My Vegan Cheese Sauce
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 2 heaping tbsp flour (wheat, ap, it all works)
- 3 heaping tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- salt
- black pepper
- dijon mustard to taste
- 1 tsp Earth Balance (optional, makes for a more rich tasting sauce)
In a pot, combine the water and flour until dissolved. Turn on the heat to boiling, whisking constantly, then quickly turn down to a very slow simmer. Add the nutritional yeast, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste. Continue whisking. Add the dijon mustard, starting with 1 teaspoon, and gradually adding more until you like the flavor. At this point you can add more salt and pepper if you like. At the very end, add the Earth Balance, if using.
Stir in cooked pasta, any shape you like, and you have vegan mac and cheese! I usually add raw baby spinach or broccoli to the pot at the very end of the cooking process to up the nutrition.
–
Notes:
- You can find nutritional yeast in the bulk bins at many large supermarkets, or at health food stores. It’s pretty cheap, so it’s fun to play around with.
- If the sauce starts to get too thick, add some non-dairy milk and whisk away like crazy. This is a very forgiving sauce and it won’t break on you like dairy-based cheese sauces will if you over cook it.
- On other blogs you might see nutritional yeast referred to as “nooch” for short.
- Play around with the seasonings! Add some lemon or lime juice to give it more tang. Turn this into more of a queso-style dip with the addition of some hot sauce, Ro-Tel canned tomatoes w/ chiles, or some salsa. Or go crazy and add it to your favorite jarred pasta sauce for a cheesy pasta experience.
