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!
I just now finished making the sauce – the most important part – and it’s amazing, just like real cheese. I only had 12.2 cans of condensed coconut milk on hand, but after adding a bit of water it worked out just fine. Surprisingly, I had tapioca flour on hand – I buy that stuff knowing I’ll need it someday.
And today, for the first time ever, I ran the blender on high without the cover. Oops.
Great to hear you loved the cheese sauce, Dave! And oopsies about the blender, it happens to the best of us!
I really enjoy all your recipes, you are so fun to watch! I haven’t tried this 1 yet, but plan on it. Just curious if your dishes can be frozen… especially around Thanksgiving time, so one can cut down on time spent in the kitchen on that day?
Hi Antonia, thanks! 🙂 It depends on the recipe honestly, but for this recipe specifically we suggest preparing the sauce ahead of time, which can be frozen. The pasta and crispy topping are best prepared fresh. Enjoy!
Hey Nisha! I’ve made this recipe in the past and it was always so good. I’m wanting to make it for thanksgiving but have family that cant eat nuts. I was wondering if it’s possible to make the baked mac and cheese nut free and what you would suggest to substitute the cashews?
HI Alex, we’re so happy you love the recipe! You can still follow the recipe as-written but just use this nut-free vegan cheese sauce instead of the nut-based one! Cheers!
I just made the cheese sauce/queso from the Instant Pot cookbook. Can I use it to make the Mac and cheese?
Hi Polly, yes! Each of our cheese sauces can be used as a mac and cheese sauce.
Just made your Mac and cheese recipe. Can honestly say it was the best vegan Mac and cheese I’ve made. Been difficult to mimic cheese but this really did turn out creamy and delicious. Add a little smoke hot sauce on it and we are in business 😂. Thanks again!
Awesome, Thomas. The hot sauce addition sounds lovely. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
I have made the instant pot version before and it was delicious! I’m looking to make this version for my co-workers at lunch and I’m wondering if I can make the sauce and pasta ahead of time? I’m guessing I should wait to combine everything until right before baking? Thanks so much for the input. I’m curious to see if anyone realizes there is no actual cheese in it!
Hi Annia, yes you can! Up to a day or two ahead of time. Pasta is best cooked fresh but if you want to make it ahead of time, cook it until just al dente so when it reheats it doesn’t break apart. Enjoy!
I made the sauce ahead of time (will be 2 days tomorrow for dinner) so the flavours had time to meld. It has thickened up a lot in the fridge, so I will add more oat milk or pasta water (depending on salt) to thin it out when heating it up. I have also cooked pasta to have leftover (some hot for dinner, some for pasta salad). White pasta softens more overnight (as it cools) than whole wheat so I would take out white pasta really al dente (and WW al dente). At this point pasta should be undercooked, but that’s the point, when added to hot sauce it will finish cooking, and it will suck up the liquid in the sauce so expect the sauce to be thick. As always pour sauce and pasta into a cool dish/plate etc. and cool near a fan (ideally) to cool it down quickly (slow the rate of spoilage) and into a fridge until you need it. Oh and yes combine before hand for best texture. No one (or at least me) wants soggy pasta. Think I covered everything. Sorry for the blurb, hope that helps 🙂
That was a helpful blurb ;
This has become one of our household favourites for the Fall!
Im grateful for your brilliant mind putting this spectacular recipe together! I wouldn’t change a single thing about it
Leah,
What a kind and thoughtful review, thank you 🙂 So happy you are enjoying it just the way it is!
Any recommendations to sub the light coconut milk? Can’t have any coconut. Thank you.
I used full fat oat milk – mentioned on pumpkin macaroni cheese on this website, (and am a vegan experimenter so still consume cow’s milk) and wouldn’t know it didn’t contain dairy. Use a brand of milk you like – I swear barista style has a more neutral flavour than regular. Saying that, once you add spices, nooch etc. I can’t taste the oat milk aftertaste anymore. Hope that helps 🙂
This is my first receipe from you and im new to vegan cooking. This was delicious and so easy . My 9 years old son did the sauce and was dancing with the blender like you 🙂
Question : for less tick results, do you recommend to cook more the pasta or less pasta ?
Thank you.
Hi Katia, we’re thrilled to hear you enjoyed this recipe! You want the sauce to be less thick? Please clarify so we can help 🙂
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!
Oh yes I will rate next time sorry about that.
I find the result too thick. I prefer more sauce around the noodle. Like in your video when you taste it its runny saucy if that make sense. My son find it dry, specialy To reheat for lunch.
Hmm, we’re sorry to hear that Katia! In the future if you’d like to save some to reheat, you can make additional sauce and reheat that on top of the pasta when you’re ready to eat leftovers. That should help make it more saucy.
Just made the recipe to my parents and big sister and they all adored it. It actually tastes so cheesy:)
Thanks for the lovely feedback, Myriam!
This is a really great recipe, and I will definitely make it again some time! The butternut squash worked beautifully in this recipe, and the coconut lite did not give it a coconut flavor. I can’t wait to make more of your recipes!
Awesome, Adriana. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
Okay, this is delicious. First time leaving a review for anything. I used nacho nutritional yeast and it was SO great. An instant hit in my house. Next time I’ll use precut squash cause that’s the hardest part.
Stacy, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!
This was nearly amazing. Texture was perfect. I will try it again and use an alternative to coconut milk though. I did use a light unsweetened coconut milk from a can (TJ reduced fat coconut milk, that is light right?), but the natural sweet coconut flavor did not work with the other flavors for me. I added a little tomato ketchup to temper the sweetness. Everything else was fantastic and I know it will be amazing with a less sweet milk option!
Hi Papiya, so interesting you thought the coconut milk was sweet, because the whole can only contains 6g of sugar. Tomato ketchup seems like it would add additional sweetness, so maybe in the future you can try using thinned out cashew cream. Acidic ingredients help cut the sweetness in meals as well!
Although I like butternut squash, I was a little skeptical that it would taste weird added to “cheese” sauce. But this was soooooo good. I’ve made multiple different vegan cheese sauces, and this is definitely going on the “really good-make again” list. I omitted the vegan butter from the topping because I try to be oil free, and it came out fine
So glad you loved the recipe, Anne!
Something wasn’t quite right… I used gluten free Panko bread crumbs and almond milk instead of coconut – maybe that’s why? Still good but not moist. Should I have covered up when putting in the oven?
Hi Kelly, in the FAQ section Nisha mentions almond milk is too thin for this recipe. If you’re allergic to coconut, in the future you should substitute with full-fat oat milk or cashew milk. Hopefully next time you try it out it goes more smoothly!
This recipe is incredibly delicious! We make a lot of recipes from Nisha in this household and each of them have never failed to impress. We love this mac and cheese version! You definitely cannot taste the coconut milk if you use the correct one. We use brown rice macaroni pasta and it works wonderfully! So easy to make and so yummy! We will be making this again and again. Thanks, Nisha!
Awesome, Jessie. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
Sounds like a silly question but will Frozen cut-up Butternut Squash work? Cutting squash can be tough on my knife.
Hi Adam, yes it should! We suggest you defrost it in the fridge overnight though, and drain off excess liquid before you cook with it. Enjoy!
I think everything works well in this recipe except the use of coconut milk. The coconut flavor doesn’t fit with the other flavors and detracts from the dish as a whole. Otherwise I think it works really well! I think I will try this again using oat milk!
Hi Gina, did you use lite coconut milk from a can? Sorry you didn’t love it. Hopefully you like it better next time!
hi nisha!!!
can you freeze the cheese sause?thanks a lot!love your videos
Hi Anna, yes! So glad you love the recipes. Enjoy the cheese sauce!
I thought 3/4 cup of nutritional yeast was a bit too much, maybe 1/2 cup would be better, but the breadcrumb topping was nice
Sorry to hear you weren’t a huge fan of the nutritional yeast, glad you liked the recipe otherwise!