The ultimate comfort food just got a major upgrade in this Dairy-free Mac and Cheese!
Your eyes are not deceiving you, this really is Dairy-free Mac and Cheese
No, really. It is. There is absolutely ZERO cheese involved in this recipe which is partly why it’s so brilliant. The other reason is that is PACKED with vegetables. Um hmmmmm. Veggies!
And you’ll never know they’re in there. This Dairy-free Mac and Cheese is so silky, rich, creamy and cheesy that it fooled even my most discerning, veggie-sniffing daughter. Not kidding, this kid can smell a hidden veggie from miles away like a customs dog on the hunt for pineapples and cigars.
The day I developed this recipe was the first official ‘real snow’ of the season here in Boulder. The girls came running into the house just as I was pulling the bowl of mac and cheese off the table by the window where I’d been photographing it and they immediately started to inhale it. Still in jackets, hats and snow boots. And there may have been a fight over the last noodle, too.
Naturally, I asked: “Is it good?” They both nodded and smiled. Satisfied with their answer, I turned to walk into my office and heard my oldest say to my mom as I left the room: “That wasn’t REAL mac and cheese. I don’t know what it was but it was good.” YASSSSSSS!
Mom: 1, Veggie-sniffer-outer: 0
The secret is in the sauce
Okay, enough about my on-going endeavor to hide all the veggies – you came here to learn how to make the BEST Dairy-free Mac and Cheese, right?
Well, the secret (as you might imagine) is veggies. Taking a cue from an old vegan cookbook I leafed through at a thrift store this summer I combined butternut squash, cauliflower, onions and garlic to create a silky smooth puree in the perfect shade of orange. Then to make it tangy and savory like cheese I used nutritional yeast, lemon juice and a bit of dijon mustard (like we did here in this Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce) and voila!
Super creamy, non-dairy, nut-free cheesiness if now yours to pour all over your favorite gluten-free pasta (or roasted cauliflower if you’re looking for a grain-free and/or lower carb option).
A food-allergy sufferers dream come true
Whether it’s dairy, soy, gluten, eggs or corn that can’t tolerate, you can make this recipe work for you. Even our plant-based friends can partake in this Dairy-free Mac and Cheese by substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth.
#macandcheeseforeveryone
Put the ultimate comfort food back on the menu with this Dairy-free Mac and Cheese!
Video: How to make dairy free mac and cheese
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Dairy-free Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. coconut or avocado oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups cubed butternut squash, fresh or frozen
- 3 cups cauliflower florets, fresh or frozen
- 2 cups chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth for vegan)
- 1 ½ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Scant ¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 – 1 ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 16 ounces gluten-free pasta of choice
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan with lid, heat the oil over medium heat.
- Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions start to soften.
- Add garlic, stir and cook another 30 seconds to a minute or until garlic is fragrant.
- Add squash, cauliflower, and broth and bring to a steady simmer.
- Once simmering, cover pan with lid and cook until vegetables are very tender, about 15-18 minutes. You may need to lower the heat slightly to maintain a steady simmer and prevent it from boiling.
- When veggies are very tender, transfer to a blender. Add the lemon juice, mustard, salt, and nutritional yeast and blend until very smooth.
- Taste and adjust seasoning before pouring over your favorite cooked pasta (or roasted vegetables).
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Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: 1/6th recipe
- Calories: 376
- Fat: 7g
- Sodium: 340mg
- Carbohydrate: 71g
- (Fiber: 10g
- Sugar: 7g)
- Protein: 12g
Dietary
What’s your favorite thing serve with Mac and Cheese? Are you a vegetable hider too? Share in the comments below.
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This is a blessing of a recipe. My daughter is a self proclaimed mac & chs addict. Due to health reasons, she’s been on an elimination diet and now must go casein free. It has been the BIGGEST challenge finding M&C she will tolerate…until we found this! I did not let her see how it was made, or she wouldn’t have tried it. I cannot thank you enough!! 😀
This makes my heart so full! I’m so glad we could make your life easier (and hers more delicious).
Thank you Jessica so much for this recipe! I make this for my son who is three years old. He is a very fussy eater and also has eczema. He ate this a few times now I always come back to your recipe it’s amazing because I can give him vegetables. He is so fussy and eats unhealthy foods such as pizza and chicken nuggets etc but he will eat this! Amazed and thank you this recipe you have helped us so much Thank you again.
Hi Mary,
Thanks for sharing this – I’m so happy to hear that it’s been a hit with your son and that it’s a recipe you feel good about giving him because I know what a challenge that can be to feed fussy kids!!
I have this cooking in my instant pot right now, and then I will leave it on keep warm until dinner time…I am so excited about this!
Wow! I never thought to make this in the Instant Pot. I’ll have to try it that way sometime.
It turned out AMAZING. So creamy, fast and easy. I tried it on top of GF rice pasta, and my mac and cheese loving 2 1/2 year old daughter kept grabbing handfuls and saying “mmmmm….mmm mmm” then she would get a bit of the pasta (which turns out none of us are a fan of), make a face, then lick the sauce off! So I took the rest of the pasta and sauce, mixed it with buttermilk, breadcrumbs, eggs, onion and garlic powders, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and baked it into mac and cheese baked bites. And I have about 6 cups of sauce left, which I will use with regular pasta, but all of it is a hit!!! Thank you!
To be fair, the modification to make the baked mac and cheese was definitely not dairy free at that point, but I was trying to salvage something with that rice pasta.
Wow, those baked mac & cheese cups sound amazing. I hear you about the rice pasta. They can be pretty hit or miss. My personal go-to is the Organic Quinoa & Brown Rice Pasta from Trader Joes. I find that it’s the closest to ‘real’ pasta and doesn’t get mushy unless overcooked.
Hello! I love this idea! Do you think I could freeze the Mac and cheese sauce to use in other recipes later? I think it would go along way with my 3yo 😀
Hi Sarah,
Yes, you can freeze the sauce itself then thaw and reheat it later for another meal.
This is awesome