Wensleydale Cheese substitute

Best substitute

Crumbly Lancashire

Use the same amount as the wensleydale cheese you are replacing

Best for cheese and fruit cake

Close match

Crumbly Lancashire is the closest cheese there is and swaps in at the same weight, with Caerphilly a very near second; both are mild, moist, gently acidic and break into the same flakes. Cheshire also works 1:1 and is only a little saltier and more mineral. If you can find none of those, a young mild white cheddar at 1:1 gives you a similar flavour but a firmer, waxier body that slices instead of crumbling, and well-rinsed feta or queso fresco gives you the crumble but not the flavour.

Other wensleydale cheese substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Caerphilly
Close match
Use the same amount
A young Welsh cow's-milk cheese, white, moist and mildly salty with a lemony freshness.
What changes
Best for
cheeseboards, salads, Welsh rarebit, crumbling over soup, grilling on toast, cheese and pickle
Prep. Crumble cold for salads, or slice while chilled if you need it to stay in one piece.
An excellent match and often easier to find than Wensleydale outside Yorkshire. It has the same pale colour, the same moist crumble and the same gentle character, and if anything a slightly cleaner citrus note. It is a little saltier than Wensleydale, noticeable if you are eating it plain, and it is very slightly firmer near the rind, which means it holds together a fraction better if you need to slice it for a sandwich. One useful difference is that Caerphilly grills and toasts well without going oily, so it is the better pick if the cheese is going under a grill.
3Cheshire
Different taste
Use the same amount
One of the oldest English cheeses, dense, crumbly and distinctly salty, sold white or coloured orange.
What changes
Best for
cheeseboards, cheese and fruit cake, crumbling over salads and baked potatoes, cheese sauce, ploughman's lunch
Prep. Crumble cold. Reduce or omit added salt anywhere it is going into a cooked dish.
A good and traditional swap, with a slightly different personality. Cheshire is a touch drier and more granular than Wensleydale, crumbling into shorter, chalkier pieces, and it is noticeably saltier with a mineral, almost savoury edge that comes from the salt marsh pastures it is associated with. That extra salt is welcome against something sweet such as fruit cake but can push a salad or a cheese sauce over the line, so hold back the salt elsewhere in the dish. The orange-coloured version tastes the same as the white but looks quite unlike Wensleydale on a board.
4Young mild white cheddar
Different texture
Use the same amount
A cheddar aged only a few months, still pale, mild and relatively moist.
What changes
Best for
cheese and apple pie, sandwiches, cheese scones, cheese on toast, cheese sauce, cheeseboards at a pinch
Prep. For a crumbled effect, freeze the block for ten minutes and then break rather than slice, though it will still come away in chunks.
The everywhere-available answer, and it depends on how young a cheddar you can get. A mild white cheddar is in the same broad flavour territory, clean and milky with a mild tang, but the manufacturing gives it a firmer, denser, waxier body, so it slices and grates rather than crumbling, and a cheeseboard using it looks and eats quite differently. It also melts far more smoothly than Wensleydale, which is an advantage in sauces and a disadvantage if you wanted distinct crumbles to survive baking. Avoid mature or extra-mature cheddar, which is far too sharp and savoury to stand in for a young Wensleydale.
5Feta, rinsed and dried, or queso fresco
Different taste
Use the same amount with a pinch of salt added to queso fresco
Fresh white crumbling cheeses, feta brined and tangy, queso fresco mild and milky.
What changes
Best for
salads, crumbling over roast vegetables, grain bowls, topping soup
Prep. Rinse feta and pat thoroughly dry. Crumble either by hand at the last moment so it does not weep into the dish.
Reach for these when the crumble is what you need and the specific flavour is not. Feta has almost exactly the right texture, and rinsing the block under cold water for ten seconds and patting it dry removes a good deal of the surface brine, but it is still much saltier and considerably tangier than Wensleydale, so a salad made with it tastes sharper and more assertive. Queso fresco is the better match for the mildness, having that same soft milky sweetness, but it is wetter and under-salted, so crumble it and season it lightly. Neither belongs on a Yorkshire cheeseboard, and neither works with fruit cake, where the point is a mild cheese meeting a sweet crumb.
6Any mild crumbly cheese plus chopped dried cranberries (for Wensleydale with cranberries)
Close match
Use the same amount cheese, plus 1 tbsp dried cranberries per 100g
A homemade version of the fruited Wensleydale sold at Christmas.
What changes
Best for
Christmas cheeseboards, salads, cheese and biscuits, stuffing for chicken
Prep. Chop the fruit small, mix through crumbled cheese, press into a ramekin lined with cling film and chill for a few hours.
Wensleydale with cranberries is simply young Wensleydale with dried fruit worked through it, so you can put it together yourself. Take crumbly Lancashire, Caerphilly or a young white cheddar, crumble it into a bowl, and fold through finely chopped dried cranberries at about a tablespoon per 100g, pressing the mixture together lightly if you want it to hold. The result is a little looser than the shop version, which is pressed into a block, and the cranberries stay chewier because they have not had time to take up moisture from the cheese, so leave it wrapped in the fridge overnight if you can. Dried apricots or dried cherries work the same way.

What is Wensleydale Cheese?

Wensleydale Cheese is Wensleydale is a pale Yorkshire cow's-milk cheese, usually sold young as Yorkshire Wensleydale, with a moist, open, crumbly texture that breaks into flakes rather than slicing cleanly, and a mild, fresh, lightly acidic flavour with a faint honeyed sweetness.

Cooking tips

Young Wensleydale is not a melting cheese, and neither are its closest substitutes. Because it is high in moisture and only lightly pressed, heating it drives out whey and it goes grainy and separates rather than turning smooth and stretchy. If you want it in a cooked dish, use it as a crumbled topping added late, and if you need a proper melt use a young cheddar or Caerphilly instead.
Crumble it cold and by hand. Wensleydale, Lancashire, Caerphilly and Cheshire all warm up quickly and turn pasty against a blade, and none of them grate well. Fifteen minutes in the fridge or ten in the freezer, then breaking the cheese apart with your fingers, gives you the loose flakes that are the whole appeal of this family of cheeses.
The classic Yorkshire pairing of cheese with fruit cake or apple pie works because the cheese is mild, lightly acidic and salty against something sweet. That means the substitute needs to stay mild: a mature cheddar or a strong blue simply fights the cake. If your stand-in is on the salty side, such as Cheshire or rinsed feta, use a slightly thinner slice.
These cheeses are high in moisture and do not keep as long as a hard cheese. Wrap in waxed paper or greaseproof rather than tight cling film, which traps moisture against the surface and makes it slimy, and eat within a week or so of opening. If it has dried out at the edges, that part is still fine for cooking.
If a dish tastes flat after you have swapped to a very mild cheese such as queso fresco or a young cheddar, the missing element is usually acidity rather than salt. A squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of cider vinegar in a dressing brings back the fresh lactic tang that makes Wensleydale taste bright rather than merely creamy.

Frequently asked questions

What is the closest substitute for Wensleydale?

Crumbly Lancashire, without much argument. It is made in the same broad tradition, sold at a similar young age, and has the same moist, loosely knit body that breaks into flakes rather than slicing. The only difference worth noting is a slightly stronger lactic tang and a shade more salt. Caerphilly is a very close second and is often easier to find, being mild, white, moist and faintly lemony, with the bonus that it grills better than Wensleydale does. Cheshire is the third option, correct in texture but distinctly saltier.

Can I use cheddar instead of Wensleydale?

Yes, provided it is a young mild white cheddar rather than a mature one. The flavours are in the same territory, clean and milky with a gentle tang, so a sandwich or a cheese scone will taste much as intended. What changes is the texture: cheddar is pressed harder and is denser and waxier, so it slices and grates where Wensleydale crumbles, and a cheeseboard eats quite differently as a result. Mature or extra-mature cheddar is the wrong choice entirely, being far too sharp and savoury to stand in for a cheese whose whole character is mildness.

What job is Wensleydale doing in a recipe?

It is providing three things: a mild, fresh, slightly acidic dairy flavour that does not compete with anything else on the plate; a moist crumbly texture that scatters and gives soft flakes rather than melting into the dish; and a modest amount of salt. It is chosen precisely because it is quiet, which is why it works with fruit cake, apple pie and sweet chutneys. Any substitute that is more assertive, whether that means saltier like Cheshire, tangier like feta or sharper like mature cheddar, will shift the balance of the dish towards itself.

Can I just leave the Wensleydale out?

On a cheeseboard or in the traditional pairing with fruit cake, no, because the cheese is the dish. In a salad, a bake or a scone, you can, but recognise that you are removing salt, fat and a crumbly texture all at once. Replacing it with any mild crumbly cheese is far easier than compensating, but if you have nothing at all, season the dish a little more heavily, add a squeeze of lemon for the missing acidity, and consider toasted breadcrumbs or chopped toasted nuts to put back the crumble.

How do I make Wensleydale with cranberries at home?

The shop-bought version is simply young Wensleydale with dried cranberries worked through it before pressing, so it is easy to approximate. Crumble any mild crumbly cheese, such as Lancashire, Caerphilly or a young white cheddar, into a bowl and fold through finely chopped dried cranberries at roughly a tablespoon per 100g of cheese, then press it into a cling-film-lined ramekin and chill for a few hours or overnight. Resting it matters: the fruit softens slightly as it takes up moisture from the cheese, which is what stops the cranberries reading as chewy intruders.

Related substitutes

More cheese substitutes

Wensleydale Cheese substitute

Other wensleydale cheese substitutes

2Caerphilly

3Cheshire

4Young mild white cheddar

5Feta, rinsed and dried, or queso fresco

6Any mild crumbly cheese plus chopped dried cranberries (for Wensleydale with cranberries)