Vegan butternut mac and cheese made with cashews and nutritional yeast is super creamy, delicious, and ready in 35 minutes. Roasting butternut squash allows it to blend right into the thick, luscious vegan cheese sauce.
I think that butternut squash can make any dish better! This vegan macaroni and cheese and butternut squash soup serve my point.
Roasting butternut squash cubes in the oven takes up the bulk of the time for the recipe, but it's well worth it. Once the squash is fork tender, it blends right into the sauce with raw cashews.
While the squash roasts, you cook up your favorite noodles. And I always create a mise en place of the other ingredients for the sauce. Then, all that's left to do is chuck everything for the sauce in a blender and pour it over the macaroni!
One of the easiest ways to cut down on the prep from the start is to buy prepared butternut squash cubes. That way you don't have to deal with peeling and scooping out seeds.
Butternut squash mac and cheese feels special for fall and is so good with roasted carrots and apples and crispy baked bbq tofu on the side. This would also make for a great side dish for a vegan Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!
Ingredient Notes
Roasted butternut squash makes this mac and cheese special! Use fresh, refrigerated, or frozen, just make sure the squash is cubed so it'll cook quicker.
To make the creamy cheese sauce you'll need raw cashews. If you need this to be nut free, you can replace them with sunflower or pumpkin seeds.
Nutritional yeast adds a cheesy flavor similar to in vegan nacho cheese.
Macaroni noodles are always classic, but feel free to use any shaped noodle. Penne and fusilli also hold the sauce well. If needed, use your favorite gluten-free noodles.
You'll need to reserve the water from cooking the macaroni noodles to make the sauce. The starches leftover from cooking are key in getting the sauce to stick too the noodles.
The recipe card below includes the full list of ingredients + instructions.
How to Make Vegan Butternut Mac and Cheese
- Roast butternut squash, onion, and garlic.
- Cook macaroni noodles.
- Blend butternut cheese sauce.
- Mix macaroni with sauce.
- Enjoy!
Serving Ideas
I love to serve this mac and cheese with something green. I especially like it alongside vegan kale salad or a fall harvest salad.
Add a good helping of nutritional yeast tofu for some extra cheesiness and to make this meal even more satisfying. A square of vegan gluten-free cornbread would also be super comforting on the side.
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Vegan Butternut Mac and Cheese
Equipment
- blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 4 ⅔ cups butternut squash peeled, seeded, and cubed; fresh or frozen
- ½ onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 16 ounces macaroni noodles
- ¾ cup raw cashews
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 cup pasta water reserved from cooking macaroni
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground mustard optional
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F with a clean sheet pan inside.
- While the oven preheats, peel and cube your butternut squash to yield about 4 ⅔ cups butternut squash. Chop ½ onion into large chunks. Smash and peel 4 garlic cloves, then roughly chop each clove a few times. You don't want the garlic or onion to be too fine or else they will burn in the oven.
- Spread butternut squash cubes, onion, and garlic into a single layer directly on the preheated sheet pan.
- Roast the squash for 25 to 30 minutes, or until easily pierced with a fork. Since there's no oil in this recipe, I like to just leave the squash undisturbed for the full cook time. This helps steam build up in the oven to make the squash fork tender.
- While the squash is roasting, cook 16 ounces macaroni noodles according to the package instructions until al dente. Make sure to salt the water! Reserve 1 ½ cups of the pasta water. Drain the macaroni and return it back to the cooking pot.
- When the squash has finished roasting add the entire pan to a blender along with ¾ cup raw cashews, 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1 cup pasta water, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, and ½ teaspoon ground mustard. Blend until smooth and creamy, adding a little more water, a tablespoon at a time, to create a smooth pourable sauce.
- Pour the sauce over the cooked noodles and gently stir to combine. Turn the heat on to medium to warm through as you continue to gently stir.
Notes
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* The provided nutritional information is an estimate per serving. Accuracy will vary on specific ingredients and brands used.
Rachel says
This was a great recipe - and the sauce is definitely something that can used in many different ways, not just Mac and cheese!
Maggie says
Thanks for the great feedback Rachel! We love that cheese sauce on lots of other things too! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Mary says
at what point do you add the nutritional yeast?
Marjory Pilley says
Hi! Add nutritional yeast along with the other ingredients that are blended to make the sauce. It is optional but does lend even more cheesy flavor. It can also be sprinkled over the top as a finish.