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Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese – The PERFECT vegan mac and cheese! You will not believe how good this is!!! No soy, fake cheese or nutritional yeast.
Update January 2017: This recipe was featured on The Doctors tv show. Watch me talk about the recipe with Dr. Travis and see the results of a LIVE kids taste test here!
It was National Noodle Day yesterday. I was hoping to have this post ready for that, but after a super fun high school reunion this weekend, it just didn’t happen. So here ya go…why not celebrate noodles two days in a row?! Especially with this delicious dairy free Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese!
Pleasing vegans, omnivores, adults, and kids alike, this is one creamy pasta dish you don’t want to miss!
Kid Approved
My kids (who are not vegan) love Mac and Cheese…you know, the store bought blue box kind of Mac and Cheese. They don’t even like the yellow box with shells stuff. It has to be the small elbow macaroni noodles with a thin golden yellow-orange color. I switched to an organic brand a long time ago, but let’s face it, it’s still processed and not healthy.
Every time I try to make a homemade vegan mac and cheese, the kids groan. And to be quite honest, I haven’t liked them either.
A year ago, I finally made a plant based version that I thought was absolutely delicious. The kids liked it a lot, too. Well, I’ve made several tweaks to that recipe to make it quicker and easier and I’m telling you it looks just like the Kraft stuff.
I actually told my kids the other day that it was mac and cheese. M said, “the one I like”? “Yup!” I said, holding my breath as he tried it. He asked for seconds…and thirds! The girls both had seconds as well. Fyi, I use that little trick all the time to get them to try things. A little white lie never hurt anyone, right? Right?
It’s Good For You!!
This Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese is super healthy. It’s made from only whole food plant based ingredients. Butternut Squash is high in Vitamin A, C, several B’s, K and fiber. It has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and may help regulate blood sugar. Paired with sweet onion, protein packed cashews and some spices, it’s a match made in vegan heaven!
So Versatile
I love this sauce so darn much, that I’ve created several other recipes with this sauce as an inspiration. So, if you’re a fan of this creamy, dreamy, dairy free mac and cheese, you’re also gonna love my Baked Buffalo Chickpea & Artichoke Vegan Taquitos, Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup, Easy Cheesy Chili Mac, and my just-like-the-jarred-stuff Vegan Queso!
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
You guys must try this Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese. I promise you will love it! Please come back after you try it and leave me a comment below with your feedback and star rating! You can also find me on social media. Be sure to tag me @veggie_inspired and #veggieinspired so I don’t miss your post! Now run to the kitchen and make this now!
- 1 1/2 cups butternut squash (peeled and chopped into cubes)
- 1/2 large sweet onion (peeled and chopped)
- 16 oz package small macaroni noodles (cooked according to package directions) (use gluten free noodles, if desired)
- 1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid (from the squash/onion or the noodles...either one will work)
- 1/4 cup raw cashews (soaked in hot water for 30 minutes)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/8 tsp turmeric
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- Add butternut squash and onions to a pot and cover with water by at least an inch or two. Bring to a boil, turn down heat to medium and simmer until vegetables are tender (about 15 minutes or so).
- Meanwhile, cook macaroni noodles according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking liquid once noodles are done cooking and before draining. Place noodles back in pot and set aside.
- When squash and onions are tender, drain (reserving 1/4 cup liquid - unless you are reserving the liquid from the noodles), and add them to a high speed blender with the cashews, lemon juice, salt, dijon, garlic powder, black pepper, smoked paprika, turmeric, nutmeg and reserved cooking liquid from either the noodles or the squash. Blend until completely smooth. Use a tamper if necessary to push ingredients to the bottom of the blender.
- Add butternut squash sauce to the macaroni noodles and stir, making sure every noodle is covered in sauce. Warm through if needed.
- Dig in!
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Slow Cooker Black Bean Butternut Squash Chili
Maz says
I loved this recipe. I felt a guilty kind of pleasure eating it but then remembered it wasn’t actually unhealthy.
Jenn S. says
So happy you loved it, Marianna!
Betty says
Pretty good. Nice texture. Pretty good flavor, too, though I used canned pumpkin and maybe should have added in more of the spices. I’ll admit I eyeballed the measurements. Maybe I need reading glasses?
Also, I sauteed the onion with a clove of garlic in a very wee bit of olive oil before tossing it into my regular old food processor with the other ingredients. I had soaked the cashews for maybe 5 hours since I don’t have a high powered machine. Success!
Jenn S. says
Happy to hear you liked it, Betty!
Sarah W says
I used half of a roasted butternut squash that we had left over for this and it came out great! My 12 month old loved this and she has been a picky eater lately. I left out the onions, since I didn’t have any cooked and doubled the cashews. Out of the blender the cheese mixture was kind of sweet and tastes like a delicious butternut squash mousse. I’m thinking maybe I could use it for some kind of dessert. I’m also curious to try it with the onions next time!
Jenn S. says
So happy to hear you guys loved it, Sarah! Butternut squash mouse is an interesting idea! Might have to play around with that one….
Erika says
Would the sauce be good to make extra and keep it in the fridge or Freezer?
Jenn S. says
Hi, Erika. I have never tried freezing it, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. It will keep in the fridge for several days for sure. Enjoy!
Molly says
First of all, this was delicious! We loved it (including a discerning 8-year-old). I don’t think it should be called Mac and Cheese, however, as it tastes nothing like it. Just Butternut Mac would be accurate! Thank you!
Jenn S. says
So glad you all enjoyed it, Molly. Thank you!
Roigeileine Mallari says
How come mine tasted sour? I didn’t add the turmeric snd the dijon mustard? You think that will help toning down the sourness? Thanks
Jenn S. says
Sour? The dijon would help balance that, but I’ve left out the dijon before and it definitely didn’t taste sour. Maybe your lemon/lemon juice was bad? Or maybe you are just sensitive to the “sour” in lemon? I’m not sure otherwise…I’ve never had anyone have this problem before.
Alyssa says
Just made this for dinner with some veggie burgers. Loved the recipe! Even my boyfriend and his son enjoyed it and they tend to be a little picky when it comes to vegan anything. There were a couple seasonings I didn’t have but just used something as similar as I could. Turned out great! Definitely keeping this recipe. I see myself using this every week haha!
Jenn S. says
Wonderful! Thank you, Alyssa! So happy to hear you all loved it!
LIB says
I’m making this today and plan to freeze some in Mason Jars! Do you think this would freeze well/ how long will it keep in the fridge? Thank you! Can’t wait to make this!
Jenn S. says
I have never tried freezing it, but I would guess that it work just fine. It will keep in the fridge for 3-5 days. Enjoy!
Ashley says
I was curious if I sauteed some butter nut squash (small cubes) and add it in with the macaroni and bake it , will it completely change the consistency? I was thinking of maybe making another cheese mixture and adding it over top before I bake it. I am trying this for thanks giving tomorrow. I usually make backed macaroni and cheese, but now that I am vegan, I wanted to try this recipe baked lol.
Jenn S. says
Others have baked this recipe with great success and said it was perfectly saucy. Personally, I would maybe do at least 1 1/2 times the sauce recipe if baking to make sure it’s saucy enough. If you are making more sauce than the recipe, however, don’t add extra dried mustard or nutmeg – those can get overpowering. Enjoy!
Sherelle says
Hi Jenn,
Do you know if pumpkin could work instead of the squash? Not sure how to get my hands on butternut squash where I live. Also not sure how the pumpkin would impact the flavour, since I don’t know how butternut squash tastes.
Jenn S. says
Hi, Sherelle. Butternut Squash is a bit sweeter than pumpkin, but with all of the other spices, I’m not sure it would make much of a difference. Not to mention I love pumpkin sauce on pasta, so I think it would work great. Just be sure to taste the sauce before you put it on the pasta because it will be hard to adjust after. Enjoy!
Sherelle says
Thanks. I went ahead and did it before seeing your reply. It’s a hit!!! Can’t taste the pumpkin flavour at all and best of all my picky eater loves it!!
Jenn S. says
Yay!! Thanks, Sherelle!
Me says
I followed the recipe very closely and the flavours didn’t turn out at all! It was not very good and tasted nothing like mac and cheese. Just watery butternut squashy sadness 🙁 I really don’t know what I did different from the rest of the commenters!
Jenn S. says
Hi. Did you drain the squash/onions after cooking? That’s the first thing that comes to mind because it shouldn’t be watery at all.
Markus says
Has anyone tried pressure canning this? I can not see how it could hurt, but before doing 21 quarts or so thought I would ask. Did a quadruple batch and noticed that in addition to cutting down on the dijon as commented I need to cut down on the smoked paprika as well. With squash season winding down and me being a cheese head, would be much easier to stick to my diet if I had cans of these on the shelf for dumping on things like broccoli, potatoes, chips, or shoot – anything where i need a cheese fix.
Jenn S. says
Hi, Markus. I agree that the dijon can be overwhelming when making a double or triple batch. I haven’t tried canning anything, ever, so I have no idea how that would work, but what a great idea. If you decide to give it a go, I’d love to hear the results! Enjoy!
Rachel says
Freezing would be safer option. Pureed squash and other pureed vegetables, and anything with thickeners/starches should never be home canned – even in a pressure canner. The temperatures aren’t able to properly distribute tbrough the food and are unlikely to kill all the bacteria and contaminants.
Here’s a link to a list of unsafe foods for home canning, and the reasons why: http://www.sbcanning.com/2011/11/what-food-and-ingredients-cant-be.html?m=1
Big bummer – because canning this sauce would be amazing!
Jenn S. says
Good to know! Thanks for chiming in, Rachel!
Mark says
Thanks for the info! I may try one jar just for s&g. Ive canned some pretty thick stuff before like ragu sauce. We found the trick was to very slowly bring up to heat so that temperature gets equalized and start with a hot product in the first place. Not every jar pops and the ones that dont go into the freezer. My problem is when I want cheese I want it NOW and really havent found a vegan alternative that has worked for me. However, based on your comments I would not suggest anyone else try it.
Off topic, I am wondering why pumpkin butter is okay but not apple butter…?
Sab Pro says
I loved it, thank you. I added frozen peas to up the nutrition and add color. The recipe as written, however, is a keeper.
Jenn S. says
Thank you, Sab! So glad you loved it!
Laurel says
SUPER! I just made the sauce to use in another recipe tomorrow for football appetizers and Wow! I keep eating it–even licking the Vitamix clean. So good! I promptly made another batch to see if I could freeze it. I used 1/2 a bag of frozen butternut squash and 1/2 the onion, so I had the other halves to use easily. Thank you!!
Jenn S. says
So great to hear this, Laurel! I would love to hear more about these football appetizers you’re making!!
Erica says
Hello! I am making this for my 13 month old son and just wondering what is making this spicy? Is it just the black pepper? Recipe is delicious just want to tone down the spice a bit- thank you!
Jenn S. says
Hi, Erica. We don’t find it spicy at all, but perhaps it’s your dijon mustard? Some brands of dijon can be on the spicy side. You can leave it out next time and see if that helps. So glad you loved the flavor!
Olga says
I just made this vegan macaroni cheese as well, it was amazing, thank you very much for this recipe! Love it!
Jenn S. says
Thank you, Olga!
Jillian says
I was disappointed… followed the recipe to a T, in yet it didn’t look creamy at all! It tasted good, but I was hoping for a real creamy appearance vs a smooth but drier sauce!
Jenn S. says
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you, Jillian. It should definitely be super creamy. As you can see from the other reviews, everyone loves it and it’s very similar to traditional mac and cheese. Are you sure you didn’t change anything?
Jillian says
Hi, no I followed it exactly… I drained the raw cashews from the water they were soaking in, should I have included that water?
Jenn S. says
What kind of blender are you using?
Jillian says
I used a ninja blender.
Jenn S. says
That might be the problem. I’ve personally never tried a Ninja, but I’ve heard people say it’s not as powerful as a Vitamix or Blendtec. If you are up for trying again – I would suggest soaking your cashews overnight and then adding them (rinsed and drained) to the water when you’re cooking the squash and onions. And don’t forget to save 1/4 cup of water from either the squash/onions or the pasta cooking water – you will add that to the sauce. And then, let the blender go until it’s super smooth and creamy. If for some reason, it still seems dry – you can try adding a little more water, but honestly, you shouldn’t need to. Fingers crossed!
Lorna says
SO GOOD! Our whole family loved this, will be making it again. Thanks for sharing.
Jenn S. says
Awesome! Thanks, Lorna! So glad you all enjoyed it!
Carmen J says
Could you make this without the cashews? We need to be soy free, dairy free and tree nut free.
Jenn S. says
Hi, Carmen. I’ve had several readers make it with white beans in place of the cashews with success. You could also leave it out entirely, with no subs, but it won’t be quite as creamy. Start with less water if you choose this option and add more as needed. Let me know how it turns out!
Ena says
How much white beans? Canned or fresh, soaked overnight?
Jenn S. says
Same amount of beans as cashews – 1/4 cup. Canned would be easiest, rinsed and drained, but if you have cooked fresh beans – go for it!
Joanne says
I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve made this since you posted it. Just had to say thanks again!
Jenn S. says
Oh, yay! That makes me so happy! Thank you, Joanne!!
Quentin says
1. For a double serving size, double all the ingredients? Anything that shouldnt be doubled?
2. Will i run into any consistency issues if i wanted to refridgerate this cheese like substance for extended periods? I imagine it should last longer than a dairy cheese would
Jenn S. says
Hi, Quentin. Double everything except the dijon as it tends to overpower if you use too much. You might find that you need more than double of salt and the rest of the spices though so just make sure you taste after blending and adjust as necessary. You MAY need to re-blend the sauce if it’s been in the fridge to loosen it up…maybe with a splash of almond or rice milk…but definitely still delicious! Enjoy!
Katrina Crisel says
Whoops should have read that before doubling lol.. Dijon definitely overpowers. I’ve made it before so I know it’s delicious and just my doubling that ingredient changed it. I added a little bit of nutritional yeast because I knew it would mask that flavor to fix it and it did but now I know for the future lol!
Jenn S. says
Ha! Yes, I’ve made that mistake…thus the tip. Good to know the nooch helped! So happy to hear you love this recipe. Thanks, Katrina!
Nikee says
If I wanted to add nutritional yeast for more flavor, how much should I add?
Jenn S. says
Hi, Nikee. I would start with 2-3 tbsp. Taste the sauce straight from the blender and add more if needed. Let me know how it turns out! Enjoy!
Ann says
This sounds amazing. By any chance , do you know if I can omit the cashews? My son has multiple nut allergies
Jenn S. says
Hi, Ann! Yes, I’ve had many reader sub white beans for the cashews with success. You can also just leave them out, but it does give a nice creamy factor that might be lacking if you omit them. Enjoy!
Charlene says
I have a bag of already cooked and pureed squash in my freezer. How much should I use for this recipe? I’d love to try it!!
Jenn S. says
Probably about 1 cup of purée. You can sauté the onion in a small skillet instead of boiling in a pot of water since you don’t need to cook the squash. Let me know how it turns out. Enjoy!
Michelle says
I am planning on making this butternut sauce today for your baked buffalo chickpea and artichoke vegan taquitos. I was wondering if it would be okay to roast the butternut squash, instead of boiling it? I would think this would make it even more flavorful. Thanks in advance!
Jenn S. says
I’m so sorry I’m just seeing this now! Baseballs games for two of my kiddos today, so we’ve been out all day. Yes, you could certainly roast the squash! Can’t wait to hear how it turns out. Thanks, Michelle!
Malena says
From Argentina, i love this recipe!! So yummy and satisfied. Third time i do it now.
Thank for share, excellent blog!
Un beso!
Male
Jenn S. says
Thank you, Malena! So happy to hear you love it!
Sarah says
I have a very specific diet because of my autoimmune disease, but almost everything in this recipe is safe for me! I’ve made it twice now since I stopped eating dairy and yum, this actually satisfies my craving for real mac and cheese. I added some white miso paste for more depth (I love umami) and nutritional yeast for more cheese flavor. I can’t use paprika so I left that out. The second time I made it, I used smoked salt and found that plus the noosh made it taste like smoked gouda mac and cheese! I’m eating a plate of it right now. 🙂
Jenn S. says
Thank you, Sarah! I’m so happy to hear you loved it! I really love the idea of adding smoked salt and I happen to have some in my pantry – totally trying that next time!
Cate says
Could you slow cook the white beans, squash and onion, then blend everything? If so, how long should I cook it for, and on low or high? I have three toddlers, and time saving strategies are a must!
Jenn S. says
Hi, Cate. Are you using the white beans in place of the cashews? Dry beans take about 6-8 hours to slow cook on low. They also need to be soaked overnight and rinsed before slow cooking. If you are looking to save time, it would be much quicker to use canned white beans, rinsed and drained. The squash and onions only take about 15 minutes on the stovetop. Let me know if you have any other questions. Enjoy!
Jackie says
My family and I tried this for the first time and holy cow, so good! I just started going dairy free and it’s so hard cause my family loves Mac and cheese. My son said this was the best Mac and cheese he’s ever had and even went for seconds! Can’t wait to make this again!!
Jenn S. says
Oh wow, that makes me so happy! Thank you, Jackie. So glad you all loved it. Your son sounds like as smart kid! 🙂
Kristyn says
This is seriously AMAZING! I also added nutritional yeast to mine 😊 I will recommend this to everyone!
Jenn S. says
Thank you, Kristyn! So glad you loved it! I have added nooch to it a few times myself – yum!
Ms_Rach says
This is great, thank you! I tasted the sauce as is and it was very good, but I doctored it a bit. We added nutritional yeast, miso and toasted breadcrumbs on top. The Mac N Cheese loving bf has seconds but did say we should call it “creamy butternut elbows” instead on Nac N Cheese. Still a win!
Jenn S. says
Glad you both like it! Thank you!