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.
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Homemade Vegan Mac & Cheese Powder
Servings: (makes 1 cup of powder)
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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.
olya m says
Okay, another incredible recipe, every recipe of yours is a bomb and you work with easy and affordable ingredients! I added your "smoky mushroom bacon" and just steamed broccoli to this, and everyone loved it. You are my favorite vegan CHEF!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Terrific combination, thanks for sharing!
Mandy says
I ad.it I was skeptical. I knew of your recipes yet continued to make mac n cheese with my butternut squash recipewhich is pretty good, believable and fairly healthy all things considered. But toniht I couldn't muster dragging out the Vitamix blender and cooking some squash and then doing all the dishes.. .so I decided tonight was the night to try your powder mix and I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know WHY I was so surprised because I like all your recipes and have two of your books but you know, POWDER! Anyway we enjoyed our mac n cheese. I did add nutmeg and a bit of powdered mustard because to me mac n cheese without those is ....impossible ( haha!) but we loved your recipes and will use it again and again and try it on other things too like baked potatoes and broccoli/cauliflower...yum yum! thanks Sam!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Fantastic! We're so happy you enjoyed it! It's absolutely delicious on broccoli!
Fran says
Yummy! I use 6 tsps of powder + 6 tbsp to sauce a single serving of pasta. I accidentally bought regular (vs. my usual unsweetened) soy milk, which made the sauce too sweet for me, but subbing water for the plant milk and then adding a splash of olive oil for creaminess worked great.
CC says
This recipe was loved by my skeptical family. Sam, thanks for all you do!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Excellent! We're happy to hear it!
Jane says
I like to leave out the flour, mix everything else together and use it on popcorn. Tastes great!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Brilliant!
Lorraine A says
Oh my goodness, this is THE BEST vegan mac n cheese I'v ever tasted, I'm sitting here gorging on it, sooo yummy. Thank you for this brilliant recipe, the flavours are sublime.
Amy says
This is delicious and so easy for a quick meal. I love your recipes! Thank you for making my vegan life easier!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
We're happy to hear it!
Heidi Fritz says
I put this in the blender with some soymilk, canola oil (I let it emulsify to make a fattier milk like maybe half & half) and some of this powdered mix and put it in a blender and poured it over potato slices for scalloped potatoes! It was delicious!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Great hack! Thanks for sharing it with us!
William Zitsch says
I asked this question but it was not posted or answered. The lemon pepper you use is McCormick which has things in it I do not want to use. I would like to know if you think Simply Organic Lemon Pepper will work instead? The ingredients are: lemon peel, black pepper, sea salt, cane sugar, garlic, onion, thyme, rice concentrate.
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Yes, any lemon pepper should work just fine.
Bill says
Sam, when I click on lemon pepper, McCormick comes up which contains FD&C Yellow Dye, silicon dioxide and calcium silicate. I assume McCormick brand of lemon pepper is what you use. Would any other lemon pepper work like this one: https://www.simplyorganic.com/products/simply-organic-lemon-pepper-3-17-oz
Ingredients: Organic Lemon Peel, Organic Black Pepper, Sea Salt, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Garlic, Organic Onion, Organic Thyme, Organic Rice Concentrate.
Birb says
I saw this and immediately thought it would be great for backpacking with dehydrated pasta!
To dehydrate the pasta you cook about 1-2 minutes less than the package says and drain, then put it in the dehydrator for 8-12 hours at 135 degrees. Then to reconstitute at camp you boil 1 cup dehydrated pasta with 1 cup water and then just let it sit in a pot cozy until it reconstitutes to desired firmness (usually 5-15 min depending on the temperature.) I did not drain the excess water, just mixed in 1/4 cup mac and cheese mix and 1 tbsp powdered soymilk. I'm sure the sauce isn't as nice and thick as when it's cooked over the stove normally, but it still tasted great, way better than any prepackaged vegan backpacking meals I've tried. Also it's super lightweight, low volume, and FILLING with plenty of calories. Perfect!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
That's great! Thanks for sharing your tips for backpacking!
LDM says
This recipe is genius. I made a baked potato, broccoli, and poured this cheese sauce over it for dinner this evening. I previously made your mac and cheese.
I have a go to recipe that uses potatoes and carrots (and sometimes sweet potatoes). However, I don't always want to spend the time preparing it.
This recipe gives me a quick, fantastic, and delicious alternative! Thank you so much!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
That's so great! Lots of uses for it! It's great on steamed broccoli too!
Paul says
Super easy and tasty, thanks for this one Sam 🙂
Lea says
Made this today…..found it pretty tasty but too salty for me and will make it again with less. Found myself wondering what to do with the rest……. Made some popcorn tonight…..and its perfect to season popcorn..
Jane says
I would definitely eat this on popcorn. Quite yummy!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
This is also really delicious: Vegan Sour Cream & Onion Popcorn
Jane says
I made it and cut the salt in half. When I made it up for mac & cheese, it was still quilt salty. However, since then I've been putting it on baked potatoes, veggies, just about everything and it's not at all salty.
Love it!
I'm definitely going to try the veggie sour cream and onion popcorn mix.
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Tracy says
This is some yummy stuff and it’s so easy to put together. I’m on my my third batch and so glad I have this as a backup when plans suddenly go awry.
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you love it Tracy!
Sarah says
Wow this is so yummy!!!!
Best Mac n cheese I ever had.
I subbed brown sugar, only had enough for 1/2 cup nutritional yeast and only had some coconut cream for the milk.
Thank you it is phenomenal!
Ps you have the best smile.
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed it! And thank you so much!! 🙂
Karen Ackerman says
It is my understanding that sugar is not vegan---bone char filtration. The closest Walmart carries absolutely no vegan foods; thus, I must drive 46 miles one way to the other Walmart which supposedly carries Zulka Morena Sugar. With gas prices being obscenely high, I simply need to know if that type of sugar is what you were referring to when you listed sugar as an ingredient? I shall wait for your response before I make that trip. I thank you in advance.
Jen says
Redpath sugar is vegan. Hope this helps! If I may also just add veganism is to do the best you can. Ie: don’t beat yourself up if your sugar “may” contain …that kind of stress is a big reason why people leave our lifestyle entirely. The reality is, we are vegan living in a non vegan world. 46 miles of driving (wear and tear on your vehicle, plus environmental factors is a factor you could argue is in the best interest of animals too) … car tires are not vegan as an example (nor is a smart phone for that matter which I’m using to respond). I’ve been vegan 5-years (along with my family), we’ve learned to not sweat things that are out of our control and just do our best! 🙂
Tina says
That’s a great outlook, Jen.
I love your website and make tofu crumbles of one sort or another Using your recipes every weekend.
Thanks for sharing your kitchen magic with us. ❤️
Melissa says
You are so wise. I've tried many of your recipes and they all turned out amazing. Gonna try this one tomorrow! I haven't had good Mac n cheese in forever!
Sam Turnbull says
I hope you love it!
Mary says
Thank you Jen for bringing up the sugar concern because it bugged me too. And now we know, thank you Sam, that Redpath is vegan and it is easier to find than organic sugar.
Sam Turnbull says
A lot of brands of sugar are totally vegan. Using bone char to refine sugar isn’t very common anywhere other than the US as far as I know, but I do check the sugar I buy to make sure. The standard brand I use here in Canada is Redpath and they say on their site that the sugar is indeed vegan-friendly. So you just want to check the brand you’re purchasing. A helpful tip is that all organic sugar is always vegan-friendly. Hope that helps!!
Sherri says
My husband is type 1 diabetic so I am going to try this, but use allulose, which can be ordered through Amazon and can be vegan, and also most likely coconut or spelt flour (gluten free) and I’ll use unsweetened coconut milk when making it for pasta. We try to do as low carb as possible; but you just do the best you can do! Allulose or monk fruit sweetener are both used 1:1 with regular sugar. Plus, if you order, you save all that time and gas $$!
Bill says
Where do you live Karen? Most grocery stores carry organic sugar. Costco, Sam's Club, Trader Joes, I'm sure Target also, or you can order it online.
Carla says
I made this with the Morena sugar and it was just fine. Morena is all I keep in the house and use for all my cooking and baking needs.
Alina says
Can the nutritional yeast be replaced with something else?
Thank you.
Jd says
It’s the main ingredient
Jay says
I really want to make this but only have singular gluten free flours (tapioca, cornstarch). Could I use either of these? If so what would the quantity be for this recipe?
Rachael says
I use tapioca starch. It makes the sauce stretchy.
Jane says
This is great stuff! Genuinely better than anything you can buy, cheaper, and just as easy! I toned down the salt for my second batch, but this is going to be a keeper.