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Creamy, delicious and healthy vegan queso mac and cheese! A fun spin on traditional mac and cheese that is made from cashews, gluten-free, oil-free, and packed with flavor!
If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I’ve been working on a macaroni and cheese recipe. We just love a good mac and cheese in our house but it’s top priority to have a recipe that’s not only healthy but tasty!
Vegan mac and cheese can be a little tricky when you want as close to the real deal as possible. I’ve tried my fair share of boxed and recipes and they are either creamy but tasteless or somewhat “cheesy” but soupy and not reminiscent of mac and cheese at all.
A little something about me and my blog that you all should know:
I don’t share recipes unless my family and I (and other taste testers!) absolutely LOVE THEM. I truly mean it.
It does get frustrating when something tastes good, but my gut tells me not to share it. I am learning to listen to that gut feeling, though, because that usually means I will think of something even better!
This was very true for this recipe. I have tried so many variations of a homemade cashew mac and cheese and all of them were good, but I just wasn’t excited enough to post them. Until now.
What’s In It?
For this recipe, I used my vegan cashew queso recipe (with some slight modifications) as the cheese sauce.
I can’t even begin to explain how delicious this is compared to a standard cheese sauce. The taco seasoning gives this vegan queso mac and cheese such an awesome depth of flavor and yes, the vegan cashew queso REALLY does taste like queso! It’s one of my most popular tried and true recipes, but I tweaked it a bit for this dish so make sure to follow the recipe below!
Some of the key ingredients in the cashew queso are:
Cashews: raw boiled cashews make this queso luxurious and creamy. You will definitely want to use raw as anything roasted will have a different flavor.
Nutritional Yeast: this is where the queso gets its cheesy flavor from!
Taco Seasoning: the taco seasoning gives this queso a TON of its flavor. Use a quality taco seasoning, it does make a difference!
There is a tiny kick of spice from the taco seasoning, but it’s very kid friendly. My daughter wont go near anything “spicy” but she will eat this! You can adjust the amount of taco seasoning to your preference.
It’s super easy to make as well, requiring about 30 minutes and only a handful of ingredients. I hope you love this one as much as we do!
If you make this recipe. don’t forget to take a photo and tag @wholesome.crumbs on Instagram!
Vegan Queso Mac and Cheese [GF, Oil-Free]
Equipment
- High speed blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 1/3 cup + 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp taco seasoning use a quality taco seasoning- It makes a difference!
- 1/4 tsp mineral salt + more to taste if desired
- 1 & 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp chopped fresh garlic or about 1 clove
- Pinch of turmeric for color optional
- about 3/4 cup warm water start with 3/4 cup water then add more slowly until desired consistency
- 10 oz of your favorite pasta
Instructions
- Add the raw cashews and enough water to cover them to a pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and boil cashews for about 20 minutes.
- Next, while the cashews are boiling, in a separate pot boil water and cook your pasta according to the directions on the package. When the pasta is done, drain and set aside.
- When the cashews are done boiling, rinse and drain and then let them cool for about 5 minutes.
- Add the boiled cashews and the remaining queso ingredients to a food processor/high speed blender. Start with 3/4 a cup of water and add more very slowly until your desired consistency is reached. Blend until smooth and creamy.
- Next, heat up the queso. Transfer the queso to a small pot and turn the burner to low. Heat until queso is hot, stirring frequently. This will thicken up a bit when heated, add a small splash of water if needed. Be careful not to turn the burner up too high!
- Pour the hot queso over the cooked pasta. Top with cilantro or your favorite queso toppings, serve and enjoy!
Notes
- I do not recommend pouring the queso over the pasta before heating the queso up as it will lose some of it’s creaminess. Make sure to heat the queso up separately in a pot before adding it to the pasta.
- For leftovers, store covered in the refrigerator. Reheat on the stove over low heat, adding a splash of water if needed.
[…] more creamy pasta ideas, check out this recipe for vegan queso mac and cheese or this recipe for vegan tomato cream […]