Creamy Vegan Mac n’ Cheez
Hello!
Recently, I cooked up a few meals for a client that I do food prep for and she requested a vegan macaroni & ‘chz’ dish. She referred me to the blog Vegan Yumminess and it looked delicious, so I made a batch for her and her family. It looked so tasty that I had to make it at home!
Now, those who know me, know that I usually change up recipes because #ilikeoptions so when I made this, I switched up just a few things and measurements from the original recipe and it turned out even better than I expected!
What I love about this sauce is that it doesn’t have a super sweet flavor (similar to a butternut squash based sauce) and gives off more of a savory flavor. I always use gluten free noodles and I’ve recently started using RP’s fresh noodles that are just the most delicious noodles I’ve ever had in my entire life. AND THEY’RE GLUTEN FREE (huge bonus!) but the fusilli ones I used in this recipe do contain egg. If you want this full recipe to be vegan, just choose noodles that are vegan too!
Creamy Vegan Mac n’ Cheez
1 package of gluten free noodles
1/2 small onion – chopped up
1 small carrot (it should yield about 1/4 cup) – chopped up
1 cup of peeled & chopped up potato
3-4 garlic cloves chopped
3/4 cup water – USE liquid from the potato, carrot and onion after you boiled them (this adds much more flavor instead of just using regular filtered water)
1 cup raw cashews – soak for at least 30 minutes before using them
1/4 cup coconut milk full fat
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (not concentrated lemon juice)
1 tsp sea salt + cracked pepper to taste
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
Pinch cayenne + pinch paprika
Directions
- Add chopped onions, carrots, potatoes and garlic to a pot and fill with water, enough to cover them. Bring to a boil and then cook until veggies are soft. KEEP THIS WATER. You will need some of it to make the sauce and it tastes muuuuch better with this water vs regular water.
- Once veggies are done, strain them and then add to a high powered blender. Add soaked and strained cashews and all of the other ingredients. Again, for the 3/4 cup water, use the veggie water. You’ll thank me later 😉
- Blend on high for a few minutes, until creamy. Pour over fresh gluten free cooked pasta and top with an extra pinch of paprika!
This sauce is so tasty on noodles, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Marcy xx
