When I was a kid, macaroni cheese was one of my all-time favourite comfort foods. Sadly this childhood favourite turned into the ultimate ‘discomfort’ food for me in my 20s, when my intolerance to dairy became acute. With almost instant flare ups of eczema, stomach cramps and joint pain, the pay off for indulging in this dairy-laden dish just wasn’t worth it.
It was probably a good ten years before I tucked into a cheesy pasta dish again. And it was thanks to the highly creative vegan food blogger community that I discovered how cheese sauces could be replicated using non dairy ingredients.
These past few years, I’ve tried a whole host of non dairy ‘mac n cheese’ recipes and have experimented with a few of my own. I now have a favourite self-devised vegan ‘cheese’ sauce recipe which I use for pasta dishes, which the family absolutely loves (and has hidden veggies inside!) but I’m always on the lookout for new ones to try. So when I saw the tantalizing macaroni cheese shot on the cover of November’s magazine, I couldn’t wait to check out the recipe.
I was intrigued to find that the ‘cheese’ sauce is actually a dry mix that you can make ahead of time and store in the pantry. It was devised by Miyoko Schinner (the blogger behind ) and appears in her recently published book .
The recipe sounded so simple to make. I couldn’t wait to give it a try! It’s dairy-free and gluten-free so this is a great dish to serve to anyone that’s vegan or gluten / dairy intolerant.
I popped the ‘cheese’ sauce ingredients in my food processor and whizzed them for about a minute until they formed a powder. The recipe makes 5 servings so I weighed the mix before transferring it to an airtight jar. I then divided the weight by 5 so I knew how much to use per serving (about 54g).
When ready to make the pasta dish, you simply whisk together the ‘cheese’ sauce mix and liquid and gently heat through. It starts off really runny but as it heats up, it thickens fast.
You don’t have to stick with macaroni pasta for this dish. You can use any pasta shape you like, though tubes work best for soaking up the sauce. I love Amori, which are twisted tubes. They look good and have great texture when you bite into them.
You can use regular wheat pasta or gluten free pasta, if needed. The range of gluten free pasta seems to be constantly growing at the moment. You can now get brown rice, millet, buckwheat, quinoa, even chickpea pasta. You’ll find them on the ‘free from’ aisle in major UK supermarkets, though I find that independent health food stores tend to stock the widest selection of organic gluten free pastas.
You can serve the dish straight away, or bake it in the oven. Baked is our favourite way to serve it. We transfer it to individual oven proof dishes, sprinkle on some herby breadcrumbs and bake for about 15 minutes, until the topping is crispy.
We typically serve it with a big dish of (which I bake ahead of time or while the pasta’s cooking). I also think roasted tenderstem broccoli could work well as a side for this dish. I’ll definitely try this next time round.
It’s amazing how ‘cheesy’ this dish tastes and smells, considering it hasn’t got any cheese in it! It’s been a huge hit with the family.
Big thank you to Miyoko Schinner and Vegan Life for sharing the recipe. It’s definitely one I’ll be making again and again.
Products used in this recipe I bought the following products from my local independent health food stores. They can also be purchased online for those of you that don’t have health food stores nearby. – Marigold nutritional yeast with B12, bought from in Bath (also available ) – Organic tapioca flour, bought from in Corsham (also available ) – Organic coconut sugar, bought from in Bath (also available ) – Onion powder, bought from in Bath (available by free weight, or can be ordered in 500g package) (Onion powder also available )
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