Austin’s Popular Home Slice Pizza Introduces Vegan Cheese to Their Menu

A beloved local pizza legend, Home Slice Pizza of Austin, is expanding its offerings to include vegan mozzarella cheese. With this move, the New York-style pizza joint will cater to vegans and those who choose to opt out dairy product consumption, starting from July 1.

Details about the New Addition

The plant-based cheese produced by Cheese Merchants, a company renowned for its hard and Italian cheeses, has made the cut and will now be served in Home Slice Pizza. There will be an additional option to add vegan cheese to any pie across all existing four locations, including those in Austin at 1415 and 1421 South Congress Ave. and 501 E. 53rd St.

The vegan cheese, produced under the company’s Selfish Cow line, is a blend of coconut oil, potato starch, tapioca starch, sunflower oil, and chickpea protein – making up its only product to date and its vegan mozzarella. Pictures provided by Home Slice and online recipes by Selfish Cow demonstrate that the cheese is melt-in-your-mouth exquisite, arriving pre-shredded for customer convenience.

Choice Selection Process

According to the team at Home Slice, the search for the perfect vegan cheese for their pies had been a long and arduous one. “We’ve been looking for a vegan cheese that meets our standards since opening in 2005, and our customers have been waiting a long, long time for us to find one,” stated Home Slice founder and owner Jen Strickland. It took a company known for its dedication to artisan cheese, like Cheese Merchants, to produce a vegan mozzarella that met the Home Slice’s criteria.

Pizza Lovers’ Delight

“We’ve been trying to find a vegan cheese that isn’t gummy, tastes good, and melts like real cheese,” said Charles Corprew, the director of kitchen operations at Home Slice. After tasting about 100 vegan cheeses over the years, the Selfish Cow mozzarella by Cheese Merchants was the only one that made the cut, he noted.

The addition of vegan cheese to the menu is a game-changer. However, it is yet unclear if the vegan cheese will be offered as an option in other dishes, like the highly praised chicken or eggplant parmesan sandwiches or the Caprese salad. The management of Home Slice is yet to provide information on this matter.

Looking Ahead

Home Slice’s highly anticipated move to include vegan cheese on the menu hints at the rapidly shifting food culture that is leaning more towards plant-based food options. This recent release places the well-regarded pizza joint at the forefront of embracing inclusive food choices, catering to a broader customer base, including vegans, lactose intolerants, or those who choose to cut out dairy products out of personal preference.