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Vegan Black Pepper Mac and Cheese with a light potato carrot cheese sauce. Free of dairy, egg, corn, nuts. Can be made soy-free and gluten-free with gf pasta. 30 minute meal. Add cashews to make a thicker creamier sauce. Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe.
More Mac n cheese! Cannot have enough mac recipes right.
Veggie cheese is all over the web recently. So I made some my way. No prep needed, no mashed potatoes needed. Cook the potatoes and veggies you want to use for 15-18 minutes. Blend, boil with pasta, done. Easy and simple.
And black pepper oh my. I don’t know why I haven’t added this much pepper to my mac before. It tastes amazing! more pepper= more fun.
This is a light sauce. For a creamier sauce, add sesame or pumpkin seeds or cashews. Use whole grain pasta or gf pasta to preference. Add more veggies in the cheese sauce or add with broccoli and use less pasta. Variations are endless. The veggie cheese sauce is one of those sauces that either one loves or doesn’t (as seen on the interweb on the many variations of the sauce) just like the butternut sauce mac :).
This missing scroll bar is annoying. Has anyone’s wordpress editor scroll bar disappeared with the WP 4.2 upgrade?
More Macs and Pasta recipes from the blog.
- Masala Mac and Cheese Vegan Recipe
- Cauliflower Alfredo, Spinach, artichoke Lasagna
- Pumpkin Sage Pasta with Pumpkin Cream Sauce and Crispy Sage
- Instant Mac and cheese mix in a jar
- Nacho Mac and cheese Casserole
Video:
Vegan Black Pepper Mac and Cheese with Potato Carrot Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups water
- 1 medium potato, about 1 cup or use 3/4 cup mashed potatoes
- 1/3 cup chopped carrots
- 4 garlic cloves , or 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp chopped onion , or use 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 green chili, optional
- 1/2 medium tomato, chopped
- 1/2 to 1 tsp prepared mustard
- 2 tsp soy sauce , or liquid aminos
- 3 to 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 to 3 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, omit to make oil free
- 1/3 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp sriracha, optional
- 3/4 tsp or more salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 3/4 to 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 6 to 8 oz elbows pasta, cooked to preference
- 1 cup broccoli chopped small
Instructions
- In a skillet, add water, potato, carrots, garlic, onion, chili and tomato. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for 17 to 19 minutes or until the potato is very tender and breaks easily. (add 2 Tbsp cashews for creamier sauce). Cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta to aldente. (in parallel with the above step if you like).
- Add the potato carrot mixture to a blender with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth. taste and adjust salt and spice.
- Transfer to the pan over medium heat. Add salt, white pepper, 1/3 tsp black pepper. Mix in. Bring to a boil. Carefully taste and adjust salt, cheesiness (add more nutritional yeast if needed).
- Add the cooked pasta and broccoli or other veggies. Mix in. Cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the sauce comes to a good boil and thickens.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes. Mix in the rest of the freshly ground black pepper (1/2 to 2/3 tsp). Sprinkle more pepper if you wish and serve/
Video
Notes
If you like your broccoli and veggies a bit cooked, add them to the pasta pot, 5 minutes before the pasta will be taken off heat. Drain both and keep aside. Dont like carrots? Use zucchini Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe is among the best. So good & flavorful. I have sampled all kinds of vegan sauce recipes & this one is truly memorable.
Such a tasty and healthy way to do a cheese sauce!!!! We use it for nachos, fondue, and mac & cheese. Thank you 🙏🏻
awesome!
I’ve always been skeptical of vegan cheese, but I decided to give this a try and it is UNREAL.
I am going to make this again many many many more times.
Super fast and easy to make too, which is awesome.
Thanks for this!!!
awesome!
I’m not much of a cook but this turned out great. I think I used some shishito peppers I had on hand instead of the jalapeno. I like how you can play with the spiciness. I used a hand blender with the carrot potato mixture. It had the texture of cheese but didn’t cause the intestinal issues- sometimes dairy causes. A coworker tried a couple of bites. She isn’t vegan either but she liked it as well and I forwarded her the recipe. It took me closer to an hour- but I don’t cook that often.. Thanks for creating a neat recipe.
Thanks! so glad you loved it!
Oh my gosh, this was SO good. I used red pepper flakes since I didn’t have white pepper, and it came out positively fantastic. I even by mistake didn’t let the sauce cook before putting the macaroni in, and if this is what it tastes like when I mess up, I can’t imagine how good it will be when I get it right! Thank you, thank you. My mac and cheese cravings are more than satisfied. 🙂
Awesome!
Do you drain the potatoe mixture first? Thanks.
no, it gets blended. Blend potatoes, carrots and their water and if the mixture is too thick, add a bit more water.
Thank you. It was delicious!
What do you do with the 2 cups of water after? It doesn’t say. I guessed “blend it.” But I’m putting this here to make sure.
It reduces while boiling. Blend it with the potato
This was my first non dairy “cheese sauce” so I was a little skeptical – but wow so delicious! I followed the recipe but omitted the tomato (didn’t have any) and used my vita mix to blend- the sauce was perfectly thick and creamy and I didn’t even add the cashews – I did add a little extra nutritional yeast bc I love the flavor. Highly recommend 🙂
Awesome!
This was my first version of a vegan cheese sauce to try. I didn’t love not dislike it but changed it up a bit to suit my taste- we all have different preferences!! I’d omit the tomato next time and added lots of sautéed onion and a bit more lemon juice and salt. My sauce turned out a not-so-appetizing colour but we all enjoyed a vegan supper as a family and my meat eating husband said he liked it. That’s a win! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
The potato carrot version can be an acquired flavor /texture. Try the cashew based ones from the blog (korean mac, plum’s spicy mac and masala mac and definitely the smoky mac from my second book). Good to hear that it turned out fine after adjustment!
You put cashew nuts but it doesn’t say how much? Will it work if i don’t put cashew nuts? My boy is only 2 years old and i havent tried nuts with him yet, not sure if he is allergic ( nuts allergy in the family), so a bit concerned about that, but really want to try this.
Its in the notes and they are optional. I used them in the video. You can use the same amount of pumpkin seeds (pepitas) instead. Soak them for a bit and use.