HONEST REVIEW: 7 DAIRY-FREE CHEESES FOR PIZZA – what is the best dairy-free cheese on the market? Every Friday night is pizza night in our gluten-free, dairy-free household. The question I get asked the most is: what dairy-free mozzarella cheese do you use for pizza? Determined to find the best, we bought (with our own money) and reviewed 7 dairy-free cheeses. All 7 of us reviewed for taste, texture, and melt. This post is 0% sponsored.
NOTE: These reviews are specifically for mozzarella cheese, as Pizza night is a Friday tradition. However, we have had the other flavors of cheese from all of these brands and still would give cheddar and other varieties the same ratings. Violife has continued to be our all-around favorite!
The dairy-free mozzarella cheeses are perfect for pizza night or my Gluten-free Dairy-free Lasagna. And a good cheddar or Mexican cheese is perfect for my Enchiladas or Enchilada Bake Dip!
THE WINNERS:
Violife Foods (rating 4.5/5) – Dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, lactose-free, nut-free, and preservatives free (WOW!). This one was the favorite for all but one of us. Very creamy and best melt most similar to traditional mozzarella. Good flavor (doesn’t taste like almond-based cheeses). CONS – One boy thought the creamy texture was “slimy.” Has admittedly a weird smell in the bag, but doesn’t affect taste. We find it locally at Winco and a natural food store, but does have a locator on its website.
Follow Your Heart (4.5/5 rating) – I’ll admit, I got this one wrong at first. We didn’t love this one when we first tried it. But, after giving it a second chance recently, it’s become a new family favorite. My son who doesn’t usually love dairy-free pizza even agreed this one tasted “normal” which felt like a huge win! I think the melt it s bit better than Violife, but we still like them both.
Miokos Pourable Mozzarella (4.0/5 rating) – MANY of my community said we needed to try this unique pourable cheese. It comes in a bottle and is completely liquid, made from a cashew sauce. We were a little nervous to pour it onto our pizza, but it really did cook up well! Smooth, creamy, with no waxy cheese shreds left. We personally didn’t love the flavor, and my kids preferred the two cheeses above. But, it’s popular with the vegan and dairy-free communities and one you need to try for yourself. We also don’t use it regularly, as it’s made from cashews and my daughter is nut-free.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
UPDATED Daiya Foods (NEW formula = 3.8/5) – The NEW Oat Milk formula (green bag above) is new and improved and we like it even better! Better melt and flavor and very close second to Violife. Decent in all areas for taste, texture, and melt and accessible to us as it’s sold locally at Winco and Walmart .
Trader Joe’s cashew-based mozzarella (3/5 rating) – Not very creamy, but the favorite of one of my boys. Some thought it had a strange flavor and a bit of an aftertaste, and it does have a unique smell out of the bag.
Whole Foods 365 brand (3/5 rating) – Terrible melt (like the cheese did not change shape at all with heat) and not creamy, but good taste. Side note: their 365 brand dairy-free Mozzarella and Cheddar cheeses are currently the only store-bought brand I know of that is Whole30 compatible!
WOULDN’T BUY AGAIN
So Delicious (2.5/5 rating) – terrible melt and not at all creamy. Just ok on taste.
Trader Joe’s Almond-based mozzarella (2/5 rating) – Not completely DF, just 99% lactose-free. Terrible melt, we weren’t fans of the texture – it was mushy. Wouldn’t buy again.
Oh and what pizza crust do we use? It’s one of our favorite recipes in my cookbook 😉. (Paleo All-Purpose Dough, page 236). Get your own copy here!
Do you agree with these reviews? Drop your thoughts and favorites (or least favorites!) in the comments 👇🏻👇🏻.
Cream cheese hands down tofuti it tastes just like cream cheese and they now have a sour cream that tastes like sour cream!!
Oh interesting! I *just* saw that they have sour cream and that’s great to know you’ve loved that brand. Thanks for sharing!
I love Babybel vegan. It is the best I have tasted and I’ve tasted lots. It is expensive, so I have to not snack on it.
Awesome, thanks for the recommendation! I haven’t tried that one yet, so I will have to keep an eye out for it.
Follow Your Heart Sliced Gouda gets my vote for best vegan cheese. It melted over my scrambled eggs smoothly and the flavor was buttery and amazing.
I haven’t heard of that one! Thanks for the recommendation – I will have to check it out.
Violife is good, best I have found. A bit salty for me personally, but all the same it melts well and tastes good. I have tried the cheddar and the mozzarella, each is nice.
Good call.
I’m right there with you. I still hope dairy-free cheese continues to improve, but for now Violife is my fave!
Wanted to let you know that I just had a great experience with the Aldi brand dairy free mozzarella…excellent melt and taste…in case anyone wants to give it a try!
I appreciate the tip! I so wish we had an Aldis near me in NorCal. Thanks for sharing!
Have you tried the Miyokos liquid Mozzarella? It’s by far my favorite!
I haven’t but I keep hearing about it! I haven’t seen it available locally but will have to find it and add it to the review. Thanks for the recommendation!
Same. Try your best to find Miyokos pourable Mozza. It’s really surprising! Not cheap, but lasts longer than you’d expect.
Yes! This is bar far my favorite! Seems weird that it’s liquid, but cooks up beautifully.