Best Dairy-Free Mac and Cheese
This dairy-free mac and cheese is made with elbow pasta bathed in a rich and creamy cashew sauce. Topped with crunchy panko and baked until golden, it's the perfect comfort meal.
Equipment
- Large pot
- Frying pan
- High-speed blender
- Colander
Ingredients
Caramelized onions
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil or vegan butter
- ¼ cup vegetable broth
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
Pasta
- 3 cups elbow macaroni
Cheese sauce
- ¾ cup raw cashews, soaked
- 1 ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk
- 5 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Sea salt to taste
Toppings optional
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoons panko
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Onions
- Preheat your oven to broil. In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a pan over low-medium.
- Add in ¼ cup of vegetable broth and the onions, then cook them low and slow until they deepen in color, about 15 minutes. Stir them occasionally to prevent burning. If they start to darken too quickly, turn the heat down.
Pasta
- Bring some water to a boil in a medium-large pot. Once boiling, salt it generously and cook the elbow macaroni according to the package instructions, or until al dente.
- Once cooked, drain the pasta and set it aside for now. Reserve some of the cooking water in case you need to thin the sauce.
Sauce
- While the pasta cooks, blend the cashews, almond milk, nutritional yeast, Dijon, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes until you achieve a creamy consistency. Add sea salt to taste, and adjust the other seasonings as needed.
- Heat a little more oil or vegan butter in the same pot that cooked the macaroni, then transfer the cheese sauce in and simmer it for 1-2 minutes. Add the macaroni back in, and cook everything on low heat for another 1-2 minutes to thicken the sauce up.
Assemble
- In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, panko, nutritional yeast, and salt.
- Mix the caramelized onions into the mac and cheese, then transfer everything to an oven-safe dish. Smooth it down with a spatula, and top it with the panko mixture.
- Broil the mac and cheese for 4-5 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy on top. Serve warm with a garnish of green onions or paprika. Happy eating!
Notes
- Sauce consistency: If the sauce is too thick, thin it out with a little bit of water, plant milk, or vegetable broth. If it’s not thick enough, add a cornstarch slurry (1 part cornstarch, 2 parts water). Just note, the sauce will thicken up as it mixes with the pasta and has time to rest.
- High-powered blender: Make sure you use a high-powered blender for an extra-smooth sauce consistency.
- Soak the cashews: You don't want to skip this step as it really is the key to a creamy cheese sauce, especially if you don't have a high-speed blender!
- Watch it bake: Don't stray too far from your oven as the mac and cheese bakes. You want golden and crispy, not black and charred!
- Nutritional information is a rough estimate and should not be taken as health advice.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 478kcal | Carbohydrates: 71.25g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 152mg | Potassium: 234mg | Vitamin A: 90IU | Vitamin C: 2.7mg | Calcium: 120mg | Iron: 1.92mg
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