Healthy mac and cheese is made with a vegetable cheese sauce, sauteed vegetables, and healthy noodles. This vegan healthy mac and cheese recipe is comfort food at its finest.
I love mac and cheese, and making a healthy mac and cheese recipe that tastes amazing with all veggies is easy! All it takes is a little creativity; you can enjoy vegan healthy mac and cheese as often as you like. Make it plain, or load it with veggies; the choice is yours!
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When I was in college, I think I lived on ramen noodles and mac and cheese. Of course, my limited budget and need to save money for partying on the weekends contributed to my toxic diet. Like most college students, my diet was not a priority. However, when my daughter went to college, I had already raised her vegan, so she was shocked when she discovered she couldn't eat at the University of Michigan without living at the salad bar.
Since then, colleges have added vegan options, which is wonderful. Healthy mac and cheese, for example, became a staple in my packaged meals for her to take to school. And its a regular on my meal rotations at home.
What is Healthy Mac and Cheese?
In order to make a typically unhealthy food, healthy is to change the ingredients but maintain the comfort food taste. First, let's talk about noodles.
Although many people believe carbs and noodles are unhealthy, the varieties of noodles available today are amazing! Some of my favorite noodles, for example, are gluten-free, while others are whole-grain.
Gluten-Free Noodle Brands
Gluten-free noodles have come a long way. When these noodles first hit the shelves, they were often gummy and tasted bad. However, over time, gluten-free noodles taste very close to real noodles.
- Bionaturae Organic Elbow Macaroni
- Barilla Organic Elbow Macaroni
- Delallo Gluten-free Corn and Rice Elbows
- Banza Cavatappi Noodles
Whole Grain Noodles
Despite popular belief, most pasta is plant-based and contains very few ingredients qualifying them as whole food.
As a matter of fact, I am shocked at how wonderful gluten-free kinds of pasta have evolved over the years.
The next challenge to tackle is creating a healthy mac and cheese with a healthy vegan cheese sauce.
Although there are various fabulous vegan cheese options, they are still high in fat. So, I made my healthy mac and cheese with my favorite Nacho Cheese Sauce, made from vegetables, but I tweaked it just a little.
Vegan Cheese Sauce Ingredients
- Idaho Potatoes: Potatoes make the perfect base for a cheese sauce because it provides the starch and thickening agent in a whole food source.
- Carrots: Carrots provide a beautiful orange color as well as sweetness.
- Nutritional Yeast: Nutritional yeast is full of vitamin B12, and it gives the cheese sauce a cheesy flavor as well as a thickening ingredient.
- Lemon Juice: The lemon juice gives the vegan cheese sauce a fresh taste and acidity. I prefer fresh lemon juice.
- Onion Powder: Onion powder adds a sweet and savory flavor to dishes you can't get from fresh onions.
- Garlic Powder: Garlic powder adds an intense, concentrated garlic flavor to a recipe, while garlic cloves offer a slightly subtler flavor. You must use very little if you're substituting garlic powder for the fresh ingredient.
- Smoked Paprika: Smoked paprika is made from red peppers that are smoked or charred, dried, then crushed into a fine, bright red powder. It adds a wonderful, pungent smokiness to many dishes.
- Vegetable Broth: Vegetable broth adds flavor to the vegan cheese sauce.
- Soy Sauce: Soy sauce adds an umami flavor. If avoiding salt, choose lower sodium soy sauce.
- Water: The water thins the cheese sauce for the perfect texture.
Vegan Cheese Sauce Substitutions
- Choose any potatoes you have on hand.
- Squash has often been used as a substitute for carrots.
- White miso paste, cashews, sunflower seeds, or dried porcini mushrooms are substitutes for nutritional yeast.
- Use bottled lemon juice instead of fresh lemon juice.
- Instead of onion powder, you can use: grated fresh onion, shallots, fennel bulbs, scallions, garlic powder, onion salt, or celery.
- The only difference between garlic powder and granulated garlic is the granule size. While granulated garlic is coarsely ground to a sand consistency, garlic powder is finely ground to a flour consistency.
- Chipotle pepper powder is likely the closest thing you will find as a smoked paprika substitute in most spice racks.
- Try vegetable bouillon mixed with water or Yondu mixed with water instead of vegetable broth.
- Tamari or liquid aminos are gluten-free options to use instead of soy sauce. Or, opt for a low-sodium vegetable broth.
Sauteeing the Vegetables
Even though the sauce is made primarily of vegetables, adding more vegetables makes healthy mac and cheese even healthier.
Since I like to make any pasta dish, I make at least half of the vegetables; I combined a bunch of my favorite vegetables to add to my healthy mac and cheese.
- White Onion: White onion has a strong flavor, yet it caramelizes and sweetens when cooked.
- Bell Peppers: I chose yellow, orange, and red bell peppers to add color and sweetness to the vegan healthy mac and cheese.
- Broccoli: I love broccoli because it holds its heat and absorbs flavors like a sponge.
- Mushrooms: The sauteed mushrooms add an element of texture as well as savory flavor.
- Grape Tomatoes: The grape tomatoes are added at the end and only cooked slightly so they maintain their shape and raw texture.
Making the Vegan Healthy Mac and Cheese Recipe
- One of my favorite tips for cooking broccoli when making pasta is to cook the broccoli with the noodles in the last three minutes of cooking.
- As a result, the broccoli cooks perfectly and saves a step.
- Then, drain the noodles and the broccoli in a colander.
- Once the noodles are cooked, add the sauteed vegetables and the vegan cheese sauce and stir together.
- Serve in bowls with a bit of parsley on top for garnish. I also like to serve this healthy mac and cheese recipe with a large chopped salad.
Recipe FAQs
Most vegan mac and cheese recipes are made with cashews and nutritional yeast. However, many other options are available for those with nut allergies.
Yes, there is a vegan option for Kraft Mac and Cheese. Kraft has recently released a vegan version of their classic Mac and Cheese made with plant-based ingredients, including a cheese sauce made from potato and pea protein.
Coconut milk is the most popular plant milk used for mac and cheese. However, unsweetened, unflavored plant milk works.
Tips
- Peel the carrots and potatoes before boiling them, or leave the peels on for added nutrients.
- Cut the potatoes and carrots into equal-sized pieces so they boil evenly.
- Choose any vegetables to add to vegan healthy mac and cheese.
- If using gluten-free noodles, I suggest rinsing them before adding them back to the pan, as they often have a thick film on them after cooking.
- If you don't like nutritional yeast, use cashews, sunflower seeds, or hemp seeds instead.
- For a lower sodium option, choose low-sodium soy sauce.
- Replace unflavored, unsweetened plant milk with water if you desire a creamier sauce.
The next time you crave comfort food, try this vegan healthy mac and cheese!
If you love this healthy mac and cheese, give us a 5-star review and comment below. We would love to hear from you!
📖 Recipe
Healthy Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
2 cups Healthy Vegan Cheese Sauce
- 3 small baking potatoes washed, scrubbed and skins left on; cut into chunks
- 3 large carrots peeled, cut into similar size as potatoes
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 Tablespoon Tamari or soy sauce
- ½ cup water
Sauteed Vegetables
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 white onion sliced thin
- 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 6 baby bell peppers sliced thin
- 1 head broccoli cut into florets
- ½ cup grape tomatoes Cut in half
Noodles
- 16 ounces noodles of choice
Garnish
- ⅛ cup parsley chopped
Instructions
Vegan cheese sauce
- Wash three averaged-sized potatoes; cut them into large chunks (leave skins on potatoes or peel them).
- Clean and cut three large carrots and chop them the same size as potatoes.
- Place in a pot and cover with water.
- Add a few sprinkles of salt to the water.
- Boil for 20 minutes.
- While the potatoes are boiling, put the vegetable broth, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and soy sauce in a blender.
- Drain potatoes and carrots.
- Put potatoes and carrots into a blender; blend until smooth.
- The mixture will be thick; add water.
- Transfer ‘the cheese’ mixture to a medium-sized saucepan.
Noodles
- Cook noodles according to package directions.
- In the last 3 minutes of cooking, add the broccoli florets.
- Drain the pasta and the broccoli together in a colander.
- Return the pasta and broccoli to a pan.
Sauteed Vegetables
- In a large skillet, saute garlic and onion until translucent.
- Add mushrooms and cook until browned.
- Add a little vegetable broth or water if the vegetables are sticking.
- Add the baby bell peppers. Cook for a few minutes.
- Add the whole tomatoes to last, as they are more delicate and cook quickly.
- Cook for a few more minutes.
Combine the Ingredients
- Add the noodles and broccoli to the pan you cooked the noodles in.
- Now, add the sauteed vegetables.
- Pour 2 cups of cheese sauce over noodles and vegetables.
- Stir the ingredients together.
- Serve in individual bowls, and add a little parsley.
Notes
- Peel the carrots and potatoes before boiling them, or leave the peels on for added nutrients.
- Cut the potatoes and carrots into equal-sized pieces so they boil evenly.
- Choose any vegetables to add to vegan healthy mac and cheese.
- If using gluten-free noodles, I suggest rinsing them before adding them back to the pan, as they often have a thick film on them after cooking.
- If you don't like nutritional yeast, use cashews, sunflower seeds, or hemp seeds instead.
- For a lower sodium option, choose low-sodium soy sauce.
- Replace unflavored, unsweetened plant milk with water for a creamier sauce.
Nutrition
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
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Debbie Tucker
Can you use other types of potatoes? I mainly buy red or yukon gold, not a big fan of regular baking potatoes.
Kathy Carmichael
Hi Debbie, I have used red potatoes before and it worked fine. The baking potatoes are a bit more starchy, so the sauce is a little thinner with the red potatoes, but it tastes the same. I hope that helps. Let me know if you like it. Stay safe and healthy!
Anonymous