Vegan cauliflower mac and cheese with cashews, a super easy and satisfying plant-based recipe. Creamy, cheesy and so comforting!
Vegan cauliflower mac and cheese with cashews, a super easy and satisfying plant-based recipe. Creamy, cheesy and so comforting!
Believe it or not, this vegan cauliflower mac and cheese is one of my son's favorite pasta dishes. And he's 11 and not much into the cauliflower. And he's quite apprehensive each time I mention that I've cooked something vegan for dinner.
But no matter, if you are vegan or not, you will absolutely love this pasta dish. It is everything a good mac and cheese should be, only healthier. It is incredibly rich and creamy, comforting, and moreish.
Ingredients
- Raw cashews, which need to be soaked for several hours. Together with the cauliflower, they make the base of the sauce, they make it creamy and velvety.
- Cauliflower: you can use either fresh or frozen and defrosted.
- Chopped potatoes: not much, but they also add to the creaminess of the sauce.
- Nutritional yeast: not baker's yeast. It is flaked and it is used to give food a cheesy flavor without the actual cheese.
- Other ingredients: coconut milk, garlic, garlic powder, sweet paprika, lemon juice, and pasta.
Method
- Soak the cashews for one hour in cold water.
- Start cooking the water for the pasta. Add the pasta when the water is boiling.
- Cook the vegetables in salted water for about 10 minutes or until soft. Drain, but reserve about ½ cup of the cooking water.
- Blend the vegetables, coconut milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and spices with an immersion blender or in a food processer. The sauce should be really smooth and creamy. Add some of the reserved cooking water if necessary to thin the sauce slightly. I normally have to add some.
- Adjust the taste and combine the sauce with the cooked macaroni.
More vegan pasta dishes:
Noodles with Coconut and Turmeric
Vegan Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- ¾ cups raw cashews
- 10 oz cauliflower, chopped about 2 ½ cups
- 7 oz potatoes, chopped about 1 ¾
- 2 garlic cloves peeled but left whole
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- sweet ground paprika
- fine sea salt and ground black pepper
- 1 lb elbow macaroni or other pasta
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in water for about 1 hour.
- Cook pasta and vegetables: Bring two pots of water to a boil. Add the chopped vegetables and the garlic cloves to the smaller pot and cook for about 10 minutes or until they are soft. Keep about ½ cup of the cooking water and drain the rest. Cook the macaroni in the other pot. Drain well.
- Blend the vegetables, coconut milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper until really smooth and creamy (immersion blender or food processor). Add some of the reserved cooking water little by little to reach the right consistency.
- Adjust the taste again and serve immediately.
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
I would lick that creamy sauce CLEAN! Love what you eat....delicious, yet nutritious and healthy.
Anu-My Ginger Garlic Kitchen says
Absolutely delish looking vegan mac and cheese!
Adina says
Thank you both, Angie and Anu!
Mario says
Sounds tasty, but I would skip the half teaspoon of garlic powder! 😀
Adina says
I am sure you would, Mario. But you missed the two garlic cloves, what about them? 🙂
Mario says
Damn! So I sort them out for vampire defense 🙂
Thao @ In Good Flavor says
I love how thick and creamy the sauce looks! I'm really liking the cashews in it. This is such great vegan version of mac and cheese.
Adina says
Thank you, Thao. It is so rich, you won't even think is vegan.
jo@jocooks.com says
The sauce looks so creamy and thick, I never would have thought to put potatoes in the sauce. Great idea, love it!
Adina says
Thank you, Jo. The potatoes thicken the sauce nicely.
Tessa says
This mac looks amazing! I need to start stockpiling hidden veggie recipes for when I have kids someday! In the meantime I don't mind doing all the tasting 🙂
Adina says
Oh, you will need those recipes. Especially during the period when the children are between 2 and 5 I would say. At first they will eat anything and you will think you do everything right and your kids are something special. Then they turn 2 and the horror starts... My son was really bad, but during the last year things started to pick up a bit. So I still have hope for my daughter, she was never so bad in the first place. 🙂