Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese (Dairy Free)

Sometimes you just crave some classic comfort food for dinner and lately that’s been us with Mac and Cheese. Being dairy free complicates this for obvious reasons but after searching high and low we’ve created a version that is easy and delicious. Forget about soaking cashews and doing battle with your food processor, our version uses Daiya shreds to create a rich and creamy sauce.

Our favorite pasta to use for this are the Banza shells. They are made from chickpeas and pack tons of protein which make this a surprisingly well balanced meal. You’ll also need some almond milk, nutritional yeast, and paprika to top. This comes out so creamy and delicious that even cheese lovers will enjoy it. To quote one of my toughest critics, “oh wow, this actually doesn’t taste vegan!”

Here’s how to make it:

Ingredients:

8 oz pasta of choice

1 package Daiya shredded mozzarella style

2 cups almond milk

1.5 tbsp nutritional yeast

Salt and pepper

Smoked paprika

Directions:

1.      Preheat oven to 350. Boil water and cook pasta as instructed on box. When finished drain and set aside.

2.      Heat the now empty pasta pot and grease with oil-spray or vegan butter

3.      Add a generous amount of salt and pepper and 1 tbsp nutritional yeast. Mix briefly before adding in the 2 cups of almond milk. Stir again

4.      When milk is hot poor in the entire package of Daiya shreds and stir continuously until the shreds are almost completely dissolved and sauce has thickened.

5.      Now add the pasta into the sauce, stir, and add a bit more salt and pepper

6.      Pour the pasta into an 8 by 8 baking dish. Sprinkle more nutritional yeast on top, about a half tbsp. sprinkle some paprika on top as well.

7.      Bake for about 10 minutes until cheese starts to brown.

8.      Let cool and enjoy!