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One evening, hubbs gets home as usual very hungry and sees the casserole ready to eat. I hand him a medium sized helping. He starts off with mmm it looks funny with those chips.. after 2 bites.. mmmm, interesting.. It does taste like nachos, but theres the pasta in it.. so I am confused or rather my tastebuds are confused.. mmmm interesting… mmmmmmm this is amazing.. (huge spoon fulls in).. mmmmmmmmm, can I have another helping? .. lets add more of those jalapenos.. mmmm mmmm.. this is awesome.. AAWwesome! Is there anymore left..mmm mm. gobble .. gobble..
One word.. Make it 🙂 I mean seriously, this is a filling one pot deliciousness that you have to eat to believe. I just had to have my mac with the nacho cheese and all the fix-ins and make it into one delicious and healthy meal:)
You can also put this whole thing on a pizza! or in sloppy burgers. There is just so much flavor going on in the dish. The sauce tastes like Nacho cheese. There is layers of Mac in Nacho cheese sauce, Tempeh taco/nacho meat, salsa, cheddar, more Mac and cheese, chips, jalapenos. Lets hear it for a Nacho Mac and Cheese Casserole.
Those chips look funny but they actually work well to slow you down.. When you eat a bite with a chip you think snack and slow down, else you will want to finish the whole helping without stopping. You can omit the chips or other layers. The cheese sauce and tempeh meat are amazing by themselves.
You dont need the Daiya cheddar in this casserole. The cheese sauce has enough Nacho cheesy flavor profile. And no fear, there will soon be a melty stringy Nacho cheese cheese on the blog.
Without the Daiya and Chips, this Casserole is refined oil-free. It can be made Gluten-free by using glutenfree pasta and replacing the flour in the sauce with a gf flour or more cashew flour.
You can add some cauliflower in the cheese sauce like this Mac and Cheese.
For more bakes, pastas and such see the Collection here.
In other news, if you missed the crazy pinning frenzy(see the pin counts on them posts!), it is because of Vegnews featuring my Lentil and Cauliflower Burger in their Awesome things to do with Cauliflower Roundup here.
And my Roasted butternut, Sriracha Mayo Sandwich in Must eat Spicy round up here. 😀 I think I should keep making them burgers:) Thanks for the features Vegnews! and Thank you to everyone who made the burgers and loved them:)) me = super happy!
Virtual Vegan Potluck(VVP) sign up is now open. If you can cook vegan, want to connect with a bunch of awesome bloggers and win some prizes doing so.. Sign up here!
Steps:
Mix everything for the Tempeh Nacho meat and cook covered for 25 minutes. Also in another pan boil the water to cook the Macaroni.
Chop up, gather and Add the cheese sauce ingredients to the blender.
Blend away until smooth. Taste and adjust salt and spice.
By this time the Mac must be cooked. Strain and add the cheese sauce to it. Mix and let sit. The heat for the pasta will thicken the sauce a bit.
In a casserole dish, layer the Mac and cheese. The tempeh should be almost done by now. Or take a break, play with your dog, eat some chips, and make some Salsa.
Then layer the cooked Tempeh filling.
Layer with Salsa.
then Daiya cheddar.
then more mac and cheese
then corn chips and pickled Jalapenos. Humor me.
Layer with more Daiya cheddar.
Bake for 25 odd minutes. Let cool for a few and dig.
Nacho Mac and Cheese Casserole with Taco Tempeh 'meat'. Vegan Recipe
Ingredients
Nacho Cheese Sauce
- 1/4 cup Cashew flour, ground raw Cashew
- 1/4 cup flour, I use unbleached white
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1-2 roasted/canned pimiento , or roasted 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1 roasted Jalapeno, optional
- 1/2 medium tomato chopped
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 2 teaspoons onion flakes , or a 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 3-4 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon aleppo pepper flakes, optional
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, optional
Tempeh Nacho/Taco "meat"
- 4 oz tempeh crumbled
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 teaspoons liquid aminos or tamari
- 1 tomato chopped , or 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/3 tsp salt
- Or you can use salt, tomato paste and taco seasoning mix to add to tempeh+water
Other
- 1 cup dry Macaroni pasta
- 1/2 cup Salsa of choice, or chopped roma tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, salt and lime juice
- Corn chips
- Pickled Jalapenos
- Daiya Cheddar shreds
Instructions
- Tempeh:
- In a large pan, add crumbled tempeh, water and rest of the ingredients. Mix and cook covered on low-medium heat for 25 minutes or until dry. Stir twice in between. You can marinate the tempeh in the wet before cooking if you like for a deeper flavor.
- Mac:
- Boil the water for the pasta and cook until al dente.
- Nacho Cheese Sauce:
- Add the nacho cheese sauce ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Mix the sauce into drained hot Macaroni pasta.
- Bake:
- Layer the Mac and cheese.
- Top with Tempeh Nacho meat.
- Top with Salsa. (Or top the chips with salsa later).
- then some Daiya cheddar.
- Add the remaining Mac and Cheese.
- Top with Chips, Jalapenos and cheese shreds.
- Bake at pre-heated 370 degrees F / 190ºc for 25-30 minutes.
- Cool for a bit before serving.
Notes
To make Gluten-free, use gf pasta and substitute flour with Cashew flour or gf flour. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Anna, the sauce might not thicken and dry out as much during baking, but the taste will not be affected. 🙂 You can add a tablespoon of cornstarch or arrowroot starch in the sauce for thickening if you want. I’d say try it without the starch. I hope you all like it!
I am making this tonight for dinner but am going to try to substitute almond flour for cashew since I don’t have any. Also, sadly I don’t have access to vegan cheeze shreds so will have to do without.
Hi Anna, the sauce might not thicken and dry out as much during baking, but the taste will not be affected. 🙂 You can add a tablespoon of cornstarch or arrowroot starch in the sauce for thickening if you want. I’d say try it without the starch. I hope you all like it!
I made this tonight and we LOVED it! We will be making this many times more! Thanks for the great recipe!
Richa, you have outdone yourself!! That is the definition of comfort food. What I wouldn’t give for a bite!
Such a clever idea – I can totally see how well this would work. Mac and cheese always makes me very happy. I’m still a little leery of tempeh, but I have a sneaking suspicion this is what tempeh’s made for!
I had this for dinner and my husband had three servings and asked me if he could have the leftover for his lunch tomorrow!
Thank you awesome recipe!
Thank you for trying it out recipe Simona! I am so glad that you all loved it :))
Holy moly, this looks decadent and combines two of my favorite comfort foods!
Where do you come up with this stuff, Richa! I mean, wow! I totally need to make this the next time I have potluck with omnis- this is the sort of thing they would go crazy over! 🙂
i agree..you can hide this with the other food and no one will ever know:)
I can see why hubs was freaking out over this! I’m freaking out too!
he wasnt so sure until he ate some:) but then it was all good from there
What a fun twist on two different classics!! Love your creativity, and your photos look so beautiful that I’m not surprised your husband asked for seconds!
he asked for thirds and fourths a little later too:)