Vegan Mac and Cheese (that is FODMAP friendly and gluten free)
Vegan, FODMAP friendly, gluten free*This recipe uses Australian cups and measures. Use gram and ml for international accuracy. Australian tablespoons are 20ml as opposed to the more common 15ml. Australian teaspoons are 5ml, which is roughly on par with teaspoons in most countries.
Ingredients
For the vegan mac and cheese:
- 300 g gluten free pasta (I like elbows for Mac and cheese)
- 125 g vegan butter substitute (see notes)
- 20-30g (2-3 tablespoons)* gluten free cornflour
- 625-875 ml (2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups)* plant based milk (see notes)
- 25-30g (5-6 tablespoons)* nutritional yeast
- 1-2 teaspoons sea salt (add salt to taste, specifically if you're using vegan cheese or a fine salt like table salt)
Optional extras
- 100-200 g vegan cheese, freshly and finely grated (optional)
- 2 teaspoons light miso paste (make sure it's gluten free if it needs to be
- 1/2 - 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- drizzle of truffle oil
Instructions
- If you intend to make a mac and cheese bake, preheat the oven to 200C or 400F. Measure out all your ingredients separately for smooth sailing - the milk, vegan butter, cornflour, nutritional yeast and the salt, plus the optional extras, if you're using them.
- Heat a large pot of salted water over a high heat until it reaches boiling point. Add your pasta and cook as per packet instructions - only cook it half way if you intend to make a mac n' cheese bake. Drain and reserve a little starchy pasta water to add to the cheesy sauce.
- While the pasta is cooking, place a medium pot over a medium heat.
- Add the vegan butter to the pan and allow it to melt completely. Add the cornflour and whisk thoroughly to combine. Allow the paste to cook off for a minute or so before adding the milk. Whisk as you add the milk and intermittently for 10 or so minutes as the mixture thickens into a roux. You're looking for the consistency of a custard on the thinner side.
- While the mixture is thickening, add the nutritional yeast and seasoning. If you're using them, add the miso paste, mustard and salt here, too. If you're using miso paste, add salt to taste as it is already quite salty.
- Once the roux has almost completely thickened, stir in half the vegan cheese if you're using it. If not, take it off the heat. From here you can serve immediately as a classic mac and cheese, using the remaining half of the cheese to sprinkle over the top.
To make into a mac and cheese bake:
- In a large baking dish, combine the pasta and the cheese sauce. If the sauce is looking a little too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water. If you're using it, sprinkle the remaining half of the vegan cheese over the top of the bake.
- Place the bake into the oven for 10-20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. The bake doesn't really need cooking per se - all the components are already cooked. The oven time is just about browning the top of the bake.
- Once golden, remove from the heat and serve. You can drizzle the bake with a little truffle oil prior to serving if that's your thing. The bakes keeps well in the fridge for about a week.
Notes
- I have tried a number of different vegan butters and oils in this recipe, so I thought I'd impart a lil bit of wisdom. At the end of the day, a turmeric coconut oil butter worked well, as did olive oil, if you're desperate.
- My favourite was Nuttelex buttery, although you may have your own favourite vegan butter brand.
- You could hypothetically use butter if you're not vegan, but then you hypothetically could add cheese as well. Hypothetically, there are better classic roux recipes out there than to substitute into this one.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!