Making something taste like cheese that isn’t cheese is no easy task. Leave it to vegan aficionado, RAD Mom and cookbook author, Andrea Duclos, to pull off the impossible. The voice behind Oh, Dear Drea is giving us the scoop on her revered Vegan Mac & Cheese recipe. We’re not going to lie, we were a little skeptical at first and we were so, so wrong. This creamy and delicious recipe is beyond satisfying. It’s hard to believe that it doesn’t contain any cheese, she could have totally fooled us! We can’t wait to make more recipes from this mama’s cookbook, The Plantiful Diet.
Do you have a vegan recipe you can’t get enough of? Tell us in the comments below for the chance to have it featured on the site!

Photo Credit & Food Styling: Leah Nolan

SUPPLIES

Vegan Mac & Cheese
  • Prep time: 1h
  • Yield: 6-8 servings
ingredients
  • 1 Cup Roughly Chopped Carrots
  • 1 Small Roughly Chopped White Onion
  • 1 Cup Cubed Butternut Squash
  • 1 ½ Cups Roughly Chopped Red Potatoes
  • ½ Cup Raw Cashews
  • 1 Cup Nutritional Yeast
  • ½ Stick Vegan Butter
  • 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
  • 2 Cloves Garlic
  • ¼ Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Smoked Paprika
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Pasta Shells
instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Roughly chop the carrots, onion, butternut squash and potatoes and boil in 3 ¼ cups of generously salted water. Once boiling, lower heat and allow to simmer until the veggies are soft.
  3. Prepare the pasta according to the directions on the box, strain and set aside.
  4. While your veggies are simmering, blend the cashews in the food processor. Once smooth, add ½ stick vegan butter, 2 cloves garlic, lemon juice and ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper. Puree together, slowly adding water from the veggies.
  5. Once blended, slowly add the veggies, along with the water and blend. DO NOT pour them in all at once, patience is key. Slowly add 1 cup of nutritional yeast. Continue to slowly add and blend until you have used all of the water, veggies and nutritional yeast. This should come out as a creamy mixture. Add salt and pepper and blend.
  6. Toss the pasta and cheesy mixture together in a baking pan and sprinkle with breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika and more salt. Cover with tinfoil and allow to bake for 10 minutes. Remove the tinfoil and broil for 2 minutes. Serve to your family!
notes

RECIPE BROUGHT TO YOU BY ANDREA DUCLOS FOR GLITTER AND BUBBLES