The BEST vegan mac and cheese recipe! With a creamy, cheesy sauce made from sweet potatoes and nutritional yeast, it's just as good as the real thing.
When I’m craving comfort food, this vegan mac and cheese recipe is the first thing I make. It calls for a handful of ingredients that I almost always have on hand, it’s quick and easy, and it’s absolutely delicious. The creamy sauce is rich, luscious, and filled with nutty, tangy cheddar cheese flavor. Even Jack, who LOVES classic mac and cheese, will happily devour a bowl (or two) of this plant-based pasta any day.
In the past, I’ve made dairy-free mac and cheese with coconut milk, cauliflower, or a big scoop of cashews, but this recipe is my favorite by far. The super creamy sauce still contains a small amount of cashews, but its base is blended yellow potato and sweet potato. The yellow potato gives it a delightful gooey texture, and the sweet potato makes it vibrant orange. Apple cider vinegar, garlic, onion powder, and nutritional yeast perfect its cheesy taste. It’s fun, yummy, and even healthy too! I think you’re going to love it.
How to Make Vegan Mac and Cheese
- First, make the vegan cheese sauce. Simmer sweet potatoes and potatoes until tender. Then, drain them, and add them to a blender with raw cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic, onion powder, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, water, and olive oil. Puree until smooth.
- Next, cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook it according to the package directions, until al dente. Before you drain the pasta, set aside 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water.
- Finally, toss it all together! Return the cooked macaroni to the pot and add the cashew cheese. Stir to combine, adding the reserved pasta water, as needed, to loosen the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve the vegan mac and cheese with a simple veggie side dish like roasted broccoli, roasted Brussels sprouts, lemony green beans, or roasted cauliflower. Enjoy!
Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe Variations
- Swap the sweet potato. If you don’t have sweet potato on hand but you still want to try this recipe, don’t worry. An equal amount of diced carrot or butternut squash would work just as well.
- Make it smoky. Blend 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, to taste, into the vegan cheese sauce for a smoky twist. Or, for texture, stir in a handful of crumbled tempeh bacon bits!
- Spice it up. Make spicy vegan mac and cheese by pureeing the sauce with 1 tablespoon pickled jalapeños or a chipotle pepper from a can of chipotles in adobo.
- Go gluten-free. Use your favorite gluten-free pasta! I like to use brown rice elbow macaroni.
- Add extra veggies. Of course, this vegan mac and cheese tastes good on its own, but adding extra veggies certainly doesn’t hurt. Stir in thawed frozen peas, spinach, or steamed broccoli for a bright pop of green.
How do you like to make your vegan mac and cheese? Let me know in the comments!
More Favorite Pasta Recipes
If you love this recipe, try one of these yummy pasta recipes next:
- Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo
- Easy Pesto Pasta
- Creamy Vegan White Bean Pasta
- Easy Baked Ziti
- Creamy Pasta Pomodoro
- Best Vegetarian Lasagna
- Or any of these 25 Easy Pasta Recipes!
Vegan Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
For the vegan cheese sauce
- ¾ cup peeled and diced Yukon Gold potato
- ¾ cup peeled and diced sweet potato
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup raw cashews
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup water
For the mac and cheese
- 12 ounces elbow macaroni
- sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- Make the vegan cheese: Place the Yukon Gold potatoes and sweet potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Add a few pinches of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until fork-tender, 8 to 12 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes and transfer to a high-speed blender with the garlic, cashews, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt, olive oil, and water. Blend until smooth.
- Make the mac and cheese: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare the pasta according to the package instructions, cooking until al dente. Reserve ½ cup of the pasta cooking water before draining.
- Drain and transfer the pasta back to the pot. Stir in the vegan cheese sauce, adding up to ½ cup pasta water to loosen the sauce, as necessary. Season to taste and serve.
This is delicious! I have paired this with Jovial pasta, fresh tomatoes and jalapeños!
We loved this! We both went back for seconds 🙂 Thanks for a great recipe.
Hello! Thank you for the recipe .
How many cashes should I use ?
Hi Daniela, the cheese recipe is at the bottom of this post: https://www.loveandlemons.com/vegan-cheese/
The Mac and Cheese looks great. My little guys has issues with dairy. Does the cheese sauce freeze well?
My children would enjoy only this as a main dish. They love mac n cheese! Even though I see it as a side, they see it as pure food heaven.
Ha, I’m so glad they loved it 🙂
This recipe looks greaaaat but that would be greater to have the propotion of ingredients….
🙁
Hi, they’re in the recipe card at the bottom of this post – just click over to the Vegan Cheese recipe and the measurements are all included.
Click the link that says vegan cheese and it will tell you
This is the second time I am making this…thanks so much for the recipe! I added a bunch of veggies to mine…spinach, carrots, broccoli and soyrizo inspired by the Homeroom Mac and cheese and what they have as add ons.
I’m transitioning to a plant-based diet – and the one thing holding me back is cheese. I love cheese – not often or in large quantities – but I do love cheese. Thanks for sharing this recipe…I’ve been wanting to try a vegan mac & cheese and this version will be my gateway!
so glad you liked it!
Looks delicious! Thanks for making vegan recipes 🙂
Thanks so much!!! And I just wanted to say that I love reading your blog! The layout is so perfect, and each picture is a work of art!! : D I find myself coming back to view your posts (even though i looked at all the recipes!) because it’s so pretty and I love the recipes and photos!!!!!
This is for tomorrow night’s dinner, can’t wait to try it… I have all the ingredients at hand, so I’m sure it will be a satisfying meal for my hubby….
Thanks so much for sharing…
I experienced my first vegan mac and cheese at a local restaurant the other day (and liked it), but your version looks even better! Though I do love cheese, I don’t often indulge in super creamy, cheesy things, and this looks like a satisfying yet less indulgent option. Hope to give this a try before winter is over!
This version of vegan mac n cheese sounds perfect. I cannot wait to try it!
Thank you, thank you for posting this recipe! I’m trying to eat less dairy because no matter how much I love cheese, it doesn’t always love me back. Mac and cheese is one of my favorite foods, so I look forward to trying this.
Thanks so much Jeanine! Headed to the grocery store in just a little bit to grab what I need. Have a great weekend!
I AM a “true cheese lover” myself…but regular mac ‘n’ cheese is just too much for me to eat regularly, so I can’t wait to try this myself. It looks DELICIOUS.
This looks great! Yet another comfort food you don’t have to miss out on as a vegan.
I’m looking forward to trying this. I finally got my hands on some nutritional yeast and have been searching for a really good first recipe to test it out on my husband. – he might be a tough sell, but this has a pretty good chance of winning him over!
I do love some vegan mac ‘n cheese! This version looks fantastic!