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It might sound far-fetched, but this Instant Pot Vegan Mac n’ Cheese is inspired by Ina Garten’s recipe that I make every year at Thanksgiving. Her recipe is incredibly rich and decadent– hence why we only make it once a year– and it’s also exhausting to prepare because you have to shred over a pound of cheese. What makes her recipe special is her use of gruyere cheese and nutmeg, which provides a subtle nutty flavor that pairs perfectly with the salty aged cheese.
While my recipe doesn’t actually contain any cheese, adding nutmeg to my cashew-based cream sauce makes reminds me of Ina Garten’s original recipe. My dad tasted it recently and told me it’s my best Mac n’ Cheese yet! (Which is saying something if you’ve already tried my best Vegan Mac n’ Cheese recipe.) Perhaps we’ll be serving this one at Thanksgiving this year, since it would save us a LOT of time and effort.
This Vegan Mac n’ Cheese requires just 3 simple steps: Blend, Dump, and Stir. This is my first time developing a recipe where the pasta cooks in the sauce all at the same time, and I love the results. The starchiness of the pasta thickens the sauce, leaving you with a creamier result than if you were to prepare the pasta separately. The only downside to cooking pasta in the pressure cooker is that you can’t stop and stir the pot they way you could if you were cooking it on the stove. As a result, some of the pasta does stick to the bottom of the pan. I found that this issue is easily resolved by stirring a bit more water in at the end of the cooking cycle, which helps un-stick any pasta and also helps to thin out the sauce, making it creamier.
Something else to note while making this recipe is the size of your pasta package. This was a total “duh” moment for me, but while I was working on this recipe (making it over 10 times!) I found that I had accidentally bought two different sized bags of gluten-free pasta. So, when I thought I was consistently using a one-pound bag for testing, I was actually using a 12-ounce bag sometimes. No wonder it took me so long to figure this one out! My favorite pasta that I tried while testing this recipe was DeLallo’s gluten-free shells (made from 100% brown rice flour), so I highly recommend you seek out a similar pasta for best results. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews , soaked in water for 2 hours*
- 4 1/2 cups water , divided
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 12 ounces gluten-free pasta (I used DeLallo brand)
Instructions
- Drain the cashews and discard the soaking water. In a high-speed blender combine the cashews, 2 cups of water, nutritional yeast, salt, lemon juice, vinegar, and nutmeg. Blend until smooth.
- Add the pasta to the bowl of your Instant Pot, and pour the sauce over the top. Stir well. Use 2 more cups of water to "rinse out" your blender, swishing the water in the empty blender container to help pick up any of the seasoning that may have been left behind. Pour the water from the blender container into the Instant Pot, then seal the lid and make sure the knob at the top is turned to the "sealing" position. Cook on high pressure for 0 minutes (yes, zero minutes), then let the steam pressure naturally release for 8 minutes.
- When the screen reads LO:08, carefully release the steam in the pot by moving the steam release vent to "venting," then remove the lid. Pour the remaining 1/2 cup of water into the pot and use a wooden spoon to stir well, making sure to remove any pasta that has stuck to the bottom of the pot. Adjust any seasoning to taste, and serve warm.
- Feel free to make this more of an "adult" Mac n' Cheese by adding your favorite vegetables before serving. I love to stir-in roasted broccoli, sautéed mushrooms, or simply fold in fresh baby spinach so that it wilts before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Per Serving: Calories: 329, Fat: 10g, Carbohydrates: 52g, Fiber: 2g, Protein: 7g
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I have a feeling this method would work well for my nut-free Mac n’ Cheese recipes, like my Sweet Potato Mac n’ Cheese or the Butternut Mac n’ Cheese found in my cookbook, No Excuses Detox. I plan on trying those in the future (when I’m not burnt-out on eating Mac n’ Cheese), but if you want to experiment, I’d use the same 4-ish cups of water to 12 ounces of pasta ratio.
Stove Top Directions: If you don’t have an Instant Pot, but want to make it on the stove, I would use the same method as described above. Instead of pressing a button on the Instant Pot, simply bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and steam for 10 minutes. Then let it sit for another 10 minutes with the heat off. Feel free to stir occasionally, to help prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add extra water at the end if you feel that it is needed for texture, and adjust seasonings to taste.
Slow Cooker: I haven’t tested this recipe in a slow cooker yet, but most vegetarian recipes I’ve tried cook well on low for 6 hours, or high for 3 hours. If you try it this way, please leave a comment below letting us know how it worked for you!
Variation: If you have leftovers of this Mac n’ Cheese, I like to pour my favorite marinara sauce over the top for a “creamy tomato sauce.” It’s so good, you won’t miss a sprinkling of cheese on your pasta!
Food Combining: This nut-based sauce is not properly combined over grain-based pasta, but you can reduce the water for the sauce to one cup and serve it over steamed veggies, cooked spaghetti squash, or spiralized zucchini noodles for a properly combined dish.
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Reader Feedback: Have you ever made a one-pot pasta before? Let me know if you have another favorite I should try!
I made this with regular wheat macaroni, egg free, and it turned out well. I want a little more cheesy funk so will add some garlic powder next time. First time trying dried pasta in my IP and thrilled it worked! Thank you!
Brilliant recipe! I have a 6 QT IP and had minimal “sticking”. I did an “adult” version with the following modifications. Sautéed onion and Green Chile (I’m from NM!) in a bit of oil to start. Used 12 oz. regular pasta. It was NOT done with 0 minutes (and I accidentally let the NPR go to 10 minutes), so I would likely use about 25% of the time on the package next time. Eg, 10 minute stove cook, maybe 3 minute HP, the 8 minutes to NPR. Steamed Broccoli to add to finished dish. AMAZING! Next time I might sauté some extra veggies initially (onions, red bell pepper, zucchini) and then remove to add at end. Then proceed with recipe. Extra nutrition and the bit of oil may also help with the sticking.
Thank you for sharing! That sounds delicious. I think the 0 minute cook time only works if you start with a COLD pot– sauteing the onions before hand preheats the pot, and as a result that would shorten the cooking time with the pasta because you’re already starting with the bottom being hot. I do think the added oil will help with sticking and it’s supposed to help reduce foaming.
We love your other mac and cheeze recipe (I make a huge batch weekly!) and I am excited to try this one! 12oz pasta won’t be enough for my family though, and I know with the Instant Pot it’s not always a straight double for liquids. How would you modify either for a full pound of pasta (such as 16oz of the TJ’s brown rice fusilli) or for two 12-oz packages of brown rice elbows (Tinkyada)? Thanks!
We love this recipe and make it nearly weekly! I add a steamed head of broccoli and frozen peas. My only complaint is that it always burns in my InstantPot. I tired using cooking spray, and tinkering with the cooking and resting times, but nothing helped. It wasn’t a big deal, we just needed to soak and scrub the pot a bit more. Then my InstantPot died, and I got a new one. The new version has a “burn” feature, and stops cooking once food starts to burn to the bottom of the inner pot. We are not gluten free and just use regular pasta; I’m not sure of that matters. Any ideas for us to enjoy this recipe again?
We love this Mac and Cheese! Thank you for the recipe. Would it work to double it? Any changes or just twice as much of everything same time?
Also wondering about doubling!
I made this tonight in the 5 qt Instant pot. Glad you mentioned the “burn” response as this is the first time I’ve ever seen it – but you made it so I didn’t panic and just continued turned off the pot (it was already up to pressure) and let it sit for 8 minutes. The only “modification” I made, I didn’t have nutmeg and I put in less salt and I had to use penne noodles as they didn’t have shells. .After I took the lid off I stirred in a large handful of fresh baby spinach. This turned out AWESOME! Even my roommate – who looked sidewise at anything vegan – like it.
It took a couple of minutes to clean off the stuck noodles on the bottom of the pot, but they weren’t burned and I know next time to put down a layer of broccoli or some other vegetable. I will be making this again because its so easy and fast to make and the resulting dish is so rich, creamy, tasty and filling! Great job! This just became a “go to” for me!
I made this exactly as written (I used quinoa pasta which turned out fine), but I don’t like this one nearly as much as your other cashew-based mac n cheese, which is amazing! I think I’m going to adapt that one for the Instant Pot – then I’ll have the best of both worlds 🙂
This is THE BEST vegan Mac and cheese! Do yourself a favor and make this! I followed the recipe exactly with the exception of using 2 cups of veg stock in place of 2 cups of water to blend the sauce and I reduced the amount of salt to 1 tsp because I used the stock. I also stired in 3 sliced of Follow Your Heart smoked Gouda right before serving! My carnivore 15yo son really liked it as well!
I make this all the time. After it’s done I add steamed broccoli. Is a family favorite and super easy. We love it.
Hi! This recipe is delicious but every time I’ve made it, the macaroni sticks all over the bottom of the instant pot so I have problems getting my instant pot to pressurize. Does anyone else have this issue?