This easy vegan mac and cheese recipe is simple and quick to make. It will satisfy even the pickiest of eaters! It’s made with just 8 whole ingredients—no processed vegan cheeses here. This recipe comes together quickly for an easy dinner and is easily made gluten-free.

Simple and quick to make, this Easy Vegan Mac and Cheese recipe will satisfy even the pickiest of eaters! It's made with just 8 whole ingredients - no processed vegan cheeses here. This recipe comes together quickly for an easy dinner and is easily made gluten-free.

I’ll say it—after years of testing vegan mac and cheese recipes, this is my favorite and best vegan mac and cheese recipe. It is creamy and smooth, with a crispy top and a luscious sauce enveloping all the glorious noodles (gluten-free, if you’re like me)! It is a little bit of heaven on Earth.

Since going dairy-free, I’ve tried a lot of vegan mac and cheese recipes over the years. They’ve been good, but usually they tasted like noodles in some sort of veggie sauce – not the mac and cheese I was craving. I know many people love their butternut squash or sweet potato-based mac and cheese. Those flavors pull me too far away from that classic mac and cheese taste I’m after. They’re good, but to me, they’re not mac and cheese.

I found my favorite vegan mac and cheese at Donna Jean in Banker’s Hill, San Diego. In my first solo apartment, I lived within walking distance of this spot. I went there far too often for their vegan pizzas, delicious seasonal appetizers, and of course, their cast-iron vegan mac and cheese. It is luscious, and I could never figure out how they did it.

After a number of tries, I sent them a message asking for the recipe (you gotta try, right??). While they couldn’t share it with me, they did share the ingredients list. From there, I got to work, creating my own version of their epic recipe. It is the best homemade vegan mac and cheese recipe that I have ever had.

So, credit to the amazing team of chefs at Donna Jean for inspiring this recipe!! (Though I’m not going to lie—theirs is STILL better than mine because they cook it in a pizza oven, where the bottom gets delightfully crispy, so if you have the chance, go try their version!)

Let’s make Vegan Mac and Cheese!

Okay, first, let’s talk about the 8 ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe:

Raw Cashews: These are your “cheese” in this sauce! For this recipe, we’ll soak the cashews until soft and then drain and rinse them. If you think ahead, you can soak in room-temperature water (I like to use filtered) for four to eight hours. If you’re pulling things together last minute, you can soak in hot water (I boil in my kettle and then pour over) for 30 minutes.
Onion: I typically use yellow or white onion here. The onion and the garlic below are flavor-builders. Before blending them with the sauce, I sauté the diced onions until soft and translucent.
Garlic: The garlic gets tossed in with the onions while they’re sautéing to bring out their flavor and mellow the raw taste.
Tapioca Starch: Tapioca starch helps thicken the sauce once it’s in the oven. You can substitute this with arrowroot starch or cornstarch.
Lemon Juice: I add just a touch of fresh squeezed lemon juice—the bit of tang really amplifies the taste.
Nutritional Yeast: This is where the cheesy flavor comes from! You can add more or less based on your taste preferences.
Paprika: Just a pinch! The paprika adds some depth and “something-something” to the flavor. A little smoked paprika is great here, too!
Pasta: Since I’m a gluten-free gal, I, of course, use gluten-free pasta. For the photos, I used Jovial Brown Rice Elbows. The shape works great here (lots of nooks and crannies for sauce), and the brown rice pasta holds up better than some other gluten-free noodles. If you’re not GF, whatever pasta floats your boat will work here.
Salt & Water: These aren’t listed in the ingredient count because I’m guessing you don’t need to go out of your way to acquire these! But both are necessary :D

The process for making this vegan mac and cheese is pretty simple, too! In my quick notes I take for recipes (before flushing them out with lots of details to share here), I wrote four sentences. Let’s go through them (flushed out a bit with details) real quick for an easy how-to:

Sauté the diced onion until translucent. Then, add garlic until fragrant. Let cool.
Put the sautéed onions into your blender, along with all of the other ingredients, including water, and excluding the pasta.
Blend, blend, blend until smooth!
Mix with your cooked noodles and pour into a cast-iron skillet or a casserole pan.
Bake until golden and bubbly! Serve hot.

It’s really that easy, I promise! To add a little extra something, you can add some of your favorite mac and cheese mix-ins. I love adding broccoli or other veggies—they all get more delicious wrapped up in that luscious cheesy sauce. I hope you love this one as much as I do!