Photo by VK Rees

This is a one-pot vegan broccoli mac and cheese that everyone needs in their lives. The sauce takes two minutes and requires zero cooking. You just blend up cashews, vegetable broth, nutritional yeast,  lemon juice and a few simple spices until it’s this gorgeous, silky, smoky cheese sauce that you will want to put on literally everything. The broccoli gets chopped up small and tossed right into the pasta pot in the last few minutes. So easy! And every bite is creamy and dreamy and packed with my favorite vegetable. (Yes, I am that basic.) 

It’s the kind of easy vegan mac and cheese that works on a Tuesday when you’re tired, or on a Saturday when you’re feeding people and want to look like a hero. Kids love it. Picky eaters love it. And you can totally feed it to non-vegans and they will love it, too. The chipotle gives it just enough smoky heat to make it interesting without scaring anyone off. I like a little smoky heat, but if you aren’t down with that, try smoked paprika instead of chipotle powder. And if you are not even down with a little smoke, try regular paprika. Or try to live a little.

It’s absolutely divine on its own, but if you want to bulk it up you can’t go wrong with grilled tofu or even some Tofu Buffalo Wings. 

If you’ve never made vegan mac and cheese before, start here. If you’ve made a million of them, also start here.

Notes

~If you don’t have a Vitamix or highspeed blender, boil the cashews for 20 minutes, then drain. You can also soak them for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Then just use your regular blender, but it might take up to 5 minutes to get smooth enough.

~The broccoli should be chopped pretty small, somewhere around the size of a pea to maybe at largest the size of a raspberry. It doesn’t have to be uniform.

Vegan Broccoli Mac And Cheese

Broccoli Mac & Cheese

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Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb small pasta chiocolle or small shells or, ya know, macaroni
  • 6 cups broccoli finely chopped

For the sauce:

  • 1 cup whole unroasted cashews
  • 1 cup vegetable broth
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 3/4 teaspoon chipotle power
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

  • Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in a large pot.
  • While the water is coming to a boil, make the sauce. Place all sauce ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend for about a minute or two, or until completely smooth, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides every 20 seconds or so. (If you don’t have a high-speed blender, see tip above)
  • Cook pasta in boiling water for about 5 minutes, then add the chopped broccoli. Boil until pasta is cooked, 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Drain pasta in a large colander and add immediately back to the pot. It should still be piping hot and wet with pasta water. Do not rinse and do not wait. This part is important because you need the wet, hot pasta to get the sauce creamy and awesome and clinging to the pasta.
  • Add the sauce to the pasta pot and use the rubber spatula to mix. Turn the heat on low and stir for about 2 minutes to get everything warmed through. Taste for salt and seasoning and serve.
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