The whole family will love this creamy vegan mac and cheese recipe. We use plant-based milk, nutritional yeast, and the perfect blend of spices. You can make this as a stovetop or baked mac and cheese!
Our family loves mac and cheese. We’ve shared our traditional dairy-based mac and cheese before, but I’m incredibly excited to finally share our absolute favorite vegan mac and cheese! We went through countless variations, and this recipe is the one that won everyone over. It’s creamy, cheesy, and so satisfying you won’t even miss the dairy.
I was inspired to create this vegan version because we’re trying to eat more plant-based meals, and my son loves mac and cheese. And honestly, it’s become a new family favorite (as have many of our vegan recipes)! This recipe has two options: enjoy it as a comforting stovetop mac and cheese, or bake it until bubbly and golden brown. I love serving it with a simple green salad or trying it with my lentil-based vegan meatballs.
Key Ingredients
- Pasta: Use what you love. I always go for something that will hold on to the sauce really well, like shells or elbows!
- Vegan Butter and Flour: The combination of butter and flour thickens the sauce. Some recipes start with a base of cashew cream, and while we’ve tried that variation, making a roux and building our vegan cheese sauce from there was our favorite way to make vegan mac and cheese.
- Plant-Based Milk: I typically use unsweetened soy milk, but non-dairy milk will work. Unsweetened is best.
- Nutritional Yeast: This makes our mac and cheese taste so cheesy. Nutritional yeast is quite common in vegan recipes. If you are unfamiliar, it’s full of vitamins and minerals and adds a cheesy flavor to dishes. It’s perfect in this mac and cheese. We also use it when making our delicious vegan queso.
- Dijon mustard: We also use Dijon mustard when making our dairy-based baked mac and cheese. It rounds out the sauce’s flavor and makes it taste even better.
- Spices: I love adding onion powder, garlic powder, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to make the sauce taste incredible.
How to Make Vegan Mac and Cheese
To make my favorite vegan mac and cheese, you’ll first make the creamy sauce. We start with a roux made from melted butter (plant-based) and flour.
Once the flour and butter smell toasty, you can pour in non-dairy milk. As it heats up, the milk thickens and turns into the base of our cheese sauce. To make it taste cheesy, we whisk in lots of nutritional yeast, mustard, and spices.
When the sauce is smooth, you can stir in cooked pasta. Remember choose pasta shapes that hold onto the sauce really well. I like these medium shells because lots of that cheesy sauce gets trapped inside them.
You can serve it as a stovetop recipe or pour it all into a baking dish, top it with some breadcrumbs, and bake until the sauce is bubbling and the top gets a little color.
Easy Vegan Mac and Cheese
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
My family loves this creamy mac and cheese made with non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast, and the perfect blend of spices. You can make this as a stovetop or baked mac and cheese! If you decide to bake this, add some breadcrumbs on top so they brown and turn crisp (I like panko or homemade breadcrumbs).
You Will Need
1 pound (450g) dried pasta like shells, elbows or penne
6 tablespoons (85g) vegan butter
6 tablespoons (48g) all-purpose flour
5 cups (1180ml) unsweetened non-dairy milk, like unsweetened soy milk
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup (60g) nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to taste, optional for some spice
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric, optional for color
Directions
1Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta, and follow the package directions, but cook 1 minute less than the package states. Drain.
2Meanwhile, make the vegan cheese sauce. Melt the vegan butter in a large, high-sided pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour over the melted butter and whisk it together and around the pan until it smells toasted and looks light brown, 2 to 3 minutes.
3While whisking, slowly pour in the warm, non-dairy milk. Continue to cook, constantly whisking until the sauce simmers and thickens. (The sauce only thickens after it has reached a simmer.)
4Turn the heat to low, then stir in the nutritional yeast, mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper. For a bit of spice, stir in the cayenne pepper. Add the turmeric for some extra “cheesy” color. Both cayenne pepper and turmeric are optional.
5When the sauce is smooth and velvety, stir in the cooked pasta. If the sauce looks wet/thin, don’t worry, the pasta absorbs some extra moisture as it cools. Turn the heat off, and then cover with a lid. Leave for 5 minutes, stir once more, and then serve.
6For baked mac and cheese, after adding the pasta to the sauce, spoon into a large baking dish and scatter breadcrumbs (optional) on top. Bake, uncovered, in a 375°F (190°C) oven until it is bubbling and browned on top, 25 to 30 minutes.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To freeze, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 2 months. Then, bake, covered, in a 350°F oven for about an hour. Or, thaw overnight and reheat on the stove (if it seems dry, add a tablespoon or two of extra milk).
- Broccoli mac and cheese: Stir roasted broccoli or steamed broccoli into the pot before serving.
- Garlic mac and cheese: Fresh garlic and roasted garlic are excellent in this recipe. Add to the vegan butter just before adding the flour. For fresh, I’d use 2 to 3 cloves. For roasted garlic, you can increase it to 6 cloves or more. Here’s our roasted garlic recipe for reference.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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I loveee this recipe so much! I used to make a version of this in college (quite awhile ago) and I’m so glad you have this recipe posted because I had forgotten how to make it. It’s perfectly savory and creamy. I like to add extra black pepper and eat it with pasta shells, peas, and tomatoes. Yum!
Hi I have not made this , but it is on my to do list.People! This is such a great site…tried several dishes..the cabbage salad dressing is so yummy.There are so many recipes I want to try. thanks!
What kind of nutritional yeast do you use ? I have read many reviews – now more confused than ever. I am a true cheese lover but have had to cut way way back due to my cholesterol levels, which I have from 266 to 191. I also like to keep gluten at a minimum – it helps reduce my arthritis pain.
Hi Sandy, we usually use Bragg’s nutritional yeast since that is the one usually available. We like the flavor a lot.
This looks delicious! I’m not vegan but I like to have meat-free dairy-free options. I have not made this yet but it’s on my to-do list. Nutritional Yeast is packed with vitamins but since I live in Wisconsin I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to forgo all dairy… Sometimes I like vegetables in the mac n cheese and sometimes not. Other vegetables I like to add are diced tomato and/or chopped spinach. Your hummus recipe is still one of the best around. Keep up the good work!