Amazing Vegan Mac and Cheese
This Vegan Mac and Cheese is dairy-free, oil-free, and soy-free, is easy to make and a great alternative to one of the most popular family dishes from childhood. It is full of flavor and a great addition to a plant-based diet.
Macaroni and Cheese is probably the food I think of first if you were to ask me what was my favorite comfort food. I mean it was a staple in our house growing up.
Last year when we moved to a more plant-based lifestyle, I could not wait to find a plant-based alternative to one of my favorite dishes.
Kid-Approved Vegan Dish
Because every recipe that we make in our kitchen has to pass both my teenager’s seal of approval.
I knew that I had to hit it out of the park with this one. .
But after a few failed tries and searching the internet for inspiration, I finally found a Vegan Mac and Cheese that definitely hit it out of the park.
My two teenage boys not only gave it their seal of approval; my oldest has put a little twist on the recipe and is the one making it for us now.
The great thing about this vegan dish is that you can add in your favorite vegetables and make it an even more nutritious dish your whole family will love.
I always love a chance to add in more vegetables to our plant food dishes. Most recently we have been enjoying broccoli with this amazing plant based dish.
Of course, I had some other family members, namely my husband and mom that were not fans of broccoli. Challenge accepted. If you know me. I am all about showing that eating healthy can be fun and delicious.
All I had to do was put this dish in front of them, add in some freshly steamed broccoli and they were hooked. While I cannot promise they are going to start eating broccoli raw or steamed for that matter. They did though change their mind when I put this vegan mac and cheese dish together. And I bet you would not have guessed it, they have requested this dish more than once in our house.
Comfort Food
What is one dish that you think of when I say comfort food? Mac and Cheese right? What if I told you that you could create a healthy comfort food dish that not only tastes delicious, but if full of flavor, you will never know that this is a dairy-free version of your favorite comfort food.
You can also enjoy the Plant-based Cheese Sauce with other dishes. Just the other day, we used it on our Vegan Nacho Bowl that I will be putting up on the blog soon.
Amazing Vegan Mac and Cheese
This plant-based Broccoli Mac and Cheese is dairy-free, oil-free, and soy-free is easy to make.
Ingredients
- 2 Cups of Raw Cashews
- 2 Cups of Broccoli, chopped
- 1-16 oz package of Macaroni noodles or pasta noodles of your choice.
- 1 Lemon, Squeezed
- 1 ¾ Cup of Water or as needed
- 2 TSP Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt
- ¼ Cup of Vegetable Broth
- ½ Cup of Nutritional Yeast
- 1 TSP Chili Powder
- 1 TSP Cumin
- 2 TSP Onion Powder
- 2 TSP Garlic Powder
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 1 TBSP of Dijon Mustard
- ¼ TSP of Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 TSP Turmeric
- 1 TSP Black Pepper
Instructions
- Cook the noodles as directed on the package.
- In a large frying pan add your veggie
broth, broccoli, 1 Tsp onion powder, 1 Tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper and let it cook on medium low until the broccoli is soft. Reduce heat to low and let simmer. - While the pasta and broccoli are cooking, in a high-speed blender or food processor, add in the cashews, lemon juice, 1 TSP salt, nutritional yeast, chili powder, garlic cloves, Dijon mustard, red pepper flakes, 1/2 TSP black pepper, turmeric and blend until smooth and creamy. You can adjust the ingredients to your taste.
- Once the pasta is done cooking. Drain and rinse and put the pasta back into the large pan and place back on the stove on low and add in the cooked broccoli and cheese sauce. Mix together until blended.
- Cook for a few minutes just to heat up the sauce. Remove from heat and serve.
Notes
Another option you can do is add the "cheese" sauce to the broccoli while it is cooking and mix together and then add to the pasta once it has been drained. Mix together and then serve.
If you are looking to make the cheese sauce for other than the this Broccoli Mac and Cheese Recipe, here is the recipe for our Vegan Cheese Sauce .
The Best Vegan Cheese Sauce
This Vegan Cheese Sauce is easy to make and goes great with mac and cheese and makes a great nacho cheese sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 Cups of Raw Cashews
- 1 Lemon, Squeezed
- 1 ¾ Cup of Water or as needed
- 1 TSP Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt
- ½ Cup of Nutritional Yeast
- 1 TSP Chili Powder
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 1 TBSP of Dijon Mustard
- ¼ TSP of Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 TSP Black Pepper
- 1 TSP Turmeric
Instructions
- In a high-speed blender or food processor, add in the cashews, lemon juice, salt, nutritional yeast, chili powder, garlic cloves, Dijon mustard, red pepper flakes, black pepper, turmeric, and water. Blend until smooth and creamy. You can adjust the ingredients to your taste.
- You can warm up the cheese sauce by blending it on the soup option on a Vitamix or add it to a sauce pan on low heat. Stir to keep it from sticking. Serve it as a dip, on top your favorite noodles for mac and cheese or as a nacho cheese sauce.
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #cleanfoodmama on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Some of our other Plant-based Recipes you can find on the blog:
Plant-based Creamed Corn Pasta
Here are some kitchen essentials that helped us make this vegan dish:
Enjoy and Happy Cooking!
Stephanie Collazo, MS, CHC is the founder of Clean Food Mama, to help you get more plants into your diet. She shed 170 lbs by incorporating a whole foods plant-based diet and loves empowering other women to create healthy habits for themselves and their families.
Pingback: 15 Vegan and Plant Based 4th of July Recipes - Clean Food Mama
Pingback: The Best Vegan Cheese Sauce - Clean Food Mama
Pingback: Simply The Best Vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese (Nut-Free) - Clean Food Mama