Healthy mac and cheese Made with a vegetable cheese sauce, stir-fried vegetables and healthy noodles. This vegan healthy mac and cheese recipe is comfort food at its best.
I love mac and cheese, and making a healthy mac and cheese recipe that tastes amazing with all the veggies! It just takes a little creativity; You can enjoy vegan healthy mac and cheese as often as you like. Make it plain, or load it with veggies; The decision is yours!
Jump:
When I was in college, I think I lived on ramen noodles and mac and cheese. Of course, my limited budget and need to save money for weekend partying contributed to my toxic diet. Like most college students, my diet was not a priority. However, by the time my daughter went to college, I had already raised her vegetarian, so she was shocked when she discovered she couldn’t eat at the University of Michigan without eating at the salad bar.
Since then, colleges have added vegan options, which is great. Healthy mac and cheese, for example, has become a staple of my packaged meals to take to her school. And it’s a regular in my food rotation at home.
What is healthy mac and cheese?
To make a normally unhealthy meal, healthy is to change the ingredients but keep the comfort food taste. Let’s talk about noodles first. Although many people believe that carbs and noodles are unhealthy, the variety of noodles available today is amazing! Some of my favorite noodles, for example, are gluten-free, while others are whole-grain.
Gluten-free noodle brands
Gluten-free noodles have come a long way. When these noodles first hit the shelves, they were often sticky and bad tasting. However, over time, gluten-free noodles taste very close to real noodles.
Whole grain noodles
Despite popular belief, most pastas are plant-based and contain very few ingredients that qualify them as whole foods.
In fact, I’m amazed at the wonderful gluten-free varieties of pasta that have evolved over the years.
The next challenge to tackle is making a healthy mac and cheese with a healthy vegan cheese sauce.
Although there are many fabulous vegan cheese options, they are still high in fat. So, I made my healthy mac and cheese with my favorite nacho cheese sauce, which is made from vegetables, but I tweaked it a little.
Vegan Cheese Sauce Ingredients
- Idaho Potatoes: Potatoes make the perfect base for a cheese sauce because they provide starch and thickening agents in a whole food source.
- Carrots: Carrots provide a nice orange color as well as sweetness.
- Nutrition Facts: Nutritional yeast is full of vitamin B12, and it gives the cheese sauce a cheesy flavor as well as a thick component.
- Lemon juice: Lemon juice gives the vegan cheese sauce a fresh flavor and acidity. I love fresh lemon juice.
- Onion Powder: Onion powder adds a sweet and savory flavor that you can’t get from fresh onions.
- Garlic Powder: Garlic powder adds an intense, concentrated garlic flavor to a recipe, while garlic cloves add a slightly subtle flavor. If you substitute garlic powder for the fresh ingredient, you must use much less.
- Smoked Paprika: Smoked paprika is made from red peppers that are smoked or charred, dried, then ground into a fine, bright red powder. It adds a wonderful, intense smokiness to many dishes.
- Vegetable Broth: The vegetable broth adds flavor to the vegan cheese sauce.
- I willow: Soy sauce adds an umami flavor. If avoiding salt, choose low sodium soy sauce.
- Water: Water thins out the cheese sauce for the perfect texture.
Substitute vegan cheese sauce
- Choose any potato you have on hand.
- Squash has often been used as a substitute for carrots.
- Alternatives to nutritional yeast include white miso paste, cashews, sunflower seeds, or dried porcini mushrooms.
- Use bottled lemon juice instead of fresh lemon juice.
- Instead of onion powder, you can use: grated fresh onion, shallot, fennel bulb, scallion, garlic powder, onion salt or celery.
- The difference between garlic powder and granulated garlic is the size of the cloves. While granulated garlic is coarsely ground to a sand consistency, garlic powder is finely ground to a flour consistency.
- Chipotle pepper powder is probably the closest thing you’ll find to a smoked paprika substitute on most spice racks.
- Try vegetable bowls mixed with water or Yondu Mix in water instead of vegetable broth.
- Tamari or liquid aminos are gluten-free options to use instead of soy sauce. Or, choose low-sodium vegetable broth.
Fry the vegetables
Although the sauce is primarily made with vegetables, adding more vegetables makes healthy mac and cheese even healthier.
Since I love making any pasta dish, I make at least half the vegetables; I put together a bunch of my favorite veggies to add to my healthy mac and cheese.
- White Onion: White onions have a strong flavor, yet caramelize and sweeten when cooked.
- Bell Pepper: I chose yellow, orange and red bell peppers to add color and sweetness to this vegan healthy mac and cheese.
- Broccoli: I love broccoli because it holds its heat and absorbs flavor like a sponge.
- Mushrooms: Sauteed mushrooms add an element of texture as well as delicious flavor.
- Grape tomatoes: Grape tomatoes are added last and cooked only slightly so they retain their shape and raw texture.
Making Vegan Healthy Mac and Cheese Recipes
One of my favorite tips for cooking broccoli while making pasta is to cook the broccoli with the noodles for the last three minutes of cooking.
As a result, the broccoli cooks perfectly and saves a step.
Then, drain the noodles and broccoli in a colander.
Once the noodles are cooked, add the roasted vegetables and vegan cheese sauce and stir together.
Serve in bowls with some parsley on top for garnish. I like to serve this healthy mac and cheese recipe with a big chopped salad.
Recipe FAQs
Most vegan mac and cheese recipes are made with cashews and nutritional yeast. However, there are many other options for those with nut allergies.
Yes, there is a vegetarian option for Kraft Mac and Cheese. Kraft recently released a vegan version of their classic mac and cheese made with plant-based ingredients, including a cheese sauce made from potato and pea protein.
Coconut milk is the most popular plant milk used for mac and cheese. However, unsweetened, unflavored plant milk works.
advice
- Peel carrots and potatoes before boiling or leave the skin on for extra nutrition.
- Cut the potatoes and carrots into equal-sized pieces so that they boil evenly.
- Choose any vegetable to add to the vegan healthy mac and cheese.
- If using gluten-free noodles, I recommend washing them before adding them to the pan, as they often have a thick film after cooking.
- If you don’t like nutritional yeast, use cashews, sunflower seeds, or flax seeds instead.
- For a low-sodium option, choose low-sodium soy sauce.
- If you want a creamier sauce, replace the unflavored, unsweetened plant milk with water.
Next time you want comfort food, try this vegan healthy mac and cheese!
If you love this healthy mac and cheese, give us a 5-star review and comment below. We want to hear from you!
📖 Recipe
Healthy mac and cheese
Healthy mac and cheese is made with a vegetable cheese sauce, roasted vegetables and healthy noodles. Comfort food can be healthy and satisfying.
Materials
2 cups healthy vegan cheese sauce
instructions
Vegan cheese sauce
Wash three medium-sized potatoes; Cut them into large chunks (leave the skins on or peel the potatoes).
Peel three large carrots and cut them like potatoes.
Place in a bowl and cover with water.
Add a few drops of salt to the water.
Boil for 20 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking, place the vegetable broth, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and soy sauce in a blender.
Grate the potatoes and carrots.
Place potatoes and carrots in a blender; Blend until smooth.
The mixture will thicken; Add water.
Transfer the ‘cheese’ mixture to a medium sized saucepan.
Noodles
Cook noodles according to package directions.
In the last 3 minutes of cooking, add the broccoli florets.
Drain the pasta and broccoli together in a colander.
Return the pasta and broccoli to a pan.
Roasted Vegetables
In a large skillet, saute garlic and onion until translucent.
Add mushrooms and cook until browned.
Add a little vegetable broth or water if the vegetables stick.
Add baby bell peppers. Cook for few minutes.
Add whole tomatoes last, as they are more delicate and cook faster.
Cook for a few more minutes.
Combine the ingredients
Add the noodles and broccoli to the pan you cooked the noodles in.
Now, add the fried vegetables.
Pour 2 cups of the cheese sauce over the noodles and vegetables.
Stir the ingredients together.
Serve in individual bowls and add a little parsley.
Comment
- Peel carrots and potatoes before boiling or leave the skin on for extra nutrition.
- Cut the potatoes and carrots into equal-sized pieces so that they boil evenly.
- Choose any vegetable to add to the vegan healthy mac and cheese.
- If using gluten-free noodles, I recommend washing them before adding them to the pan, as they often have a thick film after cooking.
- If you don’t like nutritional yeast, use cashews, sunflower seeds, or flax seeds instead.
- For a low-sodium option, choose low-sodium soy sauce.
- Replace unflavored, unsweetened plant milk with water for a creamier sauce.
nutrition
Worship: 6gCalories: 436kcalSugars: 89gProtein: 17gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0.4gPolyunsaturated Fats: 1gMonounsaturated fats: 0.2gSodium: 367mgPotassium: 1220mgFiber: 9gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 6837IUVitamin C: 69mgCalcium: 63mgIron: 3mg
Oh! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher and vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is completely plant-based vegan. I truly believe that what we eat and how we live determines our health and the preservation of our planet! 🙂
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