Vegan Mac & Cheese with Poblano
Ingredients
- 1 lb gluten-free pasta of choice (I used a chickpea penne)
- ¼ cup vegan butter
- ¼ cup arrowroot starch (an all-purpose GF flour will work)
- 2 cups unsweetened soy milk (or any unsweetened non-dairy milk)
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 poblano pepper (cut in half lengthwise and seeds removed)
Vegan Parmesan
- ½ cup cashews
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, cook your pasta according to package instructions.
- To make the cheese sauce: Preheat a large oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add the butter and let it melt. Once melted, add the arrowroot starch, and whisk continuously for 1-2 minutes, it will be clumpy at first.
- Slowly add the milk while whisking, then add the dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, and pepper. Whisk for another minute or so, until there are no more clumps. Turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
- Make sure you taste the seasoning at this point. You want it to be pretty salty and cheesy, so if you need more salt or nutritional yeast, add it in. Also, if you want the sauce to be extra thick, leave it as it is. But you can always add more milk if you want to thin it out a bit.
- Meanwhile, broil the poblano pepper. Turn your broiler on high, and place the poblano skin side up on a small baking sheet. Drizzle with a small amount of olive oil, and broil on the top rack for 5-8 minutes. Remove when you start to see black char marks on the skin.
- Let the poblanos cool enough to handle them, then chop them up and set aside.
- Once your pasta is done cooking, and the sauce is done simmering, it is time to assemble.
- Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with the cheese sauce, then add in the chopped poblanos. Use a wooden spoon to stir everything together until the pasta is completely coated in the cheese sauce. Then remove from the heat and spread it out in an even layer.
- To make the vegan parmesan, blend (in a blender or food processor) the cashews, nutritional yeast, and salt until it turns into a powder (basically the texture of ground parmesan).
- Sprinkle your desired amount of vegan parmesan all over the top of the pasta, and put the skillet under the broiler for 3-5 minutes, until the top is golden brown and crispy.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!