Mozarella cheese, fat-free rewards a little know-how: how to choose it, cook it, store it, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 21 recipes to cook with it.

What is mozarella cheese, fat-free?

Fat-free mozzarella is skim-milk mozzarella cheese with essentially all the fat taken out. "Fat-free" and "non-fat" name the same product, so the cooking advice is the same: you keep the mild flavor and most of the protein while losing the rich, ropey stretch that fat provides.

It is a baked-casserole cheese first. It does its best work in layered, saucy dishes, not as a bare slice over heat.

Cooking with it

Lean on it in wet, covered bakes where the surrounding moisture keeps it from drying out. It melts cleanly into an Easy Spinach Manicotti or a baked Mostaccioli & Turkey, tucked between sauce and pasta so it stays soft.

The failure mode is heat and time. Left exposed on top of a long bake, fat-free mozzarella stiffens and goes leathery before it browns, so bury it in the dish or add it for the last few minutes only.

A spoonful of the sauce stirred through the shreds keeps them loose.

If a recipe really wants a melty cheese top, mix the fat-free shreds half-and-half with a part-skim block; you cut most of the fat and still get a presentable crust.

Substitutes and storage

Step up to part-skim mozzarella for a much better melt at a small fat cost, swapped one-to-one. In a cold use such as a salad or sandwich, where melt does not matter, the fat-free block stands in for regular mozzarella with no real loss.

Store it sealed in the fridge and use it within a week or two of opening. It freezes for cooking, coming out slightly softer once thawed; grate from the block rather than buying pre-shredded for the cleanest melt.

Quick facts

In Chinese

mozarella奶酪，不含脂肪

British (UK) term

Mozarella cheese, fat-free

en français

fromage mozzarella, sans gras

en español

queso mozarella, sin grasa

Recipes using mozarella cheese, fat-free

There are 21 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 21 recipes