Vegan Mac and Cheese with Silken Tofu Sauce
A vegan mac and cheese that even picky kids will love? This is the one! Classic mac and cheese flavour, with a silken tofu mac and cheese sauce (no cashews!) that takes just 5 minutes to whip up in the blender.
My eight year old daughter’s favourite food is mac and cheese. But not just any mac and cheese. She likes it out of the box. Or from local restaurant White Spot. That’s it. The “fancy” kind with five pounds of cheese? Nope. Not for her. She likes it creamy, cheesy and MILD.
As a vegan dietitian cooking for a family of omnivores, I’ve come up against plenty of challenges to create plant-based recipes my family would celebrate but this, my friends, was the biggest so far. Could I create a vegan mac and cheese that my daughter would gobble up, without complaints, or pushing her pasta around her plate to make it look like she’s eaten?
Honestly, this one took some doing. It was all about the little flavour tweaks but after about 6 different iterations, I’ve perfected a creamy, savoury silken tofu mac and cheese sauce that she actually gobbled up! Nutritional yeast creates the cheesy base. Onion and garlic powder layer on umami and depth. And dijon mustard gives it that aged old cheddar vibe.
It’s a very different type of dairy free mac and cheese because honestly, I haven’t loved a lot of the other ones I’ve tried! A lot of vegan mac and cheese recipes use either butternut squash or cauliflower as their sauce base but I don’t love them…because they don’t really taste like classic mac and cheese. Plus, you’ve got to cook the vegetables, which so the sauce takes longer.
And as much as I LOVE cashew cream-based sauces, I know that A) cashews are pricey and B) allergies are common so I wanted to challenge myself to make a fully nut free vegan mac and cheese that was SO delicious that even my eight year old likes it.
Silken tofu makes a perfect base for dairy free pasta sauces because it’s mild in flavour and blends up super smooth in addition to adding plant-based protein (about 4g per ⅓ cup) as well as calcium, iron and potassium meaning that yes, this mac and cheese packs plenty of nutrition!
This dairy free mac and cheese recipe is super weeknight friendly because all you have to do is boil your favourite pasta on the stovetop, blend the sauce and toss it with the cooked pasta. THAT’S IT. If I’m craving veg – and I usually am – a side of roasted cauliflower is DELICIOUS.
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How to make this 15 minute vegan mac and cheese
I love how simple this recipe is: by the time the pasta is cooked, you’ve blended up the sauce and cleaned up the kitchen! Plus, since there are no cashews in the recipe, you don’t need a fancy blender: any blender – even an immersion blender – will do!!
Gluten free? the sauce itself is naturally gluten free so if you have celiac disease, just pair with your favourite gluten free pasta!
Use your tastebuds here! The base sauce is meant to be delicious of course, but mild. Dijon too zippy? A tiny bit of extra sugar can neutralize it. Want MORE flavour? I love adding a tablespoon of Frank’s hot sauce but obviously not if you’re feeding littles!
Want to fancy this up? You could toss the pasta with some toasted panko breadcrumbs, like the ones from my roasted beet and carrot salad (I would skip the lemon zest). OR you pop the pasta into a baking dish, top with some shredded vegan cheese or breadcrumbs toss under the broiler until the cheese is melted (or crumbs toasted!)
More nourishing vegan pasta recipes
- 30 Min Green Pasta Recipe
- Easy Hummus Pasta
- Vegan Alfredo Pasta with Mushrooms
- Creamy Vegan Pasta Salad
Vegan Mac and Cheese with Silken Tofu Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 ounce silken tofu, or soft tofu
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon sugar, yes, it makes a difference!
- 1 pound your favourite pasta
- ¼ cup vegan butter
Equipment
- High Speed Blender regular blender, or immersion blender…all will work!
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and return to the pot off of the heat.
- While the pasta cooks, add the silken tofu, nutritional yeast, Dijon mustard, garlic and onion powder, salt, lemon juice, paprika, and sugar to the blender. Blend for 20 seconds on medium low, scrape the blender, then blend for 20 seconds on medium, scrape the blender, then finish by blending on medium high for 30 seconds until the sauces looks silky smooth.
- Add the vegan butter to the hot pasta, toss to coat and then pour over the cheese sauce and toss again.
Optional toppings
- If you like, it's also nice to transfer the pasta to a baking dish and either top it with melty vegan shreds or seasoned panko crumbs and broil just until the cheese is melted or the crumbs are golden brown.
90 Comments on “Vegan Mac and Cheese with Silken Tofu Sauce”
Do I need nutritional yeast???
For this recipe, it really is essential as it is what makes the sauce taste “cheesy”. Hope you like it!
This whipped up quickly and hit the spot for the comfort food I craved!
So glad you liked it! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a rating and review, it really helps others discover the recipe.
Made this yesterday as a recently turned ‘vegan-from-vegetarian’, and it’s the first dairy-free mac+cheese (or anything cheesy!) recipe I’ve tried out.
I was searching for a recipe that didn’t include any cheddar, mozz etc… since I’m not a fan of vegan cheese, so was pleased when I came across this one. It’s also nice that I already had most of the ingredients – I try to avoid buying things I need for one recipe, and then never touch again.
I really like how creamy silken tofu makes sauces (I’ve been practically been living off gnocchi with blended vegan pesto + silken tofu for the past week!) and this is no different.
I chopped up and mixed in some This Isn’t Bacon rashers (not sure if this is a UK-only brand, but this has been the only bacon I’ve loved since turning veggie 3 years ago) after adding the sauce to the pasta, and it gave it a really nice smoky flavour. Going to use the left over sauce to have the same meal tonight, and plan on adding some air-fried broccoli as well as the bacon.
I live alone and so it’s great to find a recipe which is a super quick and easy meal-for-one, and isn’t too expensive either. Thank you so much for this one!
Quick question: if I made a big batch of the sauce, how long would it keep in the fridge, please? And is the sauce safe to be frozen?
Welcome to the no cheese life, Annabel! I am so glad you like the mac and cheese. It’s true, not all vegan cheeses are that great. And I really wanted to create a mac and cheese without it for exactly that reason. The sauce should keep very well for 3-4 days in the fridge (just shake/blend and use!) or you could freeze it in meal-sized portions for a month. Again, it will separate you you’ll need to shake/blend before use.
Omg this was amazing 😻 I hate saying I modified your recipe because it was basically perfect as is but I took your note about the franks and added that in anyways at the end, doubled the lemon, and threw in a 2tsp of white miso. Will def be making again! Thank you thank you!
Oh, Franks is never a bad idea…and honestly, I’m so happy when you make my recipes your own. Except for when folks change like 5 things and then tell me the recipe sucks ha ha!
I love this recipe! It’s so easy to make and so good! I was making it already a while back and I used miso paste instead of nooch because I didn’t have nooch. Now I put both and it’s convincingly cheesy. The last time I made it I tried baking it, I added extra liquid but I had the same problem as years back when I tried to make a baked non vegan mac and cheese – it was overbaked and a little dry. So I know for next time to either not bake it at all or bake it for 10 minutes max. I made vegan mac and cheeses before – they were usually with white beans for creaminess and protein, but they really didn’t work for me (dry and strange texture and too beany tasting). This one with silken tofu is exactly what you want from mac and cheese – creamy, cheesy tasting, not dry (unless you overbake it like me). So thank you for this recipe!
Thank you so much, Anja, I’m so glad you like it! Yes, because it wasn’t designed to be baked, a little extra moisture (or a quick bake/broil) is best.
Five stars! Both for taste and convenience. I had planned on stir fry but found I didn’t have the veggies I needed so I had to pivot at the last minute and this recipe (with a veggie side) was perfect in a pinch. I don’t keep vegan butter on hand but I substituted in 1/4 cup olive oil instead and whizzed it into the sauce. I love that there are no special ingredients that I have to plan ahead to have on hand. Sadly tonight there were no leftovers…
No leftovers is the highest form of compliment, even if it does make lunches more challenging, ha…I’m so glad you like the mac and cheese
M&C is my ultimate favorite food and I’ve made literally every vegan version possible. This was good but in my and my family’s opinion needs some tweaking. The texture was great but all we could taste was garlic so next time I’ll cut it to 1 tsp. I only used 2 tsp dijon which was a good call as for us, one full TBS would have imparted more mustard flavor than we like. Also, the ratio of sauce to noodles wasn’t right so I’ll only cook 12 oz of pasta next time.
Hi Shelley,
I’m so glad you made it your own. I’m all about adjusting to your personal tastes!
OMG!!!
Been searching for 10 years for a great low fat no oil tofu pasta recipe and this is it! I used smoked paprika which gave it a smoky flavor. This recipe is so simple and absolutely amazing.
Hi John,
Im so glad you like it! Tofu is an amazing ingredient…and the smoky paprika would be such a good variation!
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, it really helps others discover the recipe.
I had high hopes to love this but I am a dairy lover and at first bite it didnt wow me…. BUT then i added a few dashes of franks red hot to the top and I loved it. For me that took it from okay to great.
I will say this…if you’re a cheese lover, nothing will taste quite like it. But I’m so glad that a bit of Frank’s did the trick! I love it with Frank’s too.
Delicious. Mixed in some tempeh bacon for some extra zing/protein. I will likely double the sauce recipe for future batches, had a pound of elbows and it coats it all but just barely. YMMV. 4 stars for the sauce/pasta ratio, but 6 stars for flavor, which averages to 5 stars 🙂
I am so glad you like it…and 100% if you like it super saucy, double the sauce for a full pound of dried pasta (especially if you want to bake it!). Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a rating and review, it really helps others discover the recipe.
One of my new favorite comfort foods!!!!! I will make this every 2 weeks from here on out!! Thank you
Oh yay!! I am so glad you like it…it’s one of our family staples too 🙂
This one’s a winner. I recommend starting with half the Dijon mustard and adjusting to your taste. Otherwise, I just added some soy milk to thin out the sauce. My 3 year old ate it without saying she wanted the boxed one instead! Success! 🙌
Okay…if it gets the preschooler seal of approval, it’s a winner!!
The creaminess of this sauce is spot on. Whoever said it was dry & lumpy clearly used the wrong kind of tofu. But I found that it tasted more like macaroni & nooch than anything resembling a cheese sauce. The paprika gives it a bit of a bacony flavor which isn’t unpleasant but also doesn’t give “mac & cheese.” I’m wondering if a smidge more sugar might balance the bitterness of the nooch… Will definitely use this as a base to play around with though, because it’s decent if not perfect.
Hi Dharma,
A bit of sugar absolutely would! Try also using a little less nutritional yeast to start because you can always add more…but it’s harder to claw back. Nooch can definitely vary in flavour – I use Bob’s and for my tastebuds there’s zero bitterness, definitely play around and make it your own!
Best vegan Mac & Cheese!
I love how creamy it is; I even saved some sauce to serve on my asparagus!
I didn’t add the hot sauce, but will give it a try next time.
I am so glad you liked it Annie!! Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review, it really helps 🙂
Have made this many times and it always comes out great! Will continue to be an old faithful for mac n’ cheese night (I always add peas + Field Roast).
Praying you never stop making delicious recipes 🙏
ooh peas + field roast are a brilliant addition! So glad you like it, Hannah…and thank you so much for taking the time to leave a rating and review 🙂
This was so easy and quick and delicious that it went into my “to make again” folder- my highest compliment. I used Frank’s red hot sauce as per Desiree’s note and it was great. Little hack- instead of salt and sugar I used Nashville red hot seasoning, which has a lot of sugar and salt, because I thought it would pair well with the Frank’s, and indeed it did.
Ooh I love the Nashville red hot idea! So glad you like the mac and cheese, Lydia!
Hands down the worst vegan recipe I’ve made so far. I was going to have this as my meal prep this week, but I wouldn’t feed this to my worst enemy. First off, it has no liquid yet you want us to blend it? “Any blender will do!” No ma’am, it won’t. I had to add water just to get it to work. Second, I was skeptical about the mustard and I should have listened to my gut. What I added up with was a lovely, lumpy, mustard flavored slop! My drain sure did enjoy having it for dinner! Food and money wasted, gee thanks! Praying you get better soon 🙏
oh no Jules, I am so sorry this failed for you! How frustrating.
I’ve made this recipe probably two dozen times with success but I also get that sometimes we have a crummy day in the kitchen.
A few things to consider if you are trying to blend silken tofu again or for anyone else reading this and having trouble:
1. I use soft silken tofu, which has a high water content. Others have used medium with success but here’s the key: start very low and slow. Starting the blender on low will break up the tofu, and then you can slowly increase blender speed as it turns into a thick sauce. It’s a super thick sauce exactly so it won’t be soupy! Use a spatula to scrape the sides and if you need, you can add just a tbsp of liquid (I would recommend soy milk) to get it going but you definitely can’t blend this one fast and high the same way we do a smoothie.
2. If you’re not a dijon fan, blend the sauce without it, taste and add dijon only if you want a bit of a zip! I am a major dijon fan and find that it gives the sauce a bit more of an aged cheddar vibe but always use your taste as a guide. As I mentioned in the notes, we really liked it with Franks hot sauce instead of dijon too.