You won’t believe this recipe is low-fat AND oil-free. Nope.
You also won’t believe that bright and creamy cheese sauce you see is practically all made out of vegetables. Yes.
It’s beyond healthy and exceeds the clean eating craze… It’s The Ultimate Vegan Mac and Cheese. YUM.
I’ve been patiently enjoying the tasting and testing part of vegan mac and cheese recipes for like… the past year? This beloved recipe is THE ONE because there’s no cashews or coconut milk or anything typically found in “healthier” dairy-free mac and cheese. This one really is a low-fat winner, my friends. And it’s all yours!! I thought about adding cashews just to see how it would taste.. but decided not to and am more than pleased with how it turned out. Both my mom and dad loved this!
The best part about the beginning of Fall weather (even though it’s 80 degrees still here in the Chi..) is being able to make those comforting and warming foods again, right? I always think of Mac and Cheese for that. It’s the ultimate comfort food and is often seen as a decadent, rich and fattening meal. This one is all of those things without the fattening part. It’s also a great way to sneak in extra veggies!!
So what’s this magical cheese sauce made out of, you ask?
Sweet potato.
Carrots.
Zucchini.
Onion.
Spices.
Love.
First, start by boiling your peeled sweet potato, baby carrots, peeled zucchini peeled and chopped onion until soft. Save the remaining water!
Boil the water for the pasta. Then boil your favorite pasta.
In a blender, blend all ingredients with the saved water for a luxuriously healthy and creamy cheese sauce.
Pour that melty, cheesy goodness over your favorite cooked pasta.
Transfer to bowls and sprinkle with paprika.
The Ultimate Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
- 8 baby carrots (or 2 medium-sized carrots, chopped)
- 1 zucchini, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 of a sweet onion, chopped
- 12 oz. of pasta
Cheese Sauce
- boiled vegetables
- remaining water from the pot (about 1.5 cups)
- 1/2–3/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 3/4 teaspoon turmeric
- pepper, to taste
- dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
Instructions
- In a small pot, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add in the sweet potato and boil for about 5 minutes. Add in the carrots, zucchini and onion. Boil for another 5-8 minutes, or until everything is soft and can be pierced with a fork. Remove from heat.
- In a separate pot, start boiling the water for the pasta. Cook 12 oz. of your favorite pasta, according to directions. Drain and transfer pasta back to pot.
- Start making the cheese sauce. Spoon out the boiled vegetables and transfer them to a blender. Add in the remaining boiled water from that pot. Be careful, it’s very hot! Add in rest of the ingredients for the cheese sauce. Blend it up and be sure to let heat out or else it can explode. I usually remove the small center piece from the blender top and just hold it over the top to prevent splatters while also letting out the heat. Taste test and add in extra salt or pepper, if desired.
- Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta. Mix until well combined.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Refrigerates well for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
I was really excited to try this and it tastes like baby food.
Hi Melissa,
So sorry to hear that. What type of pasta did you use? Maybe the noodles were a bit overcooked which can change the consistency? It’s hard to expect a vegan cheese sauce to taste exactly like mac and cheese but this is one of my favorite recipes. Let me know how I can help you!
Hi Shannon!
I’m so glad I finally made this tonight. As someone who has tried many different vegan mac and cheese recipes, this is up there in my favorites because of the smooth texture of the sauce and it has tons of hidden veggies!! I love how simple this recipe is and with no oil or cashews. My boyfriend loved it too which surprised me because he is not a fan of sweet potatoes or carrots!
Seriously soooo good !! I’ve made this recipe a few times before, and it never fails to impress, I crave it once in a while too! Especially oil-free, I’m so happy! Thank you so much, I highly recommend! 🙂
vegan for life woo hooooo
I followed the recipe to a T so I’m not sure if something went wrong or if this just isn’t my thing, but this was so awful I had to throw it out. I’m an experienced cook and one of the least picky eaters I know. Very disappointed.
Used a true medium sweet potato, omitted the zucchini, and threw in a few extra baby carrots. Went heavy on the nutritional yeast and thought it was AMAZING! Now trying to figure out what else I can put it on, although I’m not above eating it with a spoon. 😉
I loved this, but more as a soup! Will be making again! 🙂
Maybe it tastes like cheese if your not from Wisconsin? But its veggies! Thanks for the try.
Unfortunately I’m not a fan. I think it’s too sweet, I probably should have made it with regular potatoes like most other recipes. I think this would work in a pasta bake with some other vegan cheese added to cut down on calories, but on it’s own it just didn’t do it for me… and this recipe makes SO MUCH sauce. 🙁
I am not a vegan but I stumbled across this recipe and love it! I make a large batch and freeze smaller portions to eat as I go. I still like cheese on it so I make a oven bake ‘mac and cheese’ having the sauce be mixed in with the noodles and sprinkling cheese on top. I love that I don’t have to add too much cheese which helps cut down on calories!
As I’ve experimented I have tweaked it this way:
1 container hummus, 1 lbs tofu, butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot, and nutrition yeast. I do like to add other veggies if I have them on hand such as broccoli, spinach, and cauliflower plus the ones in the recipe. It is fun to eat green mac and cheese (due to spinach/broccoli coloring)!
Thanks for the recipe! It has sparked great tweaks and my friends LOVE the sauce!
Sorry not at all like Mac cheese.
It tasted like sweet potato soup with pasta in. Will not be making it again.
Never mind good try
Okay so I was really hopeful when I was making this. But this tastes
nothing like Mac and cheese. It’s not bad, but should be called
something else. Probably won’t make it again to be honest. Still on a hunt to find a good vegan Mac and cheese.. Disappointed
Here is my recipe for Vegan mac n cheese…I took some elements from the recipe above, but also added a few of my own tweaks. I hope you enjoy this one and that it can be your go to for vegan mac n cheese.
Cashew cream
¾ cup Soaked cashews (soak for at least 3 hours, preferably all day or overnight)
¼ cup nutritional yeast
¼ cup dairy free milk
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Cheese sauce
2 small sweet potatoes chopped
½ onion chopped
1 large carrot chopped
Saute all in pan with 1 tbsp olive oil and garlic, first on medium then on low until they are soft (roughly 15 minutes)
Mix cheese sauce with cashew cream, blend and add another ¼ cup of dairy free milk. Add in cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and a bit of turmeric. Blend together until smooth. If it’s not blending well, you can add in a little bit of hot water, that should do the trick!
Finally pour cheese sauce over noodles. Add in steamed broccoli or other veggies if desired.
Nice try. But no. Better not to try a mimic something as classic as this. Bad to bring false hope. Better to admit these type of dishes are forever gone.
Can you make this without the onion? It upsets my toddler’s tummy.
Hi Nicole, yes of course!
I just made a small bowl of this for lunch. I made it exactly as directed except I made 2 changes. One I had to us red potatoes since that was all I had (i know it would change the flavor drastically, but I wanted to give it a shot anyway). The other change was that instead of plain water, i boiled the vegetables in vegetable broth. As well as using that during the blending. The end results were fantastic!! I had to had a bit more salt (my taste preferences). But I loved the whole idea of this recipe. Thank u for posting it. I plan on trying it exactly like the recipe next time.
Hi,I love the variety of projects that you share on your blog. It is so neat that you were able to jump in and start your own stamp company. What a wonderful feeling.
Not exactly cheese flavor but very delicious
I’m not a vegan, but I made this because I was curious. It is delicious. The sauce’s texture has the mouth feel of a vegmel. The flavor isn’t exactly cheese, but it is lusciously savory. I plan on making this again.
I was very skeptical before making this but I wanted to try it since it’s so healthy and no oil is used. Cannot believe how delicious this is! I’ll definitely be making it again.
I love it, thanks for posting the recipe.
Love it when I find a recipe that looks delicious AND I have everything on hand 🙂 Thanks!
Looks absolutely delicious and so healthy too! I’m going to make this this weekend. Really looking forward to trying this recipe out.
I made this last night without the zucchini (thank you previous commenter, you gave me confidence that it could be done!) and it was soooooo good. so incredibly satisfying… almost better than the taste was how easy it was to put everything together! My vegetarian mom went gaga over it too and she still eats dairy mac and cheese!
This is my first time making homemade vegan Mac and cheese and wow! I love it! Even my carnivore boyfriend liked it!
I’ve tried to make the boxed vegan mac and cheese but it was just gross.
Will be saving this recipe for sure! Thank you!
I loved this!! Slightly sweeter than what you may be used to thinking of as mac and cheese. I added some extra garlic and turmeric and used brown rice pasta. Delicious, nourishing, and didn’t leave me with the usual post dairy bloat! Thank you Shannon 🙂
Would it be okay if I made it one day, like on a Saturday, but we didn’t end up eating it until like Monday or Tuesday? Does it reheat okay? I’m trying to find things my daughter’s vegan friend will eat (along with healthier alternatives for us) when we go on vacation in a couple of months, (her friend is coming with us).
Can this be used as a baked potato cheese sauce?
Tried this today – it turned out very sweet. I think maybe my sweet potato was too large. I added two regular potatos, lots of garlic and some vegan butter and it helped!
Thanks
THIS IS AN AMAZING RECIPE! I actually got my 6 year old nephew (who is addicted to YELLOW cheese and yellow cheese only) to eat this and he Loved it! I fooled my crazy little cheddar cheese eater!
**I can’t seem to find nutritonal yeast where I live. Any suggestion for replacement? Thank you.
If you have a local health food store, they are bound to have it there… or you could order from Amazon as a last resort. I use Bragg and LOVE it. I put it in everything (it’s so good for you too!)
I’m can’t eat carrots very much, what could I sub? Would parsnips change the taste too much? I also can’t have garlic, only oil infused… Suggestions?
Just tried making this tonight (with a couple changes – extra dijon mustard and garlic, and no zucchini, since I didn’t have one to hand), and wow, it is delicious. I will definitely make it again.
This mac and cheese looks so amazing!! I love that the sauce is veggie-based. 🙂
Oooooh can’t wait to try this!! Mac ‘n cheese was always my favorite food, so when I went vegan I hoped I could find some really good substitutes. Luckily I’ve been super happy with all the vegan alternatives, and I can’t wait to add this one to the list!
Looks delicious, I need to try this recipe. 🙂 Do you think it would freeze well?