Vegan Mac and Cheese, Quick and Easy
Vegan Mac and Cheese, Quick and Easy
Vegan Macaroni and Cheese is made with dairy free cheese. This quick, easy recipe is creamy and delicious. Mac and cheese has always been a comfort food in my family. My son is on a dairy free diet and one day while craving for Mac and Cheese, asked about making vegan cheese. I experimented with many recipes and finally my son was happy with the result. To my surprise my grand-kids also enjoyed this vegan mac and cheese. This was a surprise success at my house.
Ingredients
- 1 cup elbow macaroni
- 1 cup small florets of broccoli optional
For Vegan Cheese
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup Yukon gold potatoes (cubed) they have thin and smooth skin, I have already peeled and cubed
- 1/2 cup carrots sliced
- 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice.
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
Instructions
- Boil the macaroni according to the instruction over the box. Set aside.
- In boiling water soak the broccoli for few minutes and drain the water, set aside.
- Soak the cashews for about half hour and set aside.
- Wash and peel both potatoes and carrots, and chop into uniform pieces and boil with 2 cups of water for about 8 minutes, till they are soft. Take them out from water.
- Add all the ingredients for cheese into a blender with one cup of water and blend until smooth, use more water as needed. I used about 2 cups of water.
- Pour into a pot on the stove and heat to medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Once it starts to thicken, remove from the heat and stir again and it should thicken up a bit more. If it's too thick, add more water. Cheese should be pourable consistency. It should only take a couple of minutes to thicken up on the stove.
- For serving toss the broccoli and pasta together, pour the cheese over, serve hot.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
14 Responses
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I made the recipe because I can’t eat cheese for a period. Out of curiosity I had made some cheese sauces from vegan sites before, and they were always a disappointment as well as containing a unholy amount of flavorings to make up for the plain taste. So I had decided to give up on vegan cheese sauces forever. But since I had to forego dairy and trusting Manjula’s abilities, I gave this recipe a go. I’m glad I did because the sauce is simple, easily digestible and tastes cheesy enough; the only thing is, it is better to have a powerful blender because with mine I still got some cashew grains in there. I will definitely do it again, maybe adding some flavorless coconut oil in place of some of the water because cheddar-like cheese is fatter than this sauce.
So thank you again Manjula,
Didina
Didina, thank you I appreciate your comment
Manjula ji,
Thank u for this interesting recipe. But my kid is allergic to nuts .what would be a good substitute for cashews?
Gnana, try this recipe, I have used many times and taste good
Potato and Carrot Vegan Cheese
Ingredients
• 2 C. potatoes, diced large
• 1 C. carrots, diced large
• 1/2 C. water
• 1/3 C. olive oil
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice (fresh is best!)
• 1/2 C. nutritional yeast flakes
• dash of cayenne (opt.)
Instructions
1. Boil the potatoes and carrots until soft.
2. Blend potatoes and carrots together along with the rest of the ingredients on high in blender until the cheese is extremely smooth. I use my high-powered VitaMix blender.
3. Store in refrigerator for up to a week.
Hi Mam,
Can we put something in replace of yeast?
Archna, so far I have not found the substitute for yeast
i love pasta. The way you make this delicious pasta is just awesome. Will definitely try.
Namaste Manjulaji
You are always my fav. But I have a question – macaroni is not vegan as I believe it is made of egg. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Sree
Sree, Macaroni is vegan
Nimaste, Manjula. Two days ago I made this recipe and while it is good the first day, the second day it is GREAT. It tastes almost like the real thing. Thank you for a really nice recipe.
Rena
Yum, I’m always open to a new mac&cheese recipe! Will sure try this one too, thanks for sharing!
Manjula , you are so cute and I love your recipes, However this dish should have a different name as there is no cheese in the recipe. It is quite misleading.
How I should it misleading? It says vegan. Vegans don’t eat cheese.
Kay, vegan cheese