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vegan mac and cheese

Spicy vegan mac and cheese

hispanic-ish
A delicious mac and cheese recipe without dairy, and without compromising in flavor. This recipe is 100% plant-based, nutritious, and incredibly tasty with a spicy kick!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Course Main Course, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 4 People

Equipment

  • Large pot
  • Saucepan
  • Baking dish
  • Blender or hand mixer

Ingredients
  

  • 500 G Spiral or elbow pasta
  • ½ Head of cauliflower
  • ½ Butternut squash
  • 1 Large potato
  • 2 TBSP Nutritional yeast
  • 1 TBSP Plant-based butter
  • 1 TBSP Plain flour
  • 1 TBSP Premium light soy sauce
  • 1 TBSP Tomato paste
  • 1 Medium onion
  • 4 Cloves of garlic
  • 1 TSP Granulated garlic
  • ½ TSP Smoked paprika
  • 2 TSP Adobo
  • 1 TSP Cayenne pepper
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Topping

  • 1 CUP Breadcrumbs
  • CUP Oat milk
  • 1 TBSP Plant-based butter (softened)
  • Small pinch of salt and pepper

Instructions
 

  • Prep the veggies
    Peel/clean the cauliflower, butternut squash, and potato. Cut the squash and potato to similar sizes, while cutting the cauliflower slightly bigger.
    mac and cheese
  • In the large pot, boil the veggies until tender. Season the water with some salt.
  • Once tender, pull out the veggies and set aside. Use the same water to boil the pasta. Add a larger pinch of salt. When boiling the pasta, boil for 2 minutes less than the instructions on the package. You want your pasta to have a slight bite to it. Drain and set aside.
  • Meanwhile, in the saucepan saute the onion and garlic until translucent. (about 5 minutes)
    vegan mac and cheese
  • Add the tomato paste, granulated garlic, paprika, adobo, and cayenne pepper to the mixture. Season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Once warmed through, turn off.
    vegan mac and cheese
  • To the blender, add the veggies and the onion mixture. Puree until smooth. Taste. Add salt if needed.
    vegan mac and cheese
  • Using the saucepan, make a roux. Add 1 TBSP of butter to the pan, once warm add the flour. Whisk continuously until the mixture is medium brown in color. (Medium heat)
  • When the roux is a medium brown color, add in the oat milk, soy sauce, and nutritional yeast. Continue to whisk continuously.
  • While still whisking, add the pureed veggies to the roux. Once fully combined lower the temperature to low. Taste. Season with salt and pepper one last time, if needed.
    vegan mac andcheese
  • Pour the "cheese" sauce over the pasta and mix well. Then pour the pasta into the baking dish.
    vegan mac and cheese

Topping

  • preheat oven to 375F or 190C
  • Mix the softened butter and breadcrumbs until fully combined. Lightly season with some salt and pepper and mix.
    vegan mac and cheese
  • Pour the topping on top of the prepared baking dish, covering the pasta.
    vegan mac and cheese
  • Bake on the middle rack until the top is golden brown. (About 15-20 minutes)
  • Once baked let it stand for about 5 minutes before serving...AND DONE!
    vegan mac and cheese

Notes

Notes
  • If spice isn't your thing, just leave it out. Or if you want more of a kick,  add a little more. 
  • Don't like butternut squash? No worries, use sweet potato instead. However, the sauce will be much thicker, add a couple of tablespoons of oat milk if needed. 
  • Feel free to add more butter to your sauce if desired. I find that one TBSP for each, the sauce and the topping is enough. However, if you enjoy your mac and cheese buttery, go for it! You may want to add a tad bit more flour to the roux if more butter is added. 
  • You will not need to bake this mac and cheese as long as a traditional one. This is because the "cheese sauce" will get dry in the oven. You don't want it to get too dry, just literally brown on top.
Keyword vegan, vegetarian