Author: I played around in my kitchen until I perfected my recipe for Homemade Vegan Mac & Cheese Powder! And it it the best!!
Why is boxed mac & cheese so good? Because it's convenient, quick, it patiently waits for you in the cupboard until hunger strikes, and it tastes gooooood. I've miss boxed mac & cheese in my life. Now there are definitely vegan boxed mac & cheese's available in health food store and online, and I've tried a few myself but I was always underwhelmed and thought I could probably do better. And so I did.
How fun is that!? It's all the fun. And it's oh so creamy, cheesy, vegan yummy, pasta perfection. ~drool~
Homemade Vegan Mac & Cheese Powder is super duper easy to make. Just add all the ingredients to a jar and shake. That's it! You can make as much or as little as of this mac and cheese powder as you like, and store it in the cupboard until a vegan mac and cheese craving strikes.
My recipe makes about 1 cup of powder which is enough for 4 cups of uncooked macaroni noodles (about 4 boxes). But feel free to multiply or reduce the recipe as you see fit. Then just store your jar of Homemade Vegan Mac & Cheese Powder in your pantry until ready for use.
Bonus points: my Homemade Vegan Mac & Cheese Powder recipe is completely nut-free, soy-free, oil-free, and with a gluten-free option. Making this recipe very allergy and whole-food plant-based friendly (just depending on which flour, plant-based milk, and pasta you choose to use).
The secret ingredient in this recipe is lemon pepper which adds a nice little sharpness to the creamy sauce, which really makes for a cheesy taste. Mix that with cheesy nutritional yeast, flour for thickening and for creaminess, and spices for flavouring and colour. Oooeee is this so simple and SO tasty.
It's convenient, quick, cupboard stable, and it tastes really, really, gooooood!!
Turn the heat back on to medium-high heat and whisk while cooking until the sauce thickens, 2 - 5 minutes. Add the cooked pasta to the pot along with the cheese sauce and stir to combine.
(click stars to vote)
Homemade Vegan Mac & Cheese Powder
Servings: (makes 1 cup of powder)
PRINT
PIN
Video
COMMENT
Ingredients
To make homemade vegan mac & cheese powder:
- ¾ cup nutritional yeast
- ½ cup all-purpose flour, (sub whole wheat or all-purpose gluten-free flour if preferred)
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
To prepare vegan mac & cheese:
- 1 cup uncooked macaroni noodles, (gluten-free if preferred)
- ¾ cup plant-based milk, (such a s soy or almond)
- ¼ cup prepared Homemade Vegan Mac & Cheese Powder
Instructions
To make the vegan mac & cheese powder:
- Add all of the ingredients to an air-tight container. Stir or shake well to combine. Store in your pantry until needed.
To prepare vegan mac & cheese
- Cook the macaroni noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse the pasta. Return the pot to the stove (heat off) and pour in the plant-based milk and ¼ cup of Homemade Vegan Mac & Cheese Powder and whisk together. Turn the heat back on to medium-high heat and whisk while cooking until the sauce thickens, 2 - 5 minutes. Add the cooked pasta to the pot along with the cheese sauce and stir to combine.
Nutrition
⭐ Did You Make This Recipe?
I’d love if you left a rating and comment, it helps others find the recipe and makes my day! 💕Bon appetegan!
Sam.
Jill Ellis says
With the added hot sauce this Mac n cheese is the bomb!!!! I love how healthy all the ingredients are and no butter, oil or nuts are needed! It’s also excellent poured over tofu scramble. This is a new staple in my kitchen, thank you so much for the fantastic recipe!
Claire says
This is the best vegan mac and cheese recipe I've ever tried! The best thing about it is the texture; it's actually creamy like real mac and cheese. Every other recipe I've tried requires blending something, which makes it turn out chunky/grainy. It also doesn't taste too starchy like vegan cheese recipes that use potatoes. And this is also one of the only vegan recipes I've tried that would be easy to just have on hand and whip up whenever. Thank you so much!
Lokesh says
Can't wait to try it! Can I use date sugar instead of white sugar? I want to use a healthier sugar.
Valerie says
I made your mac and cheese recipe exactly as you wrote (sprinkled basil on top) and this was the best tasting melty cheese, Quick & easiest vegan meal I have made. Watching your video helped me shake it more/better, thanks. Looking forward to making this for my non vegan family. Appreciate the recipe, Be well.
Adi Loevsky says
I decided to make an easy mac and cheese tonight and this was amazing! I used spelt flour and it worked great. Topped it with some vegan butter and hot sauce and it was delicious. Will always keep this powder on hand for an easy meal!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!
Kris says
LOVED LOVED them! I subbed coconut oil for the butter on topping but it was soo good! I put them in for 20 minutes my fork came out clean but they were very soft I have to play around with them because they were getting kinda brown ontop but we LOVED them My three year had 3 in one day the hubby loved them and my newly one year old literally took it out my hand and tried to fit the whole thing in her mouth! YUM
Kris says
This was supposed to go on the muffins page some how it got changed ooops!
Sam Turnbull says
Haha! I was wondering. Glad you enjoyed the muffins!
Sean says
We tried this tonight and it was absolutely awesome! I did not use the sugar, and substituted 1tsp of Mustard powder for the lemon pepper and used smoked paprika. We will defiantly go back to this so nice to have a sauce that doesn’t use cashews! Thanks so much!!
Carla says
Oh I’m so going to use those substitutions on my next batch. I’m not a huge fan of the lemon pepper but love mustard and smoked paprika! Thanks for sharing
Amanda says
Girl! You the bomb!
This is delish!
Sam Turnbull says
Haha, glad you enjoyed!
Mark Gailmor says
Have made this mac and cheese powder twice but there was a bit of tweaking that I did, which is normal for a vegan of 32 years. Anyway, I want to share with you what I did. For some reason, the mac and cheese sauce was too sweet. Maybe it was the sugar, but it needed a touch of bitter to balance everything out. The lightbulb went off in my head and I started experimenting. One TB of dry mustard powder balances the sweetness. And yes, it's still awesome. Also, I changed the amount of liquid to a cup. This makes a thinner sauce that is more cheesy. It takes a few extra seconds to thicken but it does thicken nicely.
All in all though, thanks for a great recipe. I like the convenience of making some macaronie and whipping up some vegan cheese sauce in less than ten minutes.
Mark Gailmor says
Have made this mac and cheese powder twice but there was a bit of tweaking that I did, which is normal for a vegan of 32 years. Anyway, I want to share with you what I did. For some reason, the mac and cheese sauce was too sweet. Maybe it was the sugar, but it needed a touch of bitter to balance everything out. The lightbulb went off in my head and I started experimenting. One TB of dry mustard powder balances the sweetness. And yes, it's still awesome. Also, I changed the amount of liquid to a cup. This makes a thinner sauce that is more cheesy. It takes a few extra seconds to thicken but it does thicken nicely.
All in all though, thanks for a great recipe. I like the convenience of making some macaronie and whipping up some vegan cheese sauce in less than ten minutes.
Debbie says
So Absolutely Good !!!
Sam Turnbull says
Yay!
Jennifer says
Hi Sam - Putting this together but have a question: Is the paprika smoked or sweet?
Thanks!
Jennifer
Sam Turnbull says
Sweet. If you want a smoky mac and cheese tho, you could sub smoked 🙂
Jennifer says
Thanks Sam! Can't wait to try!
Cheers,
Jennifer
sue says
Made the powder and was thrilled with the resulting supper! Great recipe. Thank you!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!
Yael says
The perfect thing to have on hand in the pantry! So easy to put together & then make. Really tasty and reheats well, with the addition of a bit of liquid.
Thank you for the recipe!
*I made it gluten free with Bob’s Mill AP flour.
Sam Turnbull says
Amazing! So happy you loved it 🙂
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Sam Turnbull says
Yep it should store in the pantry for about a year
Suzanne says
This looks so good! It would be a fun gift to give a vegan friend too!
Sam Turnbull says
Absolutely!
Karen says
This was surprisingly good! A definite keeper. I didn't have lemon pepper so I omitted it but think I'll add it to my shopping list for next time and maybe add some mustard powder (but I'm not sure how much). Have you used this sauce on anything else, like nachos?
Sam Turnbull says
That's great, Karen! Yes you can use it on nachos, baked potatoes, anywhere you like 🙂
EM says
Can you omit the sugar or replace with something else?
Thank you very much!
EM
Sam Turnbull says
Yes you can! Go for it, either one 🙂
Holly says
OMG! This is amazing!!
There should be an award out there for people like you... This recipe is pure genius!
Easy, convenient, tasty- it just works!
Btw- a tip for people like me, too lazy to take out a pot once they have the powder- you can mix the milk & powder and heat it in the microwave in 30 second increments until thick- and it still works! 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Haha! Thank you so much, Holly! Actually, I'm currently nominated as one of the best vegan blogs by VegNews, you can vote for me here if you want 🙂 Thrilled you enjoyed the recipe so much!
Emma says
Excellent! I love that you can just have it on hands in the pantry for the next mac and cheese craving.
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed, Emma!
Nikki says
Incredible! My family has been enjoying the carrot/potato recipes for mac'n'cheese for years now, but I've gotten pretty tired of having to chop and cook them and then deal with the extra dishes those recipes require (peeler, chopping board, knife, blender). 😛 This is so simple and a truly magical addition to my pantry. And so affordable, too! Definitely a new staple here. Thanks so much! <3
Sam Turnbull says
Aww that's wonderful! Thrilled you love it, Nikki 🙂