Fish Free Vegan Cashew Mozzarella
Stretchy, glossy, and genuinely satisfying to pull apart, this cashew-based mozzarella delivers the kind of melt you'd expect from the real thing — without a single animal product in sight. The magic comes from tapioca starch, which transforms a blended cashew cream into something that stretches, slices, and re-melts on a hot pizza just like traditional cheese. Soaking the cashews first is the key step that makes the final texture silky-smooth rather than grainy, so don't skip it. A touch of apple cider vinegar and lemon juice adds that subtle tang that makes mozzarella taste like mozzarella, while garlic powder rounds everything out beautifully. For anyone navigating seafood-free kitchens, this is a completely clean option — no fish-derived additives, no hidden anchovies lurking in a store-bought cheese alternative. Once it sets in the fridge, you can slice it onto a caprese salad, tear it over flatbread, or melt it into a bubbling baked dish. It's the kind of recipe that makes you wonder why you ever reached for the packaged stuff.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in cold water for at least 2 hours, then drained and rinsed
- ¾ cup water
- 3 tbsp tapioca starch
- 1 tbsp refined coconut oil
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- 1
Drain and rinse the soaked cashews, then add them to a high-speed blender along with the water, tapioca starch, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and garlic powder. Blend on high for 60–90 seconds until completely smooth with no visible cashew pieces — the mixture should look like thin, pourable cream.
- 2
Pour the blended mixture into a medium saucepan and set over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, for 5–8 minutes until the mixture thickens dramatically, pulls away from the sides of the pan, and becomes glossy and stretchy — it will look like melted mozzarella and stretch when you lift the spatula.
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