Why would you want to grate cheese?
Cheese is nearly an indispensable ingredient in most of the dishes in America, with a small or large amount depending on what the dish is or the interest of the diners or chef.
Your hamburger, potato or roasted chicken will look much more intriguing with a beautiful coat of cheese.
Of course, the taste will be better as well. However, we rarely keep a big block of cheese as its original shape while cooking but grating or chopping it finely into small shreds so it will melt or blend easier and completely into your main food like pastas or salads.
Can you grate cheese without a cheese grater?
You can grate cheese with ease if you have a conventional cheese grater, but what if in some cases, when you are about to cook a dish with shredded cheese but cannot find the grater in your kitchen?
Will you have to give up on that dish or cook it without cheese? No, don’t panic, there are still several alternative methods to grate cheese without a cheese grater and I’ll show you right now.
Tips to grate cheese without a cheese grater
- When you use a knife to grate cheese, make sure that you hold it tight and securely while slicing along the edge of the cheese block to produce easily dissolvable slices of cheese
- Don’t forget to refrigerate your cheese (not too hard) ahead when using a food processor and don’t overfill the container as the blade may become unbalanced or unable to cut through the load
- It’s recommended to turn the food processor on and off in short burst to not over shred your cheese. If your food processor has a shredding disk, select this blade as it will provide better quality slices, if not, a regular chunkier chopping disk will do just fine
- Using a food processor will be faster but might leave you with more mess to clean up after shredding
Things you’ll need
- A cutting board
- A knife
- A food processor
How to grate cheese without a cheese grater by using a knife
- Cut cheese into 0.5-inch strips with a sharp knife and a cutting board
- Cut these strips into halved 0.5-inch strips in a direction perpendicular to your previous cut
- Keep the strips together then keep cutting the cheese strips again in a direction perpendicular to the cut you just made
- Repeat step 3 one more time (the strips should now be in rectangular or square pieces)
- Remove two pieces at a time and place them side by side to chop them uniformly in one direction, then the other direction until they’re finely minced
How to grate cheese without a cheese grater by using hands
- Cut off two pieces of cheese from the block
- Hold one piece between your thumb and index finger and the other one between the thumb and index finger of your other hand (the side from each piece of cheese that’s farthest away from the palm of your hand should be exposed)
- Grind or rub the two pieces together in a back and forth motion. Bits of cheese should rub off between the two pieces
- Continue grinding or rubbing until the two pieces of cheese have completely worn away
How to grate cheese without a cheese grater by using a food processor
- Refrigerate the cheese beforehand to make it firmer
- Cut the firm cheese into small cubes and place them in the food processor
- Turn the food processor on and your cheese will be shredded
- Take the minced cheese out of the food processor to cook as your recipe
