Vegan stracchino - Italian cheese spread

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Vegan stracchino is a type of Italian cheese spread that can be prepared in 5 minutes and with an amazing result. You'll end up with a spreadable cheese with a flavour and texture very similar to those of the classic Italian stracchino.

Perfect to spread and toast on a slice of bread, but even better to stuff in Italian flatbread, like in this piadina with stracchino and arugula, or in our super thin and crips melted cheese focaccia.

What to expect: consistency very similar to regular stracchino. Creamy, spreadable, light, cheesy and with a slightly tangy flavour.

Stracchino is a traditional Italian cheese, originally produced in Lombardy but nowadays widely popular from north to south. It is a fresh, white, and soft cheese, generally made with cow's milk.

Here we show you how to make a kind of stracchino with a soy base, therefore without milk and 100% plant-based. Vegan stracchino is a really good alternative to cheese spread for those who are intolerant to milk, but also for those who are curious to try something new.

For other vegan Italian cheese-like recipes check out our vegan ricotta, vegan parmesan cheese, and vegan béchamel sauce.

What is stracchino?

Stracchino, sometimes known as "crescenza" is a type of northern Italian cow's-milk cheese. It's a fresh cheese, with a very soft and creamy texture, and with a mild, delicate flavour. It's kind of a less-fat, stringy version of cream cheese.

How do I eat vegan stracchino?

Our vegan stracchino can be used exactly like regular stracchino or like any other plant-based cheese spreads. This means that you can use it as a spread on fresh or toasted bread.

You can even use it in pasta-bakes, lasagne, melted on bread or pizza, or even better, as the filling for Italian piadina, a traditional Italian flat-bread usually filled with stracchino and rucola (rocket). We even did a vegan melted cheese focaccia with this stracchino and it turned out delicious.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Soy milk: best for making this vegan stracchino. Just make sure it's flavourless and sugar-free. You can try to replace it with another unsweetened plant milk, but the stracchino will come out slightly different.
• Cornstarch and potato starch: both have a thickening function, but they produce a different result. They are both necessary. If you really cannot find potato starch where you live, then you can replace it with tapioca starch.
• Olive oil: we have also tried other vegetable oils, but extra virgin olive oil produces a stracchino with more flavour.
• Lemon: to add acidity. Some people don't like the lemon flavour in it. So go easy with it if it's the first time you do it.
• Nutritional yeast: this is not regular yeast, but is a flavouring agent used to give the cheese flavour. Very little is needed in this recipe.
• Soy yogurt: fundamental in this preparation, both to give consistency and the sourish note present in the classic stracchino. Use soy yogurt without flavouring and without sugar.
• Salt: two generous pinches to make it taste better.

Equipment

To make this plant-based cheese spread you'll only need a small saucepan that can fit all the ingredients, and a hand whisk.

Frequently asked questions

Storage

Before storing, make sure your vegan stracchino has cooled down to room temperature. Then store in a bowl, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. We do not recommend freezing this vegan stracchino.

The stracchino will clump together when in the refrigerator. This is fine. It will still be perfectly spreadable and delicious. 

Recipe

Vegan Stracchino - Italian cheese spread

Author: Nico

Vegan stracchino is type of Italian cheese spread that can be prepared in 5 minutes and with an amazing result. You'll end up with a spreadable cheese with a flavour and texture very similar to those of the classic Italian stracchino. Perfect to spread on bread, but even better to stuff in flatbread, like this piadina with stracchino and arugula.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

4.75 from 12 votes

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 2 mins

Total Time 7 mins

Course Appetizer, Dressing & Sauces, Plant-Basics, Snack

Cuisine Italian

Servings 8 people

Calories 57 kcal

Equipment

• Whisk
• Small pot

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

• 230 g (1 cups) soy milk unsweetened
• 30 g (2 tbsp) potato starch
• 10 g (⅔ tbsp) corn starch
• 10 g (1 tbsp) olive oil
• 10 g (1 tbsp) lemon juice
• ½ tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 pinches salt
• 120 g (0.5 cups) soy yogurt unsweetened

Instructions

 

Photos ONPhotos OFF

• In a pot, add soy milk, potato starch, corn starch, olive oil, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and salt. Stir with a whisk till there are no lumps.
  
• On medium heat, bring the liquid to a boil while stirring continuously. Keep stirring until the liquid becomes thick.
  
• Take off the heat, keep stirring vigorously for another minute, then add the soy yogurt and stir very well.
  
• You should see the ingredients relax and turn into a smooth, lightly stringy consistency. Your vegan stracchino is ready. Store in a bowl in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
  

Notes

Try this vegan stracchino in our vegan piadina romagnola, a traditional Italian flat-bread super easy to make.

If you can, use a digital scale for our recipes. This way you'll get the best results.

We use calculateme.com to convert grams to US volume measurements. We believe they have the most accurate conversion algorithm. If must use cups and spoons, then use the "spoon and level" method. That is, spoon the ingredients into the measuring cup, or measuring spoon. Then level the excess with a knife.

Nutritional Values

Nutrition Facts

Vegan Stracchino - Italian cheese spread

Amount Per Serving

Calories 57 Calories from Fat 27

% Daily Value*

Fat 3g5%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Potassium 73mg2%

Carbohydrates 6g2%

Dietary Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 2g2%

Protein 2g4%

Vitamin A 123IU2%

Vitamin B6 1mg50%

Vitamin C 5mg6%

Vitamin E 1mg7%

Vitamin K 1µg1%

Calcium 67mg7%

Folate 11µg3%

Iron 1mg6%

Manganese 1mg50%

Magnesium 1mg0%

Zinc 1mg7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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