Ever found yourself short on a key cheese ingredient for your favorite recipe? No worries!
Check out our Cheese Substitutes section.
Whether you’re into plant-based or dairy-free options, I’ve got practical alternatives to save your dish from disaster. Never let a missing ingredient spoil your cooking plans again!
The best substitute for farmers cheese is drained whole-milk ricotta for sweet baking, or pressed cottage cheese for savory dishes like pierogi, since both match its mild, tangy, dry-curd texture once you get the extra moisture out. I make pierogi and blintzes often enough that running out of farmers cheese is basically a recurring event
The best substitute for muenster cheese is Havarti, since it has almost the same mild, buttery flavor and melts just as smoothly, with Monterey Jack and brick cheese as solid backups. I’ve gone through a lot of muenster in my kitchen over the years, mostly because it’s my go-to for grilled cheese and tuna melts.
The best substitute for quark is a mix of Greek yogurt and cottage cheese blended smooth, since it matches quark’s tangy flavor and thick texture better than either one alone. I’ve been getting asked about quark a lot lately, which honestly surprised me at first. It’s not exactly a household name in most US kitchens.
The best Longhorn cheese substitute is plain Colby, which is the exact same cheese pressed into a different shape, giving you identical flavor, texture, and melt with no compromise. I had never actually thought about what Longhorn cheese was until I found myself standing in a grocery store looking for it and realizing I had
The best substitute for Kraft Roka Blue Cheese Spread is a blend of 4 ounces of softened Philadelphia cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of crumbled blue cheese, which is the official replacement recipe that Kraft Kitchens published when the product became hard to find. The first time I went to make my mom’s holiday cheese
The best labneh cheese substitute is full-fat Greek yogurt strained for a few extra hours with a pinch of salt, which gets you so close to real labneh that most people cannot tell the difference. The first time I made a Middle Eastern mezze spread, I went to three grocery stores looking for labneh and
The best Sulguni cheese substitute is low-moisture mozzarella mixed with a small amount of feta, which recreates Suluguni’s melt, stretch, and tangy-salty flavor better than any single cheese on its own. I have to be upfront about something: the original version of this article said Sulguni comes from Italy. That is completely wrong, and I
The best Teleme cheese substitutes is Brie, which shares the same soft, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth texture and mild, lightly tangy flavor that makes Teleme so special on pizza, polenta, and cheese boards. I spent years thinking Teleme cheese was just some obscure California thing until I finally tried it melted over polenta at a San Francisco
The best Pepper Jack cheese substitute is Monterey Jack mixed with minced jalapeños, which rebuilds the exact creamy base and spicy kick that makes Pepper Jack so useful in nachos, burgers, and quesadillas. I have been in the middle of making nachos more times than I can count when I reach into the fridge and
The best Stilton cheese substitute is Gorgonzola Piccante, which matches Stilton’s crumbly texture and bold blue character closely enough to work in every dish that calls for it. I remember the first time a recipe called for Stilton and I stood in the cheese aisle completely lost. The store had about six varieties of cheddar
The best Eden Cheese substitute is Velveeta, which matches its mild, creamy, processed cheese character and melts just as smoothly in Filipino spaghetti, cheese dips, and cooked dishes. If you grew up in the Philippines, Eden Cheese is more than just a pantry staple. It is the flavor of pandesal breakfast, cheese pimiento at parties,
The best Kefalotyri cheese substitutes is Pecorino Romano, which shares the same sharp, salty, sheep’s milk character and works as a 1:1 swap for grating, baking, and most Greek recipes. I ran into this problem the first time I tried to make saganaki at home. Kefalotyri was nowhere to be found at any of my
The best Wensleydale cheese substitute is Lancashire cheese, which shares the same crumbly texture and mild, slightly tangy flavor and works as a 1:1 swap on cheese boards, with fruit, and in most recipes. If you have ever watched Wallace and Gromit, you already know about Wensleydale. It is Wallace’s favorite cheese by name, and
The best Appenzeller cheese substitute is Gruyère, which shares the same firm texture, nutty flavor, and smooth melt, making it a reliable 1:1 swap in fondue, gratins, and cheese boards. If you have ever tried to find Appenzeller at a regular grocery store, you know the feeling. It is a genuinely hard cheese to track
The best Castelmagno cheese substitute is Gorgonzola Dolce, which replicates the creamy, mildly tangy character and melts beautifully into pasta sauces and risotto. Castelmagno is one of those cheeses that sounds like it should be easy to find and then absolutely isn’t. It comes from a tiny pocket of Piedmont in northern Italy, and fewer