Vegan Mac & Cheese with Coconut “Bacon”
My forever favorite comfort food: Vegan Mac & Cheese with Coconut “bacon”. Sharing this recipe again because I got so many requests. If you add 3 tablespoons of pumpkin purée to this recipe, you’ve also got a delicious pumpkin mac-n-cheese.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups gemelli or cavatappi pasta
3 tablespoons vegan butter
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups of unsweetened plain soy or oat milk.
1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
2 cups of shredded vegan cheese I like cheddar style ( I used @violife_foods shreds)
Method
Bring a pot of water to a boil; add some salt to the pasta.
While the pasta cooks, melt the vegan butter in a skillet or pot large enough to hold the pasta when it’s done.
Add the flour and stir over medium heat until the mixture is lightly browned; 1-2 minutes.
Add the milk and whisk to remove any lumps then add the nutmeg, turmeric, salt and pepper.
Cook over medium-high heat until the sauce thickens and starts to bubble. About 8 minutes.
Stir in the cheese, nutritional yeast and whisk until smooth and melted. Turn off the heat.
When the pasta is almost done but still firm, drain it and add to the sauce.
Stir the pasta into the sauce. You can eat as is or bake in a greased 8×8 pan for 20-25 minutes until browned and bubbly. You can also skip baking it if you want it super creamy and just put it under the broiler to brown the top and then serve with coconut bacon chips. Recipe below.
Coconut Bacon Chips
1 tbsp of grape seed or any other vegetable oil
1/2 cup coconut chips. I used one from Trader Joe’s @traderjoes .
3 tbsp of brown soy sauce
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp garlic powder
Mix everything until well combined and sauce is completely coated the coconut chips. Line the coconut chip on a flat cookie sheet pan and bake them for 15 min or until crispy at 400F.
