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 Neufchâtel cheese substitute is full-fat cream cheese at a 1:1 ratio for the American block version, and Brie or Camembert for the French original. The two versions are completely different cheeses sharing one name, and knowing which one you have determines which substitute actually works. I want to start with something that confused
The best Montasio cheese substitute is Asiago for its closest flavor profile, Fontina for frico caldo and creamy melted dishes, and Gruyère for frico croccante and any recipe where you want a firm, nutty cheese that browns beautifully. Montasio was the cheese that genuinely surprised me. I ordered it from an Italian specialty shop to
The best Red Leicester cheese substitute is mature Cheddar for everyday cooking, Double Gloucester for cheese boards and visual matching, and Mimolette for the closest flavor-and-color twin. All three capture different aspects of Red Leicester’s nutty, buttery, orange character. I have a soft spot for Red Leicester because it is the cheese that made me
The best substitute for Camembert cheese is Brie, which is in the same bloomy-rind family, melts the same way, and works at a 1:1 ratio in every Camembert application from cheese boards to baked dishes. I have been asked the Camembert versus Brie question more times than I can count, and I want to give
The best Catupiry cheese substitute is mascarpone for cooking and pasta, or a blend of softened cream cheese with heavy cream for pizza and coxinha fillings. Both come closest to Catupiry’s silky, mild, pourable creaminess without the tang and density of plain American cream cheese. I first tasted Catupiry at a Brazilian friend’s birthday party
The best Robiola cheese substitute is fresh goat cheese (chèvre) for boards and spreads, and mascarpone for pasta sauces and risotto. Both match either the tangy freshness or the silky, creamy richness that makes Robiola so special in Italian cooking. I need to correct something before this article goes any further. The previous version of
The best scamorza cheese substitute is low-moisture mozzarella for unsmoked scamorza, and smoked mozzarella for scamorza affumicata. Both are in the same pasta filata family and deliver the same stretch, melt, and structure that makes scamorza so valuable in Italian cooking. Scamorza was not a cheese I thought much about until an Italian friend served
The best caciocavallo cheese substitute is provolone, which is in the same pasta filata (stretched-curd) family, has nearly the same flavor profile, and works at a 1:1 ratio in every caciocavallo application from pizza to pasta to cheese boards. I first encountered caciocavallo on a trip through Southern Italy, where it was hanging in pairs
The best Tilsit cheese substitute is Havarti, which shares the same semi-soft, buttery, mild character. No wonder, since Havarti was literally called “Danish Tilsiter” before it got its own name in 1952. Tilsit is one of those cheeses that shows up in European and German recipes and leaves American home cooks doing a double take.
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