This classic vegan mac and cheese is ultra cheesy, saucy and creamy. Topped with breadcrumbs and baked until golden brown and crispy. Seriously satisfying.
This classic baked vegan mac and cheese is everything you want a mac and cheese to be.
It’s creamy, saucy, ultra cheesy and topped with a delicious crispy breadcrumb topping and baked to perfection.
This is really a ‘classic’ vegan mac and cheese recipe in the sense that a classic mac and cheese usually involves a bechamel sauce with heaps of cheese added to it, and then it’s placed into a dish and topped with breadcrumbs and baked.
And that’s really very close to what we did here.
We made a vegan bechamel sauce and added all sorts of cheesy flavorings to it in lieu of actual cheese so that even non-vegans will find this cheesy as all heck, and then we topped it with delicious breadcrumbs and baked it. Just like the classic version.
How To Make Vegan Mac and Cheese
This vegan mac and cheese is ultra cheesy yet we did not use one shred of actual vegan cheese in it. So if you’re living somewhere where it’s hard to find vegan cheese in the supermarket, no worries, this recipe is for you.
I did try a version with some vegan cheese added to the sauce, and quite honestly I just didn’t think it worked as well as the version without, so this is it.
I created a bechamel sauce with some vegan butter, all purpose flour, coconut milk and vegetable stock and once that was thick and creamy like a white sauce should be, I added some cheesy flavorings in the form of dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper.
The spices in this sauce really make it, you won’t have any doubt that this is a cheese sauce. We used our cheesy garlic vegan alfredo sauce as major inspiration for this.
Add the cooked macaroni to your big pot of sauce and toss it all together and then transfer into a 9×13 baking dish, top with breadcrumbs and bake for 20 minutes until beautifully golden brown on top.
Super easy and extremely satisfying.
How To Make Vegan Breadcrumbs
I made my own breadcrumbs for this which is easy and works great!
I toasted 3 thick cut slices of white bread and then broke them into pieces and put them into the blender. Blitzed them into breadcrumbs in the blender. Transferred to a bowl and added some melted vegan butter and tossed them up with it and then placed on top of the mac and cheese.
You can use brown or whole wheat bread but white bread actually works best for this recipe.
Ingredient FAQ
What can I use instead of vegan butter? You can use a dairy-free margarine which is basically the same thing. Just read the ingredients of the margarines and find one that is dairy-free. Alternatively you can make your own homemade vegan butter and use that in this recipe.
What kind of coconut milk did you use in this recipe? I used full fat coconut milk that comes in cans. That created the richest sauce for this recipe. Definitely do NOT use any kind of coconut milk that is sweetened, that would not work in this recipe. It needs to be canned full fat unsweetened coconut milk. If you’re not a coconut fan then see below!
How can I make this vegan mac and cheese without coconut milk? You can use soy milk instead of coconut milk, the end result is slightly less rich but you can definitely do it, I have tested it this way and it was great. I have not tested any other plant milks and while almond milk may work fine, my only worry is that it will create a sauce that is a little thin.
Can I leave out the nutritional yeast? The nutritional yeast really brings it with the cheesy flavor in this sauce! But yes you can leave it out without it ruining the recipe, but I do recommend you leave it in.
Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe Q&A
Like the best comfort food ever! It’s super cheesy and so close to the ‘real thing’ you might not even know it’s vegan. Seriously!
The sauce can be made gluten-free if you use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend instead of the regular flour. And then of course you can use a gluten-free macaroni. You would also need to use gluten-free bread for the crumb topping, or alternatively you could add vegan cheese to the top instead of breadcrumbs.
Yes! If you need to make it ahead of time you can make up the sauce and macaroni up to 2 days before and mix it up and assemble in the 9×13 dish. Cover with foil and keep refrigerated. Then when you’re ready to bake it, add the breadcrumbs and bake. In this case, since it is going into the oven cold from the fridge, add an extra 5 minutes of baking time.
Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Yes you can! This freezes very well.
What Goes With Vegan Mac and Cheese?
If you’re thinking of what to eat with vegan mac and cheese then there’s some great sides that go perfectly with this!
If you’re thinking in terms of comfort food then our vegan garlic bread or vegan cornbread is a perfect addition.
Some vegan coleslaw or a delicious vegan kale salad or black bean and corn salad would also go very well. If you’re looking for an appetizer then something like our vegan tomato soup or vegan tomato basil soup would fit the bill perfectly.
More Vegan Pasta Recipes
- Our vegan butternut squash mac and cheese recipe is made with butternut squash and cashew nuts! It’s quite different to this one, and it’s not baked but it’s so good.
- Our vegan pesto pasta will not disappoint and is a wonderfully quick and easy recipe.
- Our vegan pasta bake is perfect for when you want to feed a crowd. Our vegan pasta salad is an ultra quick 15 minute recipe that you will love! And if you’ve ever been a fan of spaghetti bolognese then our vegan bolognese will be right up your street!
- And then our recipe for the easiest vegan lasagna is totally divine but we also have a recipe for the best vegan lasagna which is fancier but oh so worth it!
- Also check out our vegan mushroom stroganoff and our vegan mushroom pasta.
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Classic Baked Vegan Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
For the Cheese Sauce:
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 6 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
- 5 cups Coconut Milk 3 cans (1200ml), Unsweetened*
- 1 cup Vegetable Stock (240ml)
- 3 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
- 1 cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes (60g)
- 3 teaspoons Onion Powder
- 3 teaspoons Garlic Powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
For the Macaroni:
- 16 ounces Elbow Macaroni (450g)
For the Breadcrumb Topping:
- 3 Thick Slices White Bread Toasted, or 1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
- 2 Tablespoons Vegan Butter Melted
Instructions
- Add the vegan butter to a pot and let it melt. When it’s melted add in the all purpose flour and stir it vigorously with the melted butter.
- Then pour in the cans of coconut milk and the vegetable stock. Use a hand whisk to whisk out the lumps. Keep whisking until it starts to boil and then keep whisking for a few minutes after it has boiled until it thickens. It will continue to thicken as it cools, so it doesn’t have to be all the way there when you remove it from the heat, as long as it has thickened considerably from when you started.
- Remove it from the heat and add in the dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and whisk in. Now your sauce is ready, you can prepare your macaroni.
- Cook your macaroni according to the package directions and then rinse and drain.
- Add the cooked macaroni into the pot of sauce and toss it up with the sauce.
- Then transfer the macaroni and sauce to a 9×13 baking dish and smooth down.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Prepare the crumb topping by breaking up the 3 thick slices of toasted white bread and placing into the blender. Pulse blend until you have crumbs. Then transfer to a mixing bowl, and add in the melted vegan butter and toss up the crumbs with the melted butter.
- Place the breadcrumbs evenly over the top of the macaroni cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes until the topping is golden brown and crispy.
Video
Notes
- If you want to replace the coconut milk with a different non-dairy milk such as soy milk then you definitely can. We have tested this recipe with soy milk and it works great.
- The coconut milk must be canned full fat unsweetened coconut milk. I would never use a sweetened coconut milk for any recipe and have never used it. Canned full fat unsweetened coconut milk is the way to go. There is a link to a good brand in the ingredients list. Alternatively, use soy milk (as per instructions above).
- If you have someone to help you then you can work on the sauce and they can cook the macaroni at the same time. But the sauce is very ‘hands-on’ so if you’re on your own it works best to just focus on the sauce and then do the macaroni. But if there are two of you it will save considerable time to do both at once.
- You don’t have to use macaroni, you can use a different pasta but of course it should be one that is suited to this kind of meal, like penne or shells and not something like spaghetti or linguine. If your package of macaroni comes in 18 ounce (500g) bags, then that’s great, just use it all.
- If you’re using store-bought breadcrumbs then just eyeball it for the right amount to use so that it easily covers the top of your mac and cheese. In the case of panko breadcrumbs the amount to use is 1 cup.
- Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for 3-4 days. It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
Wow, this was just super! I did use lite-coconut milk for less fat and will try milk next time. But it was thick and creamy, so easy to whip up and got rave reviews. I do wish, though, you’d add a tool to scale recipes up or down, though. Serving 8 is just too much for us and I, sadly, get lost sometimes when I’m trying to adjust quantities in my head. 🙂
Hi Izzi. Thanks for the suggestion and thanks so much for your great review. Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe.
I was wary of this recipe because I was concerned it would taste like coconut, but I figured the strong flavors of Dijon mustard and the seasonings would be enough to mask it. Turns out I was wrong, the taste of coconut is very noticeable, to the point that it interferes with the overall taste. I also found the recipe to be very greasy, which I assume is due to the high fat content of the coconut milk. And it takes a lot of time and heat and stirring for the sauce to thicken. I might try this again with soy milk instead of coconut. But as written I wouldn’t recommend it.
Hi Alex. Sorry to hear that you had issues with this recipe. We used unsweetened coconut milk and didn’t have an after taste or found it to be greasy. As pointed out in the notes section, if you do not use a good brand of coconut milk (like the brand linked), then rather use soy milk for this recipe.
It all comes down to personal taste and if your going to look for negatives before making a recipe, then you will probably find them.
All the best.
This worked really well for me. I like that your instructions are easy to understand and execute. I almost didn’t get the sauce mixed with the pasta because the sauce tasted so good. Keep up the great work!!!
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Lawrence! Thanks so much for your great review!
goodness well this turned out rather lovely didn’t it!! accidentally had every ingredient in the cupboards so thought I’d give it a little try and it was so yummy! only did a third of the recipe as a little test and it still made around 4 decent sized portions, will definitely be making the whole recipe next time and storing the extra portions for later. i always get a little worried a recipe with lots of coconut will turn out tasting of only coconut but not at all with this, it added a lovely little flavour 🙂
ty for a lovely recipe to make on a Sunday and eat in our PJs!! 🦕
That’s great! Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe and thanks so much for your great review!
I’ve made this twice – once with coconut milk and once with soy. I love both. I make a whole recipe of sauce but only bake 1/4 recipe in a loaf pan. The rest goes into the freezer. This is a great recipe.
That’s great Madeleine! Thanks so much for sharing and for your awesome review!
Hands down the best vegan mac I’ve ever had. Thank you Alison! I used one can coconut milk, one can cream (it’s what I had) and it worked great. I also didn’t have dijon so I used two TBSP stone ground, and used broth instead of stock (pretty minor substitutions) and it’s all still quite delicious!
Glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe and could make it work with what you had. Thanks for sharing and for your great review!
LOVE THIS!!! I was worried it would be too much sauce for the pasta but after baking, it is perfect. and I assume it’s going to make the leftovers even better. So happy there is an incredible vegan recipe without cashews. Thank you!!
That’s awesome Liz! Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for your great review!
This recipe is awesome!! I love the texture and a punt of sauce was perfect. Approved by my dairy loving hubby!
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Joan! Thanks for sharing and for your great review!
This was INSANELY good! I’m relatively new to vegan cooking and every recipe I’ve tried from your site is great, but this was out of the park. I used Panko breadcrumbs, but otherwise followed your original. I’ve had friends taste it, ask for the recipe, and then THEIR friends want the recipe. In addition to being vegan, it made friends who are dairy sensitive so happy to taste the ooey-gooey cheesy goodness. Thanks!
That’s so cool Christine! Happy to hear you and your friends enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for sharing and for your great review!
I’ve tried a lot of vegan mac & cheeze recipes, and have always been disappointed. UNTIL NOW! This recipe is amazingly wonderful! Great flavor and texture. Thank you so much!
That’s awesome Heather! Glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review!
this is SO creamy and delicious! I used extra creamy Chobani instead of coconut milk and it turned out so amazing. This is a definite make again.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Karen! Thanks for sharing and for your great review!
can you make the sauce several hours in advance before making the pasta and pouring it on to bake it? is it ok if it sits for a few hours?
That should be fine Michele.
It does not taste like traditional Mac and cheese if that is what you are expecting. The coconut milk shines through and so does the nutritional yeast. If you are ok with that then you may like this recipe.
I did appreciate the sauce as it did create a creamy and thick consistency.
It does not take much time to create this recipe so that is a plus as well if you are not bothered by the above critiques on taste.
Hi Daisy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We are aware that this recipe doesn’t taste like traditional mac and cheese, and it never will, as it doesn’t contain cheese. The nutritional yeast is what gives it a cheesy taste. As for the coconut milk, if you use unsweetened coconut milk, there shouldn’t be an aftertaste. All the best!
Can I make it the night before and do the baking the next day?
Hi Tali. Yes you can. However you should add the breadcrumbs the day of baking.
I am planning to make this recipe tomorrow. I have a question on the quantity of nutritional yeast. Recipe says 1 cup (60 grams). The 4oz bottle of yeast says it’s 128 grams. I’m confused. Do you actually use a full 8oz cup of the nutritional yeast? Thank you.
Hi Mindy. We used nutritional yeast flakes. There is a possibility that what you’re using is finer than what we used. That could be the reason for the weight difference.
Ok. So if I’m using nutritional yeast, how much do I use? Sorry for the confusion. I have never worked with this product before.
Thank you for your help.
Go ahead and use the amount tat is called for in the recipe and taste the sauce. If you like the amount of cheesiness, then keep it as is. If not, then you can add more.