Dear mac and cheese lovers of the world,
It’s my pleasure to introduce you to this wonderfully creamy, silky, and buttery vegan mac and cheese that is totally delicious and completely nut-free!
Featured comment
Made this vegan mac and cheese today and it was delicious.
Lola
This is such a fun and supremely yummy recipe – I love it so much.
Some vegan mac and cheeses involve boiling and puréeing sauces.
Some use nuts (like raw cashews) to create the creaminess.
But this one has no puréeing, no nuts, and comes together in a very Easy Mac type of way: a “cheeze” powder with the best cheesy flavor whisked into the plant milk of your choice to create a silky vegan cheese sauce, poured over macaroni noodles, and mixed all together with a knob of vegan butter.
VOILA. First lunch, second lunch, after-school snack, midnight noodle craving… it checks all the standard mac and cheese boxes.
Vegan Mac and Cheese: Frequently Asked Questions
Cashew milk is a great option and is highly recommended if you can find one that isn’t too watery! Almond milk was pretty good, oat milk was great, and soy milk is great if you can find one with no flavor – we had a batch that was supposedly “unsweetened” and “unflavored” but definitely tasted like vanilla, so you’ll want to look for a milk with as neutral of a flavor as possible.
Yes and it turns out great! Check out the notes for how to do this at the bottom of the recipe card.
Just store it at room temp in an airtight container.
If stored in an airtight container, it should keep for up to 6 months.
What Is This Vegan Mac and Cheese Made Of?
Here’s our very short ingredient list:
- Noodles
- Nutritional yeast
- Cornstarch
- Some spices for flavor and color – like onion powder, garlic powder, turmeric, and paprika
- Non-dairy milk of choice – I like soy milk or oat milk
- Vegan butter to make it extra luxe
All the dry stuff is going to make an Easy Mac-style cheeze powder which looks like this:
AND HOLY BUCKETS LOOK AT WHAT IT BECOMES.
A creamy, luscious sauce that coats every nook and cranny of your macaroni noodles and brings you to the mountaintop of the macaroni and cheese experience with minimal time, minimal effort, and maximal delight.
How To Make This Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe
Pull out your blender and your favorite pot and let’s go! You’re literally just 10 minutes away from the vegan mac and cheese magic.
- Make your “cheese powder” – blend everything up in the blender for 30 seconds.
- Boil and drain your macaroni.
- Add your milk and powder to a pot and stir to make the sauce, then pour in the macaroni.
That’s it. You’re done. Magic, right?
Okay, But Does It REALLY Taste Like Mac and Cheese?
All vegan mac and cheese has its own flavor based on what you use for the sauce, but this one is pretty straightforward.
Texture-wise, it’s super, super similar to just a regular box of mac and cheese, which is just a wonderful gift from the mac and cheese angels
Flavor-wise, the nutritional yeast drives the bus with a nutty, umami-ish, salty cheeze vibe, and the taste of the sauce will vary slightly with the type of milk you use. But the best news of all is that I find that this truly tastes buttery in the best way with the addition of a little knob of vegan butter melted in at the end.
Obviously we are no strangers to true cheesy goodness combined with noodles over here at Pinch of Yum (see here, here, and here), and I personally eat mostly everything, including real cheese, but I love having a good plant-based option in my back pocket and this one is just glorious.
Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?
Watch Lindsay make this Vegan Mac and Cheese on Stories!
Source Notes: I got this idea from The School Night Vegan blog! I had literally never heard of anyone making vegan mac and cheese by making a dry cheeze powder until I came across his blog post. It’s such a smart idea! His cheeze powder used a few ingredients that I don’t normally stock, so I just made it a little more pantry-friendly for what I normally have on hand. But the cheeze powder method is his genius idea – and he has a super fun website with lots of vegan recipes that is worth some perusing if you like plant-based recipes!
Print
Incredible Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4–5 servings 1x
Description
Truly incredible Vegan Mac and Cheese is ready for you! Silky cheese sauce, made with plant-based milk and nutritional yeast, is poured over macaroni noodles and comes together with creamy plant butter. It’s luscious!
Ingredients
The “Cheese” Powder:
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon coarse salt
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric and paprika (for color)
The Mac:
- 1/2 box elbow macaroni pasta
- 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk (unsweetened almond milk, soy milk, or oat milk are my favorites)
- 3 tablespoons non-dairy butter
- teensy squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
Instructions
- “Cheese” powder: Blend all cheese powder ingredients until you get a fine powder, about 30 seconds. Store this powder in a jar and this will be enough powder to make 3-4 future batches of vegan mac and cheese for ya!
- Noodles: Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain.
- “Cheese” Sauce Magic: Pour milk + 3 tablespoons powder into a small saucepan. Whisk thoroughly and gently bring to a slow simmer until you are looking at a creamy, “cheesy” sauce.
- Finish and Delight: Combine cheese sauce and cooked macaroni. Stir in your knob of butter. Finish to taste – I like just a tiny squeeze of lemon juice (not enough to taste like lemon, but just enough to wake the whole thing up), plus some freshly cracked black pepper. So creamy, so “cheesy”, so yum.
Notes
Instant Pot instructions: Add macaroni, 1 1/2 cups of water, and a pinch of salt to the Instant Pot. Cook for 3 minutes on high pressure. Use the Quick Release function to release the steam. Uncover and add in 1/2 cup non-dairy milk, 3 tablespoons of “cheese” powder, non-dairy butter, and stir. If the macaroni seems too liquidy, let the macaroni cook for a minute on the Sauté function until it begins to boil. Press cancel and give it a good stir. The macaroni will thicken as it sits. If the macaroni needs more milk, add in 1/4 cup at a time.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition Facts
- Daily value: 6% Total Fat 5g
- Daily value: 0% Cholesterol 0mg
- Daily value: 57% Sodium 1300.1mg
- Daily value: 17% Total Carbohydrate 47.4g
- Daily value: 11% Dietary Fiber 3.1g
- Sugars 1.4g
- Daily value: 20% Protein 10.1g
- Daily value: 12% Vitamin A 105.4µg
- Daily value: 0% Vitamin C 0.4mg
- Daily value: 4% Potassium 192.1mg
- Daily value: 9% Phosphorus 107.1mg
Keywords: vegan mac and cheese, vegan pasta, vegan cheese
More Delicious Vegan Pasta Recipes
- Creamy Red Pepper Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes (5 stars from 27 reviews!)
- 5 Ingredient Vegan Vodka Pasta (4.6 stars from 50 reviews!)
- Burst Tomato and Zucchini Spaghetti with Avocado Sauce (4.9 stars from 43 reviews!)
- 3 Ingredient Creamy Tomato Shells (4.7 stars from 34 reviews!)
- Red Pepper Cashew Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower (4.8 stars from 62 reviews!)
Keeper-on repeat for years at our house! Can’t remember if I have ever reviewed. I double the powder recipe and keep in jar-pantry staple! So versatile-use it in anything I want a “cheesy” flavor. Amp up the nutritional value of mac&chz by adding ~ 1/3 C powder to ~2 C butternut squash puree, warm through with nut milk to smooth consistency! YUM! I keep this “cheese” in the fridge and use on lots of stuff! Thank you Lindsay!
I see it serves 5 for the calorie count? Is that for a cup of Mac and cheese? Whats the measurement?
I would love to do this in a crockpot for Friendsgiving, do you think there is a way to do it without ruining it?
Hi Erin! We haven’t tested this recipe in the Crockpot so it’s hard to say. It may work to make the recipe as written, and keep the dish warm in the Crockpot.
I noticed that whether I select 1/2x, 1x, or 2x, the instructions always say “Pour milk + 3 tablespoons powder…” – is this the correct amount of powder for the 1x version of the recipe? or the 1/2x? Please include a statement about the correct amount of powder mix for each size of the recipe. Thanks.
Hi Barbara! The scaling up will only change the items under “ingredients” but is not able to double the instructions. So you will need to scale that amount up or down yourself!
Made this for my kids and they loved it. Even my picky eater haha! Thank you.
Mac & cheese tasted gritty (corn starch maybe)
We would have liked it to be creamier.
I love this vegan Mac! It’s easy and delicious. I keep a jar of the “cheese” powder in my pantry always and use it on everything 💛
Lindsay, I will need to make this Mac-n-cheese for 30-40 people. Can it be combined the day before and then baked day of? I’m no familiar to how these sauces hold up. I assume I would have to make it a bit thinner to bake it but I could top with vegan parm to give it a baked finish.
Thanks for this recipe. I keep coming back to make it because it’s great to have on hand for those nights where you just don’t want to cook anything, but also don’t want to order out. I add some steamed broccoli and call it good! I actually store my mix in the fridge so when I’m rummaging around, I’ll see it as an idea. I don’t think it causes any issues in the fridge. Super easy! And tasty!
cant wait to try it!
I made it for whole wheat elbow noodles and it was delicious. I dislike ordinary stove top mac n’ cheese and this is BETTER.
One of my kids can’t have dairy and I’ve had to go dairy free for breastfeeding. I’ve tried lots of vegan mac and cheeses from the store and this beats all of them! My daughter loves it and it’s easy to keep the “cheese” powder on hand to have mac and cheese quickly. I’ve made it so many times now!!
super easy, i will definitely try this recipe at home. I’m sure my husband gonna love this.
I had this tonight with my toddler and we both really liked it. It’s very creamy but not like thick or chunky like sometimes “cheese” sauce is with cashew cream. It really has the consistency of Kraft Mac n cheese. I kept the recipe exactly the same I just didn’t have the turmeric (which was for color anyways). I used creamy oat milk as the milk. Very good flavor. Definitely keeping in my list of “good vegan recipes”. Thank you!!
This recipe is so good! I’ve started keeping a container of the powder on the counter for a quick weeknight meal. I did find I prefer more nutritional yeast so typically for a single-serving I do 1/2 cup of milk, 1 tbsp of the ‘cheese’ powder and 1 tbsp of additional nutritional yeast with 2.5 – 3 oz of pasta and 1 tbsp of butter. Even better paired with broccoli. Love love love!
So glad you enjoyed it, Emma!
Hi! Aprx how many grams is a half of a box of macaroni? I just want to make sure I have my proportions right cause I buy noodles in large amounts from Costco.
Hi! It should be 8 ounces or approximately 227 grams.
Hi, I made this and set the scale to 2x for a whole box of Banza – used 3 cups milk and 3 tablespoons powder. It was very watery and almost soupy – are those the right measurements? It was still tasty but I thought the liquid ratio was very off
Hi Alex! Sorry to hear that. Was your box of Banza 8 ounces? If so, I’m sure that’s the reason.
I realized when I changed the scale to 1x, the powder measurement was still 3 tablespoons, so I imagine I should have put more 🙁 not sure.
This is an awesome recipe! My 3 year old approves 🙂 I’ve been trying to make a vegetarian dish a couple of days of the week and this was so delicious! Thank you!
This was amazing!! I am not vegan but really try to limit dairy so I was excited and cautiously optimistic about this. I think it’s one of the best vegan Macaroni recipes I’ve ever had, and it’s so simple! I did add some real Parmesan (I think vegan parm would also be awesome I just didn’t have any on hand) and that took it up a notch. I added some arugula too which added some nice greens and peppery flavor. Loved loved this one, even my picky husband ate two bowls!
Awesome, Danielle! So glad it was a hit!
I found this recipe online, and it looked and sounded so lovely and tasty that I decided to try it out for myself. It was a huge hit with both my spouse and myself. What wonderful flavours from such a simple dish (I love those kinds of recipes), and the taste feels like something I toiled over for hours to achieve, haha. Thank you for sharing this information, it is really appreciated. Much Love
The best quick vegan mac&cheese I’ve ever tasted!
This is a game-changer for me! I am the only dairy-free person in my house, and my kids often request mac and cheese. I make them a box for an easy dinner, but i am left without anything to eat. I refuse to buy the vegan mac n cheese boxes for $5, so having a powder mix on hand is great! This made a tasty, creamy sauce. I think it could use a little more cheesy flavor – and adding some acid (lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or vegan lactic acid powder) is also necessary to get that tangy cheese flavor. I think adding some more nutritional yeast or even some shredded vegan cheese at the end would be good too!
I REALLY wanted to like this but the nutritional yeast and onion powder were very overpowering. I couldn’t finish my plate. Definitely would not fool anyone into the thinking it’s macaroni and cheese. So disappointing.
Thanks for the feedback, Stephanie!
I made this tonight exactly as written and I thought it was good. My 9 year old liked it too, which is always a true test. I have never made vegan Mac and cheese before so I didn’t have anything to compare it to, but it was flavorful (I mainly tasted the nutritional yeast) and creamy. I may add some broccoli next time. Thank you for providing a simple vegan recipe to try.
Thanks for the comment, Robin! We appreciate the feedback.
for those wondering if you can sub tapioca starch for the cornstarch, the answer is yes, as it cools. i had to remove it from the pan and use the blender to get the smoothness i was looking for. i used homemade unflavored flax milk and full fat coconut milk for 1/4 of the amount called for.
the thing this recipe lacks for me is the “cheesy” taste. i haven’t had box mac in a long time, but this needed lots of extra nutritional yeast in order to come close to simulating the flavor profile i was anticipating. still, if you add more, it works.
Hi Jenn! We appreciate the feedback! Thanks for leaving the review!
Just made this for supper. I feel it tastes nothing like Kraft but it is wonderful!! Super easy and very creamy. I even made it in the insta pot. It was a bit more al dente than I like but will adjust time next time. I made it with creamy oat milk
So glad you enjoyed it, Martie!
Made this vegan mac and cheese today and it was delicious.
So glad you enjoyed it, Lola!