Easy vegan carrot mac and cheese with peas is the ultimate comfort food for kids and adults alike. Made even better with a veggie packed creamy carrot cheese sauce and sweet tender peas!
This vegan mac and cheese is everything you want a mac and cheese to be.
Its creamy, addicting, and so incredibly delicious! This is a perfect weeknight dinner that everybody will love.
This simple vegan mac and cheese sauce made from one of my favourite veggies- carrots!
Cooked carrots are a great source of beta-carotene, a carotenoid that your body converts into vitamin A. It makes a surprisingly creamy, dairy free “cheese” sauce—and you can’t even tell it’s made from veggies! Plus, when combined with the tahini it adds extra creaminess and the healthy fats actually help your body absorb the vitamin A.
I love that you don’t have to use nuts for this one– no soaking required and a way cheaper recipe! You only need 8 ingredients for this one, and they are all staple ingredients I always have on hand! No tahini? You can easily sub almond, cashew or sunflower seed nut butter.
Easy Vegan Carrot Mac and Cheese
The ingredients are simple, and you probably have most of the them on hand in your fridge and pantry!
- Gluten-free pasta: Any noodle, any kind, just use your favourite one! – elbows, shells, penne, fusilli, rigatoni or fusilli work well. I used these gluten-free quinoa and rice mini penne.
- Peas: The peas I used here were frozen, but fresh would be great too! They cook together with the pasta, making this super easy!
- Cheese Sauce: The base of the sauce is cooked carrots. You can steam the carrots on to stovetop, boil them or cook in a microwave if your pressed for time. A few added spices like garlic and onion powder will add flavour. The addition of dijon mustard and nutritional yeast add even more depth and create a delicious “cheesy” flavour! You’ll find tahini in the ingredients too, most recipes use cashew nuts for a creamy consistency, but I prefer to use tahini or nut butter because I always have those on hand.
How To Make Carrot Tahini Cheese Sauce
Simply steam the carrots in a steaming basket for about 8 minutes or until tender.
Add the cooked carrots along with the dijon, nutritional yeast, tahini garlic, onion powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper and nut milk to a high-speed blender, and puree until creamy, for about 1 minute. That’s it, so easy!
I love using my Vitamix blender, for creamy sauces like this. It’s super powerful, and creates amazing silky smooth veggie packed sauces . Seriously, it’s the best!
How To Make Vegan Carrot Mac and Cheese
Making healthy vegan mac and cheese is easy as can be!
- Cook the pasta and peas together.
- While pasta is cooking, steam the carrots.
- Make the vegan carrot cheese sauce.
- Add the cheese sauce to the pasta and peas, stir and enjoy!
And that’s it my mac & cheese loving friends – easy, peasy carrot mac & cheese everyone will love!
If you try this vegan carrot mac and cheese recipe or have a question, please let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.
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Vegan Carrot Mac and Cheese
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 serves 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Easy Vegan Carrot macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food that everybody will love. Made even better with a nut-free veggie packed creamy carrot “cheese” sauce and sweet tender peas!
Ingredients
- 16 oz/ 450g dried macaroni (I use gluten-free macaroni)
- 16 oz/ 450g fresh or frozen green peas
Carrot Cheese Sauce:
- 2 cups/ 300g roughly chopped or sliced carrots
- 1/4 cup tahini or nut butter of choice
- 1 1/2 cups plain unsweetened dairy free milk
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- Black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to boil and fit with a steamer attachment. Stem the carrots till tender for about 8 minutes. Alternatively you can cook the carrots in a microwave-safe bowl with a dew splashes of water for 4 minutes, or until tender. Set the carrots aside.
- In another large pot, add water and bring to a boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions, add the peas to cook with the pasta to cook. Pasta should be ardent or just fork tender.
- Add the carrots, tahini, milk, lemon juice and seasonings to a high speed blender and blend until creamy, about one minute.
- Drain pasta and peas, and add back to the pot. Pout over the carrot cheese sauce and stir to combine.
Notes
- If you don’t like tahini simply replace it with another nut butter of choice.
- Can sub carrots with steamed butternut pumpkin if you prefer.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serve
- Calories: 338
- Sugar: 8g
- Fat: 6.1g
- Saturated Fat: 0.8g
- Carbohydrates: 59.4g
- Fiber: 8.3g
- Protein: 13.2g
Keywords: Vegan Carrot Mac and Cheese, Carrot Mac and Cheese, Vegan Mac and Cheese
Can we add more veggies if so what do you recommend?
Hey Hadley you definitely can. I usually add broccoli and/ or cauliflower too! The cheese sauce is also really yummy over plain steamed veggies. Please let me know if you make it 🙂
Love this recipe! Make it for me and my toddler and she can’t get enough!
Woo!! I’m so happy you both loved it xx