Learn how to make this baked mac and cheese that is flavoursome with a silky smooth cheese sauce. Topped with my homemade crunchy gluten free breadcrumbs and baked to perfection. This is a must try vegan friendly recipe for any time of the year, especially during the holiday season.

I'm an avid mac and cheese girl and unapologetic about it. Granted I don't have it very often, it's more of a treat, but when I do, I literally go ALL out.

Baked mac and cheese has a special place in my heart, there's something about biting through to that crunchy topping that really enhances the taste.

I've made this recipe quite a few times now and this variation of mac and cheese seems to be the most popular at family gatherings.

Nothing ever goes to waste and leftovers are out of the question, sometimes I don't even get a portion myself that's how in demand it is.

Anyway I digress, I really want my readers to enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

I know mac and cheese is a very popular side dish so making a gluten free and vegan friendly version is a must!

Serve this plant based version to your loved ones and no one will know the difference (I will be our secret, you can even take the credit for it).

Reasons to make this dish

It's gluten free and vegan friendly
The sauce is creamy and flavoursome (not dry and/or bland)
It uses a combination of nuts, nutritional yeast and grated vegan cheese for optimised cheesiness.
It's homemade and NOT store bought
Perfect for hosting a dinner party, the holiday season or anytime of year

Recipe preparation

This recipe might look intimated but it's very straight forward. The first thing that needs to be done is cooking the macaroni until al dente.

I like to add pink salt to the water that the macaroni is being boiled in while stirring to prevent sticking.

As we are only cooking to al dente (firm with a bite) as soon as the pasta is done I immediately drain it off in a colander and rinse with cold water to prevent further cooking.

You don't want to overcook the pasta or the texture will be too soft and fall apart.

Let's move on to talking about the sauce, my favourite bit, start by making the roux by mixing the butter and the flour together to form a paste.

The cashew nuts form part of the sauce, for that creaminess, they need to be soaked and blitzed in a blender before being combined with the almond milk.

To avoid any lumps, continuously whisk in the liquid until it starts to thicken up, then add the seasoning, grated vegan cheese and macaroni.

The sauce should be silky smooth and not too thick but not too thin, always have some extra vegan cheese and almond milk to hand.

Reason being, you may want to adjust the sauces consistency, if it's too thick, it will recede during baking and too thin it will seep through the breading.

A thin balance is needed, so use my measurements as a guide and adjust if you need to.

The topping is my homemade breading, you can of course, use an alternative to mine but still add the listed herbs and spices.

Once the saucy macaroni is transferred into an oven proof baking dish, simply sprinkle the breadcrumb on top.

Add enough to cover the sauce/macaroni with about 10% more, you don't want to drown your dish in breadcrumbs.

Also, just bake long enough until the breadcrumbs darken, anything from 12-15 minutes as you don't want the sauce to recede.

The steps

Preheat the oven to 375f/180C and grease a baking dish and set aside.
Bring a medium sized saucepan of water to the boil.
Once boiling point has reached, add the 1 tablespoon of pink salt.
Proceed to add the macaroni to the water.

Stir the macaroni for the first 1-2 minutes (this will also help to prevent sticking at the bottom of the saucepan).
Allow to cook until it is "al dente" (this should take anything from 5-7 minutes, keep in mind SOME gluten free macaroni cooks quicker then others so start to check the readiness from 4 minutes).
Determine its readiness by removing a piece of macaroni from the saucepan using a fork and testing with your fingers (squashing it).

Steps 9-12 making the roux and mixing in the milk

Once the pasta has cooked, drain the macaroni in a colander and rinse the macaroni with cold water (this will prevent it from cooking any further) then pour into a large bowl and set aside.
Combine and blend together the cashew nuts, nutritional yeast and almond milk then set aside.
In a large saucepan or a skillet, melt the vegan butter over medium heat.
Once melted, mix in the brown rice flour for about one minute and form a paste.

Steps 13-16 mixing in the spices, cheese and macaroni

Slowly pour in the almond milk, while stirring to dissolve the paste into the milk.
Add the mustard powder, onion granules, garlic granules, thyme, parsley and finally the vegan cheese.
Continue to stir until the cheese melts and the sauce thickens (this should take several minutes). You want the sauce to be not too thin nor too thick (it should coat the back of a spoon) adjust by adding more cheese/milk if needed.
Fold in the macaroni and thoroughly coat with the cheese sauce.
Do a taste test and add any additional pink salt if needed.

Pour into an oven proof baking dish.
Mix the breadcrumbs together with the parsley, onion and garlic granules.
Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the macaroni.
Bake for 12-15 minutes (don't over bake or the sauce will start to evaporate).
Serve immediately while hot.

Notes and tips

I used my very own homemade breadcrumbs for this recipe and here is the link to How to Make Gluten Free Breadcumbs
When making the sauce, do a taste test and add any additional pink salt, if needed.
Make sure to thoroughly whisk the roux and also when you are adding the almond milk to avoid any lumps.
Feel free to use your favourite plant based cheese. I used Cathedral Cheddar's plant based cheese with Sainsburys gluten free macaroni (UK).
I would advise using a neutral tasting plant based milk i.e almond or cashew milk, work just fine.
If you don't have brown rice flour, sorghum, coconut flour as stand alone flours will work or use your favourite GF flour.
Check the consistency of the sauce, very important, have some extra vegan cheese and almond milk to hand, adjust accordingly, if required.
Any leftovers should be covered with saran wrap or portioned in containers for up to 2 days.
You can prep ahead of time by cooking the pasta in advance, grating the cheese and preparing the spices
To re-heat any leftovers, do so in the oven covering the top with aluminum foil.
Do not re-freeze this mac and cheese, serve it immediately, while still hot, for best results.
You will want an oval oven proof pie dish or a dish with similar dimensions - 28x19x6cm.

More cheese recipes to try

More recipes to try

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