This vegan mac and cheese is a healthier take on classic mac and cheese but is still just as comforting and satisfying. We love bundling up with a bowl of this healthy mac and cheese whenever the craving for carbs and cheese hits us.
To make this dairy-free mac and cheese version, we use a handful of non-dairy ingredients to create a “cheese” sauce. These ingredients include cashews, potatoes, carrots, and spices.
The sauce ingredients are puréed together in a food processor until smooth and fluid-like. The elbow pasta is then coated with this sauce to make this the delicious vegan mac and cheese that it is.
The change of ingredients that are made to make this recipe vegan-friendly results in a healthier mac and cheese that’s lower in cholesterol and fat. You can experiment with adding other spices or swapping out the onion and garlic for onion powder and garlic powder, but taste-test and add accordingly.
Summary |
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Cook time: 15 minutes
Prep time: 15 minutes
Idle time:
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Level
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Servings:
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Ingredients
- 8 oz. elbow pasta
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup Yukon gold potatoes chopped
- 1/4 cup carrots chopped
- 1/3 cup onion chopped
- 1 cup reserved pasta cooking water
- 1/4 cup raw cashews soaked for 1.5 hours and drained if your blender is weak
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice optional
- 1/4 tsp Black pepper
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Instructions
- In a medium skillet, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil. Sauté onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook for one more minute. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, add the potatoes and carrots, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook, covered, for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft. Drain and set aside.
- Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of starchy cooking water. Drain the pasta and put back into the pot.
- Place the cashews, salt, mustard, paprika, turmeric, lemon juice, black pepper, cayenne and nutritional yeast in a blender. Add the softened vegetables, cooked onion/garlic and reserved pasta water to the blender or food processor and process until very smooth.
- Pour the “cheese” sauce over the cooked pasta and combine until completely coated.
Additional information
Updated by Beeta Hashempour on 6/4/2018
