Who doesn’t love a big bowl of cheese pasta? Mac & cheese is a comfort food staple. To me it’s one of the best basic foods there is. Cheese and pasta, can’t go wrong.
I love cheese, it’s a definite downfall for me. I would choose a cheese board any day over sweets. It’s not always the best on my stomach, but I can’t turn it down. A price I’m willing to pay. But having a dairy free, vegan option is always nice.
OK, but if we are going to drop the cheese, it better be damn good. Still needs to be flavorful, creamy, and really coat the pasta. I’m usually one to add more cheese to mac and cheese since I love it extra cheese, so a vegan sauce needs to come with that same extra power. This one definitely does, it’s got a ton of flavor, and is made with such simple ingredients. Vegan butter and coconut milk for a base with lots of flavor from garlic and onion powder, paprika, dijion, and nutritional yeast.
The best part, no nuts. A lot of dairy-free cheeses are made with cashews, which is totally fine and delicious. But cashews are super rich, so this keeps it lighter, and they are on the pricey side. You usually need a high-speed blender too. No nuts mean easy cooking in one pot.
So how do we get such a creamy, flavorful sauce with no dairy and no nuts?
- Full fat coconut milk – the canned one. Make sure you don’t get a light version, you want the regular full fat
- Vegan butter – if you’re not vegan or concerned with that, use regular butter
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Paprika
- Salt & pepper
- Dijon mustard – this gives it a real kick and flavor booster
- Nutritional yeast – gives it a cheesy flavor and is full of vitamins. I make the sauce and add more ‘nooch’ if needed.
- Flour – I use an all-purpose, you just need a little, thicken the sauce and get a good consistency
- Pasta – Any pasta you like will work. I love the brown rice pasta from Trader Joe’s. A 16oz bag works
Ingredients
Method
- Start by cooking the pasta. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta water to add to sauce if you need to thin it. Drain, don't rinse, set aside.
- I the pasta pot, heat back to medium/low heat. Melt the butter. Then whisk in the flour until there are no clumps. Whisk in the coconut milk. It will start to bubble and then you whisk in the seasoning and nutritional yeast. Let sauce thicken. Taste and adjust seasoining like salt and nutritional yeast if needed.
- Mix in pasta and enjoy!
Looking for more pasta recipes? Check out the recipes below!
One of my favorites, pasta with a creamy garlic sauce and shrimp. Simply delicious.
Baked pasta and vegetables. Such a hearty, satisfying, tasty, yet simple meal. Great for batch cooking.
Greens and Pesto Pasta. It’s a staple for us. Something that’s simple and easy to whip up on a weeknight that is full of flavor with goods stuff like greens and fiber.
