Vegan Mac n Cheese! // Meatless Mondays

 

Happy Monday!
On Easter Sunday, I volunteered to make a dish to take to my friend's house. As the only vegan, I really wanted to make a dish to impress, so I made my friend's all-time favorite dish, mac n cheese, but veganized! I "veganized" the dish by simply using all plant-based ingredients, so no animals were harmed in the making of this dish.

This dish only takes about 5 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to cook, for a total time of 40 minutes. I used a glass Pyrex bake ware dish to bake the mac n cheese with, but a cast-iron skillet or any other oven-safe dish that can hold 16 oz. (an entire box) of pasta will do. I used coconut milk for a nuttier taste and better consistency.

Supplies I used:

• Pyrex bake ware dish to bake the mac n cheese in
• small stovetop pot to cook the cheese sauce
• medium stovetop pot to cook pasta
• can opener to open the coconut milk
• measuring cup
• Whisk or fork to stir the sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz. box of Whole Grain Medium Shells
• 4 tsp. Earth Balance Organic Butter (or any other vegan butter)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 14.25 oz. can of coconut milk (or 1 cup of any other non-dairy milk)
• 1 8 oz. bag of Daiya Shredded Cheddar
• 2-3 tsp. of Nutritional Yeast
• 1-2 tsp. of garlic powder
• 2 tsp. of Parsley (fresh or dried)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Plain Panko bread crumbs (make sure they're vegan, as some have milk ingredients).
• Optional: add fresh vegetables like broccoli, tomatoes, onions, etc.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Set 2 cups of water to boil in a medium pot. When the water comes to a boil, toss in pasta to cook for about 10 minutes or until al dente. Set aside.
3. To make the sauce, place 4 tsp. of vegan butter in the pot over medium heat. Immediately place in 1/2 cup of flour and stir until well mixed into a thick paste. The amount of flour can be adjusted to create the thick paste.
4. Pour in the can of coconut milk and whisk immediately. Keep whisking until well mixed. Let sit on low heat and stir occasionally until there is a heavy consistency. The sauce is a light tan color at this point.
5. Mix in the Daiya shredded cheese and nutritional yeast slowly while whisking. Turn up the heat back to medium and continue to whisk until cheese is completely melted. At this point, the sauce is a bright yellow color.
6. Add in the garlic powder and parsley and mix. Salt and Pepper can be added to taste. It is best for the flavor of the sauce to be very strong, as some flavor will be lost to the starch from the pasta.
7. Once sauce is complete, shut off the heat. Pour pasta into bake ware, then pour in sauce slowly and ensure sauce is completely covering all the pasta. Evenly distribute panko bread crumbs over pasta.
8. Place the dish of mac n cheese into the oven for about 5-8 minutes. Keep an eye on it! If you want a more baked top layer of bread crumbs, place the dish in the broiler for about 2-5 minutes, checking in on it every minute so it doesn't burn.
9. When done, take it out of the oven, let sit for about 10 minutes to cool, serve, and enjoy!

I really hope you enjoy this dish! There are plenty of ways to make vegan mac n cheese, but this is the easiest, quickest way I've tried.

Enjoy!