Back in 2018, Kourtney Kardashian told People Magazine that her fridge is always, without fail, stocked with Follow Your Heart’s vegan cheese slices. The reality TV star and Poosh founder explained at the time that while she enjoys the slices, her sister Kim Kardashian just can’t get enough of them. “And she’s not even dairy-free,” said Kourtney.
Today, Kourtney still uses vegan cheese (in this plant-based cheese guide on Poosh, the platform says the Follow Your Heart’s cheese is “versatile and a must-have among vegans” and is used in Kourtney’s own vegan quesadilla recipe here), and she’s not alone. All over the US, people have loved Follow Your Heart’s cheese for decades. The brand has even been named as a category leader by multiple market research platforms, including Grand View Research and Future Market Insights.
So you wouldn’t blame Follow Your Heart for getting complacent. With Kardashian approval and a firm place on grocery store shelves, the company has become a true jewel in the vegan cheese industry’s crown. But since the 1970s, Follow Your Heart has been committed to innovation, and that remains the case today.
The California-founded company has recently launched new vegan cheese slices that are, frankly, better than ever. And this was no easy feat, given how popular the original versions were. It’s time to restock the fridge, Kourtney and Kim (and everyone else who likes to keep their kitchen dairy-free).
Follow Your Heart’s new slices have been formulated to ‘mimic dairy.’
Follow Your Heart’s launches new vegan cheese slices
According to Nicholas Loomis, Follow Your Heart’s research and development director, and Josh Smith, the brand’s senior research and development food scientist, Follow Your Heart’s new dairy-free slices “help close the gap between cold plant-based cheeses and dairy cheese.” Just like the previous range, they come in varieties like Dairy-Free Smoked Gouda-Style Slices and Dairy-Free Pepper Jack-Style Slices, as well as the best-selling Dairy-Free American-Style Slices.
Loomis and Smith told VegNews that just like its former recipe, the new slices are delicious when melted, saying that “the slices perform perfectly in hot applications such as grilled cheese sandwiches.” However, the brand has really stepped up its game when it comes to cold applications. The research and development team explained that when the new slices are eaten chilled, they’re “creamy and smooth.”
The key to creating the new recipe, according to the Follow Your Heart team, was to study its dairy competitors closely. After all, that’s what consumers want: dairy-free cheese that tastes like it’s made from cow’s milk. According to one 2023 study from Wakefield Research, 96 percent of American adults regularly eat dairy cheese, while three-quarters eat it in approximately eight meals each week, and roughly a third eat it in up to 21 meals a week.
“This new formulation was designed and tested to mimic the attributes of dairy cheese slices when used in different dishes. With the cold texture being soft, flexible, and smooth in the mouth, and then when heated, it melts into a nice creamy texture.”
That means that whether your favorite recipe involves cold cheese (like, say, in this New York-style vegan Reuben) or hot cheese (like Kourtney’s quesadilla or this vegan grilled cheese with pumpkin, pear, and candied pecans), Follow Your Heart’s new slices can work wonders. “The versatility of this new cheese makes for a seamless swap from dairy cheese and allows consumers an easy way to meet their lifestyle goals without having to remove cheese from their meals,” Loomis and Smith noted.
But of course, we also had to test-drive the slices for ourselves, too. We’ve tried a lot of dairy-free cheeses in our time, so our bar was high, but we have to admit: Follow Your Heart’s new slices deliver.
The slices melted perfectly over the vegan “animal fries” we made in the VegNews Test Kitchen.
We put Follow Your Heart’s new slices to the taste test with delicious results
To really put the cheese to the test, we knew we had to to create a variety of different recipes. It’s always important to be thorough when taste-testing (at least, that’s what our stomachs tell us).
Up first after firing up the VegNews Test Kitchen was everyone’s TexMex go-to: loaded nachos. The dish is a football season favorite, and so we knew the classic was a must when it came to putting the Follow Your Heart slices through the test. For this recipe, we opted for the new Dairy-Free American-style Slices. The result? They melted like a true American dream. Big tick.
Next, we wanted to try the new slices in a cold recipe, so we opted for a humble yet delicious meatless turkey and cheese sandwich using the Dairy-Free Pepper Jack-Style Slices. Turkey sandwiches are another favorite for many (75 percent of Americans like to eat them, research from YouGov suggests), but we say they can be immeasurably improved with Follow Your Heart’s new slices. The hint of spice in the Pepper Jack was the perfect addition to this lunchtime favorite.
Follow Your Heart’s slices are gooey and golden in a grilled cheese, America’s favorite sandwich.
But when it comes to sandwiches, for most of us, nothing beats the king: the grilled cheese. In fact, the sandwich was voted America’s number one in a 2019 YouGov survey. Grilled cheese had to be next on our list, and we’re pleased to reveal that the Dairy-Free American-style Slices made a superbly melty, gooey, golden grilled cheese sandwich. Another big stamp of approval.
After that, the VegNews team knew we had to up the difficulty level, so we opted for a homemade version of the fast-food favorite, “animal fries” (yep, just like the ones you’d find at In-N-Out) for a true meltability test. Again, the Dairy-Free American-style Slices passed with flying colors.
Our final recipe was the cheesiest dish we could think of: a cheese board, of course. In this recipe, the Dairy-Free Smoked Gouda-Style Slices were the true star of the show, pairing beautifully with crackers and fresh fruit. We like how good the new formulation tastes cold, and has no aftertaste.
So the results are in: we can confirm that Follow Your Heart’s slices taste great both hot and cold, and we can’t say we’re that surprised. Follow Your Heart has been creating delicious plant-based products for more than five decades.
Follow Your Heart’s new slices passed our taste test with flying colors.
Follow Your Heart’s 50+ year history of pioneering the plant-based market
Follow Your Heart was founded as a café and food brand in 1970s California. Its first-ever product—an egg-free version of mayonnaise, called Vegenaise—was a hit in the 1980s, and despite competition from food juggernauts like Heinz and Hellmann’s, it has remained popular ever since.
In 2013, Slate referred to Vegenaise as “the most incredible condiment you probably aren’t using.” In 2016, Vice called it “your favorite vegan mayonnaise.” Proving that its popularity is not fading, it was recently recommended by America’s Test Kitchen in its Best Vegan Mayonnaise of 2024 list. And, of course, Vegenaise has been named “Best Vegan Condiment” by VegNews readers in the annual Veggie Awards many times over.
The brand has also become a leader in the dairy-free cheese category; it makes the only finely shredded vegan mozzarella and cheddar cheeses on the market, for example, which are ideal for pizzas, lasagna, and, of course, mac and cheese. In 2020, it also launched its extremely popular Dairy-Free Feta Crumbles, and in 2021, it became the first-ever vegan brand to bring a blue cheese version of vegan crumbles to grocery store shelves. When it comes to vegan cheese innovation, Follow Your Heart is consistently “rewriting the rule book,” as Goldberg once said.
For more plant-based stories like this, read:
JUMP TO ... Latest News | Recipes | Guides | Health | Shop
Charlotte is a VegNews editor and writer based in sunny Southsea on England's southern coast.
