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How To Make Vegan Mac and Cheese
Welcome to my kitchen, where we get to EAT real food. I want to surprise you my vegan Mac and Cheese but prepared my way. You’re gonna love it! You won’t have to count calories or feel guilty after eating it. You won’t even have to bake it; yes, this baby won’t come near your oven and it will taste as good as the traditional Mac & Cheese. My mates say it tastes even better!
The thing with Mac & Cheese is that it needs to be cheesy, like loaded with cheese. You want to feel that creamy, silky, melted cheese in every spoonful. I promise you, you won’t be missing on any of that with my plant-based Mac & Cheese!
Cooking Is About Navigating Through What You Like And Don’t Like. This Recipe Is No Different!
My Mac & Cheese has three parts: macaroni, cheese, and toppings. The first part is easy: just choose any macaroni you like – kamut, semolina, special gluten-free ones…
The toppings are also pretty simple: toast some breadcrumbs with a bit of salt and minced garlic and you’ll have a crunchy glory to top your Mac & Cheese. Plus, your kitchen is going to be filled with the garlic-bread type of fragrance.
Now we come to the cheese part. Listen to this: some of the ingredients in my vegan cheese are carrots and potatoes. Yeah, I know it sounds weird but it works. I use cashews as well to add the creamy and silky texture to the cheese but if you are not into cashews, you can omit them. Remember, cooking is not about following recipes blindly. Recipes are there to guide you but you decide what you want and don’t want in your meals.
Quick tip for those of you who decide to use cashews: blend, blend, and when you think the sauce is ready, blend more! Cashews tend to give sauces a gritty texture and you want all of that out of your cheese sauce, so just keep blending until the sauce is completely silky.
If you want to away from cashews, you can substitute them with sunflower or hemp seeds but soak them beforehand.
I wanted the cheese to have the vibrant yellow colour, so I added just a bit of turmeric and dijon mustard for additional flavour. You can skip the mustard if you are not a fan. Again, it’s up to you, you are in control of what ingredients go into your meals.
Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe!
Ingredients
For the Macaroni:
- 240 grams Macaroni of your choice, cooked
- Salt, to taste
For the Toppings:
- A splash of Olive Oil
- Breadcrumbs, as much as you like
- 1/2 Garlic Clove, minced
- Salt, to taste
For the Cheese Sauce:
- 200 grams Carrots, unpeeled, cut into big chunks
- 300 grams Potatoes, peeled, cut into big chunks
- 160 grams Raw Cashews
- 2 Garlic Cloves, smashed and peeled
- 1/2 Onion, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 1 1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 cup Savoury Yeast, or to taste
- 2 Tbsp Potato Starch, dissolved in 50ml water
- 1 tsp Salt
- A pinch of Black Pepper
- Water, as needed
- 1 Tbsp #GRATITUDE
~METHOD~
To prepare the macaroni:
- Cook the macaroni in salted water following the package instructions.
- Drain and set aside.
To prepare the toppings:
- Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan, add the breadcrumbs and garlic and season with salt.
- Cook until golden brown. Set aside.
To prepare the cheese:
- Add the carrots, potatoes, cashews, garlic, and onion to a pot and fill it with water.
- Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil.
- Turn down the heat to medium and cook until completely soft.
- Once done, leave to rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Drain the veggies, transfer them to your blender and reserve the cooking water.
- Add the turmeric, mustard, and savoury yeast to the blender.
- Pour in a bit of the cooking water and blend until creamy and silky. If needed, add more water as you go.
- Transfer the sauce to a pot and bring it to a simmer.
- Pour in the dissolved potato starch and continue simmering and stirring until the sauce has thickened.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.
- Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and mix well.
- Serve your mac and cheese topped with the toasted breadcrumbs.
***
Serves: 4
Prep time: 2 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins for the sauce and 5 mins for the toppings
Freezer-friendly: No
C, RSF, DF, VEG, V
I hope this vegan Mac & Cheese will find its spot on your menu. Find me on my YouTube channel to share your food stories and to celebrate and enjoy the food nature gives us. For all the newbies to wholefood love out there, I’m available to you 24/7 in my online cooking classes. See you there!
With love, from my kitchen to yours,
Chef Cynthia Louise xx