Dairy-Free Mac and Cheese
This Dairy-Free Mac and Cheese dish is one of my favorite comfort foods, and my version happens to be gluten-free too! The cheese sauce can also be used in lots of other recipes and dishes as well.
Mac and cheese is a dish that pairs well with so many meals like vegan meatloaf, shepherd’s pie, and even black bean burgers.
This is one delicious food that the whole family can agree on!
We love this vegan mac and cheese because it’s…
- Made with wholesome ingredients
- Creamy
- Cheesy
- Comforting
- Packed with flavor
- Delicious
Vegan cheese sauce
When I first switched over to a healthy plant-based lifestyle back in 2013, one thing that I really missed was CHEESE.
Cheese for pizza, tacos, baked potatoes, lasagna, and so much more. That’s why I came up with this amazing Creamy Vegan Cheese’ Sauce!
Incredibly some of the ingredients used to make this amazing cheese sauce are…
- potatoes
- onions
- carrots
- cashews (and/or white beans)
- nutritional yeast flakes
- lemon juice
- spices
The recipe card at the bottom of the page has the full list of ingredients with measurements and instructions.
How to make mac and cheese without dairy
To make this delicious cashew mac and cheese, you’ll need to start by making the cheese sauce which is surprisingly easy.
Dice up potatoes, carrots, and onion.
I am often asked which knives I use personally, and I have to say that it is Victorinox. They are the same company that makes Swiss Army Knives and the quality is excellent.
In a medium pot, bring about 3 cups of water to a boil. Place potatoes, carrots, and onion in a pot and allow to cook until veggies are tender approximately 15 minutes. Cooking time will vary based on how small the veggies are diced.
When veggies are tender, drain them and place them in a blender. NOTE: reserve 1 cup of the broth, and add to blender. Add all the remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth.
I have a Vitamix blender and so don’t take the time to soak my cashews. That thing is powerful and everything that goes into it comes out creamy. However, if your blender isn’t jet engine speed, soaking the cashews in warm water for at least 30 minutes before adding them to this recipe will help this recipe come out more creamy.
Use cashews or white beans
Originally, I made it with 1/2 cup of raw cashews. Now, I sometimes sub out white beans–like navy beans or cannellini–to lower the fat content even more.
Nowadays, I mostly make it with a combination of 1/4 cup of cashews + 1/4 cup of white beans. It has a warm creamy texture with less fat.
Pasta options
Other than the cheese sauce, the only other ingredient needed to make this plant-based mac and cheese recipe is pasta. There are lots of different pasta options.
Though I am not gluten-intolerant, I like the taste and texture of brown rice pasta, which just happens to be gluten-free.
Normally, I like to use brown rice elbow pasta with this dish. Another great option is whole wheat elbow macaroni.
Whichever pasta you choose, cook it according to the package directions. Once it’s done, drain the water from it and run cool water over the pasta. The cool water helps to stop the cooking process and rinses off the starchy covering.
Add the cooked pasta to a large mixing bowl and pour the cheese sauce over it. I like to add a little turmeric powder to enhance the orangy color. Stir together well.
Serve immediately with any of your family’s favorite meals.
*Originally published February 2015.
Your dairy-free mac and cheese questions answered:
- Q: What is vegan mac and cheese made of? This healthy mac and cheese sauce is made from potatoes, onions, carrots, nutritional yeast, cashews (or white beans), and a few spices.
- Q: Can you make the cheese sauce without nutritional yeast? To me, nutritional yeast is a pretty important ingredient because it is what gives this sauce its cheesy flavor. It can be made without it, but the flavor of the recipe will change somewhat.
- Q: Is this recipe gluten-free? If you decide to use rice pasta or other gluten-free pasta, this recipe can be made completely gluten-free.
- Q: Can this be made into a macaroni pie? Sure! I would just add some bread crumbs to the top and brown it in the oven at 350°F for about 15 minutes.
What to serve this dairy-free dish with
More vegan pasta recipes
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Creamy Vegan Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
Cheese Sauce
- 1 cup potatoes peeled and diced
- 1/4 cup carrots diced
- 1/4 cup onion diced
- 1 cup broth from veggies
- 1/2 cup raw cashews unsoaked, (or 1/2 c. white beans)
- 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pinch paprika
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper optional
Pasta
- 8 ounces pasta brown rice, if gluten-free
- 3 cups water
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Instructions
Pasta
- In a large pot, bring water to boil. Add pasta, and cook according to package directions. Don't overcook it!
- Once pasta is tender, but not overcooked, pour into a drainer and rinse with cool water. Set to the side.
Cheese Sauce
- To make this delicious cashew mac and cheese, you’ll need to start by making the cheese sauce which is surprisingly easy. Dice up potatoes, carrots, and onion.
- In a medium pot, bring about 3 cups of water to a boil. Place potatoes, carrots, and onion in a pot and allow to cook until veggies are tender approximately 15 minutes. Cooking time will vary based on how small the veggies are diced.
- When veggies are tender, drain and place them in a blender. NOTE: reserve 1 cup of the broth, and add to blender. Add all the remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth.
- Originally, I made it with 1/2 cup raw cashews. Now, I sometimes sub out white beans–like navy beans or cannellini–to lower the fat content even more. Nowadays, I mostly make with a combination of the two–1/4 cup cashews + 1/4 cup white beans. It has a warm creamy texture with less fat.
Video
Notes
- Q: What is vegan mac and cheese made of? This healthy mac and cheese sauce is made from potatoes, onions, carrots, nutritional yeast, cashews (or white beans), and a few spices.
- Q: Can you make the cheese sauce without nutritional yeast? To me, nutritional yeast is a pretty important ingredient because it is what gives this sauce its cheesy flavor. It can be made without it, but the flavor of the recipe will change somewhat.
- Q: Is this recipe gluten-free? If you decide to use rice pasta or other gluten-free pasta, this recipe can be made completely gluten-free.
- Q: Can this be made into a macaroni pie? Sure! I would just add some bread crumbs to the top and brown it in the oven at 350°F for about 15 minutes.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
About Terri Edwards
Hi guys! I am the content creator behind EatPlant-Based and a licensed Food for Life instructor with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. I am passionate about sharing healthy recipes and tips to empower others to get healthy. I’m so glad you’re here! Read More…
Hi, I want to make this delightful looking Mac and cheese dish. Can you use cashew meal in place of whole cashews? I have a lot of the ground cashews. I’d like to use them up..
Norma, I believe the cashew meal would work just fine. Would love to hear back about how it goes.
I grind my cashews first before adding to the blender. Have had no issues at all. This is so delicious! I’m still working on just how much a “pinch” of cayenne is, had a friend mention that it was a bit hot! Lol! I love it!!!
Dear Terri – I am so grateful for your blog and your recipes! You are making my transition to no oil/plant based eating possible. This cheese sauce recipe is wonderful and the man I am dragging through this diet change, likes it. In fact, he said it was great! consider that high praise! I have used this sauce a number of ways and they all work! Cannot thank you enough! Olwyn
Thanks so much, Olwyn! It’s terrific to hear your health journey is going well and that you have company, even if you’re having to ‘drag’ him, lol! This cheese sauce is one our our favorites too because it can be used for so many different things. We use it to drizzle over pizza, top a baked potato or steamed broccoli, to make Cheddar Broccoli Soup, and much more. Thank you again for your kind words, and keep up the good work! 🙂
Can I use butter beans for white beans In place of cashews? Not sure what kind of beans you meant.
Jenna, I haven’t tried butter beans, but I think they would work just fine. I normally use either Northern or cannellini beans.
How much breadcrumbs would you add to the top?
I haven’t added bread crumbs to the recipe before but, if you would like to, maybe use 1/2 cup to a full cup, depending on your preference.
When you mention using beans instead of nuts, are you talking about canned beans or dry beans? Thank you!
Looking forward to making the cheese sauce and using it in many different dishes!
Definitely use cooked beans. They can be from a can or cooked from dry. Either will work well. Hope you enjoy the cheese sauce!
I just made this for dinner after getting the recipe by email from you. It is delicious, but I will add a bit of mustard powder next time to give it an extra kick. Great recipe though and I love your website. It’s one of the first places I check if looking for a recipe.
Hi Kat- I love the mustard powder addition! I will have to give that a try myself. So glad that you’re enjoying the recipes. 😀
I’ve put off trying this recipe for a very long time. It just didn’t seem possible to make the ingredients taste like cheese. Well, was I pleasantly surprised! This is soooo good!!! I made Mac n cheese topped with bread crumbs which I did bake for 15 mins at 350. Oh my goodness, my mind exploded with ideas for how I could use the “cheese”. Thanks for a great recipe, I will never doubt your recipes again!!!
Debbie- Ha! I’m glad you decided to give it a try. The cheese sauce is a real gamechanger, and we love it with nachos, tacos, lasagna, and so much more. It can even be made to be sliceable. Happy discovering! 😀 https://eatplant-based.com/vegan-cheese-recipe/
Hi Terri,
Just watched your interview with Chef AJ which was great! I came right to your site to try your ‘cheese’ sauce recipe. One question, is there any ‘room’ in the recipe to add white miso or does the lemon juice take care of that flavor?
Thank you. I am anxious to try many of your recipes!
Hi Cyd- I’m glad you saw the interview with Chef AJ! I was so excited that she asked me to be on her show. No need to add miso to the cheese recipe. I would suggest making it as is the first time to see what you think. Hope you will love it as much as we do!
I’ve made this recipe quite a few times. It’s my go to recipe for mac and cheese now, thanks so much for sharing!
Karine- I love that this is your go-to mac and cheese recipe! Thanks so much for the great feedback.
Terri,We use a lot of your recipes, but here’s avariation we found a few years ago for the sauce.
shy 1/4 C flour, 1/2 C nutritional yeast, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp blk pepper, onion powder and garlic powder and1 1/4 C almond milk. I par boil broccolli and cauliflower in same water I will use for macaroni, scoup out the veggies after about 5 min and add macaroni. Drain veggies and macaroni together and hold while b r inking milk to low boil and add dry ingredients and whisk until well mixed and smooth. Add veggies and macaroni back in and mix well.
Depending on how much macaroni you have used, you may want to add a little more milk for a lighter and smoother sauce. We love it. I do not use any vegan butter and we try to keep oils of most varieties out of our diet usually. Thanks
I really love your cheese sauce, it’s so creamy and great tasting. You have the ingredients and quantities absolutely spot on. I am going to try the cashew/white beans next time. Thanks for another delicious recipe.