A baking dish serving vegan mac 'n' cheese

Vegan mac 'n' cheese

By Elena Silcock
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(23 ratings)
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Prep: 15 mins Cook: 20 mins (plus overnight soaking)

Easy

Serves 6

Make the ultimate comfort dish, macaroni cheese, but with vegan credentials. The recipe is quick and easy to make, so a great midweek meal for the family

Nutrition and extra info

  • Vegetarian
  • Vegan

Nutrition: Per serving

  • kcal686
  • fat30g
  • saturates5g
  • carbs80g
  • sugars6g
  • fibre8g
  • protein20g
  • salt1.12g
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Ingredients

  • 160g raw cashews
    Cashew

    Cashew

    ka-shoo

    The seeds from the 'Cashew Apple' - a tree which bears bright orange fruit and is native…

  • 200g carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
    Carrot

    Carrot

    ka-rot

    The carrot, with its distinctive bright orange colour, is one of the most versatile root…

  • 700g potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
    Potato

    Potato

    po-tate-oh

    The world's favourite root vegetable, the potato comes in innumerable varieties. A member of…

  • 90ml olive oil
    olive oil

    Olive oil

    ol-iv oyl

    Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…

  • 40g nutritional yeast
    Nutritional yeast

    Nutritional yeast

    new-trish-in-al yeest

    Dried nutritional yeast flakes differ from active and beer yeasts…

  • 1 lemon, juice only
    Lemon

    Lemon

    le-mon

    Oval in shape with a pronouced bulge on one end, lemons are one of the most versatile…

  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 400g macaroni
  • 3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs

Method

  1. The night before, soak the cashew nuts in water and leave overnight.

  2. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Steam the carrots and potatoes together for 5 mins, until completely softened. Transfer to a food processor. Drain the cashews and add these with 60ml of the oil, then blitz to break down the nuts. Tip in the other ingredients – apart from the macaroni, breadcrumbs and the remaining oil – then blitz again until the mixture is smooth and season well. Add a splash of water and just a drizzle of olive oil if it looks too stiff, then set aside.

  3. Cook the macaroni in a large pan of salted water for 1 min less than packet instructions, drain then stir through the sauce. Transfer the mix to an ovenproof dish, stir the breadcrumbs with the remaining oil and some seasoning. Scatter over the top of the macaroni and bake for 20-25 mins until piping hot and crisp.

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Comments, questions and tips

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parsons269
18th Jun, 2020
5.05
This was excellent. I am vegan but I did previously LOVE cheese. Whilst this is obviously not cheese, it is very tasty and a very good “cheesy” consistency. The sauce came out very thick for me so I thinned it a bit with cashew milk, but once all mixed together it was lovely. It was also incredibly easy to make. I grilled for the last few minutes as the breadcrumbs weren’t browning, otherwise followed the recipe as stated. Would be easy to adapt by adding some veggies or vegan bacon.
sdugnolle
8th Oct, 2018
4.05
Really good. We all ate this happily. Not vegans but had some nutritional yeast to try out. Could not cram all ingredients into my blender. Had to do in batches. Next time I will wizz veg first, put aside, do other ingredients then blend together. I think the potatoes got stickier the more I blended. I did add a bit more oil and water. Will add a lot more to get a thinner sauce, as it become a little dry in the oven. Ate with steamed courgettes which helped. Used only one clove of garlic and a little less vinegar as my whole grain mustard seemed quite vinegary. Didn’t have time to soak nuts long enough but it doesn’t effect taste.
jennybeans
11th Sep, 2018
Can I make the "cheese" in advance and freeze it?
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
14th Dec, 2018
Thanks for your question. Yes, you can freeze after step 2. Take a look at our reply below to see how.
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
11th Sep, 2018
Thanks for your question. You could freeze the mixture after step 2. You might need to give it another blitz once defrosted, adding a little extra oil and water to loosen it.
Jwmellish@aol.com
19th Dec, 2017
Can I swap the cashews for almonds? I have a daughter allergic to every nut apart from almonds.
Sam Morison
12th Dec, 2018
4.05
Hi I know this was ages ago but I would maybe try using a vegan cream. As the kashews in the recipe replace the creaminess. I think the alpro version will be the easiest to get a hold of.
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
21st Dec, 2017
Thanks for your question. Cashews work best in this recipe but if almonds are your only alternative then it's worth giving it a go. Let us know how you get on.
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