The Best Vegan Gluten-Free Mac 'n' Cheese
THE BEST Vegan, Gluten-Free Mac 'n' Cheese made with 8 simple ingredients in 1 hour! Cheesy, hearty, and so satisfying.
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 1 head roasted garlic (see instructions for method)
- 10-12 ounces gluten-free penne* (I love Bionaturae penne found at Whole Foods)
- 4 Tbsp olive or grape seed oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced (4 cloves yield ~2 Tbsp)
- 4 ½ Tbsp arrowroot starch*
- 2 cups unsweetened plain almond milk (plus more as needed)
- ~1/4 tsp each sea salt and pepper (to taste)
- 5 Tbsp nutritional yeast (plus more to taste)
- 1/2 cup vegan parmesan cheese (plus more for serving)
Instructions
- To roast garlic, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (204 C) and cut off the very top of a head of garlic. Drizzle the top with a bit of oil, a sprinkle of salt and loosely wrap in foil.
- Place directly on oven rack and roast for 45 minutes - 1 hour, depending on size of garlic. You'll know it's done when the garlic is very fragrant and the bulb is golden brown. Remove from oven, slightly unwrap, and let cool.
- At the 40-minute mark, bring roughly 10 cups (2400 ml // use more or less if altering batch size) water to a boil in a large pot and salt generously. Once boiling, add pasta and stir to prevent noodles from sticking. Cook according to package instructions (usually about 8-10 minutes). Once fully cooked, drain and set aside.
- In the meantime, begin preparing sauce. Heat a large, oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add oil and minced fresh garlic. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until light golden brown. Immediately add arrowroot starch and whisk - cook for 1 minute.
- Slowly add almond milk while whisking, then cook for 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently. The sauce will likely look a little clumpy - that’s OK! We’re going to blend it.
- Transfer mixture to a blender, along with the roasted garlic. To extract garlic, simply push up from the base and the softened cloves should come right out - so gratifying (and delicious).
- Next add salt and pepper, nutritional yeast, and vegan parmesan cheese and blend on high until creamy and smooth, scraping down sides as needed.
- Taste and adjust seasonings as needed - you want it pretty well salted + cheesy, so don't be shy with the nutritional yeast, salt, and vegan parmesan cheese.
- Return sauce back to skillet from earlier and cook over low heat until warmed and slightly thickened - about 2-3 minutes - whisking occasionally. As it warms back up, it will thicken and get super cheesy (see photo). For a thicker sauce, leave it as is. To thin slightly, add almond milk 1 Tbsp at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Turn off heat if it starts bubbling too aggressively.
- Add cooked, drained pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Then top with 1 more Tbsp vegan parmesan cheese (amount as original recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size).
- Optional: Heat oven to high broil and position a rack at the top of the oven. Broil pasta on high for 1-2 minutes (optional), or until golden brown (see photo). Watch closely as it can burn quickly.
- Serve immediately. I love topping mine with an extra pinch of vegan parmesan cheese - I can never get enough of that stuff.
- Leftovers keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, though best when fresh. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop - add extra almond milk if it's dry.
Notes
*If you aren't gluten-free, sub regular pasta for the gluten-free and all-purpose flour for the arrowroot starch.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated without additional parmesan cheese topping.
*Recipe adapted from my Vegan Garlic Mac 'n' Cheese.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated without additional parmesan cheese topping.
*Recipe adapted from my Vegan Garlic Mac 'n' Cheese.
Nutrition (1 of 4 servings)
Serving: 1 serving Calories: 523 Carbohydrates: 67 g Protein: 13.5 g Fat: 23.2 g Saturated Fat: 3.7 g Trans Fat: 0 g Cholesterol: 0 mg Sodium: 316 mg Fiber: 8.6 g Sugar: 1.9 g