If you missed my last post on Nutritional Yeast, and you’re not familiar with that ingredient, you may want to check it out before reading further because this post is very “nooch” focused.
I guess I should start by saying that I’ve probably tried every “cheezy” nutritional yeast sauce out there. From virtually straight-up, to tofu-based, to cauliflower-based (!), I’ve tried them all. And although they weren’t always the best, I’ve eaten them all, because they were smothered over big bowls of pasta. Let’s face it: I never say “no” to a bowl of pasta (except one covered and real cheese and/or meat, of course!)
Truthfully, I’m being a bit harsh about those cheeze sauces. They weren’t that bad. They were all pretty good (except maybe the cauliflower one). They were thick and creamy and as close to the “real” thing as one can remember after being vegan for over 15 years. But there was something missing. Also, many of them called for a lot of vegan margarine, which I try to avoid unless absolutely necessary when baking special-occasion desserts or treats.
Last week I was going through my bookmarks and came across The Epicurean Vegan’s Creamy Macaroni and Cashew Cheese post about Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s recipe from her book, The Vegan Table. A cashew-based cheeze sauce? This I had to try!
I have to say (and as you’v probably guessed from the title of this post) – this is definitely the best vegan cheeze sauce that I’ve ever tried. It’s rich and creamy, but also sweet and mellow. The cashews alone would impart a bit of sweetness, but I think it’s the miso that really does the trick. Oh, and I have to say that the addition of truffle oil is pretty awesome. It adds a nice sophistication to an otherwise rather basic comfort food.
Notes
- The original recipe makes a lot of sauce – I halved the recipe and I think I ended-up eating it over 3-4 meals. The halved recipe appears below.
- My sauce turned-out a bit darker because although my miso paste is labelled “white”, it’s actually really dark brown.
- I used half the oil and it still turned out great (the halved oil is included in the recipe below).
- I realize this isn’t macaroni – small spirals were all I had on hand!
- I didn’t mix all the sauce into the pasta initially, so I was able to use my leftover sauce on this big bowl of quinoa and broccoli. It’s a healthier option that I had originally read about on Jenn’s website (her version is good but this cashew one steals the show for me).
Updates
- Aug 2, 2012 – I have to agree with Epicurean Vegan – this is way better straight-up, rather than baked in the oven. However, I’ve included that option in the directions above, as per the original recipe.
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp raw cashews
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp salt, to taste
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1/16 tsp white pepper
- 1 + ¾ cups nondairy milk
- 1.5 tbsp cornstarch
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 2 tbsp light (yellow or white) miso paste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 6-8oz pasta, cooked (use gluten-free if needed)
- 1 tsp truffle oil (optional, but highly recommended)
- Place cashews in a large-sized bowl of the food processor and finely grind–just don’t let the cashews turn to a paste. Add nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt, garlic powder, and white pepper. Pulse three more times to blend in spices.
- In a heavy saucepan, combine milk, cornstarch and oil(s). Bring to a simmer over high heat. Decrease heat to low-medium, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes, or until cornstarch dissolves.
- With the food processor running, gradually add milk/oil mixture to cashew/nutritional yeast mixture. Blend for 2 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Next blend in miso and lemon juice.
- Combine cashew cheese with macaroni noodles and serve. You may also bake it: Preheat oven to 325 and place macaroni mixture in a 8 or 9″ square baking dish. Cover and bake 20 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with ½ C herbed bread crumbs. Continue baking, uncovered, for 15-25 minutes until topping is golden brown.
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As a VERY recent vegan, a month yesterday, but a vegetarian for 10 years, I look forward to learning a lot on your blog. I have recently discovered Nooch and love it, and after reading your rave review on the cashew based cheese sauce, I must say, I made “Spaghetti No’s” from Isa Chandra’s website – I think Post Punk Kitchen, and it uses cashews in the “cheese” sauce. I can’t believe how good it was and I can’t believe how much my kids love it too! Even the lentil meatballs.
Anyway, I look very forward to trying your quiche recipes and thanks so much for making it easier! My husband is a very supportive omnivore whom I hope goes vegan one day – he does love my vegan cooking and eats it regularly. It would be so much nicer though if family and friends didn’t treat you as a freak. I’m getting used to it though because it’s only myself I had to convince. :)
Thanks again!
Hi Tricia – Thanks so much for your comment and congratulations on going vegan! It’s great that you have a strong vegetarian foundation, that will certainly help you. Cheese is super hard to “kick” so things like Nutritional Yeast are a great way to indulge in cheese-like recipes. I haven’t tried either of the recipes that you mentioned but will have to give them a try – thanks for recommending them! Let me know what you think of the quiche. With time, your friends and family will learn to better accept your choice to be vegan. It does seem extreme at first, but once they taste all the yummy food you’re making, it will be easier for them to understand, or at least appreciate :) Again, good luck, and feel free to send more recipe recommendations my way!
I’m not a vegan but after trying this recipe I’m thinking maybe I should be… ;)
Hi Rob – Woah, that’s huge! Thanks so much for your comment – so glad to hear that you liked it. If people only knew how yummy vegan can be… :)
Just wanted to thank you SO much for posting this, it helped me find the recipe. It was sooooooo good I threw you a shout-out!
http://crashtestvegetarian.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/rotini-and-cashew-cream-sauce/
Hi Izzy – So glad to hear that you liked this. You’re right, it’s not traditional mac and cheese and sweeter than the usual mac and cheeze… but I love it so I don’t care! I’ve eaten it on quinoa, steamed broccoli… any excuse, really :) Thanks for the shout-out and link back to my site!
I love Vegan Mac & Cheese. Every mac & cheese dish I see in a restaurant, cafe, even in a home cooking kitchen, I devour it right away! But usually I don’t like to cook pretty often (as much as you), I always go for Amy’s Kitchen vegan mac and cheese (plus, it contained Daiya cheese and it’s completely soy-free, I think…), it’s a quick 5-6 minutes microwavable meal plus it tasted orgasmic.
xxxx from Vienna
Hi Rika – Thanks for the tip, I’ll look for that while I’m here in Canada! :)
How long do you think the sauce lasts? I am making the recipe but do not intend to use it all today. Have not tried it yet!
Thanks,
Susan
Hi Susan – Gad to hear you’re trying this yummy recipe. The sauce should be fine for a few days in the fridge, although you may need to re-blend it quickly before re-using. Let me know how it goes!
OMG! Fantastic! Let you know how it fairs a few days in the frig, My husband liked it! Which is surprising.
That’s so awesome! I haven’t even tried it on my fiance yet… he hates nutritional yeast… but maybe it’s worth a try :)
I’m so psyched to try this recipe, thank you! I have been vegan for 8 weeks now and actually, didn’t find myself having a hard time giving up cheese at all…at first, ha! I’ve tried many of the cheeze products out there but have yet to find one I really embrace and want to buy again. I do miss extra feta and sharp cheddar, so am really looking to find one of those some day that I like (did find a good soy feta with Mediterranean herbs already in it that’s pretty darn tasty, gotta admit). I love nutritional yeast and have for years, and have been looking into more recipes that utilize that for cheesiness. Wish I had a bowl of this right now (but honestly, with quinoa and broccoli since I watch carbs being diabetic)!
Hi Julie – Thanks so much for your comments. Congrats on going vegan – the first month or so is the hardest so that’s a big accomplishment! I’ve had soy feta before (really yummy) but I have yet to find a store-bought cheddar that I like. You may need to make your own – there are lots of recipes out there (although I’ve never attempted it, it looks easy enough). That’s great that you already like nutritional yeast – another thing that should make the vegan thing easier for you. I made this with quinoa and kale this weekend – way healthier than straight-up on pasta. Anyway, good luck and keep in touch! :)
Julie – thank you for posting the Mac and Cheese recipe. I have been looking for a great one for a long time. My daughter just loooves mac and Cheese. How did your sauce get creamy. Mine turned out to be just watery. I followed the direction as indicated ( used rice milk for the milk product). Any one has an idea if it is the rice milk?
Hi Ines – Thanks for your comment. I’m not sure why, but it sounds like the rice milk may not have been creamy enough for this recipe. You may want to try almond milk next time if you can’t use soy. So sorry to hear that it didn’t work out for you :(
Is there anything you can substitute the miso with? My local grocery store doesn’t carry it, and I live pretty far away from any other stores that might. Also don’t want to have to order on-line and pay shipping. This looks so good and I am dying to try it.
Hi Erin – If you absolutely can’t find it, then feel free to leave it out. A lot of the other famous vegan “cheese” sauces don’t contain miso and people still love them, so you should be OK. However, personally, I always find that those sauces are missing something. The miso adds a sharpness that really makes this taste like cheese to me. So, make it without, see what you think… and place an online order for some light miso paste to try it next time. It’s so versatile and you’ll find that a lot of vegan/healthy recipes call for it.
My boyfriend, who loves his cheese, says that this is better than regular macaroni and cheese, and we have to make it all the time. Heavenly.
That’s fantastic! Thanks for the feedback. I have an even better recipe coming soon… probably next week… stay tuned! :)
Hi Vegangela,
Longtime vegetarian/vegan here. So what are you thoughts on vegan males wearing nail polish. I’m certain your enlightened readership would love to know! Cheers!!!!!
Hi Thomas – I don’t really have an opinion on it either way. I guess it’s cool as long as the polish is vegan?! I had an ex who wore polish and eyeliner all the time, and I thought it was quite hot!
Wonderful response…thank you. So I’ll be making that Mac&Cheese recipe with some alteration. I’ve always had a problem over the years with nutritional yeast from tasting like cheese to cardboard. I’ll be adding mashed Cannellini beans to the recipe with whole wheat bread crumbs as a topping for baking in an oven. Will let your fine readership know how it turns out as I’m making it as an entree for Christmas dinner…Cheers all and Happy Holidays!!!!!!
Yum, sounds delicious. Definitely keep me posted :)
Just made this for the first time and it was great! Made it as a side with chili. My husbands words were, “this is ridiculous! It’s better than most mac and cheeses.” Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Kat – Wow, that’s incredible feedback! I’m so glad that you and your husband liked it so much :)
I lead a discussion group, called a Vpod, and we were talking about wanting a vegan mac and cheese recipe. This recipe looks so good! I will be sharing it with my group when we meet on Friday night at 6:30. Want to join us? Just email me and I’ll give you the number to call. :)
Hi there! Sorry, I’ve been traveling and just now getting caught-up on comments. Hope the discussion went well! :)
Im so excited about your recipes my husband and I just watched forks over knives and we are going vegan that movie really impacted us .
Hi Christian,
That’s so awesome! Congrats on the decision to go vegan and I’m honored to hear that my recipes will be of help along the way. Let me know if you have any questions. I’m traveling right now but will try to get back to you ASAP!
I just tried this recipe for the first time and I loved it! I am not a proclaimed vegan (yet), but have recently decided to try giving up cheese for at least 14 days to see if it makes a difference in how I feel (I eat a ridiculous amount of cheese). So far so good. I have a friend who has been vegan for years and she warned me that she had to go through tons of horrible mac and cheese recipes before finding one she liked, but I thought this recipe sounded good so I decided to try it anyway. I’m glad I did. I couldn’t find miso paste nearby so I left it out. I also didn’t use the lemon juice as I am not a big fan of too strong a lemon flavor. I used macaroni noodles made from corn and quinoa flour (because I am also trying to add more whole grains to my diet) and I added in some sweet peas. It was delicious!
I’m so glad you liked it. It’s my all-time fave vegan mac and cheese recipe. Try to seek-out the miso if you can (in the Asian section of you grocery store). It makes a big difference and adds a rich cheesy flavor :)
I will definately by trying this! Just bought a ton of raw cashews and am looking for ways to use them up. And, always on the look out for new Vegan mac and cheese, got to love the NOOCH!
Excellent!Let me know what you think of it :)
I knew that I wanted to make a cashew mac and cheese sauce and when I googled it, yours was the second link. And then I was like, “Oh! That’s Angela! We made amok in Cambodia together!”
I made it last night for my husband and it was wonderful! Not too noochy (which is often my complaint), but creamy and wonderful. I didn’t have any non-dairy milk, so I just threw in some extra cashews and a little less water and it turned out great :) I definitely plan to use this in the future!
Linnea
Hi Linnea! Thanks so much for stopping by! What a small world! I’m adding your blog to my RSS reader now :) Keep in touch and I’ll try to get to my comments sooner in 2013!
Hi there, great recipe! I’m new to the dairy free world, and had recently made an attempt at vegan macaroni & “cheese.” Unfortunately, it had turned out horrible tasting. Now the only thing that I could find in my grocery store (which was not a health food store, BTW) was a product called, Imported Brewer’s Yeast. The smell of it was really strong. At first I had thought maybe it was the tahini (spelling?) that the recipe had called for; but after testing it again, and making a second “cheese wiz” version using this Brewer’s yeast product, I’m thinking that was the culprit???
Can anyone help me out? Thanks so much! And great site!
Brewer’s Yeast is NOT nutritional yeast. You can read more about nutritional yeast here: http://www.vegangela.com/tag/nutritional-yeast-nooch/. Good luck!
I’ve been vegan for about a year and a half now and decided to get a huge batch of nutritional yeast and try out a mac & cheese recipe. I found your recipe and have just finished baking a huge batch. (Had to leave out the onion powder, didn’t have any in the rack!)
I really wasn’t expecting much but OMG! It is The. Best. Tasting Mac & Cheese I have ever had. Ever! Granted, it’s my first vegan taste of it but it blew me away! This is seriously going in my go to collection of awesome recipes. Thank you so much for this ultimate comfort food!
YAY! So glad to hear it. Thanks for taking the time to let me know :)
I wanted to like this! The sauce actually looked like cheese sauce and was so smooth. Unfortunately, I took a bite and could barely stomach it. Didn’t taste cheesy to me. I followed the recipe all except the truffle oil because of the $10 price tag. My husband and kids couldn’t eat it either. We are not vegan, but we love to cook and try new recipes.
I’m really sorry to hear that. Nutritional yeast is an acquired taste for most people :(
This is a great basic recipe! Red miso is definitely the way to go, it gave some much-needed color to what otherwise looked like a buerre blanc. An additional pinch of salt, a tablespoon of white wine mustard and a teaspoon of hot sauce kick up the flavor beautifully. My 5 year old loved this. Definitely a keeper.
Thanks for the tip about the miso. Love your additions, I will try that next time :)
Hi there!
Thank you for such a fabulous recipe! It is wonderful! I followed it to the letter with no substitutions. However, my sauce did not come out that cheery orange colors yours is. It’s more like a white cheddar sauce. Do you have any tips?
Hi Vanessa – what color is your miso? I was using a really dark miso when I shot those photos, but I now use a lighter miso and the sauce comes up much lighter. You could always add some paprika if you wanted more color..?
I made some changes; these worked very well for us:
Ingredients
½ cup + 2 tbsp raw cashews, covered by boiling water for 20 minutes, then drained
¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt, to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 cups plain soymilk (less milk to make up for the soaked cashews and increased lemon)
1.5 tbsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 tbsp light (yellow or white) miso paste
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
8oz pasta, cooked
1 cup steamed spinach leaves
1 peeled, diced tomato, steamed (stir in spinach and tomato just before serving)
Several dashes pepper sauce by each guest as desired
Instructions unchanged
Sounds great! Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. I like the addition of spinach and tomato. Yum!
Hi VegAngela!
I just tried this recipe last night and my boyfriend (who is the opposite of a vegan) and I both loved it! As you mentioned, there was a fair amount of sauce left over so I just used it as a coating on kale and made kale chips. HOLY MOLY. Amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
That’s awesome! I’m so glad to hear that you both liked it. AWESOME idea with the kale chips. I will definitely try that! Thanks for stopping by :)
This sounds really yummy. might try it with brown rice pasta.
Question: what kind of non dairy milk will work best with this? I do not like getting soy anything since there is so much out about it not being very good for you. I have not had rice or hemp milk. I don’t want to use almond milk as hubby doesn’t like it and i am unsure how coconut milk will do.
Hi April – That small amount of soy is not likely going to be dangerous, but failing that, I would use almond or rice milk. The flavor of the almond milk will be masked by the other ingredients. Good luck!
This was absolutely delicious, what a gem of a discovery! Thank you so much. I also love the Australian references and accessible ingredients :)
Cheers!
I’m so glad you liked it! It’s still my “go-to” comfort food recipe :)
I made this lastnight and it went over pretty well. I’ve never cooked with raw cashews. Should the cashews here be soaked in water before grinding? I didn’t soak mine and my sauce turned out quite gritty. Still very edible, people went for second helpings.
Yes, you can definitely soak them to make the sauce creamier. Glad you liked it!
Thank god I found this! I have been vegetarian for over 15 years, but cheese and milk has been my staple…I ate cheese every single day for those 15 years. This year, my husband and I finally decided to go vegan and cheese was something we were having a hard time replacing. We had tried one version of mac and cheese we found online that wasn’t that good. But this recipe WAS AMAZING!
I added some extra nutritional yeast flakes. I left out the truffle oil, and replaced the miso with soy sauce and tahini. I think I added more lemon juice than in the directions – not sure, I just kept squeezing and tasting so… I also added some mustard because I like the vinegary taste of mustard – and it turned out perfect. To me, it tasted just like cheese. No I’m lying. It actually tasted better than cheese to me. My husband was ecstatic when he tasted it.
So thank you. It will be a recipe I use for nachos or any other cheese-needed dish, and it will allow me to be a totally satisfied vegan.
YAY, isn’t this the best recipe? I wish I could take credit for it! Your modifications sound great. I really need to add mustard next time. Thanks for taking the time to write! :)
what can we use in place of canola oil?
You could use a light olive oil or regular vegetable oil…
Hi I am farely new to being vegan but have also been open to it. I have always loved mac and cheese and googled a vegan version and up came to this glorious recipe. I didn’t have corn starch so I added whole wheat flour. Added a little Aardark habanero hot sauce on it with a side of greens and I am very impressed. Creamy, savory with a touch of heat. Very good. Thanks for the great recipe! :)
Yum, great substitutions. So glad you liked it! It’s a staple in my home :)
Cant wait to try this mac and cheese recipe. I have tried a few before and failed miserably. So I just gave up!!
I will def be back to post the result. Thanks for sharing. I just made delicious vegan biscotti.
Vegan biscotti = yum! Let me know if you try this recipe… it gets great reviews from all over… :)
How much white pepper should be used? Herbed bread crumbs? Thanks.
Good catch in regards to the white pepper. Should be 1/16 tsp white pepper for the halved version. It already says 1/2 C for the bread crumbs.
I just made this tonight and it was incredible!! I made it exactly as written, except I didn’t have a food processor, so I did the whole thing in a blender. It tastes INCREDIBLE!! The best vegan cheese sauce I’ve ever had. The only issue is that it’s not at all creamy because of the blender.. :( I sorta of saw that coming…I guess I’ll buy a mini food processor for next time. Until then, this is more like an alfredo-y sauce :)
Glad you liked it! It’s such a staple in my house too! It’s definitely worth getting a food processor. I use mine almost every day. Thanks for stopping by :)
Hi Angela!
I’ve made this recipe three times since the year started and totally love it! They are addictive!
I use about half the amount of salt because even though I like salt, the first time they turned out to be too salty for me. I also prefer the baked version.
And btw, today there is a post on The Kitchn about Mac and cheese and people are posting links to their favorite recipes so I had to share yours :)
Thanks for such great recipes, love your blog!
Hi there, I’m a vegetarian for about 10yrs now, not vegan, but recently obsessed by nutritional yeast, have it on toast and everything! Can’t wait to try this recipe as a healthier option to actual cheesy, milky sauce..but wondering could I use some fresh onion and garlic instead of powder or is there some reason why should use powder? And if I did use fresh how much do you think? Does fresh generally taste stronger than powder or vice versa (never used powder before)? Technically I can buy some powder if need just wondering if I can avoid buying extra ingredients!
Thanks (“,)
Hi Alice! Glad to meet another nutritional yeast lover – I put it on everything too! You can absolutely use fresh onion and garlic in this sauce, I do that myself sometimes. A medium sized onion and 1 clove of garlic fried-up and added to the sauce should do the trick. Let me know what you think of it!
My 8 year old son says “Tell the lady she’s very creative!” He’s a ‘ use to eat everything’ turned ‘die hard cheese fan/picky eater’. Couldn’t find miso paste in my area, and left out the lemon juice, for his sake. My daughters and I REALLY liked it like this. I recommend making the sauce, then cooking the noodles. This gives the sauce opportunity to cool and thicken. By the time you toss the two together, the sauce sticks instead of runs. Thank you very much for posting this recipe!
Ha ha, your son is hilarious! I’m glad that everyone liked the dish. That’s a good suggestion about the pasta. I often make the sauce for leftover pasta, and I know it works with cooled noodles. Thanks for taking the time to comment – take care :)
I tried this tonight and it was really good! I had other vegan Mac and cheese before but I prefer this recipe. The only thing I did different is add paprika and turmeric, mostly for colour, And I added canned diced tomatoes cause I like to eat my Mac and cheese with tomatoes! I will make this again! Thanks for an awesome recipe. Me and my hubby are new at this and recipes like this will for sure convince him to stick being a vegan.
I love the addition of canned diced tomatoes. I will have to try that! Thanks for taking the time to comment :)
Hi Angela! I’m brand new to the vegan world and love your blog so far! I notice a lot of your recipes call for a food processor.. I, unfortunately, only have a blender.. will this work?
A blender should work for this recipe, yes. As for the other recipes, you may need to add your liquids in first to get things moving, but a blender should work. I actually don’t have a real food processor (I’m saving up for one). I actually use this food chopper and it works great for the price: http://wms.assoc-amazon.com/20070822/US/js/link-enhancer-common.js?tag=vegangela-20
This is honestly the best cheese-like sauce I’ve had. Hands down. I didn’t expect it to taste so good and handle my mac and cheese craving, but it did. I feel so grateful to have found your recipe. My search is over and so is eating cheese!
Have you tried freezing this sauce? I’d like to make a double batch and then freeze half for future meals…
You know what… I haven’t. I’ll have to remember to make extra sauce next time so I can try that. Do let me know if you get to it before I do!
Isn’t it the best? I’m grateful for it myself, since I make it so often. Thanks for your comments, have a great day :)
Our family is omnivorous, but we try to eat vegan, vegetarian and pescetarian for a few meals each week.
We tried this with Tinkyada brown rice rotini, and it was delicious.
I would definitely leave out the salt and serve with steamed or grilled veggies.
Wow, I’m glad to hear that this was a hit at your omni table! Thanks for taking the time to comment :)
Please excuse the following moment of bad spelling and overuse of both capitalization and exclamation points, but…
THIS RECIPE IS AMAZEBAAAAAAALLLLSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*ahem*
I’m an omnivore, however, my diet is mostly comprised of vegan and vegetarian dishes.
Cheese has oft been a major weakness of mine, but a lactose sensitivity (which seems to trigger flare ups of eczema) has forced me to avoid dairy. This recipe may very well be one that will forever banish those cravings (at least for the most part – it’s hard to find a vegan replacement for a nice blue or brie :p)
Thank you for sharing the blueprints of this culinary delight!
P.S. I’m typing this whilst enjoying a giant bowl of quinoa and steamed broccoli drenched in said amazeballs sauce :)
HA HA! Best comment ever. I agree, this recipe is a life-changer. And I love how you’re enjoying it wit quinoa and broccoli – it’s my comfort food when I still want to be healthy :)