Vegan mac and cheese, made from scratch with super healthy and easy-to-get ingredients. It’s so flavorful, cheesy, creamy and ready in just 30 minutes!
Who doesn’t love mac and cheese? It’s a classic comfort food recipe, but this version is super healthy, so you can enjoy it on a daily basis. Although it’s not heavy at all, this vegan cheese tastes just like the original one!
Just in case you didn’t notice, I have a thing with mac and cheese (this is the third vegan mac and cheese recipe I share on the blog). It’s one of my favorite pasta dishes and I make it quite often.
The classic recipe is made with lots of dairy products (butter, milk, several types of cheese) and really high in fat. This vegan mac and cheese recipe is much lighter and you can also use plant milk or water instead of oil to make an oil-free and low-fat recipe.
This version is made from scratch with just dried pasta and vegan cheese and is so comforting, delicious and satisfying, very simple and ready in less than 30 minutes!
How to make vegan mac and cheese – Step by step
- Boil or steam the potatoes and carrots in a large pot for about 20 minutes (photo 1).
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions (photo 2). Drain and set aside.
- Place all the vegan cheese ingredients in a blender (photo 3) and blend until smooth (photo 4).
- Mix the cooked pasta and the vegan cheese in the pot (photo 5).
- Serve and enjoy (photo 6).
Pro tips
- Feel free to add other spices like ground black pepper, paprika or cayenne flakes.
- You can also add other ingredients like tempeh bacon, breadcrumbs, jalapeño peppers, fresh or dried herbs (oregano, basil, thyme, parsley, etc.), or our vegan Parmesan cheese.
- If you prefer it baked, cover your mac and cheese with vegan cheese, add them into a baking dish and bake until golden brown.
- Choose any kind of pasta, but elbow macaroni is the most popular kind for this dish.
- Peel the potatoes and the carrots if you like cheese with a smoother texture.
- Use unsweetened plant milk.
Can you freeze vegan mac and cheese?
Of course! You can freeze it all together once it’s cold or you can split it into portions. And yes, you can also freeze the vegan cheese separately!
How to serve vegan mac and cheese
You can have it as a main dish or as a side dish. If you serve it as a main dish, you can enjoy your vegan mac and cheese with this oil-free tomato avocado salad or a light rainbow kale salad.
As a side dish, mac and cheese goes very well with our portobello steaks or even with this vegan meatloaf.
Is this vegan mac and cheese creamy?
Yes! This mac and cheese recipe is so creamy it really feels like the original one. It also tastes so much like real cheese you can’t tell the difference!
Looking for more pasta recipes?
- Butternut Squash Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Fat-Free Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Vegan Penne Alla Vodka
- Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta and Beans)
- Vegan Mushroom Pasta
Did you make this vegan mac and cheese recipe?
Please leave a comment below, share it or rate it. You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and PINTEREST. I’d love to see what you cook!
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Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Prep: 10 mins
- Cook: 20 mins
- Total: 30 mins
- 6–8 1x
- Main Dish, Side Dish
- Vegan, American
- Vegan
Servings 6–8 1x
Vegan mac and cheese, made from scratch with super healthy and easy-to-get ingredients. It’s so flavorful, cheesy, creamy and ready in just 30 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried pasta (450 g), gluten-free if needed, I used elbow macaroni
For the vegan cheese:
- 2 cups potatoes (360 g), peeled and chopped
- 1 cup carrots (135 g), peeled and chopped
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (85 ml)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened plant milk of your choice (125 ml), I used soy milk
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (8 tbsp)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
Instructions
- Boil or steam the potatoes and carrots in a large pot for about 20 minutes or until soft.
- In the meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Place all the vegan cheese ingredients in a blender (including the cooked potatoes and carrots) and blend until smooth.
- Mix the cooked pasta and the vegan cheese in the pot and if they’re both hot, serve immediately. If they’re not, reheat the mixture for 1 or 2 minutes and serve immediately.
- Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. To reheat it, add a little bit of milk if the sauce is too thick.
Notes
- Feel free to add other spices like ground black pepper, paprika or cayenne flakes.
- You can also add tempeh bacon, breadcrumbs, jalapeño peppers, fresh or dried herbs (oregano, basil, thyme, parsley), or this homemade vegan Parmesan cheese.
- If you prefer them baked, cover your mac and cheese with vegan cheese, add them into a baking dish and bake until golden brown.
- Choose any kind of pasta, but elbow macaroni is the most popular kind for this dish.
- Peel the potatoes and the carrots if you like cheese with a smoother texture.
- Use unsweetened plant milk.
- Any type of oil or salt will do.
- Nutritional yeast gives this recipe the cheesy flavor, so it’s an important ingredient. If you can’t find it, you could also use brewer’s yeast or even beer instead of milk. However, nutritional yeast is the best choice.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of the recipe
- Calories: 350
- Sugar: 3.4 g
- Sodium: 316 mg
- Fat: 10.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 53.9 g
- Fiber: 7.6 g
- Protein: 11.7 g
Update Notes: This post was originally published in December of 2018, but was republished with new photos, step by step instructions and tips in March of 2020.
Love this recipe! Thank you, my family can finally enjoy a dairy free Mac and cheese
I added lobster to one and it was delicious…
★★★★★
Hi! I encourage you to make it vegan next time 🙂
This turned out great, I substituted in a bit of pumpkin cause I didn’t have enough potatoes. I also added half a teaspoon of ground mustard seeds. My five year old nephew said it’s half good and half bad – from him that’s a compliment. I’ll definitely make this again.
★★★★★
Hi Nicole! Thanks for your kind comment 🙂 I’m glad you liked it!
SO good! Baby and adult approved.
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Hi! I’m so glad you all liked it 🙂
So far I have tried general tsos tofu and this. I am beyond shocked at how good these are. I just started eating cleaner and of course my biggest issue is learned new recipes. Thank you so very much!
★★★★★
Hi Rene! Thanks for writing to us 🙂 I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
I don’t normally leave recipe comments, but for this I just had to. We’ve made it 3 times so far…in about a 2 week time span. I’m obsessed with this recipe. The first time we followed the recipe to a T and it was delicious but my boyfriend and I weren’t sure if we like nutritional yeast or not. The next time we made it we omitted the yeast and used Worcestershire sauce instead (NOT vegan fyi, for anyone interested in trying our substitutions) but that didn’t hit the spot (tasted like Chef Boyardee). So on our third time we added a little less nutritional yeast and a splash of soy sauce instead and that hit the spot! We also roasted our veggies and left the skins on. I love how easy and cost effective this recipe is, we’re still on our first bags of potatoes and carrots, and how guilt free it is. I’m not vegan but just trying to make healthier choices and with this recipe I know I’ll be eating a lot less mac and cheese.
★★★★★
Hi! Thanks for your kind comment 🙂 I’m so glad you both liked it!
Thank you for this! I like the nutritional yeast, but may have to cut back here. I am going to try the Worcester and soy sauce. Appreciate the idea!
Phenomenal! Much quicker, easier, and tastier than cashew-based cheese sauces! We added some diced jalapeños and tomatoes to our leftover sauce for a nacho cheese dip the next day — I recommend that as well!
★★★★★
Hello, I had some leftovers so I put it in the fridge, can you please give me directions for warming it up? I worry it will be dry if I put it in the microwave. Thank you.
Hi! You only need to heat them in the microwave 🙂 If you see them dry, feel free to add a dash of olive oil!
We love this recipe. We tweak it a bit each time. Sometimes our potato and carrot ratio is heavier on the carrot just because that is what we had. We have doubled and tripled the recipe with great results. Sometimes I cut back on the oil and yeast flakes, sometimes we add horseradish or jalapeños. It freezes well. I cut the oil in half if I plan to freeze it and then add some oil when I thaw and remix. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
Sounds so good Mardi 🙂 Have a nice day!
Love this recipe!!! It’s quick, easy and tastes great. I substituted unsweetened apple sauce for the oil and omitted the salt and it’s still delicious! Even my skeptical hubby was amazed at how cheesy it is considering there is no cheese in it!
★★★★
Hi Tina 🙂 I’m so glad you liked our vegan mac and cheese recipe!
So so good. But definitely add mustard to the sauce. I used some of the cooking liquid too. 1/2 cooking water 1/2 soy milk.
Sounds good 🙂 I’m glad you liked it!
Hooray! Mac and cheese without cashews! So simple and delicious. Thank you. PS In case anyone is wondering, it’s still delicious without the oil.
★★★★★
Hi Anne! So glad you liked it 🙂 Have a nice day!
Made this yesterday and it’s a hit! Love it! Added more spices for my own liking but what a nice surprise!! Thank you!!
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So glad you enjoyed it Yolanda! Have a nice day 🙂
We want to make this
Hope you liked it!! Have a nice day Eddie 🙂
This is fantastic! But I didn’t realize how much this recipe makes. Does this Mac and cheese freeze well?
★★★★★
Hi Patty! So glad you liked it 🙂 You can freeze it all together once it’s cold or you can split it into portions. Also, you can also freeze the vegan cheese separately!
Thank you! I’m allergic to nuts so finding a cashew free mac and cheese recipe was very difficult. I only had one cup of potatoes so I used 1 cup of sweet potatoes to complete the recipe. It came out amazing!! Thank you again!
★★★★★
Hi Marshley! So glad you liked our vegan mac and cheese 🙂 Have a nice day!
Really want to try this recipe as it looks fantastic.
I cant find onion or garlic powder in the shops however I do have onion and garlic granules in my pantry – can I use those instead?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Layla! Yes, feel free to use onion and garlic granules 🙂 Hope you like our mac and cheese!
I just made this recipe and it is great! I have tried cashew-based recipes, but I like this one better. I used a high speed blender to make it really creamy, added turmeric and black pepper, and poured over half pasta/half steamed cauliflower. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Hi Gigi! So glad you liked it 🙂 Have a nice day!
Loved it! First time making a mac and cheese without cashews, and I much prefer this one. Creamy and flavoursome, it’s going to be eaten at home again and again. Thank you so much for all your recipes, I have made a few of them and they are all fantastic. Greetings and thanks from Valencia, Spain!
★★★★★
Hi Mati! So glad you enjoyed our vegan mac and cheese 🙂 Thank you so much for writing us! Have a nice day!
tasted delicious! I added some vegan cheese to the top and baked it a bit so it would be crunchy. This is the best vegan mac n cheese recipe i’ve seen to date. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks for the great recipe!
★★★★★
Hi Katie! Thanks for your kind words 🙂 So glad you liked it!
I have been a vegan for over 10 years so I have tried out a few of mac and cheeses This is defiantly my fav.
I have never made one without nuts (which can be awkward as you have to remember to soak them the night before) and this was such a quick and easy dish.
Thank you so much, I cannot wait to try out other recipes on your blog!
★★★★★
I absolutely love this recipe! I made it for my brother and my mother and my mother is not vegan and told me she’d rather have real mac and cheese, but I like this one better. I have lots of potatoes and carrots leftover, so I will surely have some mac and cheese for lunch soon! I made the recipe x0,5 but didn’t have enough for 3 people and my brother doesn’t even eat that much.
Hi Christel! So glad you and your family liked it 🙂 Have a nice day!
I tried it and it was delicious. My daughter is not a big fan of mac and cheese and she enjoyed it very much. We will definitely make it again
★★★★★
Hi Kimmy! So glad you and your daughter liked it 🙂 Have a nice day!
can I use sweet potato instead of white?
Hi Cindy, I haven’t tried it with sweet potato. But, feel free to do it and tell me if it works 🙂 Have a nice day!