This oil-free vegan mac and cheese recipe comes with an oil-free vegan cheese sauce and takes 10-15 mins to make! It’s a quick & tasty vegan dinner idea!
The recipe for this vegan mac and cheese is oil-free, creamy, rich, and cheesy! Everything you want in a mac and cheese but without oil!
Trust me, you’ll want to make this weekly it’s so good!
Recipe for Oil-Free Vegan Mac and Cheese
I’ve been perfecting this vegan mac and cheese recipe for many years and it’s my absolute favourite! In my opinion, this tastes just as good or even better than non-vegan mac and cheese recipes out there. It’s also the base for my vegan buffalo chicken mac & cheese that’s out of this world!
For my go-to vegan mac and cheese sauce recipe, I use cashews (instead of tofu) as the main ingredient to make it extra creamy! The sauce is very cheesy and if you add smoked paprika instead of paprika, you’ll get a smokey, cheesy flavour that is unbelievable.
Feel free to add in vegetables of choice, if you’d like. For extra protein, I recommend adding in your favourite plant-based protein source – my favourites are vegan hot dogs and smoked tofu.
The recipe is vegan, oil-free, and can be made gluten-free using GF pasta & soy-free if you soy-free vegan milk and protein source.
Ingredients for Oil-Free Mac and Cheese (Vegan)
- Macaroni or pasta of choice
- Protein of choice: smoked tofu, chickpeas, green peas, veggie dogs
Vegan cheese sauce:
- Cashews
- Unsweetened vegan milk
- Nutritional Yeast
- Mustard or Dijon Mustard
- Lemon
- Paprika or smoked paprika
- Turmeric
- Garlic Powder
- Salt
- Garlic (optional)
How To Make Oil-Free Vegan Mac and Cheese
Start by making sure you have soaked cashews for your vegan mac and cheese sauce.! I recommend soaking cashews in water overnight to soften OR boil with water for around 15-20 minutes.
If you haven’t soaked your cashews overnight, start making your vegan cheese sauce by boiling your cashews in water for around 15-20 mins. In another pot, boil water and cook your macaroni pasta according to package instructions.
If you’ve soaked your cashews overnight or boiled them already for 15-20 mins, make your cheese sauce by draining cashews and then adding all ingredients (cashews, unsweetened vegan milk, nutritional yeast, mustard, lemon juice, paprika, turmeric, garlic powder, salt and/or fresh garlic) into a blender. Blend on high until creamy and smooth. This will be your creamy oil-free vegan cheese sauce for your mac and cheese!
When pasta is done, drain it (saving some water) and add your macaroni with your Oil-Free Vegan Cheese Sauce into the pot. Mix well. Add small splashes of water if too thick, while stirring and heating it up.
Serve immediately and enjoy your oil-free vegan mac and cheese!
Oil-Free Vegan Mac and Cheese
Equipment
- Blender
- Bowl or Pot to soak cashews
- Pot to boil macaroni pasta
Ingredients
- 6 servings macaroni dry, or other pasta of choice
- 1.5 cups Cashews soaked & softened (see instructions)
- 3/4 cup Unsweetened vegan milk
- 1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
- 1 tbsp Mustard or Dijon Mustard
- 3 tbsp Lemon Juice or 1 whole lemon juiced
- 1 tsp Paprika highly recommend smoked paprika
- 1/2 tbsp Turmeric
- 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
- 1-2 tsp Salt
- 3 cloves garlic peeled or use an extra tbsp of garlic powder if you don't have fresh garlic
- veggie dog (optional protein)
- smoked tofu (optional protein)
- chickpeas (optional protein)
- green peas (optional protein)
Instructions
- Start by making sure you have soaked cashews for your vegan mac and cheese sauce.! I recommend soaking cashews in water overnight to soften OR boil with water for around 15-20 minutes.
- If you haven't soaked your cashews overnight, start making your vegan cheese sauce by boiling your cashews in water for around 15-20 mins. In another pot, boil water and cook your macaroni pasta according to package instructions.
- If you've soaked your cashews overnight or boiled them already for 15-20 mins, make your cheese sauce by draining cashews and then adding all ingredients (cashews, unsweetened vegan milk, nutritional yeast, mustard, lemon juice, paprika, turmeric, garlic powder, salt and/or fresh garlic) into a blender. Blend on high until creamy and smooth. This will be your creamy oil-free vegan cheese sauce for your mac and cheese!
- When pasta is done, drain it (saving some water) and add your macaroni with your Oil-Free Vegan Cheese Sauce into the pot. Mix well. Add small splashes of water if too thick, while stirring and heating it up.
- Serve immediately and enjoy your oil-free vegan mac and cheese!
Nutrition
NEED MORE RECIPE INSPO? CHECK THESE OUT:
After making the vegan cheese sauce, I came across this recipe below and wow !! This does call for some cashews, but honestly, its creamy and rich!
Hands down the best vegan Mac and cheeses I’ve ever had!!
I tried this recipe for the first time and oh my. So much flavor! Boiling the cashews to soften them is such a helpful hack because I can never foresee what I’m going to be in the mood to cook the next day. I added broccoli and vegan chicken tenders to this for a lovely full meal. So glad I tried this.