Got a hankering for some cheese curds but can't find any? What about a recipe that calls for them? Or you are wondering if another cheese you already have will work? Let us give you some options for cheese curd substitutes. And of course we are going to talk poutine!
I love squeaky cheese curds. They are the perfect snack.
I am seeing them in more recipes as well. While you can find them in a lot of stores, it's not all of them. If you are making a recipe (like poutine) that calls for cheese curds, what other things could you possibly use? Let us show you some options.
♻️ Substitutions
When you are looking for a substitute for cheese curds, it's about the size of the cheese and picking something with a mild flavor. So we kept that in mind when we made our recommendations.
Here is what you can buy that is ready to go
- Any bag pre-diced or pre-cubed cheese
- String cheese or Mozzarella sticks cut into pieces
- Mozzarella whips
Here are some cheeses that you can buy in block and then cut them into "cheese curd shapes".
- Mild cheddar
- Baby cheddar
- Colby Jack cheese
- Colby cheese
- Monterrey Jack cheese
- Young Gouda
Nothing quite beats the real deal but depending on how you are planning to use it or why you are replacing it, any of these will work.
If you are looking to bread and fry the cheese, the best substitute is Mozzarella sticks cut into pieces. You could even cut up some mild cheddar into irregular shapes to look like curds. I think cubes would be strange because they are uniform, which one one hand would be good for even cooking, but would be missing the "rustic charm" of uneven pieces
RELATED - Where to Buy Squeaky Cheese Curds?
🧀 What Cheese is Most Similar
Since most cases, cheese curds are made from cheddar, so I am going to say that mild cheddar is the most similar. Cheese curds aren't aged and mild cheddar are only aged for a short time. If you can find baby cheddar (Carr Valley cheese makes one that is 30-60 days old) that would be even closer.
The curds are actually cheddar cheese that hasn't yet been pressed into a mold yet and aged. On a couple occasions I have found cheese curds made from Colby, Gouda, Co-Jack, and Muenster but those are few and far between.
🍟 Poutine
In recent years, poutine has been growing in popularity. It's French fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. Any chunks of cheese can work. You don't want shredded cheese really, you want those cheesy morsels to bite into.
You can roughly cut up your favorite melting cheese that has a soft texture into pieces to go on top of the fries.
How to Use Cottage Cheese for Poutine
It's possible to use cottage cheese in poutine instead just know that it's not going to melt. You will want to choose either a really dry cottage cheese or you will need to strain out as much liquid as you can with a large curd cottage cheese.
You could even make your own cottage cheese and not any liquid to it like in Alton Brown's recipe for cottage cheese. You curdle the milk using some mild vinegar.
You also could crumble feta cheese on top of your fries and gravy, although feta will have a stronger flavor than cheese curds would. As is true with crumbled goat cheese.
🍿 Snacking
Cheese curds are the perfect snacking cheese as they come in bags with bite sized pieces. If you are looking for other snacks, cut up any cheese will work. What we do is cube up a whole block at once and then place it into a reusable silicone Stasher bag.
I don't like buying string cheese, Mini Babybel or already cubed cheese because you pay more per pound than if you do the cutting and packaging yourself.
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