This creamy nut-free vegan mac and cheese is a hit with kids and adults alike! Made with raw sunflower seeds and whole-food ingredients like nutritional yeast and roasted red peppers, this vegan cheese sauce is impressively rich and satisfying, even without cashews!
This recipe is also pantry-friendly, oil-free (or add vegan butter for extra richness), and easily made gluten-free with your favorite gluten-free pasta.
If you're looking for the BEST vegan mac and cheese without cashews, you've found it! The flavor of this cheesy sauce was inspired by our popular Stovetop Vegan Mac and Cheese recipe, but this one is made without oil or cashews.
Actually, if you're ever in the mood for a more decadent vegan mac and cheese, but still nut-free, the other recipe can be made with sunflower seeds instead of cashews. It's seriously delicious. I even won a local mac and cheese cook off with that recipe.
But today's recipe has a few things going for it that the other recipe does not have.
This nut-free vegan mac and cheese is:
- oil-free
- significantly lower in fat
- budget-friendly
- pantry-friendly
- and ridiculously quick and easy to make!
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Ingredient Notes
- raw sunflower seeds - these are the base for our nut-free vegan cheese sauce. I've been using seeds more often in some of my favorite cheesy recipes, like this pimento macaroni salad. They're widely available, affordable, and I've found that soaking them first helps soften the naturally nutty flavor.
- rolled oats - instead of using a starch like tapioca or potato (or the starch naturally present in cashews) to give our cheesy sauce an extra boost of creaminess, I've included a small amount of rolled oats, similar to this no-cook cheese sauce recipe. If you avoid oats, feel free to use a tablespoon of tapioca starch instead.
- nutritional yeast - I recommend a non-fortified nutritional yeast like this one by Sari Foods.
- miso - just a touch of white miso or chickpea miso adds an authentic, cultured flavor to the sauce.
- roasted red pepper - a magical ingredient for boosting cheesy flavor in dairy-free cheese recipes!
- garlic - adds savory, umami flavor. Adjust the amount to suit your palate.
- lemon juice + vinegars - these combine to create a tangy, cheesy flavor without the flavor of any one acidic ingredient coming through too strongly.
See the recipe card below for amounts and full instructions.
Instructions
Making this healthy nut-free mac and cheese is as easy as boiling water and operating a blender. Seriously!
- First, place sunflower seeds in a bowl and cover with hot water. Soak for about 30 minutes, then drain and rinse.
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- In a blender combine the drained sunflower seeds with 1 cup of the water and the remaining sauce ingredients. Blend until smooth. I mean really blend it! This helps release the starch in the oats AND makes the sauce ultra creamy, of course. Add the remaining 1 ½ cups water, and blend to combine.
- With the pasta draining in a colander, cook the cheese sauce over medium heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the pasta, and stir to coat.
Voila! You're ready to eat. Isn't that super easy? No veggies to cook in advance, and ready in 25 minutes (not counting soak time).
Variations
You can take the flavor of this easy vegan macaroni in so many different directions:
- Cooking for kids? Reduce the garlic to 1 clove.
- Love garlic? Include several cloves of roasted or sautéed garlic.
- Make it smoky with a touch of smoked paprika and a few drops of liquid smoke.
- Add roasted and chopped poblano pepper or jalapeños for irresistible Tex-Mex flavor!
- Make it fresh and herbaceous by stirring in pesto or zhoug sauce.
- Turn it into a full meal with sautéed kale, broccoli, or asparagus, green peas, beans, or cubed tofu or seitan.
Helpful Tips
As the mac and cheese cools the sauce thickens and the pasta may soak up quite a bit of the sauciness. Simply add a few splashes of water or non-dairy milk to make it lusciously creamy again.
I haven't tested this sauce using a standard blender, but achieving a smooth texture shouldn't be too difficult. If you're concerned your blender won't get the job done, feel free to soak the seeds a little bit longer.
You can also pour the sauce through a fine mesh strainer to catch any unblended oat or seed bits.
How to Store Leftovers
Store leftover mac and cheese in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in a microwave.
The texture of pasta sometimes changes after freezing, and not for the better. So if possible, I would avoid freezing the leftovers.
More vegan cheese and comfort food recipes:
- Vegan Feta Cheese
- 25 Amazing Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipes
- Vegan Pimento Cheese
- Easy No-Cook Cheese Sauce
- Low-Fat Vegan Queso
- Air Fryer Stuffed Peppers
- Vegan Crockpot Lasagna
- 1-Skillet White Chili Casserole
- The Best Lentil Chili
I hope you love this nut-free vegan mac and cheese. If you try the recipe I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below to let us know.
📖 Recipe
Nut-Free Vegan Mac and Cheese
Equipment
Ingredients
- 16 ounces dry macaroni or gluten-free pasta of choice
- ½ cup raw sunflower seeds
- 2 ½ cups water
- 3 tablespoons old fashioned rolled oats - Or sub 1 tablespoon tapioca starch.
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- small piece of roasted red pepper (the type from a jar), about a 1-inch strip of a pepper - Start with less then increase to taste.
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 ½ tablespoons white or chickpea miso
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder - Or 1 teaspoon dijon mustard.
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- pinch of nutmeg
- white pepper, optional, to taste
Option for richer mac and cheese:
- 2 to 3 tablespoons vegan butter, optional - Add directly to the pot in step 5.
Instructions
- Place raw sunflower seeds in a bowl and cover with hot water. Soak for 30 minutes, then drain and rinse.
- Cook pasta according to package directions. While the water comes to a boil and the pasta is cooking, make the cheese sauce.
- To make the sauce, in a blender combine sunflower seeds, 1 cup of water, oats, garlic, red pepper, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, miso, both vinegars, salt, mustard powder, onion powder, and nutmeg. Gradually increase speed, and blend on high for about 1 minute. Stop to scrape down the sides as needed. Blend again until the sauce is completely smooth. Add the remaining 1 ½ cups water, and blend to combine.
- Taste the sauce, and adjust the flavor as desired, possibly adding another small piece of red pepper, more onion powder, nutritional yeast, salt, white pepper, etc. Blend again.
- When the pasta is done, drain in a colander. Pour the cheese sauce into the empty pot, and cook over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently. If opting for richer mac and cheese, add the vegan butter now. Add the pasta to the pot, and stir to coat. The sauce will thicken as it sits. Serve hot.
Notes
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used. We calculate this information using the online calculator cronometer.com.
Shaundi
This came into my inbox today and I was inspired, so I made it! Today! 😆 LOVE it! So easy! I had no red pepper so I subbed about 1 - 1½ t of pimento. Even the non-vegan hubby liked it!
Nicole
I liked this but I taste a lot of vinegar in mine. Any suggestions?
Lori
You can certainly reduce the vinegars next time. If you're looking for a way to tone it down in the batch you already made, that might be a little trickier! After it rests and soaks into the pasta it tends to taste more balanced and mellow, or you could stir in some plain, unsweetened plant milk, vegan butter, or additional nutritional yeast. Hope that helps!
Cathy
I first made this for a friend who has nut allergies and it has become my favorite mac n cheese. So delicious! I add green peas and tempeh bacon bits to the cheese sauce while it's in the pot for the two or three minutes. I also stir in a tablespoon or two of tahini in place of the vegan butter. I love it. Thank you for this amazing recipe.
Julie
Just made this recipe. Excellent vegan mac & cheese recipe - taste is top notch. I'd wanted a cashew-free recipe and this one delivers! My modifications included half a baked potato and Dijon mustard to replace the rolled oats and mustard powder. Also used brown miso and added a few roasted garlic cloves. This recipe is going into regular rotation. Thank you!!!!
Kym
Lori! My husband says this is the best cheese sauce yet - and as a cheese lover, I’ve made many lol.
I like it but I can taste the sunflower seeds. Since having COVID I have odd tastebuds. I wonder if I can equally exchange cashews for the sunflower seeds with same results? We can have nuts, we just limit anything with saturated fat and it’s Thanksgiving so 🙂 Thanks!
Lori
Hi Kym, yes absolutely. Cashews will work very well (it will be even creamier). I'm so glad he loved it!
Nina
We don't have any nut allergies in our family, but this recipe intrigued me because I actually sub sunflower seeds a lot since cashews are so expensive and sunflower seeds have a smaller water footprint. We loved it! ALL four of my boys had seconds. That next to never happens! I didn't have red bell pepper, so I left that out, but followed the recipe exactly as far as all other ingredients go. I used the oats. I will definitely make this again and again! What shocked me is that I have never really liked cheeze recipes with nooch in them. Well, this is the first! It didn't overwhelmingly taste like nooch. Has the perfect amount 🙂
Lori
Nina, that's so great! Love that everyone wanted seconds. Definitely a Mom win. 😀 Thanks so much for the feedback!
Lynn
Hi Nina,
Please humor me, but what is mooch! I’ve missed that term somewhere in life..ha..ha! Thanks!
Lynn
I meant nooch.
Lori
Hi Lynn,
Nooch is a slang term for nutritional yeast. 😀