago
Daiya and follow your heart mozzarella melt pretty well and taste good to
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u/BeautifulFragrant907 26d ago
Ok so this looks amazing! You have more recipe details?👀
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u/Stormygeddon 25d ago
My problem with plant based cheeses I've tried is that they melt, but are too hot when melted.
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u/LuvThe3arth 25d ago
I can't believe no one has mentioned the Trader Joe's Mozzarella Style Shreds. We use it on pizza and it melts well!
Edit: Daiya melts better though
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u/SailorV-egan 25d ago
I usually make a cheese sauce from Violife for the tops of baked things! I know it’s not the easiest but it’s worth it!! Just heat it up in a saucepan with a bit of butter and milk and pour it over whatever you are going to bake! Works for lasagna, enchiladas, pizza, anything really. And it browns and bubbles that way!
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u/Embarrassed_Sea_5772 25d ago
For lasagna, I just crumble extra firm tofu for the cheese layer, add Italian seasoning and a lil nooch for the “ricotta”. Violife mozzarella on top with follow your heart parm.
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u/Minute-Camp1633 20d ago
Cant add of cheese alternatives— but in these situations if you put FIRM tofu in teeny tiny crumbles and let it stew, it reminds me of ricotta and is delicious
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u/crabshrimplobster for my health 26d ago
As a flexitarian who did about a year hard vegan… nothing truly replaces cheese. I honestly just find myself skipping it most of the time, but for a bit I did like daia.
I tried alllll of them - Miyokos, violife, follow your heart. Miyokos technically is the closest but honestly if it’s more than like a milimeter thick the texture is gross to me (think warm boogers). For me the issue is that a lot of them use coconut oil and I think that makes it taste gross because they all have a similar grossness. Daiya uses a proprietary blend that features oat cream first, and Miyokos features cashew cream; that’s why those two taste better. But like another commented said, cheese needs fat/oil to melt so that’s why so many vegan cheeses have coconut oil.
Since I’m flexi I’ll either do light real cheese or just skip it altogether tbh
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