Please note: this blog post was originally published December 2017
Today I’m sharing a recipe with you that actually has me sitting here drooling at the thought of it and my stomach starting to growl … when I came back from Mexico, Mackenzie was house sitting for me and she whipped this up for me so when I got home, all I had to do was pop it in the oven. Talk about spoiled, hey?? LOL!! Welp, ever since that day I’ve been freaking HOOKED on this meal and today I wanted to share this Vegan Butternut Squash Mac ‘N Cheese recipe with YOU because it’s WAY too tasty not to share!!
This is one of those recipes you can make ahead of time, pop in the fridge and toss it in the oven when you get home from a busy day … you’ll be counting down the hours until you can dig into it at home, trust me. LOL! It’s the ultimate vegan comfort food and a meal the WHOLE family will enjoy!! Leo can’t get enough of it … I’m obsessed, Justin devours it and Nacho (im)patiently waits for his share to “accidentally” drop on the floor … here’s looking at YOU, Leo. LOL!!
Alright, let’s get to this because I know some of you will want to make this right after work tonight!!
Vegan Butternut Squash Mac ‘N Cheese
Ingredients
Sauce:
- 1 large butternut squash
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp vegan butter
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 cup unsweetened cashew milk (or almond milk)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
Pasta:
- 10 ounces cooked short pasta of choice
- 2 tbsp vegan butter
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 3 tbsp Italian herbs
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut butternut squash lengthwise and brush with olive oil and salt & pepper.
- Place squash cut side down on parchment, and roast for 45 minutes or until tender and cooked. Let cool for 10 minutes before handling.
- Scoop the flesh out of the squash and place in a blender along with all of the sauce ingredients. Blend on high for 2 minutes or until thick and creamy. If your sauce is not blending add more milk.
- Heat a small skillet over medium heat and add vegan butter. Add the panko crumbs and Italian seasoning and cook until browned and fragrant. Remove from heat.
- Place drained and cooked pasta back into a large pot, and add sauce. Warm the pasta and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve in bowls with a healthy serving of toasted breadcrumbs on top. ENJOY!!!
Let me know if you end up giving this a try … I can promise it’ll be a new household fave if you do!!
xo
Jilly
We’ve recently had to go dairy free in my house due to allergies and I’ve been missing mac and cheese so much! I can’t wait to try this! 🙂
Thank you so much for posting this recipe , Vegan Mac and cheese!!! My daughter has a new allergy of lactose (severe allergy) and misses Mac and cheese so much. I’ll have to make this. She’ll be so excited.
Brenda
Sounds & looks so yummy, definitely a must try but are there any substitutions for the cashews & almond milk?? Nut allergy. Thanks Joanne
Your recipe says raw cashews. I would suggest adding a step: soak cashews overnight or in boiled water for one hour. The texture will be much smoother with softened raw cashews.
I’ve been wanting to try a butternut squash/cheese pasta or soup for a while, but have been SO skeptical. Will definitely have to give this a try!
Very tastey! My vegan daughter will love this over the holidays.
This is amazing! We all love it! Even our 4.5 year old!
My husband and I both really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing. I had a small butternut squash and an acorn squash so I used both, I think the acorn squash took the sweetness down a notch, which was nice. Also, I made this gluten free with gfree pasta and breadcrumbs. Yum!
I’m not vegan, but just tried this recipe and it was AH-MAZING! Though I used a large butternut squash, and made 2 cups uncooked pasta, but there was still too much sauce. I guess it was just too big of a squash!
WOOHOOO!!!!! So happy to hear you enjoyed it!!! It’s addicting hey?! LOL!!
This was sooo good!!! The Panko bread crumb topping was a delicious touch! ??
Hey Jill, do you have an estimate of how many people this recipe will serve? Thank you! 🙂
I would say 4-6 depending on how big your bowls are and how hungry you are! LOL!!! 5 of us ate it here when we made it and we have some leftovers!! I would say 4 big bowls for a main!!
If you have nut allergy what can you subsatuite with instead?
Maybe try sunflower seeds!! xo
I’m so excited to try this! Would it be possible to put your recipes in a print-friendly format?
Good suggestion! Will look into this …
This sounds amazing! I’m not vegan and don’t have nutritional yeast- would normal cheese substitute??
Made this mac & cheese today!! I’m sure i have enough sauce to feed my entire town lol. Do you know if the sauce freezes well? I’d put it in serving containers and freeze.