BEST Dairy Free Mac and Cheese

Creamy, rich, and deliciously vegan, this is the BEST dairy free mac and cheese that gets melty and stringy like traditional mac and cheese. It’s made entirely from scratch and requires only a few simple ingredients.

Mac and cheese was pretty much the only thing I ate as a child. I always preferred Annie’s to Kraft, and always the white cheese to the orange. Anyone else?!

I was super picky about how the sauce was prepared (sorry mom). Never too much milk and always make sure the clumps are removed before stirring in the pasta. I guess I became a food blogger so I could stop annoying people with my ridiculous food demands lol.

While you can buy vegan mac and cheese at virtually any grocery store, it’s much more fun to make it homemade from scratch!

This recipe is rich, creamy, decadent, and you definitely won’t miss the dairy, trust me. Plus, if you didn’t think it could get any better, it only requires about 20 minutes of active cooking! If you love this recipe, try my vegan tofu nuggets next.

Before we get started

• There are a lot of vegan cheese’s on the market, but I used the VioLife Cheddar Shreds which I love!
• Since this blog is all gluten free, I used gluten free pasta and flour, but if you are not GF, just use your favorite regular macaroni and all purpose flour.
• Be sure you use plain and unsweetened milk. You don’t want any hints of vanilla in there! You can use almond, soy etc. as long as it is plain.

How to make dairy free mac and cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, add the butter to a large pot and melt over medium heat. Add in the garlic and saute for just 1-2 minutes.

Whisk in the flour until smooth. Slowly pour in the almond milk. Let simmer for 5 minutes until it starts to thicken.

Add in the cheese, nutritional yeast, paprika, salt and pepper. Whisk regularly until the cheese melts.

Let the cheese sauce simmer over low heat for about 3-5 minutes.

Combine the cooked pasta with the cheese sauce and stir to combine. The sauce will thicken when mixed with the pasta because of the starch. Taste and add more salt if desired. Enjoy!

Serving suggestions

If you’re trying to add more veggies into your diet, peas, broccoli, and green beans are all delicious with this recipe! You can stir them right into the sauce, or have them on the side.

The great thing about this dairy free mac and cheese is that it can be the star of the meal all on it’s own. I like to use a chickpea or legume based pasta or noodles to up the protein content (if I’m not serving it with animal protein), then just stir in some peas and you have yourself a delicious plant-based meal that is perfect for kids and adults!

If you want this recipe to just be dairy free and not vegan, you can add some sliced bacon or grilled chicken which gives it a bit of an alfredo feel!

Bake it!

If you want to turn this into a baked vegan mac and cheese, you can follow all of the steps as usual then transfer to an oven-safe baking dish.

Top with breadcrumbs and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or just broil for about 2 minutes to get the top nice and toasty. If you do broil it, be sure to keep a close eye on it as broiling can lead to burning very quickly!

I do prefer broiling as it will prevent the cheese sauce from drying out at all and keep it super rich and creamy on the inside.

Try these pasta recipes next!

Lastly, if you want more recipes straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to my email list. As always, if you make this recipe, be sure to tag me on instagram and leave a comment below so I can see your creation!