- Today we are making
a ton of grilled cheese to see which vegan cheese is the best. And I tested out eight different cheeses and I tried to get either
American or cheddar, and vegan cheese does get a bad rep, but it's honestly come a long way in just the five years
that I've been vegan. So let's go ahead and
grill up some sandwiches. And I'll just be using
some standard white bread and some softened vegan butter. Make sure it's softened, so
you don't tear up your bread. And if it's cold, you
can always microwave it for five seconds or so. And then to grill the sandwiches, I'm gonna be using this smart griddle, set to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. And then I'm simply gonna be
adding one slice of cheese. I know two or more, is
usually the way to go, but I had to eat eight
of these sandwiches, so I was pacing myself. And then we're gonna simply cover it to help melt the cheese and grill it on both
sides for five minutes. And this way all the cheeses
will be under the same test and we can see how they perform. Also, side note, 300 degrees
for five minutes per side seems to be the perfect
temp for a grilled cheese. I accidentally did this one
at 330 degrees Fahrenheit, and it was slightly more browned,
if that's what you prefer. Also, there are a few
tricks to get your cheese to melt even faster, and I'll show you how to
get a slight cheese pull. So stick around until after
the taste test to see that. But first up is these cheddar
slices by "Simple Truth," which is the Kroger, slash Ralphs' brand. And most of the cheeses
I'm trying out today went for at least five bucks. But these are a couple bucks cheaper, so I went ahead and grilled it up. And as you'll see, some of
these cheeses are more resilient to melting than others. But I'll go ahead and flip it and grill it for another five minutes. After that, we'll give it a
slice into triangles, of course, and then we're gonna peel it back and we can see that
doesn't really give us much of a stretch, but that's okay. Let's go ahead and bite into it. And for the price, this
was a decent cheese. Definitely got some good cheddar flavor and the texture isn't super melty, but it's also not awful or unpleasant. And this, honestly, it's just okay to me. And I'm gonna give it a three out of five. A good budget pick, since it's cheaper, but we can do better. Next up is "Vevan", which
I found at Grocery Outlet. And this is on the more
affordable side as well. So we're gonna grill that up like we do. And I gotta say, if you
can figure out how to get your pan to a stable
300 degrees Fahrenheit, that really is the
perfect temp in my book. But we'll give that a slice. And maybe it's because these
are cheddar and not American, but this one didn't give
us much of a pull either. But that's all right. Despite that, I really dug these. They have a good, creamy
texture, a nice melt, and the cheddar flavor
was nice and strong, but not overwhelming, and
didn't leave an aftertaste. So definitely a solid choice,
especially as a budget cheese. And I'm gonna give this
one, a four out of five. Next up is "Daiya". And back when I went vegan, I cut my teeth on these
when they were round, and pretty much inedible. They have gotten better, but well, even though this
was an American slice, as you can see, still
not a lot of cheese pull. And once I bit into it, I immediately understood why
so many people still seem to dislike this cheese. I wanted to like it, but the texture, it's just kind of goopy
and not so pleasant. And there was a slight sweet aftertaste, which I really didn't care for. "Daiya" has gotten better
over the last five years, but I still think they
have room for improvement. So I'm gonna give this
one a 1.5 out of five. Next is the "Violife" American slices, which I've never had before. But we're gonna go ahead
and grill that up as we do, and slice it, gave it a pull, and there's a bit of some
cheese pull going on, but not a ton. And these were good. Not totally amazing,
but a solid contender. The texture was a little goopy, and the flavor was actually
pretty cheddar-like. So I'm gonna go with a 3.5 out of five. Now let's do the "Chao" cheese. And I actually really
like this stuff unmelted. Like in a vegan turkey
sandwich, it's great, but melted in a grilled
cheese, it's just not for me. Even though there's not much of a pull, the texture is super melty and perfect, but on its own, taste-wise, it's got kind of a buttery sweet taste that I just don't enjoy in the
context of a grilled cheese. If this were a deli-style
sandwich, I'd give it a five. But in a grilled cheese, it's
only about a 2.5, I'm afraid. All right, now let's do some "Follow Your Heart" American slices. And I haven't had these in a while, but I do remember liking them. And these do melt super well, and we finally have a decent cheese pull. I did try tearing these
to see if they'd give us that classic cheese pull, but nope. And despite that, these
are super dang good. The texture is nice and melty.
The flavor is great too. It's subtle, but not bland. So overall, I give
these a 4.5 out of five. Okay, now for the "365" brand,
which is from Whole Foods. And this is like a dollar
less than other cheeses, but unfortunately, I don't
think the savings are worth it as we get the worst
melt in the whole bunch. The texture was pretty goopy
and the taste was pretty bland, with a very slight hint of cheddar. So I'm gonna have to give
this a one out of five. All right, last but not least, is "So Delicious" American slices, which I found at Kroger slash Ralphs'. And I'll be totally upfront,
these are my go-to slices. They just melt so well. In fact, I didn't have
to cover this sandwich when I flipped it. The texture is just
perfectly smooth and creamy. We get a pretty good
cheese pull, of course. And the flavor, it's
just really, really good. They're very similar to the
"Follow Your Heart" slices, but just slightly better in
the texture and the flavor. So I'm gonna give these
a five out of five. So there you go. The "So Delicious",
and "Follow Your Heart" are my top picks. "Vevan" is a great, especially for a more
budget-friendly option, "Violife" is okay. And the others, I don't really recommend. Though, like I said, "Chao"
is great cold on sandwiches. That being said, here's
a few tips and tricks to help you melt your cheese. First, you can literally
just put the cheese directly on the pan, and move it
around to melt it a bit. An even better way to do this is to first add some water to a hot pan, and then your cheese. And the water and the steam are
gonna keep it from sticking. But you only wanna do this
for like five or 10 seconds and then quickly and
confidently scoop it up with a spatula, and let
it land on your bread. Another trick you can do
to improve the texture and get a slight cheese pull, is to add a half cup of water to a pan, along with a half teaspoon
of sodium citrate, which is an emulsifier. Dissolve that, and bring
the water to a boil. And then add eight ounces
of shredded vegan cheese, along with one tablespoon
of tapioca starch. Melt that down, and then
pour it into a vessel, like this silicon mold I've got. Freeze it, and then let it thaw. And then grate it like so. Then, make your grilled cheese as you do. And now the texture is even better. And honestly, this is my preferred way if I plan on making some grilled cheese. So give it a try and check out my other
grilled cheese videos. And in the meantime, let
me know in the comments what your favorite vegan cheese is. And until then, I'll
see you all next time.
