Want a dinner that feels fancy and like comfort food all at the same time? Hello, vegan truffle mac and cheese!! Adding truffle oil to this creamy pasta adds an air of elegance but this recipe secretly super easy to prepare. It takes just 10 ingredients and only 20 minutes to make! The perfect dish for a special occasion without the stress of complicated cooking.
Valentine's day, anniversaries, celebrations, and date night are all fantastic times to serve vegan truffle mac and cheese. But once you taste it, it's so delicious that you're going to want to make it every night.
The simple dairy-free sauce is made using cashews for creaminess, white miso paste for an aged umami taste, and truffle-infused olive oil for the perfect creamy, luscious mac and cheese.
This sauce is so good, it would also be wonderful drizzled over cooked veggies such as cauliflower, broccoli, or baked potatoes.
If you're not into the truffle flavour you can omit the oil and make a simple creamy pasta. Or for the classic boxed mac & cheese taste, try making my homemade vegan mac & cheese powder.
To make Vegan Truffle Mac & Cheese:
If you have a high powdered blender such as a Vitamix, Blendtec, or Breville you can skip to the next step. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, you might want to boil the cashews first to ensure they are tender enough to blend into a smooth sauce. To do this add the cashews to a small pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes until the cashews are very tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. You can now proceed to make the cheese sauce.
Make the cheese sauce by adding 2 cups of water along with the cashews, nutritional yeast, cornstarch, miso paste, truffle oil, salt, garlic powder, and pepper to your blender until it is completely smooth. At this stage, the sauce will be quite watery. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then cook the pasta according to package directions.
Drain the pasta and quickly rinse the pot to remove any leftover starch from the pasta water. Return the empty pot to the heat and pour in the cheese sauce. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
Add the cooked hot pasta to the sauce and toss to coat for the most delicious vegan truffle mac and cheese ever! Serve hot.
I love to add a crack of fresh pepper to mine, but you could also garnish with some freshly chopped parsley, an extra drizzle of truffle oil, or just enjoy as is.
Bon appetegan!
Sam Turnbull
Vegan Truffle Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup raw cashews
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste
- 1 tablespoon truffle olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups short pasta such as shells or macaroni (gluten-free if preferred)
Instructions
- If you have a high powdered blender such as a Vitamix, Blendtec, or Breville you can skip to step 2. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, you might want to boil the cashews first to ensure they are tender enough to blend into a smooth sauce. To do this add the cashews to a small pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes until the cashews are very tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. You can now proceed to make the cheese sauce.
- Make the cheese sauce by adding 2 cups of water along with the cashews, nutritional yeast, cornstarch, miso paste, truffle oil, salt, garlic powder, and pepper to your blender until it is completely smooth. At this stage, the sauce will be quite watery. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then cook the pasta according to package directions.
- Drain the pasta and quickly rinse the pot to remove any leftover starch from the pasta water. Return the empty pot to the heat and pour in the cheese sauce. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Add the cooked hot pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Serve hot.
AW says
Really simple, thickens like magic! It reminded me of my gram's (non-vegan) mac n cheese soup. I added a bit of seasoning salt and omg it was so good! My hubby and I ate it all while waiting for our son to come down to dinner. You snooze you lose! No leftovers.
Rosemary Ripley says
Another ‘top drawer’ recipe from Sam. She is my go-to cook, always fails safe recipes and I really appreciate that she will answer any queries you have. (not all chefs take the trouble). Looking forward to your next book Sam!
Sam Turnbull says
Thank you so much, Rosemary! 🙂
Dawn W says
I made this tonight. OMG! Definitely won't be my last time making it. I love that it's so easy! I'm currently talking myself out of eating the portion I put away for tomorrow's lunch!
Candi Mastroianni says
Love, love, love this recipe, & we make it often. I add in sautéed mushrooms and use Sabatino Tartuffi’s truffle zest, in both the sauce and a sprinkle on top of the pasta. Fresh chopped Italian parsley is a great garnish too. I passed this recipe on to my son, a vegan, and it has also become a staple in his recipe repertoire. Thank you so much for this great meal idea!
Jim says
Great recipe. Plus it's versatile. It's easy to changes things around a bit to your taste!
Diana says
Can you use premade cashew milk instead of water and cashews?
Sam Turnbull says
Cashew milk will not be thick or creamy enough for this. You will want to use raw cashews 🙂
Stephanie says
Honestly amazing and sooo easy to make! The truffle oil is heavenly! Definitely adding this to our dinner rotation.
Holly says
Made this for dinner for myself, my husband & 13 month old son. We absolutely loved it!! I couldn’t find white miso paste at the store so I ended up using soy sauce instead and it worked wonderfully! This will be a new staple in our house.
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful! So happy you enjoyed it, Holly 🙂
Kori says
I don't have miso! Is there a good sub that I could use?! Thanks!
Sam Turnbull says
Miso gives an aged umami taste, so I recommend picking some up. My regular grocery store carries it, but you can also get it on amazon or in a health food store.
Ashley says
If you don't have truffle oil can you use normal olive oil and would that make it a basic mac and cheese?
Sam Turnbull says
Yep it would make a white mac and cheese. Or you can just omit the oil. It's just for flavour. 🙂
Robin says
This is by far the best cheese sauce we have found. My husband and I are addicted to it. I do add some turmeric and smoked paprika. Lately I've been putting in a jalapeno. So yum! We haven't even tried it with pasta yet, but have been putting the sauce on just about everything. Thank you so much for the recipe. Thank you too for the seitan chicken recipe. It's also the best we've tried.
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful! So thrilled you're enjoying my recipes, Robin 🙂
Ann says
Hi Sam my truffle oil just arrived & I canny wait to make this. Does your nutrition count Include the pasta? Thanks, you legend you
Ann says
Hi Sam, just had my truffle oil arrive so this recipe is on my hut list & I canny wait! Does your nutrition count include the pasta or just the sauce? Thanks you legend you
Sam Turnbull says
The nutrition is for 1 serving of the completed dish (sauce and pasta). Enjoy!
Ann says
OMFG. That is all.
Saifdameh says
Hello, thank you for your recipe,
Can i replace the yeast flakes with something else ?
Sam Turnbull says
Nutritional yeast provides a cheesy flavour so if you omit it I would up other spices. Nothing will taste quite the same tho.
Samina Z Kassam says
Hi Sam!
I just want to say thank you so much for this awesome recipe. I absolutely love mac and cheese. I used to eat it all the time before I became vegan. I had to have tried at least 4 different vegan mac and cheese recipes and all of them were so disappointing. However, I loved this recipe! The truffle oil and miso paste complemented each other so well and even my sister (non-vegan) loved the sauce. This is the first recipe of yours I've tried and I will definitely be trying more!!!
Sam Turnbull says
Aww that's wonderful, so happy you enjoyed, Samina! If you want to try another mac and cheese, I recommend my vegan mac and cheese powder 🙂
Poonam says
Could I use coconut milk here instead of cashew nuts or use a combination?
Linda Sotipalalit says
Would raw almonds work with this recipe?
Sam Turnbull says
Yes, blanched raw almonds 🙂
Starry says
Could this be made ahead and frozen?
Magnolia Thunderthighs says
My blender is pathetic, so I boiled the cashews first, as recommended. I added all the other ingredients, and put that puppy on liquify while I prepared the pasta. When I stopped the blender I took a quick taste and oh. my. gawd, that sauce was nummy num. I was so excited to make dinner. When I pulled the pitcher from the machine... the glass came up but the base stayed put. Vegan cheese sauce everywhere. Sigh. This has nothing to do with the recipe, I just needed someone to feel my pain. But I'm totally putting this recipe on rotation because the two spoonfuls I had was rather impressive.
Sam Turnbull says
Haha, oh no!! So happy you liked the sauce, sorry about your blender problems!!
Theresa says
The pasta measure......is that 3 cups of dry pasta or cooked pasta?
Len says
The mac and cheese was good, will worth making
Sam Turnbull says
Dry 🙂
Marie says
dry pasta - most recipe measurements are always uncooked
Aw says
I used a full 16oz box of elbow noodles and it was perfect!
Lisa says
So good! Just made for Valentines Day and my husband loved it, so did I!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!!!
Jen says
So yummy- was a perfect Valentine’s dinner with a side of sautéed garlic, mushrooms, and peppers.
I used half broth to replace water, added a couple slices of sun dried tomato and a pinch of turmeric for colour- also let the vitamix do the full heat up instead of in the pan.
Can’t wait to make it again!
Sam Turnbull says
Awesome! SO happy you loved it, Jen 🙂
DiegoGal says
Made it! Simple to prepare and super yummy!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you loved it!!
Julie says
Made this tonight for tea and loved it. I added some broccoli to mine.
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!