We are trying out 6 vegan cheeses to figure out what makes the best vegan grilled cheese sandwich.
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Year round, there is one sandwich that stands up to the test of any type of weather. One sandwich that no matter if you are young or old, you enjoy. That sandwich that is perfect on its own or paired perfectly with a variety of sides. Today, we’re talking about the vegan grilled cheese.
Grilled cheese sandwiches take under 10 minutes to make so it’s perfect even if it’s hot outside; yet, it’s great during colder months, paired with a delicious soup.
As parents, it’s one of the easiest things to make, so kids love it; however, as adults it’s reminiscent of our childhood so we love it too! It’s a win, win for everyone!
That is unless you are vegan or dairy free for allergy reasons. Or is it?
You may think initially that you can never have a grilled cheese again or that your children will never have the same awesome memories of this classic sandwich; however, that doesn’t have to be the case.
Insert: Vegan Grilled Cheese.
It’s actually really easy to make a vegan grilled cheese sandwich that is completely free from any forms of dairy.
What ingredients do you need to make a vegan grilled cheese?
All you need for a delicious vegan frilled cheese sandwich are just 3 ingredients.
- Vegan bread – we used sourdough because it gets crispy
- Vegan butter
- and Vegan Cheese
That’s all you need to make the perfect vegan grilled cheese sandwiches.
How do you make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich?
Preheat a skillet to medium low heat and add a little bit of vegan butter to the pan.
No matter what bread you choose, you are going to want to spread vegan butter on one side of each of the slices.
Lay one slice, butter side down into your pan. Add 3 slices of vegan cheese and then place the other slice of bread to your pan, butter side up.
Cook your sandwich for 3-5 minutes or until golden brown. Then, flip and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes of until golden brown on that side also.
Remove from heat and serve. Repeat if making more than one sandwich.
Can I make this Top 8 Allergy Friendly?
The short answer: Yes! You can absolutely make a Top 8 Allergen Friendly Grilled Cheese. And all the people with allergies rejoice!
Since we aren’t really giving a direct recipe, this is entirely up to you. Since we are already making this vegan, we know it’s dairy and egg free. The other ingredients that you need to consider are gluten, soy, and nuts.
If you are gluten free, make sure that you use a gluten free bread. In addition, ensure your bread is soy free if needed.
As far as the butter, make sure you get a red tub of Earth Balance if you need to be soy free.
Finally, the vegan cheese. It’s already dairy free, but some vegan cheeses contain nuts or soy. Fortunately, there are definitely nut and soy free cheeses so just look for those.
How do you reheat vegan grilled cheese?
If you need to reheat a vegan grilled cheese, the best option is to do so in a skillet for 1-2 minutes on each side so it remains still crispy.
If you are not worried about it being crispy to reheat, then you may do so in the microwave for 45-60 seconds or less.
What brands of vegan cheese make the best grilled cheese?
For our taste test, we tried 6 different vegan cheese brands.
We chose brands that we easily found when we visited 3 different stores. There are definitely other options out there and even some the brands that we chose, have more than one variety.
The vegan cheeses that we tried were:
- Daiya Provolone
- Violife Mature Cheddar
- Good Planet American
- Field Roast Chao Creamy Original
- Tofutti American
- Follow Your Heart Smoked Gouda
When we were testing the vegan cheese brands, we were looking for brands that would melt down well, give you a stretch, and taste delicious.
The best vegan grilled cheese sandwich melt:
We think that the Daiya brand gave the best melt. It almost instantly melted while in between the two slices and then poured out when pushed down on after taking it off.
All of the brands still melted inside the sandwich. With the Good Planet brand, the cheese that was not under the sandwich did not melt as well as others (see the video for visual understanding).
The best vegan grilled cheese sandwich stretch:
The best stretch came from the Follow Your Heart brand, followed by the Field Roast Chao cheese.
The remaining cheeses really didn’t stretch at all.
The best vegan grilled cheese sandwich taste:
We were actually surprised by the cheese tastes in the grilled cheese. For the most part, we had been trying shredded vegan cheeses and just not super impressed by the taste in the things we had used them on, like tacos or vegan cheese pizza.
The best tasting vegan grilled cheese came from the Follow Your Heart Gouda brand. The taste was so robust and flavorful with the Smoked Gouda.
Next, we would have said the Field Roast Chao. The Violife, Tofutti and Good Planet were all delicious also and we would continue to purchase any of these brands for our grilled cheese sandwiches.
The Daiya cheese was very overpowering and also had a tangy taste which we just didn’t like. This would be the only brand that we personally wouldn’t recommend for a grilled cheese. It could possibly make a great mac and cheese with addition flavoring to the sauce.
The best vegan grilled cheese sandwich overall:
The Follow Your Heart Smoked Gouda cheese was the overall best vegan grilled cheese. The taste was amazing, it stretched perfectly and was creamy delicious inside.
Watch our vegan grilled cheese taste test video:
Pin these Vegan Grilled Cheese Taste Test for later:
🥳 Get the Full Recipe
Vegan Grilled Cheese
Ingredients
- 4 slices vegan bread
- 6 slices vegan sliced cheese of choice
- 4 tablespoon vegan butter (plus more for pan)
Instructions
- Preheat a skillet to medium low heat and add a little bit of vegan butter to the pan.
- Spread vegan butter on one side of each of the slices.
- Lay one slice, butter side down into your pan.
- Add 3 slices of vegan cheese on top of bread.
- Place the other slice of bread to your pan, butter side up.
- Cook sandwich 3-5 minutes or until golden brown.
- Flip and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes or until golden brown on that side also.
- Remove from heat and serve.
- Repeat if making more than one sandwich.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
I would just like to add Whole Foods’ 350 gouda slices to your list of great vegan cheese, though the one I tried wasn’t shredded. It melts, stretches and tastes delicious and makes a great grilled cheese sandwich.
I made a grilled cheese with chao cheese and I used garlic spread instead of butter. Also, I used Ezekiel bread. I made the sandwich and then found this post, so it isn’t like I was altering the recipe (next time I’ll try sourdough and the follow your heart). Anyway, I made the sandwich for my ten year old. He scarfed it down snd begged for another. Lol
Sounds delicious, enjoy!
Delicious. The only cheese I had on hand was the Follow your Heart pepper jack. Next time trying Daiya. Thanks.
ohhh but that one makes such a good grilled cheese LOL
I’ve been avoiding dairy for years and thanks to your encouraging post, I made my first df grilled cheese this weekend! Used the gouda as recommended. Pretty tasty!
Hi Lisa! We are so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for sharing that with us!