Best Vegan Mac and Cheese in the entire world...seriously
1 1/2 pounds pasta, preferably macaroni "Cheese" Sauce:
1 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk
1 1/2 cups nutritional yeast
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 cup water
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
1/4 (12 ounce) block firm (not silken) tofu
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon vegesal or in lack of fancy product, just use salt
1 dollop mustard, optional
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Boil water in a big pot and cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Add all of the "cheese" sauce ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Once pasta is cooked, drain and put it in the baking pan (about the size of a brownie pan). Pour the "cheese" sauce over the pasta.
3. Bake until the top of the pasta looks slightly browned and crispy, about 15 minutes.
This is very simple and tastes amazing! If you are cooking for yourself, it will last about 5 days if you eat it for all three meals of the day.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This is pretty good. I halved the garlic and didn't add any salt. For some reason, mine came out kind of dry. Next time, I'll probably add sun dried tomatoes and basil or some other goodies to jazz it up.
I also added ground turmeric to give the sauce an appetizing "cheese" color.
This recipe is pretty good, with a few caveats. Watch the salt; I used Bragg's for the soy sauce and with the addition of the vegal, it made the sauce waaay too salty. I had to thin it down with more soymilk and tofu to make it palatable. I didn't salt the pasta water either to help counter the salty sauce. Also, I used melted smart balance instead of the oil.
After the pasta was finished cooking and drained, I blanched fresh chopped green beans and broccoli in the leftover pasta water and added them to the pasta in the caserole dish. Lastly, I added sliced mushrooms and frozen green peas, poured on the "cheese" sauce and topped everything off with some fresh bread crumbs. It turned out quite nice, and the added vegetables makes it a great caserole. I think I'll make this for the next vegan pot luck!
The original recipe makes a huge amount of food! I cut the recipe in half and with the addition of veggies it filled a 9"X13" pan easily.
I just made this dish last night for my family. We are newbies to the vegan world. This recipe is absolutely delicious and very easy to make. I like the simplicity of it and the fact that it's so basic you can add almost anything else you want (i.e mushrooms, onions etc) and it would still be awesome!
Thanks for the recipe!!
I am going to give this recipe another chance. I would strongly recommend not using canola oil for this because that is all I could taste when I make this. I had to throw out the entire batch because of it. I really think that if I use vegetable oil it will turn out much better. As other people have said, it doesn't really taste like mac 'n cheese but it does have the right consistency and potential at being really good. I also think that it could use less salt...so if you add the correct amount of soy sauce, do NOT use more salt unless you're in love with salt. :-\
this turned out really strange. the flavors of the soy sauce and the nutritional yeast were too intense, maybe it would be better with less.
Okay, what the heck is nutritional yeast?? Is there a difference from regular yeast? Someone please help!!
Nutritional yeast is vastly different from yeast used in bread making. It is a soft yellow/tan and flaky or a fluffy powder (or a mix). It tastes cheesy. I like to sprinkle it on my popcorn & cooked veggies.
here's a link that shows it & talks about it:
http://www.shopnatural.com/html/4236.htm
You should be able to get it at any health food store, or even a large grocery store with an "organic" section. I buy mine in bulk at the local health food store, Naturtyme, or at Wegman's grocery store.
Okay, what the heck is nutritional yeast?? Is there a difference from regular yeast? Someone please help!!
look great. some of the other mac n cheese recipes were boring.
i like all the spices in this one.
I don't think I have ever had as much fun with a recipe as I have had with this one. I have made it numerous times, many different ways, sometimes using ideas from other posters. I have thrown in just about everything but the kitchen sink and everyone loves it, even my six year old nephew! There is some in my fridge right now.
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