With a perfect combination of vegetables, nutritional yeast, cashews and salt, this Vegan Mac & Cheese recipe will take your cooking to the next level. You are not going to believe you are eating your favorite comfort food without any dairy products!

Even though mac & cheese is so common, easy to cook, and always gives a smile on my daughter’s face, I always refused to cook it as a main ingredient is dairy cheese. However, that hesitation from a few years ago is gone now.

Now, I cook this Vegan Mac & Cheese recipe almost every week. It’s unbelievably easy, and I usually can get everything done from start to finish including cleaning up the kitchen in less than an hour!

It’s so tasty and healthy without any hidden ingredients we don’t know, as the main key to make the sauce so creamy is vegetables. If you are trying to get your love ones to eat more vegetables this Vegan Mac & Cheese is another great option. It’s also perfect to make it during busy weeks. It’s already full with vegetables, and can simply be a perfect one-bowl meal.

Ready to try eating mac & cheese in a healthier way?

Things you need for making Vegan Mac & Cheese:

1. 10-12 oz (280-336 g) macaroni pasta of your choice (I like to use quinoa elbows), and water to boil according to the instructions.
2. Approximately 1 cup (128 g) of cauliflower florets, yukon gold potatoes (or any kind) kombucha pumpkin, and yellow onion.
3. Filtered water to cook the vegetables.
4. ¾ cup (96 g) of raw cashews.
5. 3-4 TBSP (42-56 g) nutritional yeast.
6. 2 TBSP (28 ml) extra virgin olive oil.
7. About 1 TBSP (14 ml) of lemon juice
8. 1-1 ½  TSP salt (4-7 g)

Note: This makes about 3-4 servings

How:

1. Soak the cashews a few hours prior to cooking. (to help reducing phytic acid in the nuts, soaking overnight is preferable).
2. Wash the vegetables thoroughly and cut them into small chunks.
3. Cover them with filtered water, sprinkle some salt in, cover and cook until soft. Let it cool. Note: My blender bowl is not glass, so I cook the vegetables and let them cool first before I blend them. Even if you have a glass bowl blender, It’s actually better not to blend them while they are too hot.
4. Cook the macaroni according to its instructions.
5. While the macaroni is cooking, rinse & strain the cashews and put them aside.
6. At this point, the vegetable should be cool enough put it in a blender.
7. Add the cashews, nutritional yeast, salt, lemon juice, and oil.
8. Blend everything well until smooth, then adjust the taste to your liking.
9. The macaroni should be ready by now. Drain and let the excess water dry without rinsing it with cold water. (this way it can stay warm when it mixes with the sauce).
10. Put the macaroni back into the same pot, then pour the sauce over it and mix well.
11. Serve while it’s still warm with a side dish of greens of you choice such as Easy Kale, sprinkle some Vegan Parmesan Cheese on top and you are finished.
12. Enjoy!

Have you cooked Vegan Mac & Cheese like this before. Share it with me–I’d like to hear about it!