KRAFT Vegan NotCheese Slices Review: The Memory Of Cheese
Kraft has finally entered the vegan cheese world by partnering with NotCo to bring you vegan cheese slices. We're sure you have some questions. For example, how well do they melt and how do they taste in comparison to Kraft's dairy cheese? Well, Kraft's trial run in Ohio at the end of 2022 went so well that the cheese giant decided to release all three varieties of its vegan cheese nationwide in July 2023. You can currently find its vegan American cheese, vegan provolone, and vegan cheddar varieties around the U.S. NotCo also makes vegan-friendly products including its NotMilk, NotBurgers, and NotChicken.
We tried Kraft's vegan NotCheese slices alone and in recipes where you would normally eat cheese, including in grilled cheese, veggie burgers, and on top of nachos. We found that some varieties were better than others in certain recipes and that there's a learning curve you must conquer to get it to melt rather than harden in the microwave. You'll get a good idea of whether you'll like Kraft vegan NotCheese as you read our review and which version (or versions) you'd like to try first.
Ingredients you will find in Kraft NotCheese slices
The ingredients in your slice are slightly different depending on which type of NotCheese you get. The main base for all the NotCheese varieties consists of coconut oil, modified food starch, chickpea protein, and maltodextrin. They also all contain salt, carrageenan, and sorbic acid as preservatives, along with lactic acid. Both the American and provolone NotCheeses have undisclosed natural flavors, while the sharper taste in the cheddar NotCheese comes from soybean oil, chickpea flour, coconut cream, and rosemary extract. The American NotCheese uses annatto extract for coloring, the provolone uses pumpkin concentrate, and the cheddar variety uses both paprika and annatto extracts.
We're a little disappointed to see carrageenan on the ingredient list, however. Many companies put it in foods as a thickener and emulsifier, meaning you'll often find it in dairy and faux dairy products. At first glance, it seems fine as it is derived from a natural ingredient: seaweed. However, animal studies indicate that the human body may turn it into poligeenan when it mixes with stomach acids, which could lead to problems like colon cancer or irritable bowel disease (per Healthline). A 2017 article published in Frontiers in Pediatrics indicates that it also changes test animals' gut flora and causes inflammation. Currently, the lack of human studies means the jury is out on whether or not it's all that bad in people. Still, with that uncertainty, we'd love to see Kraft rethink its use of this ingredient in the future.
How much you can expect to spend on these slices?
No matter which NotCheese variety you plan to buy, it will cost about the same: $4.99. Each package comes with 10 slices of cheese, so that works out to around $0.50 per slice. It is a little more expensive than Kraft dairy cheese, but a hair cheaper than some other non-dairy cheeses.
Kraft NotCheese is $0.11 to $0.28 more per slice than its dairy Kraft equivalent. A 16-count packet of dairy American cheese is around $4.28, making each slice about $0.28. Dairy provolone cheese is typically around $3.89 for 12 slices, bringing it to $0.32 per slice. Meanwhile, dairy cheddar is generally $3.89 for 10 slices, or $0.39 per slice.
Kraft NotCheese is comparable in price to most vegan sliced cheeses, coming within mere pennies of the competition. Ten slices of Violife are $5.38 (about $0.54 per slice), Chao is $4.93 for 10 slices (about $0.49 per slice), and Follow Your Heart is around $5.18 (about $0.52 per slice).
Where and when you can find Kraft vegan NotCheese slices
Kraft vegan NotCheese slices debuted on a trial basis in Cleveland, Ohio in November 2022. In the two months that it was available there, its revenue surpassed all the other vegan cheeses on the shelves and 20% of customers bought it again. Since its faux cheese test was such a success, Kraft and NotCo decided it was ready to share with the whole country.
NotCheese is meant to be available in some U.S. grocery stores by July 2023, just in time to eat with your grilled veggie burger for summer cookouts. After trying NotCheese with veggie burgers, we can attest that you'll want to make a grocery run to see if you can find some for your next grill fest (we recommend the cheddar NotCheese for this application). You should find all three varieties of NotCheese at ShopRite, Giant Eagle, and a few other grocery stores around the U.S. Keep your eyes open for it at some bigger chain grocery stores and health food stores as well.
How Kraft vegan NotCheese slices compare to non-vegan cheeses from KRAFT
NotCheese slices have a convincing dairy-like texture, shape, and look. As far as texture goes, American NotCheese comes closest to getting it right, though all of the NotCheeses melt closer to the way that American cheese melts, which works especially well for grilled cheese. That said, we found that you have to be really careful if you want to melt NotCheeses in the microwave. When we tried making nachos in the microwave with the cheddar NotCheese, the vegan cheese hardened rather than melted if we nuked it for longer than 10 seconds. Melting the cheese over nachos under the oven broiler for three minutes worked fine, though. We were especially impressed with the way the NotCheese melted when we made a grilled cheese sandwich in the air fryer. The NotCheese pieces sticking out of the air-fried grilled cheese crisped up like the cheesy corners of a casserole, while the inside was pleasantly melty.
Flavor-wise, you can almost convince yourself that the American NotCheese is non-vegan ... if you can ignore the oily flavor. The provolone NotCheese tastes the least like Kraft dairy provolone and more like oil. Meanwhile, the cheddar NotCheese is the least oily flavor-wise and tastes as if cheddar cheese and American cheese had a baby with a bit of sharpness.
What is the nutritional content of Kraft vegan NotCheese slices?
Each serving size of Kraft NotCheese (one slice) is 70 calories, which isn't too bad for cheese. Each slice contains only 5 grams of fat, all of which are saturated fats. These five grams of fat represent 24% of the amount you should consume for the day. You'll be happy to learn that it's cholesterol-free, however. You'll consume 160 milligrams of sodium with each slice, or about 7% of your standard daily allowance. Each serving has 5 grams of carbohydrates and no sugar or fiber. Neither can you count on Kraft NotCheese to provide any significant protein, since it has less than a gram per serving.
There's little significant difference in nutritional content between Kraft NotCheese and other leading brands of vegan cheese. It has about 10 more calories than Chao, Violife, and Follow Your Heart vegan cheeses, 0.5 grams more fat, and about one gram of extra carbs compared to those three brands. However, it has 20 milligrams less sodium. Ultimately, you're better off judging these vegan cheeses on flavor rather than dithering over nutritional content.
Our verdict on Kraft's vegan NotCheese slices
If you haven't had dairy cheese in a while, Kraft's and NoCo's NotCheeses will likely bring back fond memories. While they don't quite taste quite the same as Kraft dairy cheeses, they do a good job simulating the experience. They taste a little like someone recalling the flavor of all their favorite dairy cheeses and almost getting it right. However, we don't think they're going to fool anyone into really believing this is dairy cheese. They're also not likely to make vegetarians decide they can finally give up their dairy cheese and become vegan. However, we think that these faux cheeses are an excellent option for people who have already given up dairy cheese because of reasons like lactose intolerance or veganism.
Our favorite by far was the cheddar NotCheese. It has an excellent sharpness to it that reminds us a lot of real cheddar in flavor, while the texture is more like American cheese. The extra flavors in the cheddar NotCheese also do an excellent job of covering up oily tastes that may be offputting in the American and provolone versions. We especially like the cheddar on veggie burgers and nachos.
Meanwhile, the American NotCheese really shone in regular and air-fryer grilled cheese. We could almost believe it was real American cheese (especially when we added two slices to the sandwich). However, we didn't have any love for the provolone NotCheese, where all we could taste was oil. Plus, it wasn't round in shape, which we think is half the fun of dairy provolone.