Perfect Creamy Mac and Cheese
16 ounces pasta noodels (I prefer medium shells)
1/4 cup vegan butter
1/4 cups flour
2 cups nondairy milk (I use soy)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic
1 cup vegan mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided
1 cup vegan cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
dash paprika, optional
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Boil water for noodles, and cook according to package directions. In a medium sized sauce pan, put the vegan butter over medium heat. Once melted, lower heat and slowly stir in flour. Bring to a creamy texture and raise heat to medium.
2. Stir in milk until the sauce is thick and creamy. Add the spices and give it the taste test. This is the white sauce and the foundation of the mac and cheese.
3. Set 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup cheddar aside for later. Now use the other 1/2 cups and stir them into the white sauce. Once again, stir until sauce is thick, creamy, and the cheeses are even.
4. Drain the noodles. Pour the sauce over the noodles in a large baking pan. Now, you can do one of two things: take the two 1/2 cups of cheese that were set aside earlier. Mix the two cheeses together and sprinkle across the top of the mac and cheese, or pour 1/2 the mac and cheese into pan, and sprinkle with 1/2 of cheese mixture, then add rest of mac and cheese, and sprinkle rest of cheese (for layers).
5. Dust with paprika. Bake covered for 20 minutes.
Source of recipe: Me and my roommate made up the recipe.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I tried this last night and it came out excellent! My parents could not believe it was vegan. I added broccoli to mine, and it was a great addition. I will definitely make this one again and experiment with different vegetables. Thanks for the recipe.
Soooo good! Even my picky meat eating husband had seconds!
This is so good!! Finally a mac n cheese recipe that doesn't have that powerful mustardy taste to it. I followed the recipe exactly, but my noodles were a little bit too soft so I think next time I'll boil them just until al dente so when they bake they won't overcook. Otherwise, delicious!
Turned out great! My 1st Vegan dish. Family loved it. Thanks!
This is a great recipe! I added sauted onions and a little cayenne because I love spice! And for the topping I mixed vegan bread crumbs with vegan butter and crumbled it on top :)>>>. Excellent tasting and very creamy! This recipe made my day and fulfilled my comfort food craving.
I was looking for a mac and cheese recipe that would bring back the memory of my mother's.
THIS IS It!!!
In fact, I got out her recipe and did a side by side comparison -- very similiar.
Better yet -- this is quite simply the BEST baked mac & cheese EVER!!!
A couple things to note:
I doubled the recipe and am so glad. It's too good to only make a single batch.
I used quite a bit more shredded cheese than the recipe called for. The down side of that is that it's not as liquid and creamy. I think the next time, I will use more cheese, but also start with more roux.
I diced up 1/2 onion and sauteed it. I then added it to the creamy cheese mixture.
I browned the breadcrumbs using vegan margarine.
Also, be patient after you've added the cheese to the liquid mixture. It takes a long time to melt vegan cheese. I kept a small whisk handy and just kept stirring.
Deeeelicious! Not aggressively cheese flavored, which I liked. My non-vegan roommate loved it too. I added fire-roasted diced tomatoes, basil, & black pepper and it tasted awesome. I also added a little more garlic powder and some mustard to the sauce before I baked it for extra flavor.
I thought this was pretty tasty. I will make this a staple! Thanks. :)
Obviously it depends greatly on what type of cheese you use. With Daiya it would be perfect. A cheese sauce from the Uncheese Cookbook, Teese (what the author used), or maybe Cheezly would be second place. Follow Your Heart is what almost everyone who tries the recipe will use but it's always performed terribly for me. Their block cheeses, along with Tofutti's and Vegan Gourmet's, are outdated now.
I was really excited to try a recipe for mac n cheese that didn't involve nutritional yeast, so when I saw this one pop up, I decided to give it a shot.
Unfortunately, while it was definitely much creamier that my regular mac n cheese, it was a little bland. Granted, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I didn't bake it, I just did it all on the stovetop....and I didn't add the full amount of salt, which I obviously should have done. I added steamed broccoli and cauliflower - and a bunch of sriracha to give it some flavor, which helped.
I think a mixture of this sauce and my nooch sauce would be pretty good. I might try that next time I'm craving mac and cheese.