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When switching to dairy-free, one of the hardest things to get your head around is trying vegan cheese. Whether you can’t live without cheeseburgers or love a good cheese board, going without cheese can be scary but there are lots of amazing dairy-free alternatives on the market.

Whilst not all are quite as gooey or meltable as the real thing, there are lots of vegan cheeses that work just as well on cheese boards, cheese on toast, or by throwing into any vegan recipes you’re making. As one of the biggest (and original) vegan cheese brands, I tried a range of Violife’s vegan cheeses to let you know which are worth adding to your shopping basket.

1. Best for toasties: Smoky Cheddar Flavour Slices

One thing I’m always impressed by Violife is just how melty their cheese is. However, sometimes we crave something a little different and this smoky vegan cheese makes epic toasties! It melts to perfection in just a few minutes under the grill and creates a rich, smoky cheese that’s packed full of flavour. I can’t live without this one. and prefer it to their original slices.

2. Best for ease: Violife Original Flavour Grated

We buy this every single week as it’s so easy to chuck in any dish we’re making. The bag lasts ages in our household (it can be resealed to stay fresh) and we’ve found this grated bag work really well on things like jacket potatoes, pizzas and pasta bakes. Without being heated, it doesn’t have much flavour-so it doesn’t work well for cold dishes-but if you’re looking for something that quickly melts and can be grabbed in a hurry then this is ideal.

The original also comes in slices for things like sandwiches-I will say that these don’t taste of much unless heated so we prefer to use the original grated and the smoky slices instead.

3. Best all-around vegan cheese: Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour block

Violife added this epic mature block to their range last year and it’s ideal for those who miss the taste of cheddar and prefer their cheese in blocks. It’s really lovely and has a bit more depth and flavour than the original block-it grates really well and we use it in everything from sandwiches (it also tastes great cold) to pizza toppings. It really does look exactly like cheese and has a similar texture when cut.

Best for cheese board: Violife Le Rond Camembert Flavour

Finally, Violife also has an alternative to camembert. I won’t lie, it’s really hard for vegan cheese brands to replicate the texture of cheeses like camembert: this won’t have you thinking it’s identical to the real thing but it is the closest you’ll get to it! It can be eaten cold or baked in the oven (try adding some olive oil and herbs); the result is a surprisingly creamy, rich and decadent cheese which works really well with bread and crackers.