This recipe for Healthy Butternut Squash Vegan Mac and Cheese is the perfect cosy and nourishing weeknight dinner that is absolutely delicious and so easy to make! It will make an excellent side on your thanksgiving table as well. This macaroni and cheese recipe is so creamy and full of flavour. It is made with a mixture of butternut squash, cashews and white beans which all contribute to the creaminess. They also provide loads of healthy vitamins and minerals, healthy fats and plant based protein. The beans enable this mac and cheese to be a bit more budget friendly as well since less cashews are used and cashews can be quite pricey these days. A nice little sprinkle of the fried onion garnish adds a delicious crunch and a flavour punch.

Texture

This Healthy Butternut Squash Vegan Mac and Cheese has the creamiest, silky smooth texture it’s delicious. The amazing texture comes from three main ingredients in this recipe:

• butternut squash

• white beans

• cashews

Budget Friendly Healthy Butternut Squash Vegan Mac and Cheese

Most vegan macaroni and cheese recipes use a whole lot of cashews, and nowadays cashews can be quite expensive. So I decided to try experimenting making vegan mac and cheese with less cashews! And wow am I ever pleased with this delicious recipe. It’s so good!

This tasty Healthy Butternut Squash Vegan Mac and Cheese uses large white beans to provide creaminess and loads of protein to this recipe, so I could reduce the amount of cashews greatly. Cashews are so delicious in vegan mac and cheese because they add a lot of fat and protein to the dish, but I found white beans did a wonderful job of substituting cashews.

I found that the best balance was to use both white beans and cashews to get the ultimate texture and flavour, and resulting in a more budget friendly recipe! Butternut squash and carrots are also used in this recipe and are often very well priced in the fall season. They are some of my favourite ingredients to cook with in the fall. This Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash and Tomato Soup with Vegan Protein recipe of mine is a prime example! They are soo delicious, full of colour, flavour and health benefits. Dreamy!

Health Benefits

There’s no doubt about it that this plant based pasta is much healthier than the original recipe which is just loaded with carbs and fat from cheese and pasta. This tasty macaroni and cheese however has great sources of various nutritional benefits which is essential for you to feel your best!

• nutritional yeast:
  is a source of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals. It also contains all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete protein like those found in animal products and that is very important if you follow a plant based diet.
  
  
• butternut squash:
  is a great source of vitamins A and C, fibre, magnesium, and more!
  
  
• white beans:
  are a great source of plant based protein, fibre, iron, magnesium and more!
  
  
• cashews:
  they are low in sugar, a great source of fibre, protein, and heart healthy fats.
  
  
• carrots:
  are a great source of antioxidants, fibre, beta carotene which your body turns into vitamin A, potassium and vitamin K1

So if you’re not convinced by all the healthy goodness of this recipe yet… maybe another delicious photo will help convince you that you need to make this amazing vegan mac and cheese!

More recipes like my Healthy Butternut Squash Vegan Mac and Cheese on my blog:

Healthy Butternut Squash Vegan Mac and Cheese

by Baking Me Healthy

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Lunch, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Plant Based, Vegan

Servings 8 servings approximately

Equipment

• High Speed Blender

Ingredients

  

''Cheese'' Sauce

• 1 ½ cup raw unsalted cashews* soaked and rinsed
• 1 can large white beans 230g after draining the liquid was the size of can I used
• 2 cups oat milk
• 1 cup butternut squash purée  or freshly roasted and blended butternut squash
• 1 big or 2 smaller roasted/cooked carrots (can also be raw carrots if you have a strong blender like vitamix)
• 1 cup Nutritional Yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• freshly ground black pepper
• sriracha to taste

Macaroni

• macaroni or other preferred pasta
• salt for the pasta water

For Serving

• sprinkles of fried onion on top
• spinkle of smoked paprika
• more salt and pepper if needed
• ketchup optional

Instructions

 

• Bring pasta water to a boil. Add salt and the pasta for the desired amount of portions.
• While the pasta is cooking, add all of the sauce ingredients to a high speed blender. Blend until super creamy!
• When the pasta has finished cooking, drain. Add the desired amount of sauce for the current portions and keep the leftover sauce and pasta separate. Top the portions with the tasty toppings and enjoy immediately!
• Keep the leftovers in air tight containers in the fridge, or freeze the sauce in a freezer safe container.

Notes

*Soak the cashews for a few hours before use. Or, if you have a very effective high speed blender, you can place the cashews in a pot and bring water to a boil. Let the cashews soak for about 15 minutes, then drain and rinse them. 

Keyword budget, butternut squash, cheese cake, easy, healthy, mac and cheese, pasta, plant based, vegan, vegansk, vegetarian, vegetarisk