If someone tried to coax me a year ago with a “vegan mac and cheese” recipe, I would have politely said, “no, thank you.” First of all, I actually don’t really like mac and cheese. Not the boxed kind and not even the homemade kind. Weird, I know. And sad for my husband who looooooves it. I used to have to make him the famous “Ronald Reagan’s favorite mac and cheese” recipe all the time when we first got married. Tons of butter, cheddar cheese, milk, stomach ache for me. Just not my thing. It’s now the 21st century, and we’re both eating differently and I am open minded to alternative recipes.
Although open minded or not, I’ve always felt if I’m not going to like the real deal, why would I like something pretending to be the real deal? And most vegan mac and cheese recipes call for fake processed cheese or nutritional yeast and they’re just not that tasty, in my opinion. Are you with me? Well, according to myself and according to Mr. Picky who still doesn’t like cheese except Pecorino Romano in some soups and on pizza crust, this mac and cheese is the bomb. I think it’s better than mac and cheese and he likes it because he has watched me make it and is confident there is not a morsel of cheese, real or fake, anywhere in this dish.
The only trick with this recipe is that you have to follow it exactly! No eyeballing measurements. No leaving things out. Anytime I have guesstimated an amount with this recipe, it hasn’t worked quite as well, especially with ingredients like cayenne, lemon juice (you can leave this out, but just don’t add more than indicated) and garlic. Some of the images on this post were taken of light spelt macaroni and some of whole spelt macaroni. My family much prefers the light spelt pasta with this sauce, but you should use whatever suits you. I have also tried this with brown rice pasta and a corn-quinoa pasta — both super! Once I threw some small cauliflower florets into the pasta pot two minutes before the pasta was done and made a cauliflower mac and cheese. (See above.) I’m sure broccoli and kale would be great, too! Can you see how much fun we are going to have with this??!!
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Vegan Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 ounce package elbow macaroni pasta, I like spelt.
- 2 slices bread, torn into large pieces (whole grain works!)
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, not vegan or organic Earth Balance (vegan), divided
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 2 Tablespoons chopped shallots
- 1 cup about 7 ounces chopped Yukon gold potatoes (you can leave the peel on)
- ¼ cup chopped carrots, about 1 small carrot
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup raw cashews, soaked for 1-5 hours and drained if you your blender is weak
- 2 teaspoons sea salt, use 1 ¾ teaspoons if using Earth Balance
- ¼ teaspoon garlic, minced (about 1 medium clove)
- ¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, optional
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- pinch of cayenne pepper
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, add the shallots, potatoes, carrots, onion and water and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook, covered, for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente, drain and put back into the pot.
- Put the bread pieces, 1 Tablespoon of butter and paprika in a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until combined to a medium-fine texture, set aside.
- Place the cashews, salt, garlic, 5 Tablespoons butter, mustard, lemon juice, black pepper, and cayenne in a blender or food processor. Add the softened vegetables and cooking water to the blender or food processor and process until perfectly smooth.
- Pour the “cheese” sauce over the cooked pasta and combine until completely coated. Spread the mixture into an un-greased 11 x 8 casserole dish, sprinkle with prepared breadcrumb mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the top is golden brown. If you add veggies (such as 1 or 2 cups of blanched cauliflower or broccoli) to the macaroni, cook in a 13 x 9 dish.
Notes
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
I am not vegan but this looked interesting. Just made it and it was delicious!
I’m not vegan either but I prefer this over any regular mac and cheese. Thanks for the feedback! 🙂
This recipe was AMAZING, however I have a question can this be made without the cashews?
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I haven’t tried it without the cashews. But if I were going to try, I would maybe add more potato since both are there to add creaminess and thicken it.
OMG! Just made this and literally licking the blender clean. This is amazing! I will never suffer through another mac and cheese craving again
Ha! 🙂
I’m newly vegan so I don’t eat butter, but I don’t like the idea of using processed fake butter either. Do you think thers a way to make this or no? Thanks!
Hi Ani! I would try olive oil, avocado oil or maybe silken tofu. I haven’t tried any of these, but I have a feeling they’d work fine. Please report back if you do!
I just made this with only a tablespoon of oil and only a teaspoon of salt and it was still the single best vegan cheese sauce ever.
No way! Next time I make it, I’ll try reducing the fat and see if I still love it. Thank you so much for writing in! 🙂
I just wanted to say that I tried making this with an earth balance and flour roux. Here’s how it turned out! I used about two or so tablespoons of earth balance and about three tablespoons of flour. I followed all the directions except leaving out the cashews. Once I blended it, I added it to the pan with the roux, pouring slowly and whisking. It did thicken it quite a bit, but it was more of a gummy texture and not the smooth cheesy texture I wanted. So I returned it to the blender and blended it on high for a few more seconds. This helped considerably! It still seemed a little thick, though, so I might use less flour next time. Hope that helps anyone who was wondering if it could be made without cashews!
Thanks so much for your helpful comment! A lot of people have asked me how to make this without cashews and I had never tested it. Good info to know!
the standard rule of thumb is equal parts fat to flour for a roux. I’m sure if you did 2 tbsp oil to 2 tbsp four it wouldn’t turn out too thick and be a good replacement for the cashews. But cashews also add flavor, so you might need to up the flavor component with more garlic/ nutritional yeast/ etc.
I think you made a great suggestion, Jessica. Thanks so much for your comment!
Just made this. It is outstanding! Family loved it. By far the best vegan (or regular) mac ‘n cheese and we’ve tried a lot! Can’t wait to make the sauce just for nachos or potato skins or ….
Yay!!!! If you use it for something else (like nachos or on baked potatoes), after blending, put the sauce back in the pot and cook for a couple of minutes. Taste better that way! 🙂
This is great!! Can you make a bunch of sauce and freeze it in portions?
I love this, too! Sadly, it doesn’t freeze well. I tried it and it gets grainy and separates. Not the same! 🙁 You can make extra and reheat it 2 days later, though…
This recipe is AMAZING! I am not a fan of nutritional yeast so I was excited to see this. My husband however was skeptical. Well he loves it more than your run of the mill real cheese mac and cheese. Thank you for posting this taste-a-licous recipe!
I’m not a fan of nutritional yeast either! SO glad this was a success for you! 🙂
Hi Pamela –
Tried this tonight in light of the superb reviews – and I am in LOVE with this recipe! The taste is fantastic and got rave reviews from the adults at the table – but I was unable to fool the kids. :/ Their unsophisticated palate makes them crave/prefer the chemical stuff, it appears. One quicxk question – despite churning in the Vitamix for a good two minutes, my “cheez sauce” still didn’t appear quite as velvety as yours does in the photos. Any tips/tricks you can send my way on how to achieve that velvety consistency?
Hmmmm….assuming you used raw cashews and not toasted. If the bits that weren’t smooth were cashews, trying soaking them for a few hours in water and drain them before using. The only other thing I can think of is making sure your veggies are cooked well. I haven’t had any issues with the sauce not being really smooth. Let me know if there’s anything else you can think of that you might have done differently. 🙂
I never thought I would, but I will never look for another vegan cheese sauce recipe again! I have tried so many, and some are good but there is always something I don’t quite like about them. All the ingredients are healthy, whole, and plant based which I love! I could drink the sauce, but instead I put it over raw zucchini noodles with roasted butternut squash. I’m so exited to try this on nachos and other things thanks!
I feel the exact same way! I even like this better than real mac and cheese. Yay!