Kiki’s Easy Plant Based Mac n Cheese

Ingredients (for “The Yummiest Vegan ‘Cheese’ Sauce Ever!”):

3 cups peeled, diced potato (Yukon Gold works well and may not require peeling) 

½ cup diced carrots 

½ cup raw cashews 

4 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp onion powder 

2 tsp garlic powder 

2 tsp salt 

1¼ tsp lemon juice 

2‑3 cups hot water (reserve the water used to boil the potatoes & carrots) 

Instructions:

Boil the potatoes and carrots together until soft; drain the water and save it for the sauce. 

In a high‑speed blender, combine the potatoes, carrots, cashews, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, lemon juice, and about 2 cups of the reserved hot water. Blend until smooth. 

Adjust consistency by adding more of the reserved hot water as needed to thin the sauce.

Notes: For a “white cheese sauce” version, omit the carrots. 

Also: For a fat‑free version, replace cashews with white beans (or omit them) and reduce the water amount.

Tip / Usage ideas:

Use this sauce over pasta, veggies (especially steamed broccoli), as a nacho topping, or in a macaroni‑and‑cheese style dish. (She uses it in her “Broccoli Cheese Casserole” recipe.) 

If you want a spicier variation, see her “Creamy Vegan Poblano Cheese Sauce” version: add a roasted poblano pepper, chipotle powder, etc. 

If avoiding nuts, you can use white beans in place of cashews as she suggests.

• by Plantiful Kiki