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.
Bob Saxon says
I’m recently retired as a teacher and have decided to take up my other love, cooking, for which I had little time in the past. So I’ve tried at least 6 other baked vegan mac and cheese recipes over the last few months and they all sucked, excuse my French. Then I found yours Alison. OMG, it’s everything you said it was – cheesy, creamy, and delicious. My wife is fairly hard to please, but she loved this from the first bite. Thanks so much. This is a KEEPER.
Alison Andrews says
That is so awesome Bob! Thanks so much!
Cari Shoemaker says
My daughter and I made this yesterday for Christmas dinner side and we were blown away!!!! This is a wonderful recipe!! My daughter can’t stop raving about it and actually said tonight that it’s the best Mac and cheese (vegan and non vegan) that she’s ever had!!!! The only change we made was to use 12oz of Orecchiette pasta. We will be making this again and again!!! Thank you so much!!!
Alison Andrews says
Yay! That’s wonderful! Thanks so much Cari. 🙂
Taryn says
I made this yesterday for dinner and it was bomb! I used Silk half and half instead of coconut milk and it worked out fantastic so I will be making this again for sure! Thanks for all your hard work creating this recipe.
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Taryn!
Bri says
This is amazing!
I’ve made nut/garlic “alfredo” before but hadn’t used coconut milk for cheesy sauce sub. I was surprised that it wasn’t coconut-y at all.
I substituted gf pasta, garlic stock for veggie, store bought breadcrumbs, & mustard powder. Added Trader Joe’s Chickenless chicken salt, red pepper flakes, frozen broccoli pieces & spinach, & onions to the beschamel.
Huge winner. Amazing smell, color, & taste! My non-veg family didn’t bat an eye! Thanks!!
Alison Andrews says
That sounds wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing Bri!
Cynthia says
O M G great recipe! My teen girls (one vegan and wants to be, and one has no desire to be) LOVED it! Told the older that it was vegan and she was skeptical but then ecstatic. Told the younger that it was mac n’ cheese, and that’s all she knows – hehe, gobbled it up. Mom days like this are good. Thanks!!
Alison Andrews says
That’s wonderful Cynthia! I love it!
Deandra says
I absolutely love this recipe! The flavor, the ease of putting it all together and how cost effective it is! Such a great family night meal. No extra vegan cheese needed, because the creaminess is spot on. We actually doubled this and made a great big serving for Thanksgiving. It was such a hit. Even my non-vegan family members loved it! Will definitely keep this in my rotation for life 🙂
Alison Andrews says
That’s awesome! Thanks so much for the wonderful review!
Matt says
The only thing that keeps me from liking this is the smokey flavor. Is there anyway I can mask this?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Matt, in this case the smokey flavor is entirely from that smoked paprika, so you could leave use regular (not smoked) paprika or even just leave out the paprika altogether.
Stephanie says
Great recipe! I can imagine this bechamel sauce working well for so many things.
I prefer to use store bought breadcrumbs, so a measurement of how many ounces/grams/cups to use would have been helpful. I ended up with way too much on top.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Stephanie, glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for the feedback, we have added a note. 🙂
Hannah Vuong says
So delicious! My husband and I both loved this recipe. We may be adding into our meal prep rotation. We didn’t taste the coconut flavor at all as a previous review had mentioned. Our oven is broken so we divided into two 12 inch round pans and cooked in a toaster oven.
Alison Andrews says
That’s wonderful Hannah! Thanks so much for the review!
Ellen says
Thanks for the amazing recipe. It’s truly delicious. I substituted lemon for mustard since i prefer that flavor for the acid element. Next time, I might add some chili pepper for some heat.
Windy says
I want to try this recipe tonight, but realizing it has mustard and my daughter is allergic. Can you tell me how much lemon juice you used in place of the mustard? I’d be very grateful, thank you.
Windy.
Alison Andrews says
You can just leave the mustard out altogether!
Melissa says
I added a couple teaspoons of apple cider vinegar to get that bite you get from cheddar and it tasted amazing!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Halley says
I used a 454g box of macaroni, only used 2 cans of 400ml coconut milk, only 1.5 tbs of dijon, sautéed a garlic clove in the butter at the beginning, but kept to the rest of the recipe. I found there was a bit too much sauce for the amount of pasta so I threw in a head of cooked broccoli to fill it out. I can’t imagine having added a whole other can of coconut milk! But thank you for this recipe, the consistency was perfect and definitely hits the comfort food mark.
kayla emerson says
I get home and realize that I actually have Active Dry Yeast instead of Nutritional Yeast. Any tips for substitute or should i exclude the yeast from the recipe?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Kayla, definitely don’t use active dry yeast, it’s a completely different thing. Nutritional yeast is just a cheesy flavoring and isn’t actually real yeast at all. So don’t use the real yeast! It will create very odd results here! All the best. 🙂
Monica Koby says
I am wanting to make your recipe…wonder how it would taste not baked? I was thinking of making in the instapot…any thoughts?
Alison Andrews says
It’s delicious before baking so it doesn’t have to be baked if you prefer not to. I haven’t used an instapot though so I can’t advise on that. All the best!
Ali says
So unbelievably good! I think I’ll use this as a base for casseroles as well! Thank you for this recipe!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Ali!
Hayley Hawkins says
This was SERIOUSLY the best vegan mac n cheese I’ve ever made. No more cashew mac for me lol!! Everyone loved it. Sooo rich and creamy!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome Hayley! Thank you so much!
Veronica says
Made this for Thanksgiving and it was the hugest hit EVER! People were raving about it. They were asking fo the recipe, they were shaking their heads in disbelief. Needless to say, this recipe made me look REALLY good so thank you for that. Will certainly make again. I would say it definitely is the BEST vegan mac and cheese ever.
Alison Andrews says
Hahaha, I love that Veronica, thanks so much for the awesome review!