Best Vegan Mac and Cheese in the entire world...seriously
1 1/2 pounds pasta, preferably macaroni "Cheese" Sauce:
1 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk
1 1/2 cups nutritional yeast
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 cup water
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
1/4 (12 ounce) block firm (not silken) tofu
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon vegesal or in lack of fancy product, just use salt
1 dollop mustard, optional
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Boil water in a big pot and cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Add all of the "cheese" sauce ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Once pasta is cooked, drain and put it in the baking pan (about the size of a brownie pan). Pour the "cheese" sauce over the pasta.
3. Bake until the top of the pasta looks slightly browned and crispy, about 15 minutes.
This is very simple and tastes amazing! If you are cooking for yourself, it will last about 5 days if you eat it for all three meals of the day.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I served this to omnis as "a baked pasta dish with an onion-based sauce instead of tomato-based" and there was lots of love. I basically made all the alterations that people suggested:
1. No water
2. No salt
3. half oil/half margarine
4. Baked for 25 minutes
And I added crispy onions on top. nom nom nom ;)b
I cut the recipe in half because I was just cooking for my hubby and I. Excellent and very rich. I added steamed broccoli to the finished product and ate it up. It definately has a cheesy taste although if you are looking for the velveeta or kraft this is not it. I will definately make again... thank you! ;)
This was very good! It was my first time cooking with nutritional yeast, so it took me a little bit to get used to the flavor of it, but I thought for consistency and everything it was great! I don't think I could make it too often given the nutritional info provided in the comments :P but it's a nice, comfort-food treat!
A few notes about my own preparation:
1. I used EarthBalance instead of oil.
2. I used low-sodium soy sauce (I find I can't really stomach the full-sodium any more!) and a few grinds of my sea salt grinder. Perhaps this kept it from getting too salty and overpowered. Also, I think that soy sauce in general has a less overpowering flavor than does tamari, although I've never tried low-sodium tamari.
3. I did add the "dollop" of mustard (perhaps a little too much of a "dollop!")
4. I did not add paprika b/c I didn't have any. While I'm sure it would have added another layer to the flavoring, I think that leaving it out prevented the color from getting too "off," as some have described.
For those of you who mentioned leaving out the water and milk or who mentioned that the final product was too watery... just one thought that I didn't see mentioned here. I undercooked the macaroni slightly in the pot. Then, when I added the sauce into the oven, the pasta absorbed the extra liquid from the sauce and the end result was creamy and yummy, with the flavors of the sauce nicely melded into the pasta. This undercooking of the pasta is pretty standard procedure (at least for me) anytime I'm doing a baked pasta dish. Without it, the sauce doesn't get absorbed and the pasta might even get too mushy.
So I just made this and may i say WOW!!! Mmmmm.... I made some adjustments though... I halved the recipe, forgot (by accident!) the soy milk, and used soy sour cream instead of tofu :o I couldn't believe I made it myself. A side of tomatoes and green beans made this a PERFECT dish! Thanx 4 the recipe
Sorry to say that I thought this was awful. I read all the reviews before making it and followed some of the suggestions (ex: cutting salt) but still didn't like it. Too much garlic and I think the tamari was too strong for me. I really miss mac n cheese and had such high hopes. Anyone know of another recipe that might work better for me? Thanks.
Wow -- this is a truly yummy recipe. I followed some of the suggestions above (no extra water and used vegan margarine instead). I also have Celiac Disease so I made this with gluten-free pasta... my four kids LOVED, LOVED it, I loved it, and my non-vegan husband loved it. I know it makes a lot, but it was about right for our family of 6. We did have some leftovers (not much) and everyone did have seconds. Thank you for submitting this!!
Wow. I think my heart actually stopped a little when I first tasted this. I had my doubts about this recipe but now I feel bad that I doubted it because it was sooooo goooood. I made 2/3 of the recipe because I only wanted a pound of pasta. By accident I put in the full amount of soy sauce and it was still great. I decided not to add any water because the sauce seemed too liquidy. This recipe is a 5 star for me. It's easy and I'll definitely be making it again! Oh, also, the recipe doesn't say how big of a block of tofu to use. I started with a 14 oz. block.
I'mn sorry, but I thought this was disgusting. I did make some changes, but I think it would have been gross anyway. I used 1/2 cup margarine, 3/4 block tofu, and 1/4 cup water, and omitted all of the oil. It had some really funky smell and flavor, and looked brownish -- not appealing. If anyone else is disappointed by this dish but wants vegan macaroni and cheese, I highly recommend Road's End Organic Mac'n'Chreese -- EXCEPT, don't follow the directions on the box. Cook the pasta, then add about 2 tbsp. margarine (Earth Balance preferably), and only splash of soymilk (just enough to get the creamy consistency). Add salt, pepper, or nutritional yeast to taste. YUMMY, super fast and easy, and costs less than $2 per box! :-)
No wonder it didn't taste good! Those are probably the worst changes you could have made! We absolutely loved it and I am seeing very few negative remarks about it.
This is quite good - and much better than boxed vegan M&C. I added a handful or so of chopped almonds into the blender, just to give the sauce a wee more body. I also used less salt and tamari than recommended. Once it was almost done baking, I put some crumbled crackers on top as well as some grated vegan sharp cheddar cheese found here: http://www.recipezaar.com/130826. This wasn't really necessary because, as mentioned, the sauce has a potent flavor, but the small touch of melty cheese helps maintain the illusion of a nice gooey traditional M&C. In the future, I will probably reduce the garlic and oil just a tad and replace with other spices.
To serve, I added plain soygurt (WildWood brand - I find Silk's plain to be quite gross) and cilantro and both were really nice additions to lighten up the taste a little.
Overall, while a little strong on taste, the consistency is fantastic, especially after cooling for a while, so it all comes together well.
Well, I have made this many times and loved it every time. I always cut out the water, add more nutirional yeast, and make the full recipe.
Its too freakin good to make only half!!!!!!! If the whole recipe is too much, but you like (or love) it, this freezes and thaws out very well, so I recommend just freezing the leftovers.
I had such a strong craving for this today and I just made some last week and it lasted about four days of eating it by myself. My dog loves it too.
And its absolutely the bomb( sorry for the outdated expression) with Herdez salsa.
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