Skinny Vegan Mac n Cheese – TWO Secret Ingredients!

Skinny Vegan Mac N Cheese - dairy free, and much lower calorie than your usual comfort food!

Ahh mac n  cheese. It’s a classic, a favourite, a comfort food not to be messed or tampered with… except that I did, and I’m not even sorry. I took this dairy-full dish and made it dairy free and vegan, and you know what… It works!

I posted in my Instagram stories last week as I was making it for a friend who was coming over for dinner, and you guys just went wild! I got so many messages asking for the recipe, so here I am not even a week later making it again to properly share it with you, because I love you that much and it’s not like I need an excuse to make vegan mac n cheese anyways.

I actually have a super old vegan butternut squash mac n cheese recipe on here from years ago, but thought it was time to update it a bit and play around with some ingredients, zhuh it up a bit ya know?

So we’ve have not one but TWO secret ingredients here ~ nutritional yeast and white miso. The first gives it its delicious cheesy taste, while the miso lends an umami salty flavour that just elevates it to a whoooole other level.

Skinny Vegan Mac N Cheese - dairy free, and much lower calorie than your usual comfort food!    Skinny Vegan Mac N Cheese - dairy free, and much lower calorie than your usual comfort food!

This fabulous skinny AND vegan mac n cheese is:

  • skinny – if served as 6 portions, it’s just over 300 calories
  • over 15g of plant based protein per serving!
  • vegan & actually CHEEZY
  • dairy free & nut free
  • creamy AF
  • much lower in fat and calories than your usual mac n cheese
  • a good source of fibre
  • salty, umami, and everything that’s good in the world
  • added beans for a protein boost and creaminess

Skinny Vegan Mac N Cheese - dairy free, and much lower calorie than your usual comfort food!      Skinny Vegan Mac N Cheese - dairy free, and much lower calorie than your usual comfort food!

Skinny Vegan Mac n Cheese
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Vegan, Dairy Free, Nut Free
Cuisine: Lunch, Dinner
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
For the sauce
  • 1 large cauliflower, chopped into bite sized florets
  • 1 white onion, finely chopped and divided
  • 3 minced cloves of garlic, divided
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 300ml dairy free milk of choice
  • ½ cup nutritional yeast
  • ¼ cup tahini
  • 2 teaspoons white miso paste
  • 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
  • 3 tablespoons white beans
  • Olive oil, to cook
  • Salt & pepper
For the pasta
  • 1 punnet chestnut mushrooms, sliced
  • 250g wholegrain macaroni (or gluten free, if desired)
  • 3 sprigs of thyme
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 185ºC | 365ºF and toss together the cauliflower florets, half the white onion, two cloves of minced garlic, the turmeric, paprika, a sprinkling of salt & pepper and a glug of olive oil.
  2. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, tossing halfway, until tender and almost caramelised but not burnt.
  3. Add half of the contents into a blender with the remaining sauce ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy, adding more liquid if necessary. Taste and adjust any seasoning.
  4. While the cauliflower roasts, cook your pasta according to package instructions, drain and set aside reserving some of the cooking water.
  5. Heat some olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the remaining onion and garlic for 1 minute before adding in the mushrooms and thyme leaves. Once mushrooms and onions are browned, about 5 minutes, add in the "cheese" sauce, remaining cauliflower, and cooked macaroni, stirring everything together.
  6. Either serve or finish in the oven in a dish with a sprinkling of nutritional yeast on top. Enjoy!
Notes
If served as 6 portions, it's only about 300 calories per serving with over 15g of protein!

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