Baked Mac & Cheese

Did you know that 3 out of 4 adults have adverse effects to dairy consumption that causes physical discomfort?  That means that almost everyone should be making my bomb vegan mac recipes!  Your body will thank you.

If you think that you can’t have amazing mac & cheese on a plant-based diet you can go ahead and remove that idea from your brain right now. This recipe is a culmination of the different styles of vegan mac & cheese recipes that I have seen and tried over the years.

The first style I learned one day when randomly browsing Buzzfeed, but I’ve seen it many times since. It is usually a blend of potatoes, carrots, and onion with nutritional yeast and other spices. It somehow does taste remarkably cheesy, and low fat.

Style two is predominately cashew based, with nutritional yeast and other spices. This results in a more creamy base and gets closer to the decadence of a dairy-based cheesy mac.  Click here to view that recipe.

Then that brings me to what we have today. Make this when you want that 🔥💣😲🤤😴. This recipe combines both styles, a recipe from my program at Rouxbe cooking school, and a bit of what I’ve learned from reading the Miyokos cheese cookbook. Usually, vegan mac uses an acidic element to mimic the tangy undertone of cheese. To get it to taste truly cheesy though, I added some Miyokos mozzarella which adds that tangy undertone with real cultures that have been aged in the same process that dairy cheeses undergo. This is a process that most vegan cheese products do not do and instead flavor their product naturally and artificially, big difference in flavor! If you’re short handed though or don’t feel like spending the 8 bucks for a blob of Miyokos (OR you could make it yourself), you could just use lemon juice or beer which I note in the recipe.

So how does this taste? Honestly better then your average dairy based “easy mac,” and I’m not just saying that. You could expect to taste something like this if you ordered mac & cheese at a higher end restaurant, even something small plate.

This recipe does take a little time though. It’s one of those recipes where you’d probably try to sneak over to my apt if you heard word of me making it 😂. It’s a great holiday recipe because you usually spend a bit more time in the kitchen and I’d say it serves 10-12!

Ingredients

Bread Crumbs

• 3-6 slices high quality white bread, torn into pieces

• 2 Tbsp non-diary butter ("I Can't Believe it's Not Butter," vegan)

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp onion powder

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• 1/8 tsp white pepper

• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Sauce (Part I)

• 1 medium onion, diced (1 and 1/2 cup)

• 3 carrots, diced (1 1/2 cup)

• 2 medium yellow potatoes, diced (2 1/2 cup)

• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

• 1/2 cup raw cashews

• 3 cups of water

Sauce (Part II)

• 2 Tbsp non-dairy butter ("I Can't Believe it's Not Butter," vegan)

• 1/2 package shredded vegan cheese (Field Roast Chao creamy original)

• 1 tsp sea salt, or to taste

• 1/8 tsp ground white pepper, to taste

• 2 Tbsp whole grain dijon mustard

• 1 Tbsp lemon juice, white wine or beer

• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

• 1/2 tsp turmeric

• 1/8 tsp cayenne or red pepper flakes

• 1/4 tsp paprika

Pasta

• 454 gr (1 package) of macaroni

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

• 1/2 package shredded vegan cheese (Field Roast Chao creamy original)

Directions

I recommend getting two pots going on the stove at the same time for pasta and the sauce.

1. In a medium sized pot, bring the ingredients for "Sauce (Part I)" to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. When simmering, place the lid on the pot and crack it to allow a some steam to escape.

2. For the Pasta, bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil. Add the salt and the pasta and boil until al dente (instructions for the exact time for your pasta will be on your package of pasta), stirring occasionally. When the pasta is finished, drain the pasta water into a cup or bowl and immediately chill the pasta with cold water. - SAVE THE PASTA WATER FOR THE NEXT STEP

3. PREHEAT OVEN TO 350F.

4. When the sauce ingredients have finished simmering pour all of the contents into a blender (including the water). Then, add all of the listed ingredients to the blender from “Sauce (Part II).”

5. Blend and add the reserved pasta water until smooth and you have 7 cups of sauce. You may need to add 1-2 cups of pasta water depending on how much water you simmered out when you were initially simmering the sauce ingredients.

6. Place the macaroni in a large bowl and add about 1/2 tsp sea salt, 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, and the rest of the package of shredded cheese. Keep in mind that if you are using fine table salt instead of a medium or coarse grain sea salt you will need to add less salt.

7. Add the cheesy sauce from the blender and mix.

8. Pour the macaroni mixture into a 9×13 baking dish (3 qt or 2.85L capacity).

9. For the bread crumbs, first add your bread to the food processor and process until the bread is reduced to crumbs. Then, add the rest of the breadcrumb ingredients and process until well distributed. Add enough bread to the food processor to generously coat macaroni (see picture).

10. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top of the macaroni.

11. Bake the dish at 350F for 30 minutes (check after 20 minutes), or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the top has turned a nice golden brown color.

Note:  The next time I make this I want to try adding a fresh jalapeño before I bake it.  I think it will add more flavor then the cayenne powder.  If you're adventurous give this a shot and let me know :-) 

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