Grating cheese is NOT one of my favorite kitchen activities. It gets tiring, especially when it comes to cleaning up the mess afterwards.
But freshly grated cheese tastes way better and melts better than cheese you buy already grated in a bag. Here's why: To keep pre-grated cheese from clumping together in the bag it contains preservatives like potato starch and natamycin. These substances also means that the pre-grated cheese won't melt together as easily once it's heated.
Your freshly grated cheese will also taste better without the addition of these chemicals and preservatives – not to mention it makes it healthier.
Here are a few simple tips to help you grate cheese without the mess!
Ok! It's time to move on to the tips!
How to Grate Cheese Without the Mess
1. Freeze your cheese for 20 minutes before grating. It won't crumble as much.
2. Spray your grater with nonstick spray. The grated cheese will slide right off and make cleanup much easier!
3. Place the grater in a large shallow food container before grating. This is an easy way to catch all of the cheese without it falling off a plate, but it still gives you plenty of room to maneuver your hands. (I use one like this Rubbermaid container.)
How to Grate Cheese Without a Grater or Shredder
Our tips above all refer to using a cheese grater. If you don't have a greater or shredder, you can try one of these alternatives.(Be sure to still use our tips of freezing your cheese and spraying the utensil you use.
1. Use a vegetable peeler to shave off small shreds of cheese.
2. Use a sharp knife to slice of very slim pieces of cheese (this one will take longer!)
3. Chop cheese into smaller cubes and place in a food processor. Don't overload your food processor and choose a shredding blade if you have one.
Do you have any tips for grating cheese?
Roxie says
I use my food processor. The mess is all in the bowl. No clean up at all except to wash the processor bowl and grate. Mine are dishwasher safe so the dishwasher does the work.
valmg @ From Val's Kitchen says
I’ve never tried freezing the cheese before grating it, I’ll have to see how that goes.
Maria says
I love fresh grated cheese! It makes such a huge difference in taste than package cheese.
Susan says
this is great, I hate the mess the cheese leaves I will use this!
Myrah - Coupon Mamacita says
What a great and helpful post! I make the biggest mess ever!
NYCSingleMom says
This is brilliant. Sadly I am lazy and hate taking out my food processor to grate cheese and like using a grater so this is so timely.
LisaLisa says
Great tips! I have never tried freezing the cheese before grating these tips will come in handy for the Holidays..Thanks for sharing!
Danielle Nydam says
I love these tips. I am definitely going to be using some of these. I had no idea and my family is always grating cheese for certain meals and I always hated doing it because the cheese would go everywhere.
Jen Rodrigues says
Great tips. I hate grating cheese but I will have to use these tips next time. Thanks.
Amy Gillespie says
Those were such common sense solutions….I wish I would have thought of them. I just love fresh grated cheese especially for cheese toast(Sharp Cheddar). Yes I too hate the cleanup. So ty 🙂
Jasmine P says
This is a great post! I always make a mess when I grate cheese.
Nicole Becker says
WOW!! Never thought about doing any of these except for putting it into the shallow food container!! Me and the hubby LOVEEE sharp cheddar on just about everything we eat and it is always such a mess. I never buy already shredded cheese because it is so much more expensive than doing it yourself. Thanks so much for these tips!! YOU ARE AWESOME!!
Kerry Getty says
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I have written a handful of articles over the past two weeks. I mostly write on fashion, beauty, lingerie and lifestyle topics, mostly because I have some personal experience in them.
I have not yet started a blog myself as I am fairly busy.
I have saved all the articles on my google drive which you can access from here:
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I would be most grateful if you could publish my nickname: MissyPeachy and add a link to my current blog https://peachesandscreams.co.uk
I am a guest blogger on this site.
If you would like, I can write up some more articles and send them over to you.
It would be fab if you could send me the links to the published articles so that I could build up my portfolio as a blogger 🙂
Have a fab day!
Pam G. says
I use a 3 cup KitchenAid food processor to grate my cheeses. they are cheeper to buy than grated cheeses. After I grate the cheese, I sprinkle in some corn starch and shake it up. this keeps the cheese from clumping together and is what they do when “they” grate it. Hope this helps. .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.