Seed Oil Free Vegan Cashew Mozzarella

Total time2 hr 20 min

Prep time10 min

Cook time10 min

Most store-bought vegan cheeses rely heavily on sunflower oil, canola oil, or other refined seed oils as their base — which makes finding a clean alternative genuinely tricky. This cashew mozzarella skips all of that, using refined coconut oil as the only fat, so you get that rich, creamy texture without any of the oils you're trying to avoid. Soaked raw cashews blended until silky smooth create a surprisingly convincing dairy-free base, and tapioca starch is what gives the finished cheese its signature stretch and melt. Watching the mixture transform in the pan — going from thin cream to glossy, pull-away strands — is honestly one of the more satisfying things you can do in a kitchen. Once it sets in the fridge, it slices cleanly, shreds easily, and melts back down beautifully on a hot pizza or in a warm dish. A little apple cider vinegar and lemon juice add just enough tang to make it taste like the real thing, while garlic powder rounds out the flavor without overpowering it. It's the kind of recipe that makes you wonder why you ever reached for the store-bought version in the first place.

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Ingredients

6 servings

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in cold water for at least 2 hours, then drained and rinsed
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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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