Ingredients
There are many cheeses made with goat’s milk. So how do you know which one to buy?
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Published Apr. 27, 2022.
Goat cheese can refer to any cheese made with goat’s milk, so it can be confusing to know what to shop for. When we call for “goat cheese” in a recipe, we’re referring to the fresh (not aged) type of goat cheese that’s also called chèvre. Chèvre (which means “goat” in French) is the cheese you’re probably used to seeing at the grocery store: that snowy-white log with a soft, creamy texture that lends itself to crumbling or spreading.
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We love using chèvre in recipes such as our Spring Strawberry Salad with Couscous and Pecan-Crusted Goat Cheese, where it adds both richness and a lemony, tangy flavor—plus rolling the goat cheese into balls and coating them with pecans offers the salad a visually appealing alternative to croutons.
Spring Strawberry Salad with Couscous and Pecan-Crusted Goat Cheese
Fluffy couscous and pecan-crusted goat cheese balls add a little heft and richness to this spring salad packed with strawberries and snap peas.
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Like many cheeses, chèvre can be simply crumbled on top of a dish, such as our hearty grain and vegetable bowls, but it can also be baked or cooked with. Our Baked Goat Cheese recipe is the perfect place to let goat cheese shine.
Baked Goat Cheese
Baking goat cheese makes it warm, creamy, and spreadable.
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We also like to dress up logs of goat cheese to serve as simple party appetizers. They’re quick and easy to make, and they’re eye-catching.
Goat Cheese Log with Herbes de Provence
A simple way to dress up goat cheese for a party.
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Look for our favorite brand, Laura Chenel, the next time you’re shopping; it has the smoothest texture and brightest flavor of all the samples we tried during our review of goat cheeses.
But “goat cheese” can be so much more than just chèvre! Goat’s milk can be used to make a wide range of cheeses; many are aged and boast more complexity than relatively mild chèvre.
Here’s a roundup of 15 of the most exciting goat cheeses to liven up your next cheese board. (My personal favorite is the wine-soaked Drunken Goat from Spain, keep an eye out for it!)
Oh, and if you’re as big a fan of goat cheese as I am, have I got the sweatshirt for you!
Here are some more of our favorite recipes that call for creamy, tangy goat cheese aka chèvre. Start a free trial to access them plus all our other rigorously tested, reliable recipes and reviews.
