There are two types of Vegan Mac and Cheese Sauce recipes out there. One is made of different starchy vegetables and nutritional yeast, the other one is made of nuts (usually cashew), store-bought vegan cheese or the starch of any kind. Obviously, none of the above versions will be an exact match for mac and cheese made of cow milk. However, if you change your expectations, you might in for a nice treat with this delicious, veggie-packed, nut-free vegan mac and cheese sauce recipe (no cashews).
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Easy vegan mac and cheese ingredients
This NO NUTS! vegan mac and cheese sauce requires only 7-ingredients and a good blender
or food processor. For our veggie version, I actually used only
- 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds,
- one carrot,
- one potato,
- one sweet potato,
- half onion,
- one clove of garlic, and
- little bit of nutritional yeast
Using the above I ended up with a vegan mac and cheese sauce for 6 servings. Easy and cheap that is what I call it. As you don’t need much, you can even do a sort of left-over version. You can use up any potatoes or carrots you don’t need for your more intricate main dinner course. 🙂
By the way, this recipe is also part of our Quick Vegan Meals collection.
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Why we love sunflower vegan mac and cheese
The other main ingredient is raw, unsalted sunflower seeds. These tiny seeds are packed with surprisingly a lot of nutrients. Not to mention compared to cashews or almonds, they are on the cheap side.
According to Cronometer 1 cup of raw sunflower seeds contains an astonishing amount of good plant-based protein (approx. 30g) and healthy plant-based Omega-6 fat (approx. 33g). It is very rich in Vitamin E, B1, B3, B6 and folate and high in minerals like copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and zinc.
Who knew? Read more about sunflower seeds in Healthline’s article about 6 healthy seeds.
How to make nut-free vegan mac and cheese?
This mac and cheese sauce is not only veggie-packed and cheap but easy to make as well. Not that the original mac and cheese is extremely hard.
Step 1 – Cook your vegetables for the vegan cheese sauce base
First, take two different pots. In one of the pots cook your veggies together until tender. While in the other pot cook your pasta as per instructions on its packaging.
Step 2 – Simply blend everything to get a smooth vegan cheese sauce
Add the cooked vegetables, the sunflower seeds, the nutritional yeast, and the seasoning to a good blender or food processor. Blend them until smooth and the mac and cheese sauce is technically ready!
How to make gooey vegan mac and cheese sauce?
Now your pasta is cooked and your mac and cheese sauce is ready. The starchy vegetables and the sunflower seeds will give this version a creamy and smooth texture. Optionally, you can add a bit of tapioca starch to make the sauce a bit gooier, but it is really up to you. The tapioca starch needs to be heated to activate. So add the cooked pasta, the sauce, and the tapioca starch to a frying pan on medium heat and heat it up for a couple of minutes. There you go.
Eggplant and Oyster mushroom topping
Now, you have a gooey, cheesy and creamy yellow mac and cheese sauce, which is already great on its own. But how about some topping. We garnished it with some eggplant and oyster mushroom. Yummy!
Heat frying pan on medium and cook eggplant either with olive oil or to be WFPB-compliant with the cooking water of the vegetables for the cheese sauce. After a couple of minutes, add the oyster mushroom and cook them until both vegetables are tender. Easy peasy.
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This easy mac and cheese sauce is vegan, vegetarian, nut-free and WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based). The sauce itself is gluten-free, but make sure to choose gluten-free pasta if it is important for you like this corn quinoa and rice fusilli or a more protein-packed chickpea pasta. I’ve never tried this gluten-free chia flour pasta but love to.
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Frying pan | Blender | Sunflower seeds | Nutritional yeast | Tapioca starch | Corn quinoa and rice fusilli | Chickpea pasta | Chia flour pasta
What more you need to try it? If you’re ready, watch this short video:
Easy Vegan Mac and Cheese NO NUTS!
Ingredients
Easy Vegan Mac and Cheese Sauce NO NUTS!
- 1 cup Potato (diced) 1 medium
- 1 cup Sweet potato (diced) 1 small/medium
- 1/2 cup Carrot (diced) 1 medium
- 1/4 cup Onion (chopped) 1/2 small
- 1 clove Garlic
- 1/3 cup Sunflower seed (raw, unsalted)
- 2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- Pepper
- 1 pinch Paprika
- 1 cup Cooking water
- 1 Tbsp Tapioca starch (optional)
Eggplant and Oyster Mushroom Topping (optional)
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- 3 cup Eggplant (diced) 1/2 medium
- 3 cup Oyster mushroom 200g
- 2 cloves Garlic
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
Easy Vegan Mac and Cheese Sauce NO NUTS!
- Boil water and cook pasta as per instructions on the packaging.
- Peel and dice potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots. The smaller you dice them, the shorter will be the cooking time.
- Peel and chop onion and garlic.
- Boil water in a pan and add all vegetables (diced potatoes, diced sweet potatoes, diced carrots, chopped onion, and garlic). Cook them until soft.
- When ready, reserve 1 cup cooking water.
- Transfer all cooked vegetables into a blender. Add sunflower seeds (no need to soak them), nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. Blend them until you have a creamy sauce.
- When pasta is ready, drain the water. If the sauce is thick enough for you, then you don't need to do anything else. Pour the sauce on the pasta and enjoy!
- If you prefer a thick and gooey sauce, then heat a frying pan on low/medium heat. Add pasta and the mac and cheese sauce and 1 Tbsp tapioca starch and mix thoroughly. Stir continuously and heat the sauce until bubbling. After 2-3 minutes, it thickens. Enjoy!
Eggplant and Oyster Mushroom Topping (optional)
- Peel and dice the eggplant to small cubes.
- Heat frying pan to medium heat and add olive oil.
- Cook the diced eggplant until tender approx. 10 minutes, then add the oyster mushroom, the finely chopped garlic, salt, and pepper and cook them until approx. 5 more minutes.
- Ready to add it to your easy vegan mac and cheese pasta. Enjoy!
Emma Li
April 9, 2019 at 11:19 pmI just made this without the nutritional yeast and substituted some vegetable bouillon in place of salt. Alpha did not make the eggplant topping.
My Pure Plants
April 16, 2019 at 9:04 pmThanks for making our recipe. We are so glad that you liked it.
Proktools
January 1, 2019 at 7:23 amIt looks very tasty…. yummy.. Write For Us
Kimmy Ripley
December 1, 2018 at 6:03 pmI have never had vegan mac and cheese but this sure looks and sounds delish!
My Pure Plants
December 1, 2018 at 9:31 pmThere is always a first. You should definitely give it a try.
Emma
November 27, 2018 at 1:58 amThis looks so good, definitely adding it to my list of recipes to try!
My Pure Plants
November 27, 2018 at 8:13 pmThanks. Great to hear it.