This Vegan Mac and Cheese recipe is healthy, flavorful, super creamy, cheesy, and ready in under 30 minutes with your Instant Pot electric pressure cooker.
I have also shared Stovetop Pot instructions below.
Vegan mac and cheese gets its signature cheesy flavor from a combination of nutritional yeast, and lemon juice.
Together with some creamy blended cashews and veggies, adding volume and nutrition to the sauce, you can easily make this healthy dairy-free cheese sauce at home and serve it with pasta of your choice!
Try this next time for your kids, my daughter could not figure out the hidden veggies in the mac and cheese, and she loved it. If you dont have nutritional yeast at home and dont care about vegan, then replace nutritional yeast with regular cheddar or mozzarella cheese or vegan cheese.
I have prepared this vegan macaroni and cheese dish in my electric pressure cooker, Instant Pot DUO60 6 QT.
Vegan Mac & Cheese Ingredients
To make this simple pressure cooker vegan mac and cheese recipe, you will need the below ingredients:
- Pasta - Any kind of pasta will work for this recipe, like whole grain, white, gluten-free, or legume-based. I went for durum wheat macaroni pasta because that’s what we had in our pantry.
- Cashews - Make sure to soak them in hot water for at least 15-20 minutes if you don’t have a high-speed blender. You can also use blanched almonds instead of cashews.
- Potatoes and Carrots - These veggies add more volume and nutrition to the sauce without extra fat. You can replace potatoes with cauliflower and carrots with sweet potatoes or pumpkin.
- Nutritional Yeast - the secret ingredient for cheesy flavor in many vegan sauces! I highly recommend not skipping this for vegan mac and cheese.
- Milk - I have used almond milk here, but you can also use coconut milk. If you dont care about vegans, then use regular milk. Milk is added to make the cheese sauce creamier.
- Protein - You can also add steamed broccoli or peas to make it protein-rich, but feel free to omit it.
How to Make Vegan Macaroni and Cheese in Instant Pot
I have used Pot-in-Pot (PIP) method to prepare this pasta dish.
Soak the cashews in hot water for at least 15-30 minutes before using them.
Add macaroni pasta to the inner pot. Add water/broth, salt and stir well to combine.
Meanwhile, in an oven-safe bowl or stackable steamer, insert pans and add diced potatoes, carrots, onions, and 2 cups of water. Make sure veggies should be submerged in liquid.
Then place the trivet and then the veggies bowl with water. This way, they will both cook together.
**See pictures below for reference.
Close the Instant pot lid and turn the pressure valve to the SEALING position. Set on MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK (High Pressure) for 4 minutes (or half the time on the macaroni cooking directions minus 1 minute).
When Instant pot beeps, do a QUICK RELEASE.
Open the lid and see that the vegetables should be tender and cooked well along with the pasta.
Now, place all of the ingredients for the vegan cheese sauce, i.e., soaked cashews, boiled veggies, seasoning ingredients, milk, water, and lemon juice, into a high-speed blender jar.
Blend the mixture until smooth. Don't worry if the sauce is runny. It will thicken on mixing with pasta.
If the sauce is thick, you can add some more milk or water for the right consistency.
Pour vegan cheese sauce over your cooked macaroni pasta. Adjust salt and seasoning at this stage.
If the mac and cheese hasn’t thickened completely, turn the pot to SAUTE mode and cook for a few minutes while stirring.
Sprinkle a dash of paprika and serve the Instant Pot Pressure cooker Vegan Mac and Cheese warm!
OR
place macaroni mixture in a baking dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes or until crumbs turn golden brown.
Accessories needed for making Pasta Pot-in-pot Method
- Tall Trivet
- Stackable Steamer Insert Pans, or any oven-safe bowl
Stovetop Mac and Cheese
- Cook macaroni al dente according to the package instructions.
- In a large pot, pour 2-3 cups of water and bring it to boil, and add diced potatoes, carrots, onions and cook till they are tender and soft. It takes roughly about 10 minutes. Cooking time will vary slightly, depending on how big or small you chopped your vegetables. Reserve some boiled water for making the vegan cheese sauce.
- Now, place all the ingredients for the vegan cheese sauce, i.e., soaked cashews, boiled veggies, seasoning ingredients, milk, water, and lemon juice, into a high-speed blender jar. Blend the mixture until smooth. Don't worry if the sauce is runny. It will thicken on mixing with pasta. If the sauce is thick, you can add some more milk or water for the right consistency.
- Add cheese sauce to the cooked pasta and give it a mix. Cover and cook for 1-2 minutes to warm through.
- Sprinkle a dash of paprika and serve the Vegan Mac and Cheese warm!
Tips & Variations
Pasta cooking time: The time to cook pasta in an Instant Pot is usually half of the suggested time on the pasta box minus 1 minute for al-dente pasta (if you like your pasta firm and are just done).
For example, I made this recipe using dry macaroni, which called for 10 minutes of cooking time. That makes it 4 minutes going by the rule of thumb.
Keep pasta submerged: You must ensure that all the pasta is submerged in the liquid before pressure cooking. If it is less, then add some more water or broth.
Pressure Release: Quick Release is very important for cooking pasta in the Instant Pot. So don’t forget, else it will result in very soft pasta.
You can also add steamed broccoli florets or green peas to this pasta, in the end, to make it more healthy and delicious.
If you want this dish to be low-calorie and more weight-loss friendly, you can skip the cashews entirely. If you are allergic to nuts, then use seed-based butter instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
YES! Place macaroni mixture in a baking dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes, or until crumbs turn golden brown. This is a good way to repurpose leftover mac and cheese.
Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
More Pasta Recipes
Instant Pot Vegan Mac and Cheese
Equipment
Ingredients
For Cooking Pasta:
- 8 oz dry macaroni i used drum wheat pasta (about 2 cups) or any pasta
- 2 cups water
- salt to taste
For Vegan Cheese Sauce:
- 2 medium potatoes diced into 1 inch pieces
- 1 medium carrot diced into 1 inch pieces
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 cups water for cooking the vegetables
- ½ cup cashews soaked for at least 15 minutes in hot water (65 gm)
- ½ cup water for making cheese sauce
- ¼ cup almond milk(60 ml) or coconut milk
- 4 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder (optional)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- salt to taste
For serving:
- steamed broccoli or green peas (optional)
- a dash of paprika
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in hot water for at least 15-30 minutes before using them.
Instant Pot Method:
- I have used Pot-in-Pot (PIP) method to prepare this pasta dish.
- Add macaroni pasta to the inner pot. Add water/broth, salt stir well to combine.
- Meanwhile in an oven-safe bowl or stackable steamer insert pans add diced potatoes, carrot, onion, and 2 cups of water. Make sure veggies should be submerged in liquid.
- Then place the trivet and then the veggies bowl with water. This way they will both cook together.
- Close the Instant pot lid and turn the pressure valve to the SEALING position. Set on MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK (High Pressure) for 4 minutes (or half the time on the macaroni cooking directions minus 1 minute).
- When Instant pot beeps, do a QUICK RELEASE.Open the lid and see that the vegetables should be tender and cooked well along with the pasta.
- Now, place all of the ingredients for the vegan cheese sauce ie soaked cashews, boiled veggies, seasoning ingredients, milk, water, lemon juice into a high-speed blender jar.
- Blend the mixture until smooth. Don't worry if the sauce is runny. It will thicken on mixing with pasta.If the sauce is thick you can add some more milk or water for right consistency.
- Pour vegan cheese sauce over your cooked macaroni pasta. Adjust salt and seasoning at this stage.
- If mac and cheese haven’t thickened completely, turn the pot to SAUTE mode and cook for a few minutes while stirring.
- Sprinkle a dash of paprika and serve the Instant Pot Pressure cooker Vegan Mac and Cheese warm!ORplace macaroni mixture in a baking dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes, or until crumbs are turning golden brown.
Stovetop Pot Method:
- Cook macaroni al dente according to the package instructions.
- In a large pot pour 2-3 cups of water and bring it to boil and add diced potatoes, carrot, onions and cook till they are tender and soft. It roughly takes about 10 minutes. Cooking time will vary slightly, based on how big or small you have chopped your vegetables. Reserve some boiled water for making the vegan cheese sauce.
- Now, place all of the ingredients for the vegan cheese sauce ie, soaked cashews, boiled veggies, seasoning ingredients, milk, water, lemon juice into a high-speed blender jar. Blend the mixture until smooth. Don't worry if the sauce is runny. It will thicken on mixing with pasta. If the sauce is thick you can add some more milk or water for the right consistency.
- Add cheese sauce to the cooked pasta and give it a mix. Cover and cook for 1-2 minutes to warm through.
- Sprinkle a dash of paprika and serve the Vegan Mac and Cheese warm!
Notes
Tips & Variations
Pasta cooking time: The time to cook pasta in an Instant pot is usually half of the suggested time on the pasta box minus 1 minute for al-dente pasta (if you like your pasta firm and are just done). For example, I made this recipe using dry macaroni which called for 10 minutes of cooking time. That makes it 4 minutes going by the rule of thumb. Keep pasta submerged: You have to make sure that all the pasta is submerged in the liquid before pressure cooking. If it is less, then add some more water or broth Pressure Release: Quick Release is very important for cooking pasta in the Instant Pot. So don’t forget else it will result in very soft pasta. You can also add steamed broccoli florets or green peas to this pasta, in the end, to make it more healthy and delicious. If you want this dish to be low-calorie and more weight-loss friendly, you can skip the cashews entirely. If you are allergic to nuts then use seed-based butter instead. Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.Nutrition
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