This shows my setup. The pan with the cashew mozzarella is on the far right. Next to it is the gluten-free flour, then vegan egg, then breadcrumbs. In back is the cookie sheet with finished mozzarella sticks, ready for baking. In front is a white plate with some oil on it, and to the left is a bottle of oil for refilling. The pot at the back of the stove is for another project. Please ignore my unfinished kitchen walls — they have tile now! The slotted spatula is helpful for lifting up fragile mozzarella sticks to move them to the next bowl.

Nobody in my family is sporty, but I hear there is a big football game each year in February, and people celebrate with snacks. So my kids and I decided to join in by declaring that day to be Snacks Day.

At our house, these gluten-free vegan mozzarella sticks are a once-a-year treat. They aren’t full of beans and veggies the way most things I cook are, and (unlike most recipes on this site) they take some time to make. But they are oh so good that they are worth it!

This recipe is modified from a recipe by the amazing Vegan Richa. Inside the sticks is a homemade cashew mozzarella. Yum!

Cashew mozzarella, sliced into sticks, before breading

Print Recipe

Mozzarella Sticks - gluten-free and vegan

At our house, these gluten-free vegan mozzarella sticks are a once-a-year treat. They aren't full of beans and veggies the way most things I cook are, and (unlike most of the recipes I post) they take some time to make. But they are oh so good that they are worth it!

Prep Time45

Refrigeration1

Total Time1 45

Course: Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine: American, Italian-ish

Servings: 16 vegan mozzarella sticks (serves about 3 people)

Ingredients

Cashew Mozzarella:

1 cup cashews
1 cup water
1 tablespoon tapioca starch -- this is also called tapioca flour
1 teaspoon potato starch or 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
3/8 teaspoon agar powder -- not agar flakes -- they don't set the same way
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons either apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoons organic canola oil or olive oil

Flour:

1/4 cup garbanzo flour or other gluten-free flour

Vegan Egg Wash:

3/4 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons cashews
3 tablespoons garbanzo flour or other gluten-free flour
1 1/2 tablespoons finely ground flaxmeal -- if it doesn't look like a powder, blenderize it until it does
3/8 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon salt

Breadcrumbs:

3/4 cup gluten-free breadcrumbs OR blenderize 2-3 cups of plain GF breakfast cereal OR blenderize 4 "Lundberg Thin Stackers" rice cakes
1/8 teaspoon each of dried oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary unless your breadcrumbs are already seasoned, add these herbs when you blenderize the cereal or rice cakes

Oil:

a few tablespoons canola oil for dipping

Instructions

Prepare the Breadcrumbs

If you are blenderizing cereal or rice cakes, do that first, while the blender jar is still dry. Then put the breadcrumbs in a cereal bowl.

Prepare the Cashew Mozzarella

Put half of the water and all of the other Cashew Mozzarella ingredients into a blender jar. Blend until everything is smooth. In my blender the cashews tend to hide under the blender blade, so blend for a few more minutes, to help ensure that all of the cashews get blended.
Pour the cashew mixture into a nonstick frying pan.
Rinse the blender with the other half of the water, then add it to the pan.
Heat and stir until the mixture is thickened into a dough that is pulling away from the sides of the pan.
Pour the mixture into a loaf pan. (Mine is stainless steel and measures 8 1/2 x 4 3/4 inches.) The mixture is oily and not sticky, so the pan does not need any oiling or other preparation. Use a flexible spatula to smooth out the top.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Prepare the Vegan Egg Wash:

When the hour is almost up, place all ingredients for the Vegan Egg Wash in another cereal bowl, and stir.

Prepare the oil for dipping:

Put a couple of tablespoons of oil on a small plate.

Prepare the Flour:

Place the garbanzo flour or other gluten-free flour in another cereal bowl.
You should now have three cereal bowls: gluten-free flour, vegan egg wash, and breadcrumbs. The oily plate is nearby. The vegan mozzarella is in the refrigerator.
Add a fork or a slotted spatula to each cereal bowl.

Assemble the breadsticks

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Get out a very nonstick cookie sheet, or add parchment paper or a silicone liner to a less-nonstick cookie sheet.
Take the pan of breadsticks out of the refrigerator. In the pan use a metal spatula to cut the mozzarella crosswise into sixteen sticks, each about a quarter inch wide. They look small now, but the layers of coatings will make them bigger.
Carefully, supporting both ends and the middle (they break easily), lift one mozzarella stick out of the pan and roll it in the bowl of gluten-free flour. Aim to just dab some flour on it, not to fully coat it.
Supportively lift the mozzarella stick out of the flour and put it into the bowl of vegan egg wash. Coat it in the egg wash.
Carefully lift the mozzarella stick out of the vegan egg wash and put it into the bowl with the breadcrumbs. Roll it thoroughly in the breadcrumbs.
Carefully lift the mozzarella stick out of the breadcrumbs and put it on the oily plate. Roll all sides of it in the oil. Then carefully transfer the mozzarella stick to the cookie sheet. You will need to replenish the oil on the plate from time to time. (Don't put all the oil on the plate at once, because it gets gunky and disappears too quickly.)
Repeat these steps with the rest of the mozzarella sticks.
Put the cookie sheet of mozzarella sticks into the preheated oven.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Change the oven to Broil and move the cookie sheet to the top rack.
Keep the oven open a few inches, and broil the mozzarella sticks either until they start to brown or until the oil on their tops is bubbly. Watch them carefully so that they don't burn.
Remove from oven. The mozzarella sticks are piping hot, so you may want to let them cool for a few minutes.
Serve! I like them with my all-purpose dairy replacer sauce on top -- see the recipe notes for the link. These should also be good with ranch dressing or lots of other sauce options, and they are also fantastic plain.

Notes

Here's the recipe for my all-purpose dairy replacer sauce. It is fantastic on these vegan mozzarella sticks!

Awesomely yummy, gluten-free, healthy, dairy-free, vegetarian, delicious recipes!

Mozzarella Sticks – gluten-free, vegan, and very yummy!