While heading to the fridge section to pick up one of my top 10 favorite Trader Joe’s products, High-Protein Super Firm Tofu, this package caught my eye. Vegan mozzarella?! I definitely already have a few favorite brands of vegan cheese, but since Trader Joe’s vegan products are yummy 99 percent of the time, I believed in my heart that this, too, had to be delicious. Was it?
Keep reading to find out how it tastes, to see a picture of this cheese melted, and to know what about the nutritional information makes this my new favorite brand.
Related: Vegans, Get Excited! Trader Joe's Has a New Dairy-Free Almond Milk Yogurt – but Is It Good?
POPSUGAR Photography / Jenny Sugar
Trader Joe's Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds Are Vegan
Trader Joe’s Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds are made from curing a cashew base for several weeks to develop its complex flavors. What makes this product different from the Almond Mozzarella Style Shreds Trader Joe’s has had for years is that this is completely vegan – those other shreds contain casein (milk protein).
POPSUGAR Photography / Jenny Sugar
Trader Joe's Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds Ingredients
When I looked at the list of ingredients, it’s short and pretty basic: cashew base (water, cashews), coconut oil, potato starch, modified cornstarch, sea salt, natural flavors, yeast extract, cultures, and annato extract (for color).
I like that this cheese is made from cashews, which is a common ingredient in vegan recipes to add smooth creaminess. Other vegan mozzarella shreds are made with a longer list of ingredients that includes oil, calcium phosphate, and xanthan gum.
POPSUGAR Photography / Jenny Sugar
Trader Joe's Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds Nutritional Information
A quarter-cup serving of these Trader Joe’s Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds is 80 calories, and has seven grams of fat and five grams of saturated fat (because of the coconut oil). There are 230 milligrams of sodium, five grams of carbs, and no sugar. It doesn’t offer any fiber or protein.
Daiya and Follow Your Heart are two of my favorite brands of vegan mozzarella, and compared to Trader Joe’s, all three offer similar nutrition. Trader Joe’s has three fewer grams of carbs than Daiya, and 50 fewer milligrams of sodium than Follow Your Heart.
POPSUGAR Photography / Jenny Sugar
What Do Trader Joe's Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds Look Like?
It looks like real shredded mozzarella cheese, doesn’t it? At first glance, I was thoroughly impressed.
POPSUGAR Photography / Jenny Sugar
Hoes Does Trader Joe's Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds Taste?!
Trader Joe’s Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds taste delicious straight out of the bag, so go ahead and sprinkle shredded cheese on a salad or bowl of soup. It offers that creamy saltiness you crave.
What about the meltiness? For the test, I made some whole wheat pizza bagels for my kiddos, and these shreds passed! Trader Joe’s Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds melt perfectly. It’s not super stringy like regular mozzarella cheese, but it’s soft and melty, and so yummy!
POPSUGAR Photography / Jenny Sugar
Trader Joe's Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds Price
For $4, a bag of this Trader Joe’s Dairy Free Mozzarella Style Shreds is pretty reasonable. Other popular brands usually cost a little more, and this tastes and melts just as well!
