Fat reduction frequently affects texture, flavor and yield of cheese. The use of fat replacers is one of the strategies that have been used to improve reduced-fat cheese’s overall quality. In different types of cheese, starch may improve their texture by binding extra water and reducing their hardness. Additionally, it is well known that starches’ properties may considerably vary due to their amylose content. Thus, the behavior of different types of native maize starches with varying amylose contents (regular maize starch – RMS, waxy maize starch – WMS, high-amylose maize starch – HAMS) in mixtures with casein (CN) was studied, aiming to understand the potential use of starch as a fat replacer in cheese. Pasting properties (Pasting temperature and peak, breakdown, final and setback viscosities measured by a Rapid Visco-Analyzer), thermal properties (gelatinization temperatures: onset, peak and conclusion, and gelatinization enthalpy using a differential scanning calorimeter), and swelling power (by the ratio of the precipitated gel weight to the sample’s weight in dry basis) of casein/starch dispersions were evaluated. Casein/starch dispersions simulated the concentration of fat replacers frequently used in cheese (1.0% starch) and the concentration of casein normally found in milk (2.5% casein). WMS in mixture with CN presented the highest peak viscosity (196.54 ± 1.13 RVU), whereas RMS and HAMS presented 138.12 ± 3.16 RVU, and 7.31 ± 0.66 RVU, respectively, indicating that WMS has a high potential for water binding in cheese. WMS also presented high swelling power at 75°C (5.13 ± 0.03), when compared with RMS and HAMS (3.67 ± 0.05, 1.01 ± 0.00, respectively), and low peak temperature (72.72 ± 0.01°C), similar to RMS (71.06 ± 0.29°C), but considerably lower than HAMS (89.46 ± 0.00°C), therefore it requires lower gelatinization temperatures, which is important for cheese’s coagulation. Therefore, WMS could be considered a promising fat replacer in cheese and may have the potential to help industries to improve the characteristics of dairy reduced-fat products.