We taste tested 9 different vegan cream cheese brands! We’re dishing out all the details on which is the best in our vegan cream cheese taste test!
We have a clear favorite vegan cream cheese before starting this vegan cream cheese taste test, but could it stand up to a taste test challenge. That’s what we wanted to find out.
After doing our vegan shredded cheese taste test Pt. 2, many people asked if we would do other cream varieties. Many vegan cheeses don’t have enough to compare; however, we were surprised that we were able to find 9 different vegan cream cheese brands with a plain variety in order to put them to the test.
Also, if you’re interested, make sure to check out our vegan yogurt taste test where we’ve tried more than 25 brands.
So can you believe we were able to find 9 different ones?
And these are all nine different brands. No two are from the same brand and they are all plain flavors so a true side by side comparison.
Watch our vegan cream cheese taste test:
PSA:
We know that everyone has different taste buds. What we may think is the best, may completely vary from what you actually like.
You may ultimately think our best is the worst and that’s okay. We created this video as hopefully a starting point for people and we can only go off our opinion.
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What vegan cream cheese brands did we try?
Despite trying out 10 different brands, we know that there are even more out there. We just didn’t find them local to us. The brands that we did find and try are:
- Wayfare
- Miyoko’s
- Daiya
- Violife
- Trader Joe’s
- Kite Hill
- Go Veggie
- Tofutti
- Treeline
We also had a bonus taste test of Spero Sunflower Cream Cheese. We didn’t see a plain version of this but did they the red pepper version.
I will be upfront that we had tried a few of these before. However, we had never tried any of them side by side with other brands which we believe is really important when it comes to taste testing.
How did we do the vegan cream cheese taste test?
It was really quite simple.
We toasted some vegan bagels and then cut them into small pieces.
We dipped a small piece of bagel into each vegan cream cheese brand and then taste each one.
We were looking for mostly taste and texture. Our goal was to find the one closest to what we remember dairy-based cream cheese tasting like.
Wayfare Dairy Free Original Cream Cheese
The Wayfare vegan cream cheese is plant-based, non-GMO and organic.
Thoughts: This was our favorite one before the taste test even started. We buy it from a local natural health store, but you can also find at Wegman’s and online (see below). We think that the texture is thick and extremely close to dairy based cream cheese. It’s very neutral in taste and no overpowering taste
Where to Buy: https://wayfarefoods.com/store-locator/
Varieties: Original as well as Onion and Chive
Ingredients: WayFare Dairy Free Base (Water, Organic Butter Beans, Organic Oats), Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Agave Syrup, Organic Gum Arabic, Konjac Root Powder, Sea Salt, Organic Cultured Dextrose, Organic Natural Flavor, Organic Citric Acid, Calcium Citrate, Lactic Acid.
Allergens: Coconut.
Price: $4.49
Trader Joe’s Plain Classic Vegan Cream Cheese Alternative
Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese alternative is the cheapest of the 9 options that we found.
Thoughts: We liked this one overall. It does have some consistency issues. What we mean by that is that it has a more whipped consistency and sometimes is runnier than other times.
It doesn’t matter for things like bagels, but when you are trying to make things like vegan cheesecake, it can be an issue.
When tasted side by side with the other brands, Larisha does think there is a bit of an aftertaste.
Where to Buy: All Trader Joe’s locations.
Varieties: Original
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Coconut oil, Mid-Oleic Sunflower Oil, Soy Protein Concentrate, Cornstarch, Sea Salt, Tricalcium Phosphate, Natural Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum, Vegan Culture, Lactic Acid (Non-Dairy).
Allergens: Coconut and Soy.
Price: $2.99
Daiya Plain Cream Cheeze Style Spread
Daiya is one of the easiest brands to find in a variety of different stores.
Thoughts: There was an immediate aroma as soon as we opened the package which was a bit weird and immediately made us think of the older Daiya products that many people, including us, don’t like.
This one was very, very thick. And hard to get out of the tub. Andrew didn’t like it at all and Larisha said that it wasn’t as bad as she was expecting, but it’s absolutely the older Daiya product flavor versus the newer cutting board chickpea line.
Where to Buy: Use their store locator here
Varieties: Plain, Strawberry, Chive & Onion, Garden Vegetable.
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Coconut Oil, Tapioca Starch, Coconut Cream, Expeller Pressed: Canola and/or Safflower Oil, Vegan Natural Flavors, Pea Protein, Salt, Cane Sugar, Xanthan Gum, Potato Protein, Lactic Acid (Vegan), Vegan Enzyme, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum.
Allergens: Coconut.
Price: $3.99
Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese Plain
Tofutti is one of the original vegan brands for anything. Their cream cheese has been around for a very long time.
Thoughts: Immediately we could tell it was thick and not runny which was a plus. But the taste was just off to us. It doesn’t have a close cream cheese taste although the texture itself was nice.
Andrew said it tasted like you were eating something out of a cup that hadn’t been properly rinsed.
Where to Buy: Use their store locator here
Varieties: Plain, Herbs & Chives, Garlic & Herb, Whipped.
Ingredients: WATER, EXPELLER PROCESSED NATURAL OIL BLEND (SOYBEAN, PALM FRUIT AND OLIVE), MALTODEXTRIN, NON-GMO (SOY PROTEIN, TOFU), NON-DAIRY LACTIC ACID, BLEND OF NATURAL GUMS (LOCUST BEAN, GUAR, CELLULOSE AND XANTHAN), ORGANIC SUGAR AND SALT.
Allergens: Soy
Price: $3.79
GoVeggie Classic Plain Cream Cheese Alternative
GoVeggie is a cheese alternative brand, but be careful. Many of their products are only lactose free, meaning it still contains animal by-products.
Thoughts: It was much softer and comparable to the Trader Joe version rather than being the consistency of regular cream cheese. We didn’t mind the flavor overall but Larisha did say for her there was a bit of a soapy taste at the end.
Where to Buy: Use their store locator
Varieties: Classic Plain, Chive & Garlic
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Coconut Oil, Mid-oleic Sunflower Oil, Soy Protein Concentrate, Cornstarch, Sea Salt, Tricalcium Phosphate, Natural Flavors, Organic Locust Bean Gum, Xanthan Gum, Organic Guar Gum, Vegan Culture
Allergens: Coconut and Soy.
Price: $3.39
Miyoko’s Creamery Classic Plain Cultured Vegan Cream Cheese
Miyoko’s is a female owned and led business that focuses on vegan cheese alternatives.
Thoughts: It was not as smooth as some of the other ones and much more thick. The color was definitely not a cream cheese color and there was. a vinegar smell to it before even trying to taste it.
The overall opinion was this was not good. Maybe in a savory recipe it could be saved, but there was a strong lemon taste to it and a fragrance taste. The texture was also gritty but that may be due to the cashews.
Andrew did comment that it seemed like it was the least processed of all the ones they tried up to that point.
Where to Buy: Use their store finder here
Varieties: Classic Plain, Savory Scallion, Fish-Free Lox
Ingredients: Organic Cashews, Filtered Water, Organic Coconut Cream, Sea Salt, Cultures
Allergens: Cashews, coconut.
Price: $5.99
Kite Hill Plain Cream Cheese Alternative
Kite Hill makes a variety of products, some we like (ricotta) and others we don’t (some yogurts, not all). This was the second most expensive brand.
Thoughts: This was a softer one, but thicker than say Trader Joe’s. What it compares too couldn’t be pinpointed, but neither of us liked this brand at all.
Where to Buy: Find where to buy here.
Varieties: Plain, Chive, Everything, Garden Veggie
Ingredients: Almond Milk (Water, Almonds), Salt, Enzyme, Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum, Mushroom Extract (to help preserve freshness), Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Cultures.
Allergens: Almond
Price: $6.99
Violife just like Cream Cheese Original
Violife makes some of the best tasting, easy to find vegan cheeses. Many of which showed up in our Must Buy Vegan Foods List for Beginners.
Thoughts: It was very very white. It’s probably the thickest one out of all of them. Larisha taste some coconut oil at the very end fo the flavorful, but ultimately decided this was one of the better tasting products.
Where to Buy: Find where to buy here.
Varieties: Original, Garlic & Herb, and Cheddar.
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Coconut Oil, Potato Starch, Salt (Sea Salt), Glucono-Delta-Lactone, Flavor (vegan sources), Olive Extract, Vitamin B12.
Allergens: Coconut
Price: $5.49
Treeline Plain Plant Based Cream Cheese
This is the newest vegan cream cheese on the market. This product was just recently released. The dips made from the company are so good!
Thoughts: It is darker in color, similar to the Miyokos product. It’s a much more savory taste than many of the others. In fact, they said it tastes just like the Treeline soft cheeses rather than a cream cheese.
Where to Buy: Find where to buy here.
Varieties: Plain, Strawberry, Chive & Onion.
Ingredients: Cashew Nuts, Filtered Water, Sea Salt, Lemon Juice, L.Acidophlus.
Allergens: Cashews.
Price: $9.50*
*We had this shipped to our house, so we assume that some of that cost is due to shipping. Use the store locator above to see if you can find it near you and it may cost less.
Spero Sunflower Cream Cheese
This was a bonus part of the video because it was flavored and we couldn’t find a non-flavored version. They do make an original one, but the store that we found it out did not have it.
It was very very soft, almost more like a dip rather than a cream cheese. And much softer than even the ones we said were whipped like in texture.
However, the taste was great (and very spicy!)
Where to Buy: Find where to buy here.
Varieties: The Original, Herb, Red Pepper, Smoked, Strawberry, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Blueberry.
Ingredients: Organic Sunflower Seeds, Water, Coconut Oil, Salt, Smoked Paprika, Garlic Powder, Cayenne, Probiotic Cultures.
Allergens: Coconut
Price: $4.29
Are these vegan cream cheese brands allergy friendly?
We listed the allergens under each but just so it’s easier to find we wanted to list it here as well.
All of these are vegan so they are automatically dairy free and egg free. None of them listed gluten or peanuts as an ingredients. They are also all fish and shellfish free.
That leaves treenuts and soy as top allergens in the US.
- Contains Coconut – Wayfare, Trader Joe’s, Daiya, Go Veggie, Miyokos, Violife, Spero
- Contains Soy – Trader Joe’s, Tofutti, Go Veggie
- Contains Nuts – Miyokos (Cashews), Kite Hill (Almonds), Treeline (Cashews)
That means all 10 of them (bonus one included) had some form of allergen inside.
Who was the winner?
Okay. I put you through all that just to make you wait until here until I announce the winner. You know, wait with baited breath, type of thing! HA!
Again, we were pleasantly surprised with all the brands we were able to find and what that means for the future of those of us that are vegan or living a dairy free lifestyle.
Now, without further ado!
Our top 3 brands would be:
- Wayfare
- Violife
- Trader Joe’s
The rest in order were:
- Go Veggie
- Tofutti
- Daiya
- Kite Hill
- Miyokos
- Treeline
Do you agree with us? Have you tried any of these ? Tell us below!
Make your own vegan cream cheese at home!
We also have two of our own vegan cream cheese recipes that you could try if you can’t find any of these brands.
Try our homemade vegan bagels recipes too!
Also see our:
- vegan grilled cheese sandwiches taste test and our
- vegan egg substitutes post!
taya
when it comes to baking with vegan cream cheese the kite hill brand is a big no for me lol probably because of the coconut oil? I couldn’t figure out where I went wrong with my recipe but after reading this I noticed the high coconut oil content made them spread like crazy
I definitely prefer the tofutti brand for baking because its so dang thick but very helpful comparisons so thank you!
taya
I actually meant violife and not kite hill*
LarishaBernard
totally understand and get this!
Monica
Boursin plant based cream cheese (they only have in garlic and herb) is really yummy flavor wise! The consistency is hard like coconut oil but the flavor is spot on! They sell it at trader joes. Must try some of these other ones though!!
Jodi
I came here to recommend the so delicious cream cheese too. Definitely the closest to actual cream cheese in my opinion that I have tried.
LarishaBernard
Glad you enjoy
Carrie
Looking at the packages, I became suspicious that the Kroger “Simple Truth” Plant-Based CC was the same as Wayfare – and sure enough, the ingredient lists match. So while I’m not 100% certain, it seems like it may be a slightly more budget-friendly option – $3.79 at my local Kroger’s. (Ralph’s, Safeway, etc.)
Appreciate the list! I’ve got pumpkin roll on the docket for Tgiving this year…
LarishaBernard
We’ve heard this!
Davivid
Thanks for this! I agree with your findings, but I’d like to make a suggestion: thoroughly mix VioLife with a little of the Miyoko’s and you will have perfect vegan cream cheese. On its own, VioLife has the richness and creaminess you want but it needs just a bit of the actual cultured tanginess of Miyoko’s. My ratio is about 4 to 1 VioLife to Miyoko’s. Mix until it’s all one color, a slightly less bright white than pure VioLife. Then refrigerate for a while, preferable overnight. The result is a vegan cream cheese so amazing it’s like it came straight from Philadelphia. Let me know if you try it
LarishaBernard
we’ll have to try!
Liz Torres
Violife is my favorite! I find that it is the closest resemblance to me than the others I’ve tried. I have tried Tofutti and Daiya and wasn’t happy with them at all.
Cindy
If you can find it, So Delicious now has a cream cheese also. It is the closest in taste and texture I have tried. Even my 17 year old daughter (not vegan at all and super picky) enjoyed it.
Have a great day and THANK YOU for all the great recipies!!
LarishaBernard
Oh nice! Thanks for the tip
Lily Donnahue
The kite hill is my favorite! I think it’s the best ingredients (no nasty oils) and it has a great texture and is so similar to dairy cream cheese in my opinion!