Tulum Cheese substitute

Best substitute

Sheep's-milk feta, drained and dried

Use the same amount as the tulum cheese you are replacing

Best for Aegean salads

Close match

The best swap is well-drained sheep's-milk feta, blotted dry and crumbled, at 1:1. For more of tulum's aged bite, use two parts drained feta to one part finely grated Pecorino Romano, which is the closest reconstruction you can build from supermarket cheese. Ricotta salata is the best match for tulum's dry crumb if you find feta too sour, though you will need to add a little salt. Remember what tulum is doing in the dish: it supplies salt, a sharp lactic tang and fatty sheep richness in a crumbly form, so any swap must be salty and dry rather than creamy and mild.

Other tulum cheese substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Drained feta plus grated Pecorino Romano
Close match
2 parts feta to 1 part pecorino, used 1:1 for the tulum
The closest thing to real tulum you can assemble at home.
What changes
Feta gives the crumb and the tang, pecorino supplies the aged sheep sharpness feta is missing.
Best for
pasta and manti, salads where tulum is the headline flavour, baked dishes, cheese boards
This is genuinely close, and if a recipe leans on tulum for character it is worth the extra step. Pecorino is very salty, so do not add any salt to the dish until you have tasted it, and cut back on salt elsewhere. Mix the two with a fork so the grated pecorino coats the feta crumbs rather than sitting in clumps.
3Ricotta salata
Different taste
Use the same amount plus a pinch of salt
Pressed, salted, lightly aged sheep's-milk cheese with a firm, dry, snappy crumb that is very close to tulum's texture.
What changes
Best for
salads, grating or shaving over vegetables, pasta, anywhere you want clean crumbs rather than wet chunks
Texturally this is the best match on the list. Flavour-wise it is much gentler: milder, cleaner and noticeably less salty than tulum, so the dish will taste polite where it should taste assertive. Add a pinch of flaky salt and a squeeze of lemon to push it in the right direction, or grate in a little pecorino if you want real bite.
4Pecorino Romano or aged kashkaval
Different texture
¾ the amount
Hard aged sheep's-milk cheeses that carry tulum's sharp, salty, slightly gamy intensity.
What changes
Best for
pasta and manti, soups, baked dishes, seasoning rather than crumbling
Use less, because both are saltier and more concentrated than tulum, and they grate into shreds rather than crumbling into curds, so a salad loses the pebbly texture tulum gives it. Aged kashkaval is the more Turkish of the two and tastes rounder and more buttery; pecorino is sharper and more peppery. In a cooked dish neither is a compromise at all.
5Cotija (aged, not fresh)
Different taste
Use the same amount
Mexican aged cow's-milk cheese sold specifically to be crumbled, with a hard dry body and a heavy salt load.
What changes
Best for
crumbling over salads and roast vegetables, topping soups and beans, when tulum is a salty garnish rather than the main event
The salt level and crumbling behaviour are right, which is why it works so well as a finishing cheese. What is missing is the sheep's-milk character: cotija tastes straightforwardly salty and milky, without the lanolin-and-yogurt tang that makes tulum taste Anatolian. Good in a salad, less convincing in a dish named after the cheese.
6Kasseri or young kashkaval, for melting uses only
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
Semi-hard Turkish and Balkan cheeses that melt smoothly, for the rare recipes where tulum is heated into something.
What changes
Best for
gozleme and pide, melted cheese dishes, eggs and menemen
This is the honest answer to a real problem: tulum does not melt smoothly, its fat separates and it stays grainy, so recipes that want a melt are usually calling for tulum's flavour scattered on top rather than melted through. If you need cheese that stretches and browns, kasseri does that but tastes much milder and butterier, so crumble a little feta or pecorino on top for the sharpness you lost.

What is Tulum Cheese?

Tulum Cheese is Tulum cheese, known in Turkey as tulum peyniri, is a sharp, salty, crumbly cheese made mostly from sheep's milk and traditionally aged inside a sewn goatskin casing, which is what tulum means.

Cooking tips

Tulum is one of the saltiest cheeses in the Turkish repertoire, saltier than most feta, so build the dish first and season it last. If a recipe was written for tulum and you swap in something milder, expect to add salt; if you swap in pecorino or cotija, expect to add none.
It crumbles, it does not melt. Heated hard, tulum goes grainy and weeps fat, so use it stirred into hot pasta off the heat, scattered over a finished dish, or folded into a borek filling with butter rather than blasted under a grill.
Erzincan tulum and Izmir tulum are not the same cheese in practice. Erzincan style is creamier and richer with a milky finish, so drained feta suits it best. Izmir style is drier, saltier and sharper, so lean on the pecorino or aged kashkaval end of the list.
Whatever you substitute, get the moisture out. Tulum is a dry cheese, and wet cheese in a salad makes a puddle while wet cheese in a borek makes a soggy layer. Twenty minutes between paper towels changes the result more than switching cheeses does.
If your tulum or your feta substitute is aggressively salty, rinse it briefly under cold water and pat it dry. You lose a little tang along with the salt, so taste as you go rather than soaking it for a long time.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave tulum cheese out?

In a mixed salad or a stew where it is one of several savoury elements, yes, but add salt to compensate because tulum is doing a lot of the seasoning. In a dish built around it, such as a tulum and walnut meze, tulum peyniri pasta, or a simple bread-and-cheese plate, do not omit it, because there is nothing else in the recipe providing salt, tang or richness. Use drained feta instead.

Is tulum cheese the same as feta?

They are cousins, not twins. Both are white, salty, sheep-forward brine-and-salt cheeses, but feta is stored wet in brine and stays moist and sourly acidic, while tulum is drained, packed tightly into a skin or tub and aged, which makes it drier, crumblier, fattier on the tongue and considerably more pungent. Feta is still the best everyday substitute, especially after you dry it out.

Does tulum cheese melt?

Not smoothly. It softens and its butterfat separates, leaving a grainy, oily texture rather than a stretch. That is normal and not a sign of bad cheese. In hot dishes it is used as a seasoning stirred in at the end. If a recipe genuinely needs a melting cheese, use kasseri or kashkaval for the melt and crumble a little tulum or feta on top for flavour.

What is the best substitute for tulum in a salad?

Drained sheep's-milk feta with a little grated pecorino mixed through it. The feta gives you the crumb and the brightness, the pecorino gives the aged sharpness, and together they land close to real tulum peyniri. Ricotta salata is the better choice if you want the exact dry crumble and a gentler flavour, but salt it.

Where do I buy tulum cheese, and is it vegetarian?

Turkish, Balkan and broader Middle Eastern grocers stock it in tubs, usually labelled tulum peyniri and sometimes Erzincan or Izmir tulum; you will rarely see it in a mainstream supermarket. Like most traditional aged cheeses it is normally made with animal rennet, so check the label if that matters to you, and note that many feta and pecorino substitutes are made the same way.

Related substitutes

More cheese substitutes

Tulum Cheese substitute

Other tulum cheese substitutes

2Drained feta plus grated Pecorino Romano

3Ricotta salata

4Pecorino Romano or aged kashkaval

5Cotija (aged, not fresh)

6Kasseri or young kashkaval, for melting uses only