Winner, Winner… Baked Vegan Mac and Cheese Dinner! This dairy-free, creamy vegan mac and cheese recipe is absolutely delicious, and SO easy to make. It’s a family favorite and I’m sure it will become yours too!
It’s all about the ‘cheese’! The ‘cheese’ is non-dairy and made with cashews, water, nutritional yeast, miso or dijon, lemon and a few spices, and blends up quickly using a high-speed food processor or blender. The result is a quick and easy, ultra creamy accompaniment for just about any pasta. No need for any flour, oil or butters, just wholesome cashews and a few flavorful add-ins!
This is kid tested and was a supreme hit with my 12 year old daughter who usually turns her nose up at almost everything I make. Now had I added veggies in the bake, it would not have passed which is why this is just a simple recipe, but feel free to add in veggies like broccoli, kale, peas, etc., whatever you may usually add into your favorite mac and cheese!
As for myself, I haven’t had a mac & cheese in I don’t know how long, and I seriously could have sat and ate the whole thing myself. I especially love the crunchy topping and paired mine with a side of steamed broccoli which was terrific!
If you’d like a version of vegan mac and cheese that’s cashew free, try this stovetop Easy Spicy Mac n Cheese or Creamy Broccoli & Pasta for a change. And for another cashew version, this Vegan Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese and Mac and Cheese with Peas is amazing!
Vegan Mac and Cheese Ingredients
- Pasta: Use any pasta you like. I’ve used both penne and shell pasta, as well as the elbow macaroni shown here. Make this gluten-free by using gluten-free pastas made with rice, quinoa, beans or lentils.
- Cashews: Cashews should be raw and unsalted, whole or pieces. Feel free to soak your cashews in water before using, they only need to soak for 2 – 3 hours in cold water or 5 minutes in very hot water, drain cashews before using. It aids in digestion and can be very beneficial for some, plus it softens the cashews making them blend into ultra creamy deliciousness!
- Cheese Sauce: For the cheese sauce flavoring, the nutritional yeast will add a ‘cheesy’ flavor and nutrition, the miso (also healthy) will add an umami flavor, but if you don’t have it on hand 2 teaspoons of dijon mustard (or 1 teaspoon dried mustard) will be great too. Turmeric is used to add a nice light golden hue, but if you don’t have turmeric on hand, no worries, you’ll end up with a white ‘cheese’ sauce instead.
How To Make Baked Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Cook the pasta according to package directions.
- Make the cheese sauce by combining the sauce ingredients in a high speed blender/food processor and blend until creamy.
- Mix it all together, add it to baking dish, top with bread crumbs and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. And if you’d rather not bake it, feel free to eat is as is without baking!
And that’s it, once done, you’ll have a perfect mac and cheese with a delicious golden, crispy topping, and tender, creamy macaroni underneath. So wonderfully comforting and delicious!
How To Store Leftovers
- Refrigerator: Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 4 – 5 days. It’s great for meal prep too!
- Freezer: To store longer, mac and cheese will keep in the freezer for up to 2 – 3 months stored in multi-use freezer safe containers (affiliate link) or freezer friendly baggies.
- Reheat: Warm on the stovetop, adding a splash of unsweetened plain non-dairy milk or water, until warmed through. Or microwave, adding a splash of unsweetened plain plant milk, using 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until warmed through.
Can I Make Vegan Mac + Cheese Ahead?
Yes, you can prepare vegan mac and cheese one or two days ahead, but keep the cooked pasta and cheese sauce separate until ready to bake. If you assemble it and store, the sauce might get soaked up from the pasta and make for a very dry mac + cheese. When ready to bake, combine the pasta and sauce, and cook according to the directions given.
If you make this vegan mac & cheese recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.
PrintBAKED VEGAN MAC & CHEESE (+ STOVETOP)
Kid approved, this cashew based mac and cheese is so easy to put together and will be ready in under 1 hour!
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 35 min
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6 - 8 1x
- Category: Entree, Pasta
- Method: blend, bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 16 oz. package pasta of choice (works with an 12oz package too)
- paprika, garnish (optional)
For the crumb topping
- two pieces of bread or 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- pinch of salt
Cheese Sauce
- 1 ½ cups raw cashews, preferably soaked (see notes *)
- 1 ½ cups water
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- juice of ½ large lemon or 2 teaspoons vinegar
- 1 clove garlic or ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon white miso or 2 teaspoons dijon or 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch or arrowroot (will help keep it creamy), optional
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- dash of cayenne, optional
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Pasta: Bring a large pot of water to a boil, cook your noodles and set aside.
Bread Crumbs: While waiting for the water to boil, start with your bread topping first. I toasted two pieces of bread we had on hand really well and processed them in the food processor until crumbly, a high speed blender will work too. Place the crumbs in a small bowl, drizzle with olive oil and a twist or two of the salt grinder, mix well and set aside. Quickly rinse the processor/blender bowl and move on to the cheese sauce.
Cheese sauce: In food processor/blender, combine all of the cheese sauce ingredients and blend until creamy. Add more water, a tablespoon or so at a time, and blend again. Taste for flavor adding anything extra to suit your taste.
Assemble: Once pasta is cooked and drained. Add pasta back to the pot it was cooked in, add the cheese sauce and combine well (you can also mix it together in the baking dish). In baking dish, pour mac & cheese and top with bread crumbs.
Bake: Place in oven for 20 – 25 minutes, check after 15 minutes if crumbs are darkening too much for your liking, cover with foil.
When done, let cool about 10 minutes and serve. The sauce will thicken upon standing.
Serves 8
Notes
*Two ways to soak cashews: Soak in cool water for 2 – 3 hours OR soak in very hot water for 5 minutes. Drain cashews and rinse before using.
If you use a smaller baking dish or use ramekins, lessen the cooking time to 10 – 20 minutes depending on the size of dish you use.
To make this gluten free use gluten-free pasta.
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Nikki says
I’m wondering what I did wrong. Or if maybe you don’t actually need the cornstarch. This was sooooo thick and not creamy at all. The sauce was creamy until I baked it then it turned into almost a scrambled egg consistency. The flavor was great so if the sauce could be saucy I would love it. Maybe I just try on the stove top and don’t bake it or take out the cornstarch next time. Anyways thanks for the recipe!!
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Hmm, that could be the issue in your case. The sauce does thicken during cooking so it can be added to the baking dish pretty runny, but you don’t want it too runny that it all falls to the bottom and doesn’t cling to the pasta. Next time, try without the cornstarch and that should do it. Sorry you had an issue, but glad flavor was good. I’m sure next time it’ll be just perfect and creamy the way you want it!
Emily says
Looks delicious! Do you think it’s possible to make the sauce using an inversion blender? It’s all we have in our little apartment and we’ve had so many mishaps trying to make soaked cashew recipes that I’m nervous to spend a million euros on cashews only to have to force feed myself for the next three meals…
Advanced thanks!
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
I don’t think an inversion blender will do as good of job blending as a standing blender. But you can always try, you’ll just need to be patient and give it a little extra time to blend. I personally love my little NutriBullet, and have used it to make cashew cheese for this recipe many times. It’s compact, fairly inexpensive and easy to clean. You may consider getting one for your small apartment. Hope that helps!
Ava says
BEST VEGAN MAC N CHEESE RECIPE EVER! Easy and delicious- we cannot stop eating it! We doubled the sauce and it was super good. I would give it 100 stars if I could!!!
★★★★★
Kaylee says
SOOO good!!!! My family loves this! It’s now a favorite.
★★★★★
Karlijae says
I used Follow Your Heart soy free veganaise instead of the soaked cashews and it was amazing.. my broke single mom version 😅 cashews are so expensive and in all the best vegan recipes, also since it was for my picky 7 and 2 year old boys I snuck in veggies by using beet, spinach rotini noodles in combo with brown rice elbows. It went over quite smoothly 🎉
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe 🙏
★★★★★
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Wonderful, so glad that worked for you and everyone loved it! Cashews are sooo expensive, but make the best creamy anything! I buy them in bulk when they go on sale and that helps a little. I love the addition of the veggie noodles, very smart, and pretty too! Thanks for sharing! :)
Joe says
I now buy cashews 10# at a time and save 50%! Totally worth the investment.
★★★★★
Karen says
My brother in law has a nut allergy. If subbing vegan mayo would I sub 1 1/2 cups of mayo for 1 1/2 cups of cashews?
Michael says
Such a great, simple & delicious recipe!! I discovered it earlier this year and have made it 8+ times so far, so good! Thanks Julia for creating & sharing. :)
★★★★★
Michael says
My bad, I totally meant Julie**
Bry says
I’m late to the recipe but wanting to try too, only thing is I can’t eat nutritional yeast, what would you recommend? Thank you.
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Hi Bry, you can omit the nutritional yeast all together. It will still be just as delicious, and no need to add anything else to replace it. Enjoy and do let us know how you liked it! Cheers :)
Bry says
Thanks!! ^_^
Bry says
We’ve made this several times. Like everyone said it was delish and fairly simple to make! It’s a great base recipe and I love how you can customize by changing the spices and adding veggies. Also love that there is an option for those of us who are not organized enough to soak cashews ahead of time! Thank you so much for sharing!! I don’t miss old mac and cheese any longer! ;-P
★★★★★
Lauren says
So creamy! I was definitely surprised how much this tasted like regular mac and cheese. Will definitely be making again! Thanks!!
★★★★★
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Yay, so glad you liked it! It’s easy too. :)
Diane says
I just made this for my daughter. She is recovering from wisdom teeth removal and really wanted a mac and cheese that she could easily eat, and vegan, of course. I left the bread crumbs off to avoid any issues with them, and used coconut oil instead of the olive oil (our family’s preference). It is incredible! I’ve made other vegan mac and cheese before and this ranks as one of the best. Thanks for sharing!
Courtney says
My first stab at vegan mac and cheese and because of this recipe I’ll never go back to the dairy version! Only thing I’d recommend is to add more liquid, it does turn really thick when cooking. Next time i make it I’m going to try to go a bit more creamy. Otherwise a great base to make a “buffalo chicken” (tofu/hot sauce) version or to just add some extra veggies. Thank you for this awesome vegan version of mac and cheese.
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Isn’t it the best! I swear it just as good if not better. So glad you loved it. It does it thicken up so adding a bit extra liquids will work great. Love your other ideas for the mac and cheese. Thank you so much for your input and inspiration! Cheers :)
Patsy says
This was a really yummy, satisfying mac & cheese! Everything mac & cheese should be – saucy, comforting, delicious – without all that yucky cheese. And like the recipe states, it might look like there is way too much liquid when you first mix the sauce in with the cooked macaroni, but it truly does absorb every bit of it once it has baked. I added chopped green onions and a teensy squirt of mustard to the sauce, because my mom used to make hers with those two ingredients included, and I wanted to make it resemble hers as much as possible. I did not have miso, so I substituted it with soy sauce. It worked out just fine. I have never attempted making a sauce using something like soaked cashews, but I am totally sold on it now. Even though my little Bullet blender did totally achieve that ultimate creaminess that I would like, it was still delish. I really love this.
Becky says
I was wondering about the nutritional content breakdown? Calories etc.. Although it doesn’t matter because i have made it about 30 times already. It is delicious!
Batlady says
Making this to have with a lentil and kidney bean soup next week. Cant wait to try it!
Pearson says
I have a grandson who is allergic to cashews. Is there a substitute that can be used and still retain the flavor?
[email protected] says
I haven't tried it with any other nuts and can't recommend a substitute. I would suggest making the Spicy Mac n Cheese recipe I have in the archives, minus the spice if you like. I hope to work on a new seed based mac n cheese recipe in the future.
Uber Groomer says
I made this Sunday night and it was so good I had it for breakfast on Monday!! Even my non-vegan husband enjoyed it!! I also make the chickpea cranberry walnut sandwich on a regular basis and love it!!! So glad your recipes are easy and satisfying!
Alex Bray says
We love your website!!..it rocks…making this as I write…and we love your Vegan Journey at the end…we are doing the same…
[email protected] says
Thank you Alex! Cheers to our vegan journey! xo
Cheri Schmidt says
Wow, fantastic! I'm not vegan but I made this for some friends who are. It's uncanny how much it tastes like the real thing. I agree with a previous comment to kick up the spice level a notch. Will definitely make again.
Cat says
I've made this twice now; once using cashew butter (I had one made from roasted cashews, but it worked well enough!), and once discovering my smoothie-maker could blend the soaked cashews really well. Thank you so much for the delicious recipe! I would never have thought of using cashews on my own (even though it seems obvious now!), so thank you.
[email protected] says
Gald everything is working out for you and I'm doubley glad to have inspired something new! Cheers :)
Cat says
Random question: do you think cashew butter would work as well as blended cashews? They seem to be the only cheese ingredient that needs a food processor, and if it was cashew butter made just from cashews (no salt or anything added) surely it would be the same end result? I love macaroni cheese but have never tried making one with nuts before, only with blocks of vegan cheese – this recipe sounds awesome!
[email protected] says
Yes, you can use cashew butter adding some water to thin it out a bit. I would suggest starting with anywhere from 3/4 to 1 cup cashew butter. I'm sure it will turn out wonderful!