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Easy Vegan Mac and Cheese

December 19, 2018 by Vanessa 25 Comments

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easy vegan mac and cheese

I have a bit of a gripe with vegan mac and cheese recipes. Have you tried the boiled potato and carrot kind? Or the cashew cream kind? I don’t want to boil potatoes or clean my blender and cashews are expensive in that volume!

Dairy mac and cheese is easy so vegan mac and cheese should be easy too. Here I use the same technique from when I make the dairy version. For the sauce, I make a roux of vegan margarine and white rice flour. I then add some dairy-free milk and instead of cheese I use nutritional yeast. Easy!

easy vegan mac and cheese

easy vegan mac and cheese
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4 from 2 votes

Easy Vegan Mac and Cheese

An incredibly easy dairy-free mac and "cheese" that doesn't require vegan cheese, boiled potatoes, or cashews.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Keyword mac and cheese, vegan
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Author Duck Soup Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 250 g uncooked elbow pasta (a little over 2 cups)
  • 2 tbsp dairy-free margarine
  • 2½ tbsp white rice flour
  • 2 cups plain unsweetened milk of choice (preferably on the thicker side like soy, almond, or cashew)
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • ½ tsp salt
  • black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Bring a medium-size pot of water to boil.
  • Cook pasta according to package instructions.
  • Drain water from pasta and set pasta aside.
  • Melt the margarine in the same pot over medium heat.
  • Add the white rice flour and whisk together. Let the flour cook for about 30 seconds or until it becomes a light golden color.
  • Add the milk, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper.
  • Lower the heat to medium-low and let the sauce thicken, whisking every so often. This might take about 5-8 minutes.
  • Once the sauce has thickened, add your pasta and stir to coat.
  • Adjust seasoning if you desire.

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Filed Under: All Recipes, Appetizers and Sides, Main Dishes, One-pot, Pasta Tagged With: dairy free, mac and cheese

Previous Post: « Crispy Seasoned Oven-Baked Fries
Next Post: Easy TVP Taco Meat »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. kate

    May 20, 2020 at 1:56 pm

    what can I substitute for the vegan butter? I don’t consume oil(s). Would applesauce be gross??

    Reply
    • Ness

      May 20, 2020 at 2:05 pm

      Hi Kate! The purpose of fat in the roux is to cook out the raw flour flavor. If you have the patience, I’ve read online that you can achieve this without using fat by toasting the flour in the oven before adding it to the recipe.

      I can’t exactly predict what would happen if you use apple sauce, but if you try it, I’d say keep it over low heat so it doesn’t burn. Let me know how it works out!

      Reply
    • Ness

      May 20, 2020 at 2:12 pm

      Hi again, I thought I’d link you to this post for if you decide to do the oven method! It seems like it should work well. Good luck!

      https://blog.memeinge.com/instant-roux/

      Reply
  2. Anjani

    April 11, 2020 at 4:12 pm

    Can I use brown rice flour or arrowroot powder?

    Reply
    • Ness

      April 11, 2020 at 5:58 pm

      Hi Anjani, I believe brown rice flour would work, I have not used arrowroot flour though so you may need to experiment if you choose to use that

      Reply
      • Dee

        August 25, 2020 at 12:12 pm

        Thank u so much for this . I have made so many one million ( well slight exaggeration) but recipes with so much to them , hour in the kitchen jobbie only for it to take like butternut soup or just like I don’t know .. a nice sauce that’s nothing like cheese .
        What u have done it basically make the dairy version but with vegan ingredients! Genius! Why have so many others complicated it ! And more importantly why have I tried to make them all hahaha . Anyway just ate it and was awesome 🙂

        Reply
        • Ness

          August 25, 2020 at 12:44 pm

          Thank you for the lovely comment, Dee! I like to keep things simple around here. 🙂 So glad you enjoyed!

          Reply
  3. Sydney

    February 23, 2020 at 7:10 pm

    Can i use regular flour instead of rice flour?

    Reply
    • Ness

      February 23, 2020 at 7:32 pm

      Hey Sydney, for all purpose flour, use 1/4 cup!

      Reply
  4. Kelly

    February 5, 2020 at 11:38 am

    My family loves this recipe! One of my kiddos has an anaphylactic allergy to cashews, so I was thrilled to find an easy vegan recipe for one of our all time favorite foods! Thank you for creating it!

    Reply
    • Ness

      February 5, 2020 at 12:08 pm

      Thank you so much, Kelly! Glad y’all are able to enjoy mac and “cheese” again! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Jennifer Graves

    November 27, 2019 at 5:30 pm

    Hi and happy thanksgiving! For some reason my sauce isn’t thickening … I used everything you suggested, the milk option I chose was almond. I’ve turned the fire down low and even resorted to adding 2 tbsp of corn starch, out of desperation. I did double the recipe but I can’t imagine that would ruin it? Any suggestions?

    Reply
    • Ness

      November 27, 2019 at 5:41 pm

      Hey Jennifer, happy Thanksgiving to you! I’m so sorry that happened! The only thing I can think is maybe it needed to be cooked longer since the recipe was doubled?
      A rice flour sauce does take longer than a wheat flour sauce to thicken and that was one thing I noticed when I first attempted this recipe. I hope it still turned out okay!

      Reply
  6. Rinn

    August 26, 2019 at 7:15 pm

    This recipe was delicious! I wanted to make this more of a main dish so I blended a can of cannelini beans in with the milk (just to add extra protein). I also added a tbsp of miso paste. So yummy. Thanks for a great recipe. 🙂

    Reply
    • Ness

      August 27, 2019 at 5:13 pm

      Thanks for the feedback Rinn! The miso paste sounds like a great addition, I’ll have to try that sometime. 🙂

      Reply
  7. Shala McCarthy

    May 6, 2019 at 12:46 pm

    I made this and just added a little bit of fresh lemon juice for a bit of tang. Great recipe! So easy and quick.

    Reply
    • Ness

      May 7, 2019 at 3:31 pm

      Thanks for the feedback Shala, I’m so glad you liked it!

      Reply
  8. Mary

    April 16, 2019 at 6:03 pm

    What would you suggest if you were using all-purpose or almond flour in terms of volume needed?

    Reply
    • Ness

      April 16, 2019 at 8:19 pm

      Hi Mary, I’m not too experienced with almond flour so I am not sure. For all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup should do the trick. If you do choose to experiment with almond flour, please let me know how it turns out!

      Reply
  9. Holli Couch

    April 7, 2019 at 1:00 pm

    Hi! Is there another flour I could use? Like oat flour?

    Reply
    • Ness

      April 7, 2019 at 1:36 pm

      Hi Holli! Other flours will work, but the amount you will need will be different from rice flour. For oat flour, I’d say bump it up to 1/4 of a cup.

      Reply
  10. Christy

    March 5, 2019 at 6:15 pm

    Sounds easy and yummy. Unfortunately, I cannot have the yeast. Any substitution suggestions? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Ness

      March 5, 2019 at 7:12 pm

      Hey Christy, thanks for the comment! The nutritional yeast is there for the cheesy flavor. If you’re not opposed to using store bought vegan cheese (shredded kind), I think it would be a great substitute. I’m not entirely sure how much the consistency will change with the swap so you may need to do some tweaking, but please let me know how it turns out for you!

      Reply
      • Christy

        April 7, 2019 at 4:18 pm

        Thanks, Ness. I cannot have the vegan cheeses either (soy). I used coconut cream and tumeric, turned out rich and creamy! Thanks!

        Reply
        • Ness

          April 7, 2019 at 4:53 pm

          That sounds great Christy! I’m glad it worked out for you, thank you for the update. 😀

          Reply

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Hi, I’m Vanessa, the creator here at Duck Soup Kitchen. I like recipes that are quick and relatively fuss-free. My recipes are duck soup after all!
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