As a child of the ’90s, I can think of no dish more universally comforting than mac and cheese. And this crispy baked vegan mac and cheese hits all the comfort food notes: creamy, cheesy, savory, salty, and even crispy thanks to the buttery breadcrumb topping.
No store-bought vegan cheese required, and it’s ready in 45 minutes.
Feed your inner child (or your actual children) with this indulgent and nostalgic dinner, or serve it up as a crowd-pleasing side for holiday dinners.
A Better Vegan Mac and Cheese
Even though this recipe has been a popular one (rated 4.9 of 5 stars with 200+ ratings as of this writing), I recently realized it was in need of an update.
When I tried it a few weeks ago, I found it wasn’t as savory or as cheesy as I was expecting, and the butternut squash added more sweetness than I wanted.
So I went back to the drawing board and came up with something far better (I tasted both versions side-by-side and the revamped version was the clear winner: more savory, more flavorful, and the best sign of all—I couldn’t stop eating it).
Without the squash, the recipe is also quicker (~45 minutes) and requires far less oven time.
If you liked the last version, I think you’ll LOVE this one. And if it’s your first time, prepare to enter comfort food heaven 😇
Ingredient Notes
- Raw Cashews. Soaked raw cashews, when blended up, rival the creamiest of dairy-based cheese sauces. Plus, their neutral flavor doesn’t interfere with any of the other sauce ingredient flavors.
- Nutritional Yeast. Given the wide variability of vegan cheeses in terms of meltability and flavor (and the unfortunate plastic taste in some 😭), I didn’t want this recipe to hinge on the quality of store-bought cheese. Luckily, nutritional yeast is a potent source of umami (thanks to its naturally occuring glutamic acid) and brings a nice cheesy flavor.
- Potatoes and Carrots. Yukon gold potatoes add the starch necessary to thicken the cheese sauce while keeping the flavor neutral, while carrots bring the light orange color our brains associate with mac and cheese. To avoid any sweet flavor, this recipe uses just one small carrot, which is plenty for color.
- Soy Sauce and Pickle Brine. These might sound like unusual additions, but without any actual cheese, our sauce needs more savoriness and a bit of tang to mimic the natural flavors of cheese.
- Vegan Butter. This is used to coat the macaroni and to make the buttery breadcrumb topping, and brings, well, the necessary buttery richness you’d expect in mac and cheese.
- Panko Breadcrumbs: The light, flaky texture brings an irresistible snappy crunch to the topping and works much better than standard breadcrumbs.
Substitutes
Live outside the U.S. / don’t have Yukon gold potatoes? Use any medium-starch, all-purpose potato.
Be sure to use the brine from dill pickles or kosher pickles. Don’t use the brine from sweet pickles, such as bread and butter pickles, as it will ruin the sauce. If you don’t have pickle brine, you can use white wine vinegar, but start with less.
Most vegan butters are salted, but if yours is unsalted, you may want to add a tad more salt to the cheese sauce and topping. Don’t want to use vegan butter? You can replace it with extra virgin olive oil.
Step by Step Instructions
- Add the raw cashews, sliced carrots, and chopped potatoes to a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil.
- Boil for 15 minutes until the carrots and potatoes are soft and easily mashed with a fork, then drain and cool.
- Cook the macaroni in a large pot of generously salted boiling water until just shy of al dente.
- Drain but don’t rinse, then toss with vegan butter and set aside.
- Make the sauce: In a high-powered blender, combine the boiled cashews and carrots (but not potatoes), water, nutritional yeast, spices, salt/pepper, soy sauce, pickle brine, and olive oil.
- Blend the sauce on high until smooth, then add the potatoes and briefly blend until pureed. Pour the sauce into the buttered macaroni.
- Toss the sauce and macaroni until well coated (it will be quite saucy).
- Transfer the mac and cheese to a lightly greased 3-quart (3 L) baking dish.
- Sprinkle the buttered breadcrumb topping over the mac and cheese.
- Bake at 375ºF/190ºC for 20 minutes, then cool for 10 to 20 minutes to set.
Tips for making this recipe
Blend the potatoes separately
Raw cashews and potatoes make for a rich and luxurious cheese sauce, no dairy or store-bought vegan cheese needed. The only problem is they can cause the sauce to thicken too much and dry out a bit after the mac and cheese rests.
To prevent that, I blend the potatoes into the cheese sauce at the end on medium-low, after all the other cheese sauce ingredients have been blended. This prevents the potato from being overworked, keeping the sauce loose yet creamy as it sets.
Tip: Once the potatoes, carrots, and cashews are done boiling and have cooled off, simply pick out the potato pieces and set them aside.
Taste the cheese sauce
Before you pour the cheese sauce into the macaroni, give it a taste and assess. If desired, add more nutritional yeast for cheesy savorines, more soy sauce for savory saltines, more pickle brine for acidity/tang, or more salt to taste.
The sauce starts off thin, then thickens
After blending, the cheese sauce will not be very thick (more like the consistency of a smoothie). When you toss it with the cooked macaroni, it will look like too much sauce.
Don’t be alarmed! The pasta will absorb the water from the sauce as it bakes/rests, and the starch from the potato will swell and then set as it cools. So the sauce will thicken as it bakes and continue thickening as it rests.
Looking for more classic holiday side dishes? Try my Ultimate Crispy Roasted Potatoes, Mushroom Gravy, and Vegan Cornbread!
Frequently Asked Questions
For the best results, cook the macaroni and make the cheese sauce ahead of time, combine them, and spread them out in your baking dish. You can do this about 2 days ahead of time.
Make the crispy topping, but store it separately in an airtight container or ziplock bag on the counter for a couple days.
When you’re ready to bake:
(a) If possible, let the dish sit out at room temp so you’re not baking from cold, then sprinkle with the breadcrumb topping and bake as instructed in the recipe card.
(b) If baking the dish cold: Bake the plain mac and cheese for 5 to 10 minutes or until no longer cold, then sprinkle with the crispy bread topping. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Once cooled, store the leftovers in an airtight container or tightly cover the baking dish and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
(a) Reheating the full dish or a large portion: Drizzle a few tablespoons of unsweetened soy milk/cashew milk around the edges of the dish, ideally so it can seep into the sauced pasta without wetting the breadcrumb topping. Cover with foil and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes, until hot in the center. Uncover and bake 6 to 8 more minutes to re-crisp the top.
(b) Reheating a single serving: add your portion to an oven-proof dish, adding a teaspoon or two of plant milk at the edge. Cover with foil and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 5 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes.
Blend the cashews and carrots with the water for several minutes in your blender or food processor, scraping down the sides as you go. Blend until you can get it as smooth as possible.
If you have little unblended cashew bits, strain the mixture over a fine-mesh sieve and discard the cashew bits.
Return this mixture to your blender and add in the remaining ingredients, blending until well-combined.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to come up with a nut-free version that is just as good, so I don’t have a good alternative to raw cashews.
While we haven’t tried this ourselves, you can try using gluten-free macaroni (or any small gluten-free pasta) and gluten-free panko breadcrumbs.
And replace the soy sauce with tamari or GF soy sauce.
If you love this vegan mac and cheese, please let us know by leaving a rating and review below 🫶🏽
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
Mind-Blowing Vegan Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
Cheese Sauce
- 1 small carrot (2 oz / 56g)
- 8 oz (227g) Yukon gold potatoes (see Note 1)
- 115 g raw cashews (this is ¾ cup + 1 TBSP)
- 2 cups (480 mL) water
- 50 g nutritional yeast (this is ½ cup + 2 TBSP)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
- ⅛ tsp turmeric for color
- 3 to 4 tsp soy sauce
- 1 ½ TBSP dill pickle brine (don’t use brine from sweet pickles, see Note 2 for sub)
- 2 ½ TBSP (35g) extra virgin olive oil (or vegan butter, melted)
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper (see Note 3)
Crispy Topping
- 2 ½ TBSP (35g) vegan butter, melted
- 65 g panko breadcrumbs (this is ~ ¾ cup + 2 TBSP)
- 1 TBSP (5g) nutritional yeast
- ⅛ tsp smoked paprika
Macaroni
- 12 oz (340g) elbow macaroni
- 1 ½ TBSP (21g) vegan butter
Instructions
- Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil for the macaroni.
- Peel the carrot, then slice into ¼” coins (6 mm). Peel the potatoes, then into 1” chunks (2.5 cm).
- Add carrots, potatoes, and cashews to a medium saucepan and cover with enough water to submerge. Bring to a boil and boil for 15 minutes, or until potatoes and carrots are soft and easily smash with a fork. Drain and let rest until no longer hot.Pick out the potato pieces and keep separate from the cashews/carrots (the potatoes get blended at the end).
- While the cashews/veg boil, make the Crispy Topping. Add 2 ½ TBSP (35g) butter to a small bowl and melt in the microwave. Mix in the panko, 1 TBSP (5g) nutritional yeast, ⅛ tsp smoked paprika, and 2 pinches of salt, stirring well until the butter is evenly distributed and there are no clumps. Set aside.
- Cook the pasta. When the water is boiling, salt it generously. Cook the macaroni 1 minute less than the time indicated on the box, or until just shy of al dente.Drain the pasta but do not rinse. Return the pasta to its pot, and toss with 1 ½ TBSP (21g) vegan butter (or olive oil). Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Lightly grease a 3-quart / 3L (13"x9") baking dish with softened/melted butter or olive oil.
- Blend the cheese sauce. In a high-powered blender, combine the 2 cups (480 mL) water, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, cayenne, turmeric, 3 teaspoons soy sauce, pickle brine, olive oil, several twists of black pepper, and 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt (half if using sea salt/table salt). Add the boiled carrots and cashews (but not the potatoes). Blend on high until completely smooth and creamy and all cashew bits have been pulverized, scraping down the sides as you go.Now add the boiled potatoes and blend on medium-low for 15 to 30 seconds, just until combined and pureed (blending lightly at the end prevents the potatoes from turning gummy). NOTE: The sauce will be looser than seems right, like the consistency of a smoothie.
- Taste the sauce, adding more pickle brine for zing/tang, more nutritional yeast for cheesiness, or more soy sauce for savory saltiness (I usually use 4 teaspoons total). If adding any additional ingredients, blend on medium-low just to combine, taking care to not over-blend the potatoes.
- Pour the cheese sauce into the pot of cooked macaroni, tossing well. NOTE: It will feel like too much sauce now, but it thickens as it bakes.
- Transfer the mac and cheese to the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the Crispy Topping evenly over the top. Bake for 20 minutes or until the topping is golden brown. Cool for 10 to 20 minutes to help set up, then slice and serve.
Notes
- If you live outside of the U.S. or Yukon Gold potatoes are not available, use a medium-starch, all-purpose potato. Try to avoid a high-starch potato or a low-starch potato.
- Don’t use pickle brine from sweet pickles, such as bread and butter pickles. If dill or kosher pickles aren’t available, sub the brine with white wine vinegar, but start with 2 to 3 teaspoons, then add more as needed.
- I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, which is a lot less salty than other salts. If using table salt, use half the amount of salt listed in the recipe. If using sea salt or Morton’s kosher salt, use slightly more than half.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
So delicious. Made this last night-so savory, creamy and full of umami. The panko breadcrumbs were crunchy and golden. Had to use frozen butternut squash, still turned out excellent. And you’re getting extra vegetables. Served it with warm cabbage salad, thanks for your great recipes!
Jen, Thank you for your thoughtful review! We’re so happy to hear that you enjoyed the mac and cheese.
Hate to do this… (can’t do cashews)… but the mild creaminess that they would give I can totally see. Have you or any of your followers tried subbing hemp seeds or walnuts succesfully? The dish coming out of the oven all crispy on top looks amazing! Thanks to you or any of your followers who may have a suggestion.
Hi Rebecca, I’m sorry that this recipe can’t work for your intended needs! Unfortunately, hemp seeds or walnuts would not provide the same kind of creaminess and would add a more distinctive taste (we’ve tried making “hemp cream” and “walnut cream” and they taste pretty off).
I will say that we have tried hemp seeds in our cilantro crema recipe and that works well because the strong flavors (cilantro, spices, jalapenos, etc.) mask the hemp seed taste. I don’t know if the flavors in this cheese sauce are strong enough to do that here. I know some folks have used a combination of boiled/steamed russet potatoes (peeled) and white beans (drained and rinsed very well), so maybe a combination of hemp seeds and potatoes might be better than all hemp seeds.
Allergy to all nuts so will try the white beans sub. Thanks for this recipe as hubby does miss mac and cheese and the vegan cheeses are super nasty tasting to us.
You’re welcome, Ginny! We hope you love the mac and cheese 🙂
I made this recipe this evening and my husband and 14 year old son loved it. It is totally delicious. Thank you, Nisha, for your tips, tricks and really really delicious recipes.
Amazing recipe! My husband and I loved it. So creamy and the panko bread crumbs on the top make it extra special.
We appreciate your feedback and support, Farz. Thank you for leaving a review!
Your positive feedback is the best reward for our hard work. Thank you, Nicoline!
made this and my brother in law said it was delicious without even realizing it was vegan!! so yummy!!
That’s a win, Danielle! Thanks for sharing 🙂
My daughter is vegan ( I’m vegetarian) she asked me to make this. Even whilst following the recipe, I feared it wouldn’t be reminiscent of macaroni cheese. However it was spectacularly effective, and tasted wonderful. She was delighted with the result. For my part- it tasted delicious. Will definitely make again.❤️
Thanks for the lovely feedback, Carey! 🙂 Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe. Thanks!
Fantastic dish!
Hi Novy, we’re so happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂
This was super tasty and not too difficult to make, especially as I roasted the squash and cooked the pasta the day before. My boyfriend doesn’t like mac and cheese but he really likes this dish! Great served with some peas and leafy greens.
Hi Novy, we’re so happy both of you enjoyed this recipe and we’re looking forward to you trying even more! 🙂 Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe.
It was a wonderful dish. Loved the panko bread crumbs!! So crispy.
Hi Suma, it’s great to hear you had success with the recipe. Thanks for the review!
Amazing! Made a gluten free version with Tinkyada brown rice elbows and so good to have an allergy friendly recipe that’s almost as good if not better!
Thank you for your lovely comment, Abby! It makes us happy to know that you enjoyed the recipe.
So, so, so delicious! The crunchy topping just perfects this recipe. I haven’t had mac and cheese since I went plant-based back in 2015. Eating this last night made me feel incredibly comforted. My husband said he thought it was “cute” that I tried to make a vegan mac and cheese, but he went back for seconds and said he’d eat it again if I make it some time. That’s a win!
Hi Jenni, it’s great to hear you had success with the recipe. We’re happy both you and your husband are huge fans! Thanks for the review!
This is our new go to Mac n’ Cheese recipe! Love that it’s a lot healthier than a lot of other vegan mac recipes out there.
We love adding bits of seared field roast franks to this. Very nostalgic tasting <3
Also if your blender is high powered enough I'd recommend adding the squash skin as well as the guts/seeds (all roasted). Ive tried this several times and the texture is still perfectly creamy. I don't think our old Ninja could've handled it, but our Vitamix makes quick work of the tough bits.
Oh and it's super delicious wether you bake it or not.
Yum! Thanks for sharing your tips and experience, Garrett!
I made this recipe for my Friendsgiving 2022 & it was great! All of my non vegan friends loved it too & were impressed. Definitely will be making this again for gatherings especially around the holidays.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing, Emily!
So i’m a vegetarian that has decided to go vegan at least for January and I came across this awesome website and Youtube channel. The vegan mac and cheese was my first go to as I love cheesey pasta and this was going to be the main challenge of veganism. This recipe was amazing! It’s has more flavour than mac and cheese or any cheesy/ creamy pasta. As I ate the whole thing over a few days, I mixed it up and added some saute’d mushrooms and Kale (OMG- it was incredible!). This is beyond amazing!
This will be our new go-to recipe for mac & cheese. It was a hit Christmas Day (along with your Vegan Wellington with Mushroom Gravy). I made the cheese sauce a couple days in advance; made the elbow macaroni the day before. Then, Christmas Day, combined it, added the panko topping and . . .yum!!! So easy and delicious. I was surprised that we enjoyed it more the following day and even more so the day after that. It just firmed up, without the pasta getting mushy.
Thanks again for another winning recipe!
Angela, So glad to hear you loved this recipe! 🙂
It’s so creamy and easy to make, just don’t forget to be generous with salt while cooking the pasta
Hi Agata, we’re thrilled to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe. Thanks!
Hello! Love your recipes. Can this recipe be made without panko bread crumbs? (without bread crumbs in general)
Hi Samantha, we’re happy you enjoy the recipes! And yes it can, it just won’t be crispy!
Would using a can of regular coconut milk change the flavor or just the creaminess? I can’t find light coconut milk at my store. Thanks.
Hi Theresa, it will be higher in fat content and extra creamy but you can definitely use it instead! You may want to scale back on the cashews at that point, depending on your preference.
Hi Nisha,
Thank you for all your recipes, I make many of yours for my meal prep clients.
I made this one last week and they loved it!
It was actually hard to decide between this recipe and your mac and cheese from your InstaPot cookbook.
Anyways, I’m curious, does this recipe freeze well?
Perhaps just the sauce and then give instructions to make the pasta, assemble and bake later?
Thanks so much <3
Kami, thank you so much! So lovely. We always recommend cooking pasta fresh, as the older it gets the more the quality declines. You also will need to cook the pasta quite al dente before freezing it for it to hold up while reheating. But you can definitely make the sauce ahead of time- I did that for Thanksgiving with great results!
Just to clarify, you froze the sauce and it reheated well? Thanks in advance:)
Hi Jane, yes you can freeze then thaw at room temperature. Throw it back in the blender with a little plant milk to make it silky smooth again! You’re welcome!
Second time making your recipe and I really enjoy it. Brings back childhood memories. Easy to make and definitely a keeper for us.
That’s so great to hear, Christina! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe. Thanks!
Hello, any advice for substituting cashews for folks with nut allergies? Thanks!
I’ve been successful replacing cashews with cannellini beans to get that creamy taste without nuts for nut allergic guests. Though I haven’t substituted cashews for cannellini beans in this recipe, I’m pretty sure it could work out nicely.
Hi Annie, you could try soaked and blended raw sunflower seeds or maybe even silken tofu?