Vegan Mac and Cheese, that will fool your biggest critics!

      Vegan macaroni and cheese is one of those items that everyone seems to think is impossible or only can be made with ground almonds and nutritional yeast (which can be yummy but you are not going to trick any meat eaters with that recipe).  My vegan cheesy mac will be delicious and might even convert some traditional dairy mac and cheese lovers over to the dark side ( everyone loves Darth Vader, come on, the dark side is the cool side, and it is cool these days to be nerdy so why not reference star wars as much as possible.).  

First important decision is to pick your pasta, when I am trying to fool a crowd I usually go for the typical elbow mac, but you definitely don’t have to.  I usually choose one of the whole grain pastas that don’t look like whole grain, so they are good for you, but don’t look healthy.  You have to keep the unhealthy illusion alive for a lot of people to like mac and cheese.     Barilla makes this plus product (although read the label because they are not all vegan) that has the nutrition of a whole wheat but looks like regular ol’ pasta.

   I also like to choose pasta that you know will hold the sauce so something curly, with ridges, or grooves to make sure that the cheesiness stays on the noodle.

The cheese sauce is the most important part of the dish so pay attention!  You will make this sauce just like any fancy chef would make a bachamel (cream based) sauce.  You can use this for any cream based pasta sauce.

Cheese Sauce ingredients:

3 tablespoons vegan butter 

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups almond milk

Seasoned salt (I use one with black pepper but use whatever you like)

3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

4 slices vegan American cheese (you can use what every you like) 

Cheddar Diaya cheese (1 package)

3 tablespoons Vegan Cream Cheese

3 tablespoons Vegan Sour Cream

Fried Onion Strips (optional topping)

GLUTEN FREE ALERT!
***** You can make this recipe gluten free, by buying rice based sliced cheese, rice pasta, and using either tapioca flour or rice flour to thicken the roux.  It tastes just as delicious. *****

Start by boiling water and following the directions on your box of pasta.  You want to cook the pasta slight under al dente (so that is still has a bite) because you are also going to bake it.  So whatever the box says take 2 minutes off the lowest cooking time.

Now for the cheese sauce:

1.       In a soup pot (I do this so it isn’t as much as a mess, and you are going to add in the pasta after it is cooked) melt your butter and whisk in your flour until all of the butter is incorporated, this is called a roux and this is what will thicken up your cheese sauce so don’t skip this step.  Let this combo cook for just a couple of minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste. 

2.       After the roux has cooked for a couple of minutes add in your milk, you need to whisk to combine and continue to whisk until it comes to a boil.  You will not be able to determine how thick it is until it is boiling.  Depending on how thick or thin you like your cheese sauce you can adjust accordingly, but I generally say when you put your spoon in and wipe a clean line off the back without drips then it is a good thickness.

3.       Now time to add flavor!  Add your sliced cheese, nutritional yeast, 1 tablespoon of seasoned salt with black pepper ( That seems like a lot, but remember dairy cheese is salty so you have to make up that flavor somewhere, but if you don’t like it that salty then don’t add that much.), vegan sour cream, and cream cheese, and half of your diaya cheese. 

4.       Whisk to combine all ingredients and bring back to a boil.

5.       About this time your noodles should be finished so drain, but don’t rinse(the cheese sauce won’t stick to the noodles if you rinse them) and you can leave them slightly wet because that will add to the sauce.

6.       Pour your noodles into the pot with your cheese sauce and stir to combine.  Now add about half of the half of bag of diaya that you have left (1/4 of the original bag), and pour this mixture into a baking dish.

7.       Top the baking dish with the remaining diaya cheese, and a handful of the fried onion rings if you like a crunchy topping. (hold  the onion rings if you are cooking gluten free, but you could just fry some non battered onions at your house for the same effect)

8.       Pop in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.  This will make a nice crunchy crust.

Now take out and enjoy and fool of your, “I will never like vegan mac and cheese” friends! 

This makes the perfect side dish or if you add peas or spinach before baking a delicious main dish!