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vegan mac'n cheese on a plate

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.

vegan mac'n cheese on a plate top view

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!

vegan mac n cheese on a plate

Instant Pot Vegan Mac n' Cheese

4.55 from 33 votes
A fast and creamy dairy-free and gluten-free mac n' cheese made in the Instant Pot! Made with cashews, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast, this sauce is thickened when it cooks directly in the same pot as the pasta.
prep10 mins cook10 mins total20 mins
Servings:6 people

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

*Note: If you make this in the 8-quart Instant Pot, you may get a "burn" error as it comes to pressure. (This typically doesn't happen with the 6-quart pot.) If you DO get the burn error-- don't panic. In fact, I recommend that you simply wait (LEAVING THE LID SEALED) for 10-15 minutes, so that the pasta and liquid are locked in the heat. This will finish cooking your gluten-free pasta and your meal will still turn out well! When you remove the lid, use a wooden spoon to stir the pasta, scraping anything that might have gotten stuck on the bottom, then adjust the seasoning to taste and serve. To avoid the burn error, you can arrange a vegetable on the bottom of the pot, like chopped cauliflower or butternut squash, to prevent the pasta from touching the bottom. The veggies will become very tender from the cooking and will blend right in when you stir the cooked pasta later!

Nutrition

Calories: 329kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 787mg | Potassium: 178mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1.5mg
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: instant pot, mac n cheese, vegan
Per Serving: Calories: 329, Fat: 10g, Carbohydrates: 52g, Fiber: 2g, Protein: 7g

instant pot with noodles and blender pouring cheese mixture on top

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.

Reader Feedback: Have you ever made a one-pot pasta before? Let me know if you have another favorite I should try!

Megan Gilmore leaning on her white countertop.

Megan Gilmore

Hi, I’m Megan. A former fast food junkie turned best-selling cookbook author. I create healthy recipes made with simple ingredients to make your life easier.

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Comments

  1. Question re: your Instant Pot Vegan Mac n’ Cheese recipe. Your video and the written instructions are in contradiction or appear to be.. In the written instructions you say to set to 0 minutes. But on video it shows you cooking at 10 mins.

    Can you clarify? Or maybe I misunderstand?

    1. disregard my earlier question, Megan. I have now read the earlier comments on cook time and understand the adjustment. Many thanks for the awesome recipes — revelations for my instant pot.

  2. Phenomenal recipe. I don’t usually leave comments but this was amazing because not only did the consistency surprise me but the flavor was definitely crave-worthy. This will be in our weekly arsenal for sure. Hope the nutritional yeast and cashews doesn’t run out anytime soon. Thanks for this recipe!

  3. I can’t believe how good this is. It did “burn” but I just turned it off and waited. When it was done I added raw baby spinach and steamed broccoli. Delicious! Thanks for the recipe.

  4. Do you think you could use white vinegar in place of apple cider vinegar? I’m allergic to apples so therefore can’t use apple cider vinegar.

  5. I followed this recipe to a t, but I just didn’t like the taste. Though the sauce was creamy, it lacked flavor. There are so many great vegan mac n cheese recipes on the internet now and this just doesn’t measure up, in my opinion. I love other recipes from this website, but this one missed the mark for me.

  6. Hi! I so appreciate this recipe because I had everything available. I happen to be the rare person that had actual burning and it was in my 6 qt IP. What suggestions do you have for future tries? Otherwise, it was an easy recipe, and it’s very good. Thanks so much!

    1. Darn! Some Instant Pot models are more prone than others to burning, and pasta is probably the trickiest in that regard. If the pot did already come to pressure, just letting it sit there without touching anything for 10 minutes usually gets the pasta cooked-through and whatever sticks to the bottom gets re-hydrated since the machine will have turned off the heating element. Possibly trying a different pasta next time could make a difference?

  7. This one is going in our recipe book! We like a bit of a tangier sauce so we added in about 1 Tbsp of mustard as well and 1.5x the vingar.

    Has anyone ever doubled this recipe before? Wondering if that would be too much for a 6qt instant pot?

  8. Made this tonight and my husband said, “This is the best vegan Mac and cheese you’ve ever made. It’s so good, I’m having seconds!”

    I added sautéed mushrooms, onions and a bunch of spinach.

    Delicious!

  9. So I’m making this recipe, I had printed it out and was following along when I got to where it says 0 minutes (yes zero minutes). I did that and then released the pressure after the amount of time it said to. When I opened my instant pot my noodles are still uncooked. Then after watching your video you set your instantpot to 10 minutes. Why does the instructions say zero minutes when your video you use 10? I just put the lid back on and I’m hoping that the repressuring of the noodles doesn’t make them mush. Lets hope I didn’t ruin dinner!

    1. The video is actually old, and my noodles were WAY overcooked that way! I wrote this recipe years ago before I was familiar with my Instant Pot. I now cook my gluten-free noodles for 0 minutes, with a natural release for a better texture. Were your noodles gluten-free? For whole wheat pasta I do 3 minutes with a 10-minute natural release. You can definitely repressure the pot without issue if you need to cook them longer, so I hope it worked out for you anyway!

      1. I followed the directions exactly as posted but my InstantPot never came to pressure. The video says 10 mins so I guess I’ll try that method….?

        1. I changed the timing because I wasn’t as experienced with the Instant Pot when I first posted this recipe. 10 minutes is way too long for pasta, and if your Instant Pot isn’t coming to pressure the cook time won’t matter. (The timer doesn’t start until the pot is pressurized.) It sounds like a piece of pasta is probably getting stuck to the bottom, triggering the burn error, or the seal in the lid isn’t locking in the pressure. Make sure the steam release valve at the top is definitely turned “sealing” so that steam doesn’t escape, and pull on the silicone sealing ring inside the lid each time you use your pot to make sure it has wiggle room and is properly placed. Most often when a pot doesn’t come to pressure it’s because the sealing ring in the lid got stuck and didn’t properly seal.