Try the BEST Dairy-Free Mac and Cheese recipe, ready in under 20 minutes on the stovetop. This creamy delight satisfies cheese cravings without any dairy. Indulge in a decadent vegan cheese sauce made with simple ingredients. It's perfect for an easy, kid-friendly weeknight dinner packed with cheesy goodness.
If you want more creamy vegan recipes, check out this Vegan Bechamel Sauce. You'll also love this Dairy Free Cheese Fondue and Vegan Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese recipe as well as.
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- This makes the perfect easy, weeknight one pot meal.
- Great for vegans, vegetarians and people who are lactose intolerant
- Made with easy-to-find, simple ingredients that can be found in your pantry or local grocery store.
- The combination of soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, and vegan cheese creates a rich and cheesy flavor that rivals traditional mac and cheese.
- Versatile and customizable: Add your favorite veggies or protein sources to personalize the dish and make it your own.
- Family-friendly: This easy vegan mac and cheese is loved by the whole family, even those who aren't following a plant-based diet
🧀 Ingredients
- Raw cashews - This is what we're going to be using to get the dairy free, creamy base. When you soak raw cashews, then blend them up, they make an amazing creamy base.
- Seasonings - I love using garlic powder, onion powder and turmeric powder. The turmeric adds a nice orange color to the sauce. If you don't have turmeric, you can use mustard.
- Nutritional yeast flakes - This is an inactive yeast that comes in yellow flakes. It adds a nutty and cheesy flavor to vegan dishes.
- Dairy free cheese - My favorites are Violife or Chao
- Dairy free milk - Oat milk is my favorite milk to use. You can just substitute for water if you don't have this on hand.
- Peas or broccoli - This is optional but I always love adding in veggies when I can. And what better way to add them in that with cheese and pasta. If you add peas, it will add protein to this dish.
- Miso paste - This is optional but it adds a nice umami depth of flavor to the cheese sauce. If you don't have this you can just add a little more salt.
- Vegan sour cream or cream cheese - This is optional, but it adds an even creamier texture to the sauce.
- Lemon juice - This helps balance out all the flavors with the acid. You can substitute for white vinegar.
- Noodles - I recommend using tube shaped macaroni noodles or shells or spirals, The hollow inside of the pasta makes a nice pocket for the dairy free cheese sauce to get trapped. Use whole wheat pasta to make this recipe a little healthier.
👩🍳 Recipe tips
If you use a vegan cheese block or slices instead of the shreds, just chop it up or shred it before adding them to the pan.
Buy your cashews in bulk online. It’s a lot more affordable. Cashews are great to have on hand any time you want to make a creamy vegan sauce.
Cook the pasta al dente to ensure it retains a slightly firm texture when mixed with the delicious sauce.
Save some pasta water to add to the sauce for a silky and creamy consistency.
If you're adding broccoli or peas, add them in when the pasta has one minute left to cook. This will save on having to wash an extra pan.
Check out my blog post about How to Stop Eating Cheese, if you need some more vegan tips!
🔪 Directions
Step one: Soak raw cashews in boiled water for 10 minutes. Drain afterward.
Step two: Cook pasta shells according to the package instructions, ensuring they are cooked al dente. Save ½ cup of the pasta water.
Step three: In a high powered blender, add oat milk, soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, mustard, garlic powder, onion powder (everything but the shredded cheese, sour cream and pasta basically). Blend until smooth
Step four: In a large saucepan over low - medium heat, melt vegan butter in with the cooked macaroni. Add the cheesy sauce mixture.
Step five: Add in the shredded vegan cheese and pasta water. You can also add the vegan cheese to the blender with all the other ingredients, so that it melts quicker.
Step six: Stir on low heat until the sauce thickens. Taste and adjust the seasoning with black pepper and additional salt if needed.
🥦 Serving suggestions
This works great as a main dish or a side dish. Serve it on the side of a vegan meatloaf or Vegan Seitan Ribs with some Vegan Instant Pot Collard Greens. Also goes great with this Easy BBQ Tempeh or this Crispy Air Fryer Buffalo Tofu.
❄️ Storing and reheating
Storing: Store this in an airtight container in the fridge for about 5-7 days. You can also freeze this in a freezer friendly container for up to three months.
Reheating: When you re-heat this, add a few splashes of water or oat milk because it thickens up as it cools off.
You can heat this up on the stove on medium heat. A microwave works well too.
❓Recipe FAQs
If you’re allergic to cashews, check out my Vegan Mac and Cheese without Cashews recipe.
Oat milk is my first choice for a plant milk because it is the most neutral tasting. Coconut and cashew milk are also good. I prefer not to use soy milk or almond milk because I find that they will leave an after taste in this dairy free mac and cheese.
Yes! This is very easy to make gluten free. Just make sure you use your favorite gluten-free pasta shells, gluten free non-dairy milk and gluten free non-dairy cheese.
Violife mature cheddar, is the best vegan cheese in my opinion. Chao, Field Roast plant-based cheese and Follow Your Heart cheese brands are also really good. Daiya vegan cheddar cheese is my last choice, but it’s easy to find and will get the job done.
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If you loved this recipe, leave a 5 ⭐️ rating on the recipe card and comment below!
📖 Recipe
Super Creamy Dairy Free Mac and Cheese (Vegan)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup raw cashews
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (or white vinegar)
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon miso paste (add ½ teaspoon more salt if you don't have this)
- 1½ cups unsweetened plain oat milk (or water)
- 2 cups shredded vegan cheese
- ½ cup cooked pasta water
- 12 ounces dry pasta shells
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- Handful of frozen green veggie of choice like peas or broccoli (optional)
Instructions
- Boil water and pour over raw cashews let them soak for 10 minutes while you prepare everything else. Drain them once they're done.¾ cup raw cashews
- Bring a pot of water to boil and cook your shells according to package. After they're cooked, strain them, but save ½ cup of the water for later.12 ounces dry pasta shells
- While shells are cooking, add oat milk, cashews (once they've soaked and drained) nutritional yeast, miso paste, vegan cheese, vinegar, turmeric, garlic powder, onion powder and salt to a blender (everything but the shredded cheese and pasta basically). Blend until smooth.¾ cup raw cashews, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, ½ teaspoon ground turmeric, ¼ cup nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 1½ cups unsweetened plain oat milk, 1 tablespoon miso paste
- Once your shells have one minute left of cooking, if you'd like to add frozen veggies, add them to the pasta water with the shells. This will cook the veggies without having to use another pot. Drain when done, but save ½ cup of the pasta water.Handful of frozen green veggie of choice like peas or broccoli
- Turn the heat to low on the pan you drained the pasta from and add the cashew cheese mixture, vegan butter ½ cup of pasta water.2 cups shredded vegan cheese, 1 tablespoon vegan butter, ½ cup cooked pasta water
- Stir and let it thicken a little. About one minute. If it gets too thick, just add a splash of the oat milk or water.
- After about a minute, add the pasta shells to the pan and mix it all together. Add more salt if needed.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Markus
This was an amazingly tasty recipe! Even better when mixed with your easy pesto recipe - https://damntastyvegan.com/dairy-free-pesto/
Phaedra
This is the perfect fall comfort food. Paired with the pesto it is absolutely heavenly.
Francesca Stafford
What gets you a closer true Mac n cheese flavor? The silken tofu or the cashew?
Damn tasty vegan
Cashews. That’s how I originally intended the recipe. I provided the tofu or sunflower seeds as an alternative for people with allergies. Hope that helps! Enjoy!
Damn tasty vegan
Cashews. That’s how I originally intended the recipe. I provided the tofu or sunflower seeds as an alternative for people with allergies. Hope that helps! Enjoy!
Francesca Stafford
Great, thank you! I’ll be doing the cashew for sure then 🙂