Southern, Soul Food-Style Vegan Baked Macaroni & Cheese
I guess you can officially call me the macaroni & cheese queen. I mean, I literally have over 5 macaroni & cheese recipes posted, and I’m far from done! This time around I come to you with a super creamy, cheesy, macaroni and cheese recipe – but get this…IT’S VEGAN! No seriously! I’ve had several readers contact me, and request that I start uploading vegan soul food recipes. I agreed, so in addition to all of my traditional soul food recipes, I will start uploading vegan soul food as well – starting off with some soulful mac & cheese!
How to Make Vegan Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Alright, so if you’re a non vegan, you’re probably sitting there with your lips poked out wondering, “WHY, THOUGH?!”. Let me tell you. Don’t knock it until you try it! I kid you not, my family and I LOVE this recipe. We are not vegans, but we’ve been tossing some vegan meals into our rotation, and this mac & cheese is one of our favorites.
When I first started doing my vegan recipe research, I played around with several vegan mac & cheese recipes that I found online. Some of them were “cool”, and others were a “oh hells to the naw”. I found that a lot of recipes were very bland. Being the person I am, I had to play around with some ingredients and learn how to flavor it up…soul food-style, of course!
Most of the vegan mac & cheese recipes use cashews, potato, and carrots. I actually like those three ingredients so I use them in mine. The cashews add a nice creamy texture to the cheese sauce, so do the potatoes. The carrots add flavor and color.
I also use nutritional yeast in this recipe. It’s flavorful, and it seems to thicken up the sauce, which is a plus for me! Nutritional yeast can be hard to find, so just ask a store employee. I bought mine from the Vitamin Shoppe in the super foods isle.
If you’re not a vegan, give this recipe a try anyway, and tell me what you think in the comment section below. Also, if you have any vegan family members & friends share this recipe with them! XOXO
Watch this video tutorial for my vegan baked macaroni & cheese recipe!
If you enjoyed my vegan baked macaroni & cheese, check out some of my other vegan recipes!
Southern Style Vegetarian Meatloaf
Southern Vegetarian Mixed Greens
Vegan Southern Sweet Potato Pie
Don’t forget to tag and follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, subscribe to I Heart Recipes on YouTube, and check out I Heart Soulfood, Super Soul Food with Cousin Rosie and A Cousin Rosie Holiday with many recipes you can’t find anywhere else.
Vegan Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Ingredients
- 16 oz elbow macaroni
- 1 cup cashews plus 2 cups water
- 1 large yellow potato peeled & sliced
- 1 cup baby carrots or two large carrots, peeled
- 1 large yellow onion chopped
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 1/2 cup non dairy milk I used a rice & quinoa blend
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp hot sauce
- 2 cups vegan cheese
Instructions
- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, then add in the cashews.
- Remove the pot from the heat, and let the cashews soak for 1 hour.
- Add the potatoes, carrots, and garlic into a bake dish.
- Drizzle the olive oil, all over the veggies the cover.
- Roast the veggies in the oven on 400, for 20 minutes or until tender.
- Boil the pasta until al dente, then drain.
- Add the carrots, potatoes, garlic, cashews, non dairy milk, nutritional yeast, seasoning salt, and hot sauce into a food processor, or blender.
- Puree the ingredients.
- Lightly oil a bake dish, then add in the pasta.
- Pour in the “cheese sauce”, and sprinkle in 1 cup of vegan cheese.
- Fold the ingredients, then top off with remaining vegan cheese.
- Bake in the oven uncovered on 350 F for 20 minutes.
- Serve & enjoy!
I would like to see vegan collard greens! Looks yummy will give this a try…trying to eat healthier.
Hi Jo Ann! I will do some Vegan greens soon! XOXO
I made vegan collards this thanksgiving and they were amazing….. The secret ingredient is smoked paprika in of the meat. They were delicious!
I would love some vegan freezer meals and slow cooker vegan mwals. Thank you for all you do!
Meals I meant lol
Hi Tiesha! I will work on some vegan freezer meals! XOXO
How do I scroll through your recipes w/o having to search 1 particular recipe? Please HELP !!!
Hi Nicole. Go to the recipe index page. XOXO
Rosie, you know I love your blog and you’re one of my favorite cooks. This looks so good. I love nutritional yeast, so I know that this vegan macaroni and cheese is going to be delicious. I’m going to start eating 1-2 vegetarian meals a week and although this is vegan, I can’t wait to try it.
Hi Neeli! Let me know when you try the recipe! XOXO
Thank you for this recipe!!!!
What brand of vegan cheese did you use?
I used Daiya Cheddar
I’m not vegan, but this dish is worthy of a try. It looks absolutely yummmilicious, as do all of your recipes!
Thanks for blessing us with so many wonderful recipes.
Thank YOU June for coming by! XOXO
Has anyone tried this recipe yet? I came on here looking for ratings and reviews. I thought about using this recipe for our Sunday Dinner. We recently became Vegan, but in the past I have made the I Heart recipe for Southern Baked Mac & Cheese SO many times. My family and I love it, so I’m hoping this recipe is just as great! Also, do you happen to have a Vegan recipe for Candy Yams or Collards yet?
Hi Danielle! There should be rating on the bottom of the page. Also, at this time I don’t have any vegan yams, nor greens posted 🙁
Absolutely 100% Recommend, I found this recipe a year ago and it’s my go to.
Hi Rosie! Does this recipe taste like the real homemade mac n cheese?? Or does it have its own taste? Lol im scared to try it.
Hi! It does taste very similar to the real thing. It’s not as cheesy, as my others for obvious reasons,LOL . But it’s definitely a great macaroni and cheese recipe.
Girl you make this look soooo easy. Would have thought this was the hardest thing in the world if it weren’t for this video.
I hope that you give it a try!
I’d love for you to do a Vegan Rum Cake and other dessert dishes. I love so many of your recipes! Thanks!
Hi Renee! I’ll see what I can do 🙂
Merry Christmas! I hope you’ve had a blessed one. But my dear I made this for my boyfriend for Christmas along with vegan cookies and vegan smoked greens…it went well with everything! Thank you for this recipe it’s saved my recipe book for sure will be made over and over…
Thanks for giving my recipe a try.
THIS WAS DELICIOUS! I’ve made two batches this week. I add a lot of Sriracha sauce to my “cheese” to give it an extra kick.
What do you recommend for vegan cheese? What brand do you use?
I actually don’t have a favorite brand at the moment.
Hi Rosie! Can’t wait to try this recipe! My favorite shredded cheese at the moment is So Delicious brand cheddar. For sliced cheese, Follow Your Heart is really good, and they have taken out the casein they previously had in it. (WHY would they have casein, which is milk protein in a VEGAN cheese? ). Thankfully they saw the light!
Made this last night and it was yummy!! Wish my blender was a little better as I did have a few pieces of carrots, but the texture was very similar to baked mac and cheese dishes I’ve had before going vegan. Thank you for this recipe!! 🙂
I just made your vegan Mac only thing is in took forever to purée the cheese sauce
HI, I just made the mac and cheese vegan dish although I did not have cashews it still taste great. I really like this recipe.. Thanks Joyce
10/10 Would recommend, I have have used this recipe a ton in the past year, and right now as I speak! It is absolutely delicious, I’ve served it for Thanksgiving and it is a winner among meat eaters and everyone! TRY IT I do everything exactly as the recipe says and I add a few shakes of Jonny’s seasoning salt!(Use any vegetarian based meat seasoning) It’s A Winner
Does the chopped onion get roasted along with other veggies? I dont see where the step for the onions is listed.
On a scale from 1 to 10 your recipes are a 100.keep the cajun food alive. Tks your great.
We started making this recipe years ago when all my daughters were vegan. They are no longer vegan and yet we still make this vegan mac and cheese for special family gatherings.! So good.
Thanks so much for the feedback on this recipe! Xoxo
Hi Rosie, love all your recipes and tried many of them, where can I find nutritional yeast. Thanks so much.
Hello! You can find it in the condiments or seasoning isle.
I didn’t know where to place the onions so I omitted them 🙁 I had the chopped but the recipe never stated where to use them but no worries- Bomb.com without them lol. Thanks