Somewhat Plum's Spicy Cajun Mac and Cheese
Try this Spicy Vegan Cajun Mac and Cheese recipe made with an easy dairy-free cheese sauce. Topped with breadcrumbs and baked until golden brown and crispy. Rich, comforting and seriously satisfying. Allergy Information: Free of Dairy, egg, corn, nut. Can be made soy-free with coconut aminos.
Servings: 4
Calories: 259.64kcal
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup uncooked pasta I used whole wheat Elbows
- 3 Tablespoons Oil I used 2 Tablespoons earth balance and 1 Tablespoon organic canola oil. You can reduce this to 2 Tablespoons oil
- 1/4 cup unbleached white flour
- 1 cup almond milk or other non dairy-milk
- 1/2-2/3 cup water
- 3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1-2 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon italian herb blend oregano, parsley, basil, thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 Tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
- 1.5 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce or tamari or coconut aminos
- 3-4 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
Topping:
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Instructions
- Boil a large pot of water. Add a teaspoon of salt. Add uncooked pasta. Cook till al-dente. Heat the almond milk and water till it starts to boil. Meanwhile, in a wide pan, add the oil and flour, mix and cook on medium heat until fragrant. 2-3 minutes.
- Add the hot milk+water to the flour oil mixture slowly. Keep whisking to avoid lumps. Even if there are lumps, they will dissolve as the mixture gets heated up. Add all of the spices, sauces, salt. Continue whisking until bubbly and the sauce is evenly smooth. Taste and adjust salt, spice. Add more garlic, mustard, nutritional yeast, or red pepper flakes if needed. Mix the mac pasta into the sauce and take off the heat after a minute. Cover the pasta and let rest for a few minutes.
- Serve as is or top with some Daiya pepper jack. Or Put some mac n cheese in small ramekins. Mix everything under topping and add a Tablespoon of the bread mixture on top of the pasta. Drizzle a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil(less or more to preference) or put a thin slice of earth balance butter on top.
- Broil for 2-4 minutes until the bread mixture turns golden brown. Let sit in the oven for another 2-3 minutes so the pasta gets heated through. Serve as is or remove from Ramekin and serve. The mac is already spicy, so u use pepper flakes in the bread topping to taste.
Notes
No Bake Version: You can also just cook heat each serving of the mac n cheese in a teaspoon of oil and some bread crumb mixture, on high heat, until slightly crisp and serve. I like the ramekin version better since it closer to Plum's with the greasiness and crispiness.
Nutrition
Calories: 259.64kcal | Carbohydrates: 29.41g | Protein: 8.05g | Fat: 12.62g | Saturated Fat: 0.97g | Sodium: 829.05mg | Potassium: 197.84mg | Fiber: 3.45g | Sugar: 1.29g | Vitamin A: 575.67IU | Calcium: 95.28mg | Iron: 1.77mg