How do you make a vegan cheese sauce with butternut squash?

There are a few key elements. Roasted butternut squash makes a velvety sauce, while the softened cashews and pasta water thicken our sauce. Onions, garlic, lemon juice and thyme add flavor.

How do you make vegan mac and cheese without nutritional yeast?

In this recipe, we use lemon, onion, garlic and thyme to flavor the already velvety and savory butternut squash.

What is a good pasta water replacement to thicken a vegan cheese sauce?

Warm some coconut or oat milk in the microwave or on the stove before adding to sauce in place of pasta water. In a pinch, you can also use hot water. You may need to add more butternut squash or cashews to make up for the lost starch.

Vegan Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Description

This vegan butternut squash mac and cheese is a crowd favorite at my house. Velvety butternut squash blends into a creamy sauce for our macaroni...it's decadent yet light. What's not to love?

Ingredients

Units Scale

Butternut cheese sauce

1 1/2 cups roasted butternut squash
3/4 cup softened cashews
1 shallot
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp dried thyme, or 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
2-3 ladles of pasta water (3/4 - 1 1/2 cup, depending on your sauce and blender's power)
1/2 lemon juiced
Salt to taste

Everything else:

1 lb macaroni
Salt, pepper and cooking oil such as grapeseed
1 package mushrooms (optional)
3 scallions or 1 extra shallot (optional)

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Instructions

Prepare butternut squash: Preheat oven to 350 F. Cube butternut squash (removing seeds and skin), toss with oil, salt and pepper and roast for 45-60 minutes, flipping halfway through. Squash is done when the edges start to brown slightly. The squash will be soft like a sweet potato.
Prepare pasta and sauce components: Start boiling salted water in a pasta pot and prepare pasta according to package instructions. When pasta is finished, reserve 2-3 cups of pasta water. On another burner, boil cashews for 15 minutes. If finished before pasta and butternut squash, leave in warm water until ready to blend. Meanwhile, sauté thinly sliced shallot in a frying pan with a Tbsp of oil for 2-3 mins. Add minced garlic and cook for another minute, then set aside off the heat.
Blend sauce: combine warm butternut squash, warm pasta water, cashews, shallot/garlic mixture, and remaining sauce ingredients until smooth (2-3 minutes in a high speed blender, longer in other blenders).
Optional - sauté mushrooms: in the same frying pan, add a Tbsp of oil on medium heat and sautee sliced scallions or extra shallots for 2-3 minutes. Then add thinly sliced mushrooms and cook until they release juices. Add a Tbsp of soy sauce and cook for another minute or two until mushrooms reabsorb juices.
Mix it all together: in the empty pasta pot, combine pasta, half the sauce, and mushroom mixture. Stir until sauce is well distributed, adding more sauce if needed. Serve immediately.

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