I honestly couldn't be more excited to share this Vegan Stretchy Melty Grilled Cheese.
It's easy to make, uses natural ingredients (including one almost magical one!), and the texture is the closest thing to real cheese that I've ever tried. If you don't believe my words, let me convince you with these photos...
I've experimented with vegan toasted sandwiches in the past, but hadn't tried making anything with "cheese", as I didn't think anything would measure up to the melty, stretchy phenomenon that is real melted cheese!
I did consider using something like tofu ricotta or cashew cheese, but didn't like the fact that I knew it wouldn't melt properly like normal cheese.
I wanted to create something using entirely natural, neutral-tasting ingredients that I could use as a base for adding more flavours, and of course something that would have that essential melty, stretchy texture.
It seemed impossible at first...then I started thinking about mochi...mochi are Japanese sticky rice cakes, which are made from pounding rice until it becomes sticky and glutinous (don't worry, despite the name it is still gluten-free).
It is sold in many different forms, one of them being in small, hard blocks. When these blocks of mochi are melted, they become incredibly sticky, stretchy and gooey...like real cheese!
And that was when I realised that melted mochi would be my magical secret ingredient - the perfect thing to create a Vegan Stretchy Melty Grilled Cheese!
You can buy mochi in Asian supermarkets, some local health stores, or online - just make sure you get the hard, firm type that's sold in blocks.
One word of caution: melted mochi is extremely sticky, so once you have removed the sauce from the pan, please soak your pan in boiling water immediately - otherwise you'll have a very tricky washing-up situation on your hands!
But obviously I knew I couldn't rely on mochi alone...and so I decided to add some boiled potatoes, which also become extra starchy when blended, also contributing to the overall stretch factor of the cheese.
Amusingly, the idea to combine mochi with potatoes to create a melty, stretchy vegan cheese came from my Japanese grandmother.
She always used to make these things called imomochi, which are these savoury mochi "cakes" made with potatoes - the texture is naturally melty, sticky and stretchy, just like the dairy-free cheese that I was after!
In terms of flavour, you can't really get any more bland than mochi and potatoes, which means they're the perfect ingredients for vegan cheese, because they work as a great base for adding other flavours.
Just like with my Vegan Mac and Cheese, I decided to flavour the cheese with miso, which adds an umami-rich, salty, fermented flavour, nutritional yeast for cheesiness, and a touch of vinegar for a slightly sour cheddar-like flavour. Incidentally, all of the ingredients I used happen to be oil-free and nut-free too!
I was a bit worried that using potatoes and mochi to make a cheese to go between two slices of bread would mean the whole thing would be far too starchy and heavy, but it surprisingly doesn't taste overly starchy at all.
I think the contrasting textures of the crisp toast and the gooey cheese prevents this. However, if you'd like to make this grilled cheese a little healthier, you can use white beans instead of potatoes - I've tested this too and it's equally delicious, more nutritious and has more protein + fibre too. I've included both options in the recipe below.
Obviously as this particular grilled cheese requires cooking potatoes and mochi first and then blending them, it's a little bit more effort than your classic grilled cheese...but, if you're dairy-free and missing cheese, you really gotta try it! Also, a big batch keeps well in the fridge for up to a few days - just pop in the microwave or reheat on the stove before using.
I really hope you'll love this Vegan Stretchy Melty Grilled Cheese as much as I do! It's melty, stretchy, sticky, melts in your mouth and is absolutely perfect for sandwiching between slices of warm, crispy toast!
Looking for more dairy-free cheese recipes? You might like my:
- Vegan White Bean Mac and Cheese
- Vegan Stretchy Melty Cheese Nachos
- Vegan Stretchy Melty Cheese Quesadillas
Looking for more great sandwiches? You might like my
- Lazy Falafel
- Mediterranean Chickpea “Tuna” Pittas
- Chickpea Mayonnaise Salad Sandwich
- Hummus Toasted Sandwich
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make it
Vegan Stretchy Melty Grilled Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 slices of bread (gluten-free if necessary)
For the cheese:
- 1 medium to large-sized potato, peeled and diced*
- 70 g (2.5oz) mochi (the hard firm mochi sold in blocks)
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 heaped teaspoon miso (ensure gluten-free if necessary)**
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- Optional: ¼ teaspoon (Dijon) mustard
- Salt + pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Boil potatoes until soft enough to pierce with a fork
- Drain away most the water (leaving just 100ml/a little less than ½ cup) and keep the potatoes in the saucepan
- Place the mochi underneath the potatoes and cook on a low heat for a further 5 minutes or so until mochi has melted and become sticky
- Turn off heat and add nutritional yeast, miso, vinegar, mustard and salt + pepper
- Use either a blender, food processor or hand-held stick blender (this is the easiest option as you can just do it in the same saucepan) and whizz until completely smooth
- Toast your slices of bread and spread a generous amount of the sauce over half of the slices, then sandwich them together***
- Best enjoyed immediately, but leftover cheese keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days - just pop in the microwave or reheat on the stove before using
Video
Notes
*If using white beans instead of potatoes, sub the potatoes with 150g/5oz tinned white beans - make sure they've been drained and rinsed. There's no need to boil them first, so just cook the mochi in 100ml (a little less than ½ cup) water for around 5 minutes until soft and melty, then add the white beans and continue to cook for another couple of minutes until heated through
**If you have trouble getting hold of miso, you can substitute with soy sauce (or tamari), and add extra nutritional yeast and salt if necessary
***I was lazy and just toasted my slices of bread and spread the cheese sauce between them, but you can alternatively use a grilled cheese maker or a frying pan
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Jim
Check it out: Emmy (of emmymadeinjapan) made your recipe in her most recent video. https://youtu.be/lj3_g6WHp_Y
Over 100,000 views in 2 days.
Rhian Williams
Amazing thank you so much for letting me know!
Sarah
I live in a large city with tons of Japanese grocery stores, but none carry kirimochi or any type of blocks of mochi. I saw in another comment that you don't suggest using glutinous rice flour, but after several attempts I got it to work. I took 1 cup of water, a tsp of Apple cider vinegar, and 1 cup of glutinous rice flour. Mixed it together and microwaved for 10 minutes (essentially making mochi). I then substituted it in the recipe while still warm.
Hopefully this will help those of us who can't find mochi blocks.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for sharing your feedback, that's really helpful to know!!
Lexi
Thank you for sharing Sarah! I can't seem to find mochi blocks in my town, so have been figuring out how to incorporate mochi flour instead.
Nonnie
Thanks for this! I tried this technique with the white beans (butter beans specifically). A few lessons learned:
1. This method produced lumps for me. I'd suggest trying to filter them out and cut them up to melt independently.
2. I would immersion blend the beans first, because I could not get it to blend well with the mochi lumps.
Despite this, the texture was VERY good. The flavor was a little too mild, so I'm going to spice it up next time, but I will definitely use mochiko for this again! I'd like to also try just blending everything together first and then bringing it up to temperature in the pot in order to avoid lumps.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for sharing your feedback!
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Rhian Williams
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Rhian Williams
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