This vegan mac and cheese recipe is incredibly cheesy and flavorful without dairy! It’s made with a luscious tofu sauce, without cashews. Make it in 30 minutes, gluten-free adaptable!
Made with a creamy, vegan cheese sauce that requires no nuts, this comfort food recipe is perfect for those with allergies or looking to avoid dairy and raw cashews. The sauce is created using a blend of silken tofu, nutritional yeast, plant-based milk, and a few flavor-enhancing ingredients that yield a rich, velvety texture. For added protein, try chickpea or lentil pasta! Best of all, it is quick to prepare, making it a convenient weeknight meal that’s plant-based, satisfying and wholesome.
Why You’ll Love This
- Vegan and nut-free. A perfect recipe for those with allergies or dietary preferences.
- Easy weeknight meal! Ready in just 30 minutes.
- Rich flavor and texture. A cheesy, creamy sauce packed with layers of flavor!
Ingredients
- Dry small pasta: Ditalini or elbow macaroni are perfect for this recipe! Sub a gluten-free pasta if needed, or try high-protein chickpea pasta or lentil pasta.
- Silken tofu: This gives the sauce its rich, creamy and velvety texture. Do not try a different type of tofu—only use silken tofu!
- Soy milk: Or use coconut milk, hemp milk, almond milk, or whatever dairy-free milk you like best. Or you can simply use pasta water.
- Nutritional yeast flakes: Essential for giving the sauce its deliciously cheesy flavor, plus it’s high in Vitamin B12.
- Avocado oil: You can also use olive oil or melted vegan butter.
- Flavor enhancers: Onion powder (or garlic powder) for aromatic depth, dijon mustard for a tangy, sharp taste, turmeric for color (optional), apple cider vinegar for acidity (or lemon juice), and cayenne for a hint of heat. Plus salt and pepper!
- Panko: Or dry bread crumbs. To give the mac and cheese a crispy, crumbly topping.
How to Make the Best Vegan Mac and Cheese
Step 1: Cook pasta. Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot. Cook pasta according to package directions, then drain without rinsing.
Step 2: Blend the tofu mac and cheese sauce. In a food processor or blender, add silken tofu, milk (or pasta water), yeast flakes, salt, pepper, olive oil, onion powder, dijon mustard, turmeric, vinegar, and cayenne. Blend until the mixture is silky smooth.
Step 3: Combine. Return the noodles to the pot and add the cheese sauce. Gently warm over low heat until just heated through.
Step 4: Taste and adjust. If needed, add salt or a splash of vinegar. Transfer to an oiled 9×13 baking pan.
Step 5: Make the toasty crumb topping. In a small bowl, combine panko and olive oil with a fork. Spread breadcrumbs evenly over the mac and cheese.
Step 6: Broil. Place baking dish in the oven under the broiler for 3-5 minutes until golden brown. Turn the pan as needed. Serve immediately!
Try topping this with our Vegan Cheesy Sprinkle and minced parsley!
Expert Tips
- For perfectly creamy sauce: Use a food processor or a high-powered blender (like a Vitamix) to achieve velvety smooth texture.
- Make it extra cheesy! Sprinkle vegan cheddar cheese on top of the mac and cheese before adding the breadcrumbs.
- Add veggies! When transferring to a baking pan, tuck in roasted or steamed veggies like broccoli, peas, asparagus, or mushrooms.
- Top with vegan bacon: Sprinkle Crispy Coconut Bacon over top!
FAQs
Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast packed with vitamins and minerals, commonly used in vegan cooking to add a cheesy, umami flavor.
Nope! You can simply toss the noodles with the sauce for an even quicker meal.
Freezing the sauce and noodles together can result in a very thick and mushy meal. If you plan to freeze this, it’s best to freeze the sauce separately and cook the noodles when ready to serve. Thaw the sauce in the fridge overnight before reheating.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
The creamy tofu sauce will have thickened, and it tends to dry out if heated too long. When reheating, bake in the oven with a little plant milk and cover with foil.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this creamy vegan mac and cheese with a leafy green salad like our vegan Caesar salad, or lemony kale slaw or veggies like lemony steamed broccoli, green beans almondine, or Sauteed Asparagus.
Hope you enjoy this Vegan Mac and Cheese! Let us know what you think in the comments. 🙂
xoxo
More Vegan pastas You May Like
Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4-6
- Category: vegan, main. pasta
- Method: stovetop + Broil
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This healthy vegan mac and cheese recipe is incredibly flavorful! It’s made with a luscious, creamy tofu sauce, without cashews. It’s fast and easy, high in protein and gluten-free adaptable! (Adapted from Alison Collins, from Boots Bakery.)
Ingredients
- 3 cups (12 ounces) dry small pasta like ditalini or elbow macaroni (or sub-gluten-free pasta, or chickpea or lentil pasta for high protein)
- 1 pkg (12 ounces) Silken Tofu (firm, or extra firm)
- 1/4 cup soy milk, coconut milk or hemp milk (whatever plant milk you like)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, adjust to taste
- 1/4 –1/2 teaspoon black pepper, adjust to taste
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil (or melted vegan butter)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder, or garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric (optional for color)
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar (sub lemon juice)
- 1/16th teaspoon cayenne (for less spicy use 1/4 teaspoon paprika)
Bread Crumb Topping
Instructions
- Bring salted pasta water to a boil. Cook pasta according to directions, drain cooked pasta without rinsing.
- In a food processor or blender, add silken tofu, milk (or pasta water), yeast flakes, salt, pepper, olive oil, onion powder, dijon mustard, turmeric, vinegar, and cayenne blend until silky smooth.
- Place noodles back in the same pot they boiled in and pour in the cheese sauce, gently warming over low heat just until heated through.
- Toss and taste, adjusting with salt or a splash of vinegar. Place in an oiled 9 x 13 baking pan.
- For the bread crumb topping stir together with a fork panko and olive oil. Spread breadcrumbs evenly over the mac and cheese. Place in the oven, under the broiler for 3-5 minutes until golden brown, turning the pan as needed. Serve immediately.
- Feel free to top with this Vegan Cheesy Sprinkle and minced parsley.
Notes
Top with vegan cheddar cheese if desired. Add on top of the noodles then top with bread crumbs.
Leftovers will keep in a sealed airtight container for 4 days in the fridge.
The creamy tofu sauce tends to dry out if heated too long. When reheating in the oven add a little plant milk and cover with foil.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 scoop
- Calories: 346
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 834.5 mg
- Fat: 15.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 6.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 50.1 g
- Fiber: 3.3 g
- Protein: 14.2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This was delicious!!! I’m trying to eat more plant-based meals, and this was my first try at one…SUCCESS 😀 ! I can’t wait to try more recipes from your blog, Sylvia! Thank you!!
Thanks Leanne!
This was delicious!!! I’m trying to eat more plant-based meals, and this was my first try at one…SUCCESS 😀 ! I can’t wait to try more recipes from your blog, Sylvia! Thank you!!
This was so good! I made a couple of small changes / additions:
– Added soyrizo into the mix
– Topped with some breadcrumbs and liberal sprinkling of black pepper
– Quick bake at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes to get that real mac and cheese crisp on top.
Thanks for sharing this recipe – we’ve been using veganaise and cashew cream + nooch to try to get that right cheesy flavor. This is easily the winner so far.
Love it!
This was pretty darn good! Definitely recommend giving it a try if you’ve only tried cashew-based mac and cheese sauces. I sauteed garlic and a shallot in some vegan butter and added it to the tofu. I omitted the oil and added a little of the hot pasta water. It was a hit in our house.
Thanks Bailey!
I’m actually mind blown with how amazing this recipe is. I’ve only ever tried to make cashew-based Mac n’ Cheeze before and this blows that out of the water. Thank you!
Winner, winner, vegan dinner!!
Ha Ha ! Amen! I, too enjoyed this version. I air fried the mushrooms in batches with some vegan dry ranch seasoning. I gilded the lily with panko and some vegan butter, trying to mimic the pre-vegan version so loved here. I added more kale with some swiss chard which I added to the pasta at the last minute. It was a winner…even with the resident omnivore!!
Awesome!
Fantastic! So easy to make and CRAZY tasty. Hubby loved it. Will definitely add this to our regular meal rotation. Thank you.
This was a great recipe! I used mini rigatoni (that’s all I had in the pantry) and the sauce was super rich and creamy. But then I made the mistake of baking it since I wanted crispy breadcrumbs on top… it completely dried out which was a shame! Still ate it though, but I’m definitely not baking next time haha. Will be making this (the correct way) again!
Sorry about that!
Wonderful and delicious! I will make this again!
Can it be frozen?
Thanks!!
The cheese sauce is surprisingly good. I’m just getting my feet wet with vegan dishes and was very pleasantly surprised with the texture and cheesy flavor of the sauce. I think there must be a typo with the garlic though. 1 tablespoon is way too much. I will make this again but will use 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic. Otherwise 5 stars. Cheers!
Hi Mike, yes it quite a garlicky recipe. Feel free to lower. Roasted Garlic is nice too.
I am currently eating this at the moment and it is YUMMY! I added 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4 small white onion, and a heaping spoonful of vegan butter in the food processor to make it taste more like my mom’s recipe. Also added some parsley flakes since I didn’t do the kale or mushrooms. It’s delicious! Another bonus is that I already had everything in my pantry to make this and it didn’t call for any weird ingredients. Plus I’m not a huge fan of cashew-cream sauces since it is so darn expensive to make for a lot of people. This recipe is simple, yummy, and has very little clean-up. I will be making this again!
Thanks for sharing Sarah! Glad you liked it and appreciate your modifications!
This is so good! I added real roasted garlic instead of powdered and it gave it such a creamy texture.
Thank you and the folks at Boots Bakery for sharing this recipe! My husband and I have made it so many times, I decided it needed a spot on my blog as well. 🙂 We live in Western Washington and hope to make it to Spokane to try out the real stuff. 🙂
Oh wow I love Boots Bakery & Cafe. I took a road trip to Portland from good old Saskatoon Saskatchewan (Canada) and one of my pit-stops was in Spokane WA. I was worried about not finding anything to eat in this city, but was really surprised. I ended up having a late dinner, early breakfast on my way through and then a great breakfast on my way back. I so wish that this place was open while I was in Spokane two years back for a motorcycle road trip. Would have made my trip that much better!
Do you have any suggestions for a tofu alternative? I can’t have soy… Thanks!
Maybe cashews? They are creamy..
I have made this dish several times – it’s fabulous! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Debbie!
I accidentally used garlic powder instead of granulated garlic–oops! A bit overwhelming in the end product, but I could tell that if I’d done it right, it’s a tasty dish 🙂 I am definitely going to make this again, and not make that mistake!
Beautiful photos! This meal sounds like the perfect comfort food. Thanks for sharing…
-Shannon
I LOVE Boots.. awesome place with awesome people!
Yes!
I’m so intrigued by this recipe! It look so delicious that I just have to try it, thanks for the recipe!
I just made this, yum! I used whole wheat rotini instead of gf pasta. Thanks Alison!
Just made this, Yum! i used whole wheat rotini instead of gf pasta. Thanks Alison!
Mac and cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods. Yours looks amazingly delicious!
Thanks, she did a great job making it healthy and taste good.
Wow – the interior decorating in that place is gorgeous! I especially love those glass mugs used as light fixtures! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Yes it’s great in Boots- those are actually blenders.;)