What makes vegan macaroni and cheese so dang delicious and infinitely craveable? Is it the wild flavors that you can create without using dairy, or the fun twists and turns that vegans take on classic recipes? Maybe it’s the likeness to dairy-based mac and cheese of our childhood, or just the simple pleasure of surprising omnivores with how awesome dairy-free can be?
Whatever it is that makes you love vegan mac and cheese, we hope that this list of the 10 best vegan mac and cheese recipes will inspire you to get into the kitchen and start cooking up some awesome dairy-free comfort foods.
10 Best Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipes
1. Baked Vegan Mac and Cheese: Angela of Oh She Glows makes lots of delicious stuff, but this vegan mac and cheese is one of my favorites, and one I’ve added to my common repertoire. It’s not quite an every week meal, but pretty darn close!
2. Mac and ‘Shews from Post Punk Kitchen: Isa has long been one of my favorite chefs, and this mac recipe pretty much solidified the deal, even before I became a homemade sauerkraut fanatic.
3. Almond Milk Mac and Cheese: Celebrate dairy-free everyday with this creamy, baked macaroni and cheese from Spork Foods, as featured on Eat Drink Better.
4. Daiya Cheddar Mac and Cheese from This Can’t Be Vegan: I’m a big fan of Daiya vegan cheese- the texture is awesome, and it’s great for dips, pasta and anything that requires cooking (just do not eat it raw, ick). This happy bloggers uses the cheddar version of Daiya in her mac and cheese for the classic orange color!
5. Deluxe Butternut Mac and Teese from My New Roots: Sarah B. is a master chef of healthy goodness, so it’s no surprise that she has a great recipe for everyone’s favorite comfort food.
6. Life Foods Mac & Cheese: I created this version based on the Oh She Glows mac and cheese recipe above, with a few tweaks and my favorite ingredient: homemade sauerkraut. The kraut adds a ton of good benefits but also a classic tang, along with some Life Foods Yellow, a turmeric- and carrot-based fermented mustard.
7. Green Chili Mac from Minimalist Baker: What do green chilies NOT taste amazing inside? This gorgeous recipe (and amazing food photography) will have you running for your nearest can of chilies. It’s also bursting with protein: 19 grams per serving!
8. Cauliflower Mac and Cheese from Love and Lemons: L & L makes a wonderful selection of vegan and vegetarian recipes, and this one looks especially appealing. A simple list of ingredients, including beautiful yellow cauliflower, along with gorgeous pics make it totally drool-worthy.
9. Kelp Noodle Alfredo: This is another recipe from my (now super famous) friend Mama T. She created this for a cooking class at Down to Earth, and we all fell in love with it. It’s not quite mac and cheese, but a creamy noodle dish that has all the delicious comfort of the classic. Made with macadamia nuts and zucchini for a rich but airy sauce that works great for gluten-free kelp noodles or your favorite pasta.
10. Nut-Free Cheese Sauce for Mac and Cheese from the Vegan 8: Almost all the recipe above call for nuts, and of course not everyone wants to eat soaked cashews everyday. The solution is this fat-free vegan cheese sauce from The Vegan 8. Using potatoes as the base and a good dose of spice, this cheese will be good as a base for mac and cheese (of course) but also good for nacho dip and so much more.
What a list, right? There are so many awesome recipes for easy, vegan macaroni and cheese and I’m so stoked to try them all! Share your favorites in the comments!
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