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The Best Vegan Mac and Cheese with Broccoli (Oil-free Recipe)

Ask any vegan to describe the perfect vegan mac and cheese recipe, and they’ll tell you that it has to be easy to make, and use simple, easy to find ingredients.

On top of that, this mac n cheese has to taste rich, creamy and totally delicious – the kind of flavor and texture that make you feel like you’re eating something that’s definitely not good for you.

What if I told you that my new vegan mac and cheese recipe has all of those qualities except for one? Believe it or not, it’s actually healthy!

Delicious vegan mac and cheese recipe

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Mac and cheese is one of the foods that I like to talk about when I want to explain why vegan diet has more variety than the standard American diet (another food I mention is lasagna).

Regular, dairy-based mac and cheese that non-vegans consider to be good is usually made with about the same ingredients – cheese, cheese, and let’s see how much more cheese we can stuff in there.

However, with vegan mac and cheese, there are so many variations in existing recipes that I myself have probably made at least ten of them in the six years of being vegan.

Speaking about variations, I’ve seen all kinds of ingredients in vegan mac ‘n cheese recipes. Nuts! Potatoes! Cauliflower! Carrots! While I’ve had a few bloopers, I’ve also found a few recipes that my family loved a lot.

The only thing I didn’t love about those good recipes was that they usually were still far from healthy. They often used oil, processed ingredients, or relied on large amounts of nuts to make the cheese sauce rich and creamy. Still healthier than hormone-filled dairy, but not quite where I wanted it health-wise.

That’s why I recently set out on my own journey for the best vegan mac and cheese recipe I could come up with. So today I’m excited to share with you my final creation:

Best vegan mac n cheese recipe

This vegan mac and cheese is:

  • rich
  • creamy
  • gooey
  • flavorful
  • scrumptious
  • healthy
  • oil-free
  • made without processed ingredients
  • easy to make
  • includes a gluten-free option

This recipe is oil-free, but I’m still using raw cashews to get that delicious, creamy depth of flavor. I’ve tried nut-free, low-fat vegan mac ‘n cheese recipes, but I find that they usually don’t have the richness that the non-fat-free recipes allow.

This vegan mac and cheese is one of the 15 kid friendly vegan recipes from the blog that have been approved by my 2 year-old toddler.

Best vegan mac and cheese with broccoli

I’ve had lots of fun experimenting with making my own vegan cheese substitutes. For example, see my vegan ricotta cheese recipe that’s ideal for use in any recipe that calls for dairy-based ricotta. I plan to post more cheesy vegan recipes in the future.

How to Make Vegan Mac and Cheese

First, I make the vegan cheese sauce. I toast some all-purpose flour (gluten-free all-purpose flour can be substituted) in a dry sauce pan until it takes on a tan color and releases a slightly smoky aroma.

The flour will help the cheese sauce to get thick and creamy without the need for extra nuts or other thickeners. Make sure to watch the flour closely and stir often – it can burn easily!

I then add the toasted flour into the bowl of a high-speed blender along with cashews, nutritional yeast, Dijon mustard, mellow white miso paste, lemon juice, turmeric, paprika, granulated onion and garlic, salt, and water (see ingredient amounts in the recipe card below).

Everything gets blended into a smooth, creamy sauce. The sauce will be quite runny at this point – we’ll need to cook it to make it thicker.

Next, the cheese sauce goes back into the skillet we used to toast the flour. I cook the sauce over medium-low heat, stirring frequently with a rubber spatula, until it lowers in volume and takes on a thick, almost custard-like consistency. This step takes less than 10 minutes.

While the sauce cooks, I boil pasta (small shells, elbows, or whatever I have available) to al dente. A couple minutes before the pasta is ready, I add chopped broccoli to the pot to cook it lightly.

Once the pasta and broccoli are cooked, I strain them and toss with the thickened vegan cheese sauce. That’s it!

Tip: This method of cooking broccoli along with pasta, and then tossing in the sauce also works well with pesto instead of the cheese sauce. Try it with my kale pesto recipe, and get ready for a flavor explosion!

Yummy and healthy vegan mac and cheese with broccoli - a kid-approved vegan recipe

How to Make Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe without Broccoli

Sure! I personally love the texture of broccoli in this recipe (plus it’s nice to know that it’s even healthier that way), but you don’t have to feel obligated to use it here.

Since you’re reducing the volume by taking the broccoli out, you’ll need to add more pasta to the dry pasta amount listed in the recipe. Depending on how cheesy you prefer your mac, you may need to use anywhere from 1 extra cup of dry pasta (more ‘saucy’ mac and cheese) to doubling the pasta amount listed in the recipe (less ‘saucy’ results).

How to Reheat Vegan Mac and Cheese with Broccoli

This mac ‘n cheese can be reheated in the microwave as is. Or, if the sauce turned too thick in the fridge overnight, add a splash or two of unsweetened non-dairy milk and mix well before microwaving. Make sure the milk is not vanilla-flavored, or you’ll end up with vanilla mac and cheese 🙂

Best vegan mac and cheese recipe - a healthy mac n cheese with broccoli

How to Store Vegan Mac and Cheese

This mac and cheese will keep for 3-4 days when stored in an airtight container in the fridge. I personally haven’t tried freezing it – once I do, I’ll update you! (Or, if you try freezing it, please let me know how it went!)

More vegan comfort food recipes from the blog:

“Meaty” vegan bolognese pasta with soy curls

Vegan stuffed shells with homemade cashew-almond ricotta

High protein vegan chili with sweet potatoes and TVP

Hearty chickpea and shiitake mushroom soup

Yield: 4 servings

Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe with Broccoli - Oil-free, with Gluten-free Option

Yummy and healthy vegan mac and cheese with broccoli - a kid-approved vegan recipe

This easy vegan mac and cheese recipe uses a cheesy cashew and miso-based sauce that envelopes each bite in creamy, cheesy vegan deliciousness. Adding broccoli infuses this mac and cheese with extra fiber and nutrients. This dairy-free, oil-free, whole food-based recipe will wow adults and kids alike!

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

For the Cheese Sauce:

  • 1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour*
  • 3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked (no need to soak if using a high-speed blender)
  • 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsp mellow white miso paste
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp granulated onion
  • 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 cups filtered water
  • Salt, to taste

For the Mac and Cheese:

  • 1/2 lbs small pasta (I used shells)
  • 5 cups broccoli***, florets and stems, chopped into small pieces (less than bite size)

Instructions

  1. Toast the flour: slowly heat a dry heavy-bottomed sauce pan, add the flour, and toast it, stirring frequently with a rubber spatula, about 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn the flour! Once toasted, the flour takes on the color of a brown paper bag and releases a warm, slightly smoky aroma.
  2. Add the toasted flour to a blender (high speed blenders work best) along with the rest of the cheese sauce ingredients. Blend on high, pausing and scraping the sides, until the mixture is smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning**.
  3. Boil the pasta to al dente following the package instructions. About 2 minutes before the pasta is done, add chopped broccoli*** to the same pot. Drain and set aside.
  4. While the pasta is cooking, gently heat the cheese sauce in the same sauce pan that you used for toasting the flour until the sauce thickens. Stir the sauce with a rubber spatula to prevent sticking to the pan. The sauce is ready once it takes on a smooth, custard-like texture.
  5. Mix the drained pasta and broccoli thoroughly with the sauce. Enjoy!

Notes

*Gluten-free option: use gluten-free flour in step 1, then use gluten-free pasta.

**You want the sauce in step 2 to be a bit on the salty side - the saltiness mellows out once the cheese sauce is mixed with the pasta.

***If you want to skip broccoli, you'll need raise the amount of dry pasta: use anywhere from 1 extra cup of dry pasta for more ‘saucy’ mac and cheese, or double the pasta amount for less ‘saucy’ results.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1 bowl

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 327Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 0mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 9gSugar: 5gProtein: 14g

Please note that the provided nutritional information data is approximate.

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I hope you enjoy my vegan mac and cheese with broccoli as much as we do in our family!

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author avatar
Alina Zavatsky - Vegan Runner Eats
Alina first made a switch to a vegan diet in 2013 to optimize her athletic performance as a marathon runner. Eventually she embraced veganism as a way to be kinder to fellow living beings and the environment. Alina hopes that this blog helps its readers on their path to becoming vegan and making this world a better place.

Kinga Caturano

Friday 28th of August 2020

Hello, I was so excited about this recipe but I didn't toast the flour and the sauce turned out so watery. Once I realized it I toasted 1 tbs and added to already made sauce but still the same . Can you please tell me how I can make this sauce thicker. Thank you!

Alina Zavatsky - Vegan Runner Eats

Friday 28th of August 2020

Hi Kinga! Hmm, that's unusual. Did the sauce not thicken at all when you were heating it in step 4? Usually that's when it gets thick like custard whenever I make it. I would advise adding more flour, but since you already did, that's kind of odd that it didn't thicken.

If you try making this again, please let me know if it turns out OK!

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