Nutritional Yeast Is The Vegan Staple You Need In Your Kitchen

It's yellow, it's eerily cheesy in flavor, and it's a nutritional powerhouse. If you're not already acquainted with this secret weapon for plant-based cooking, nutritional yeast is about to become a must-have staple in your kitchen. The intriguingly umami-rich, savory fungus is essential in many vegan recipes, like a meatless (and dairy-free) version of pasta e fagioli, but it's also a versatile ingredient for non-vegans to keep in their pantry.

Sold as flakes, granules, or powder, nutritional yeast is a deactivated form of yeast in the same family as the type found in beer and bread. It's a staple in many meat-free home kitchens thanks to its ability to add an earthy, nutty flavor to dishes, dips, and snacks, thicken up soups and stews, and act as a good-on-almost-anything seasoning powder. It has an uncanny ability to elevate dishes from merely passable to triumphant "I can't believe this isn't cheese" status. To wit: When blended with cashews or silken tofu, it makes an impressively cheesy sauce. Many vegan cooks also rely on it for added vitamin B12 and a dose of extra protein, both of which can be challenging for new or experimenting vegans to get enough of — but it's the richness of flavor that truly makes nutritional yeast, or nooch as its nicknamed, a star ingredient.

Despite all the recent and ongoing advances in the world of plant-based grocery brands, vegan cheese can be famously hard to get right. If you haven't tried the storebought options in a while, you're probably overdue — the strides plant-based CPG brands have made in recent years are truly impressive. But many foodies are still less than impressed with the way some storebought vegan cheeses taste, and many can lack the pungent, sharp depth of flavor found in conventional cheese. Enter nutritional yeast, which — though devoid of any dairy or properties similar to actual cheese — packs a similar punch of almost salty umami richness. This is thanks to the presence of glutamic acid, which is what gives foods that compelling savory quality and is naturally occurring in nutritional yeast as well (plus other foods like umami-rich nori sheets mushrooms, meat, and cheese). 

When you're craving classic mac and cheese but are abstaining from dairy, reach for nooch to help recreate that cheesy savoriness. And if you've ever whipped up a homemade cashew ricotta gnocchi, an Alfredo, or any other pasta recipe that typically relies upon dairy and felt it was missing something, add a few sprinkles (or even a few scoops). Outside of noodle dishes, nooch blends well into creamy non-dairy quesos and dips, Caesar or tahini-based dressings, or vegan quiches and scrambles.

You certainly don't have to be a diehard vegan to enjoy cooking with nooch — just as you can eat meat and still opt for almond over dairy milk or other inherently vegan ingredients. Nutritional yeast pulls its weight in a big way by adding a much-needed nutty savoriness to plant-based meals, but if you want to test the waters of nooch in your non-veg cooking, try using it as a seasoning and get a feel for the unique flavor it brings to dishes.

For your next movie night, try one of the most popular applications for nooch and coat some kernels for a cheesy-tasting popcorn. Is it pizza night or an avocado toast kind of morning? Both are improved with a hearty dash or three of the stuff. Add some to marinades for your meat, mix it into breadcrumb coatings, or even use it in the coating of fried or baked chicken. Or, simply try topping steamed or roasted veggies or baked potatoes with the flakes for a garnish that also adds an extra pop of flavor. Think of your canister of nutritional yeast as you would a container of shelf-stable parmesan and sprinkle it liberally. Vegan or not, when you've got nooch in your pantry, you might never have a dull meal again.