I love a good recipe for vegan mac and cheese! And this one is good and creamy. The kind you get at a restaurant with the thick pasta and the copious amount of creamy, saucy cheese you could eat by the spoonful. That’s the kind of sauce I wanted when I tied my apron and got to work creating a dairy-free cheese sauce. The cheese sauce in this recipe for vegan mac and cheese is just that. Creamy, gooey, and just begging to be eaten by the ladle-full. Forget about the spoon. We’re not messing around.
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
When my son was first diagnosed with food allergies to wheat, dairy, and eggs I never imagined he would ever be able to eat macaroni and cheese. Wheat and dairy are what mac and cheese are all about! Back in those days I didn’t know that eventually I would easily be able to whip up recipes without those ingredients. Things like chocolate chip cookies, muffins, and German chocolate cake all seemed like a thing of the past. But they don’t have to be! You can eat all those things, including this gluten-free and vegan macaroni and cheese!
Ingredients For Vegan Macaroni and CHeese
This recipe for vegan mac and cheese is actually quite simple to make! This cheese sauce is very similar to a dairy cheese sauce. It only requires a few substitutions. For the dairy-free cheese sauce you will need:
- Plant butter or olive oil
- Gluten-free all purpose flour
- Salt and Pepper
- Plant-based milk
- Vegan cheese
- Frozen steamable butternut squash
If you only need the mac and cheese to be dairy-free then you may use regular flour as opposed to the gluten-free flour. On the other hand, if you only need your macaroni and cheese to be gluten-free and not vegan, you can use equal amounts of regular milk and cheese, and use butter instead of plant butter or olive oil.
Which Kinds of Plant-Based Milk Are Best For Vegan Mac and CHeese?
I definitely recommend using a neutral flavored plant-based milk for this recipe! Some plant-based milks have a dominant flavor that will be able to be detected. That means no oat milk, rice milk, or coconut milk! If you need a top-8 allergen free milk flax milk will work if needed. However, I strongly recommend unsweetened almond milk for this recipe. If you can’t have almonds, then soy milk will work. Almond milk and soy milk have more neutral flavors that will allow your vegan mac and cheese to taste like mac and cheese!
How To Make This Recipe for Vegan Macaroni and Cheese
First, begin by boiling your water for your pasta. While you wait for your water to boil you can begin gathering your ingredients. The cheese sauce only takes about as long to make as the pasta does to boil. Because of this, I don’t start the cheese sauce until after I have added the pasta to the water.
This cheese sauce is made almost the same way as the cream sauce in my Scalloped Potatoes and Ham recipe. It just adds in some butternut squash puree like this Butternut Squash Pasta recipe along with vegan cheese shreds. If you have made either of those before then this will be a piece of (gluten-free and vegan) cake!
Once the pasta is cooking, place a medium to large sized pan on the stove over medium heat. Add the plant butter or olive oil to the pan and let it start to heat. Whisk in the gluten-free flour, salt, and pepper until smooth. Let it cook for a few minutes. It will start to bubble and thicken slightly. When it does, it is time to add your milk.
Add the milk to the slowly while whisking constantly. It will start to bubble and thicken within a few minutes. As soon as it starts to thicken, remove the pan from the heat. While waiting for the sauce to bubble and thicken, steam your butternut squash. Once it is steamed, carefully add it to a blender along with 2 tbsp of plant milk. Blend until smooth and creamy.
Add in the cheese and stir until it’s completely smooth. The cheese sauce should be done around the same time the pasta is done cooking. Add the cheese sauce to the drained pasta and mix until well combined. Voila! Gluten-free vegan macaroni and cheese in a delicious creamy sauce!
Creamy Vegan Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- 16 ounces gluten-free pasta
- 2¼ cups plant-based milk , unsweetened almond recommended
- 10 oz frozen steamable butternut squash
- 2 tbsp plant-based milk
- 3.5 ounces vegan cheddar cheese shreds , about 1 cup
- ¼ cup plant butter or olive oil
- ¼ cup gluten-free all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once water is boiling, add pasta and cook according to package directions.
- Steam frozen butternut squash. Carefully add it to a blender along with 2 tbsp of plant milk. Blend until smooth.
- In a medium saucepan, add plant butter or olive oil and heat over medium heat. Whisk in gluten-free flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, while stirring, until it becomes thick and bubbly.
- Slowly whisk in 2¼ cups milk. Continue to cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken, about 8 minutes.
- Remove pan from stove. Stir in butternut squash puree until smooth and fully incorporated. Stir in vegan cheddar cheese shreds until completely melted.
- Drain pasta. Add cheese sauce to pasta and stir to combine.
Did you make this recipe? If so, let me know what you thought in the comment section below! I would love to see any of the recipes you make from my blog. Please share a picture on Instagram and tag me, Allergy a la Mode, and hashtag it #allergyalamode. Happy cooking!
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