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Spicy Vegan Mac & Cheese

April 9, 2014 3 Comments

Vegan-Spicy-Mac-and-Cheese

Growing up, Kraft Dinner was a staple in our house. Up until I was in my early twenties, I ate that neon-orange pasta on a regular basis. I loved it. Big time. Despite it being filled with so many awful ingredients like artificial food dyes (yikes!).

Since I’ve adopted a much healthier way of eating, this blue box has left my home for good, and it’s not coming back. But I still eat mac and cheese. I just make my own in a much healthier way.

Spicy-Vegan-Mac-and-Cheese

The best part of this dish is that there are not only zero artificial food dyes, but also no milk, butter or flour to be found – and it still tastes delicious!

This pasta is creamy, and hearty, with a bit of a spicy kick from the paprika and cayenne pepper. Yum.

If you have a high-powered blender, like a Vitamix or Blendtec, you should be able to get very smooth cheese sauce, but even if you don’t have one of those, you can still make the cheese sauce in a food processor and though it probably won’t be as smooth, it will be just as tasty!

Spicy-Mac-and-Cheese

I only had a small half-empty box of elbow macaroni, so I made that, and then made a large batch of penne pasta to make this dish large enough to feed my entire family. Everyone gobbled it up (and some went back for seconds!).

Spicy Vegan Mac and Cheese
Recipe Type: Pasta
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 8 mins
Total time: 23 mins
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2 cups elbow macaroni*
  • 1 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour
  • 1 small garlic clove, minced
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
  • pinch of cayenne pepper
  • paprika for garnish (optional)
Instructions
  1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
  2. While your pasta is cooking, add the rest of the ingredients (raw cashews, garlic, lemon juice, water, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, paprika, turmeric, dijon mustard and a pinch of cayenne pepper) to your blender or food processor. Blend/process until smooth. It should be thick when it’s ready.
  3. Once your pasta has finished cooking, drain, reserving 1/3 cup or so of the cooking water, then add back to the pot, with the cooking water. Mix in the cheese sauce until all of the sauce is evenly distributed.
  4. Serve, with some fresh parsley and more paprika sprinkled on top, if desired.
Notes
*I prefer elbow macaroni, but you can use whatever noodles you have on hand.[br]*Use gluten-free pasta to make this dish gluten-free.
3.2.2310

 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Pasta Tagged With: dinner, lunch, oil free, quick and easy, soy free

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I'm Cassie - vegan food lover and animal rights activist. I live in Vaughan, Ontario, right near Toronto, with my husband, our 2 kids, 3 cats, and a dog that thinks he's a cat, too. I love to cook and share delicious vegan food with everyone I know. MORE →


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