Plant Based Babybel Cheese Review

Plant Based Babybel Cheese is a vegan alternative to Babybel’s iconic red cheese wheels. Read on to learn some of the pros, cons, and uses for these dairy-free cheese snacks in this Plant Based Babybel Cheese Review.

If you were to ask me the top things I miss about dairy-filled products it would be the ease of low carb, high protein snacks like cheese sticks, cottage cheese, or thick greek yogurts. While I don’t miss the lingering effects, I do miss their convenience.

This month I tried a plant-based alternative to snacking cheese, Babybel’s Plant Based Cheese in both the Original Flavor and the White Cheddar Flavor.

I’ll share with you my experience eating them plain as well as paired with crackers, fruits, and more.

Please note that these are not products sent to me or items I will earn any commissions on for the review. Simply put, this is a dairy-free product I tried, liked, and could see myself using time and again.

What is Babybel Plant Based Cheese?

Babybel makes an iconic, red wax wrapped, round cheese snacking wheel in a variety of flavors including Original, Monterey Jack, White Cheddar, Mozzarella, and Gouda.

Great for throwing into a lunch box, adding to a cheese board, or making into another fun cheese-based appetizer, these creamy cheesy snack wheels make a wonderful portable snack.

New to their line-up are two plant-based alternatives Original and White Cheddar. These vegan wheels are wrapped in a green wax coating and fill the void of vegan snacking cheeses.

It should be noted that the Babybel Company is not exclusively plant-based and offers many dairy based options. They have simply added a few plant-based alternatives to their roster of snacking cheeses.

As of July 2024 the plant-based packaging comes in a white bag and green wax wrapping while the traditional milk-based cheese come in a red mesh bag with red wrapping.

Check out the Babybel site for more information regarding the Babybel plant-based products and for more information on the company you can look into Bel Cheeses.

What ingredients are in Babybel’s Plant Based Cheese?

There is a short list of ingredients in this snack-able plant-based cheese. The dairy-free Original flavor of Babybel cheese contains:

• Water
• Modified Food Starch
• Coconut Oil
• Calcium Citrate
• 2% or less of: Salt, Natural Flavor, Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Cyanocobalmin (Vitamin B12)

Additional information regarding the nutritional content of these Plant-Based Babybel bites can be found at the bottom of the plant-based Babybel page.

What does Plant Based Babybel taste like?

Original

No strong odor when you open the wrapping. Might faintly taste like the wax coating but if you let it breathe a little before eating you don’t notice it.

I tried the cheese with crackers, apples, grapes, and nuts and found they had more flavor when paired with something else than on their own.

White Cheddar

When you open the green waxy coating on the vegan Babybel cheese you are immediately hit with the aroma of white cheddar. It’s a touch musky to smell but the flavor is very subtle.

The cheese is soft but not too squishy and creamy to bite through. It has a similar mouthfeel to biting through traditional cheese.

This flavor also paired well with other sides and I wouldn’t consider eating it as a stand alone cheese snack.

What we like about Plant Based Babybel Cheese

Some of the reasons we liked this dairy-free cheese product include:

• Low calorie snack. At 50 calories per cheese wheel, this is any easy to enjoy snack that is low in calories.
• Portable– Great for packing into on the go meals like breakfast, snack, or lunch.
• Sale Price. If this product is on sale, you can usually snag a bag of 6 for $3.50 which is about what you will spend for a full price of the dairy-filled Babybel.
• Neutral flavor. I would say this contained a rather neutral flavor and tasted better when paired with something else.

What we didn’t like about Plant Based Babybel Cheese

I’m not fully sold on buying these Babybel cheese wheels again for a few reasons:

• A mild or even missing flavor. While it wasn’t offensive, I would say there was a lack of flavor that made snacking on this plant-based cheese on it’s own difficult.
• Musky odor. The white cheddar’s odor was strange considering the lack of flavor in relation to the smell.
• Full Price. The full price package runs $6 for a bag of 6 making each of these cheese wheels $1 per snacking cheese. I just didn’t feel like experience matched the full price value.

How to serve Plant Based Babybel Cheese

Honestly, I think these little vegan cheese wheels are best served as part of a larger cheese board. Think of items you serve on a cheese board when planning to serve. Some snackable sides include:

• Crackers
• French Bread
• Tomatoes
• Basil
• Almonds
• Pecans
• Apples
• Grapes
• Pretzels

Final Thoughts and Reflections on Plant Based Babybel Cheese

I enjoyed the Dairy-Free Babybel Cheese enough to consider buying them again. That said, I would not put them on my weekly grocery list. With the price per wheel running close to $1 (full price) and the very neutral flavor I would consider using these during the holidays to make a vegan cheese board.

If you tried this product feel free to leave a comment below! I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences with this product!

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