This delicious vegan macaroni and cheese recipe is gluten free and dairy free. It is made with a tasty cashew cheese sauce and pumpkin puree. You can eat healthy and still enjoy the comfort foods you love.

Disclosure: This healthy vegan macaroni and cheese recipe post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here for my full disclosure policy. 

Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe with Cashew Cheese Sauce 

Getting Personal

Along with eating clean and trying to keep my family eating healthy I also see a nutritionist. To make a long story short he runs a full blood panel and can see where my body is lacking certain things or has an abundance etc. Then we take this info and use food as a sort of medicine to address any issues. For example, my thyroid was a mess, we found multiple nodules (benign), my glutamine has always been low, and my hormones are not where I’d like them to be. To keep it simple, my current diet now includes more cashews and less almonds (but not no almonds). More pork, and less chicken. No wheat, gluten, dairy, soy or refined sugars. By doing this, I am able to keep myself off of medications and fuel my body properly with a healthy diet and lifestyle. 

Clean Eating Basics

Continuing on, and rewinding at the same time – I mention that this is a clean eating recipe because I am all about eating healthy and clean eating. If you are new to a clean eating way of life then you need to check out Everything You Need to Know about a Clean Eating Diet. You can also see how I lost 50 lbs and am keeping it off by following a clean eating diet here: How I Lost 50 Lbs Clean Eating. I tend to try different things and mix different flavors to keep meals healthy and tasty.

Vegan Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

• Before getting started make sure to presoak your cashews. Either overnight in cool water, or if you forget and have less time you can soak them for an hour in boiling water. This is to soften the cashew nuts which gives the cashew cheese sauce its creaminess. 
• Next, let’s gather our gluten free veggie pasta and other simple ingredients. This veggie pasta is from Cybele’s Free to Eat. Thats it, nothing else. You can get Cybele’s pasta online here: Free to Eat. Or if you are a member of Thrive market you can get the pasta there. I am a member of Thrive Market and love it. (I have no affiliation with Thrive or these brands, I am just sharing what I eat and love). Thrive has a huge variety of healthy food options that can be easily delivered to your home.
• For the pumpkin puree I like to use organic pumpkin. Just make sure that there are no extra added ingredients. This is my ‘go-to’ pumpkin puree here: pumpkin puree.
• Nutritional yeast is a great ingredient to add a cheesy taste to your dish without the dairy. You can find it online here: nutritional yeast. 
• The rest are typical spices that you should hopefully have in your cupboard.

How to Make Cashew Mac and Cheese 

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box until al dente (not quite finished, still slightly hard). Drain the pasta and set aside.  
2. Next, drain the cashews that have been soaking and add them to a high-powered blender, (I recently got a Vitamix and love it). Also add the pumpkin, nutritional yeast, mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, nutmeg, salt, black pepper to taste, lemon juice, and coconut milk. Blend for 1-2 minutes until the cashew cheese sauce is completely smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking, (ie, add more salt as needed).
3. To finish your vegan macaroni and cheese recipe, return the cooked and drained pasta back to the saucepan and add the cashew cheese sauce.
4. Heat over medium heat until the sauce is well combined with the pasta and warmed through. Season the dairy free mac and cheese to taste, if needed.
5. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Swaps and Alternatives: 

No recipe is set in stone. The more comfortable you are in the kitchen the more comfortable you will be swapping out ingredients to your liking and playing around with recipes. I often look at a recipe as a guide and make tweaks and adjustments all the time. Here are a few swaps and alternatives you can use if you’d like:

• If you can’t find pumpkin puree you can also used pureed butternut squash like this one here: squash puree. 
• You may use cashew butter if you don’t have whole cashews, or forget to soak the cashews. This is the cashew butter that I use: cashew butter. There is only one ingredient with no added oils or sugar. You can also make your own cashew butter, it is so easy. Here is the homemade cashew butter recipe. 
• Instead of coconut milk, you can also use a nut milk of choice. Sometimes I use cashew milk, which I also made myself. Again, this is very easy: homemade cashew milk recipe. 
• For the pasta, if you don’t use thrive market, or can’t find the veggie pasta you can also use chickpea pasta like this one (chickpea pasta) or lentil pasta like this one (lentil pasta) for this gluten free macaroni and cheese recipe.

You can find more healthy gluten free pasta recipes here: Gluten Free Pasta Recipes.

Printable Recipe

Continue to Content

How to Make Vegan Macaroni and Cheese with Cashew Cheese Sauce

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

This delicious vegan macaroni and cheese recipe is gluten free and dairy free. It is made with a tasty cashew cheese sauce and pumpkin puree.

Print

Ingredients

• 2 cups organic pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked in cool water overnight or for 1 hour in boiling water
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast 
• 1 teaspoon mustard 
• 1 teaspoon onion powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup of coconut milk
• 10 ounces of gluten free pasta of your choice.

Instructions

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box until al dente (not quite finished, still slightly hard).
2. Drain the pasta and set aside.  
3. Next, drain the cashews that have been soaking and add them to a high-powered blender.
4. Add the pumpkin, nutritional yeast, mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, nutmeg, salt, black pepper to taste, lemon juice, and coconut milk.
5. Blend for 1-2 minutes until the cashew cheese sauce is completely smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking, (ie, add more salt as needed).
6. To finish your vegan macaroni and cheese recipe, return the cooked and drained pasta back to the saucepan and add the cashew cheese sauce.
7. Heat over medium heat until the sauce is well combined with the pasta and warmed through. Season the dairy free mac and cheese to taste, if needed.

Notes

Swaps and alternatives:

• If you can't find pumpkin puree you can also used pureed butternut squash
• You may use cashew butter if you don't have whole cashews, or forget to soak the cashews.
• Instead of coconut milk, you can also use a nut milk of choice. Sometimes I use cashew milk, which I also made myself.  
• For the pasta, if you don't use thrive market, or can't find the veggie pasta you can also use chickpea pasta or lentil pasta for this gluten free macaroni and cheese recipe. 

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  Bragg Nutritional Yeast Seasoning – Vegan, Gluten Free Cheese Flakes – Good Source of Protein & Vitamins – Nutritious Savory Parmesan Cheese Substitute – Non GMO Verified, 4.5 ounce, 2 Pack
• 
  Native Forest Simple Organic Unsweetened Coconut Milk, 13.5 Fl Oz (Pack of 12)
• 
  Raw Whole Cashews, 3 lbs, 100% Natural, No Chemicals, Non-GMO, Keto and Paleo Diet Friendly
• 
  Maisie Janes, Cashew Butter Creamy, 12 Ounce
• 
  Tolerant Organic Gluten Free Green Lentil Elbow Pasta, 8 Ounce Box (Case of 6), Plant Based Protein, Vegan Pasta, Single Ingredient Protein Pasta, Whole Food, Clean Pasta, Low Glycemic Index Pasta
• 
  Cybele's Free to Eat Superfood Veggie Pasta - Superfood White, Elbows - 8 Oz Box

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 367Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 834mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 10gSugar: 5gProtein: 11g

nutritional values are estimates and may vary depending on products/ingredients used.

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