Vegan Mac and Cheese with Silken Tofu Sauce

A vegan mac and cheese that even picky kids will love! Classic mac and cheese flavour, with a silken tofu mac and cheese sauce (no cashews!) that takes just 5 minutes to whip up in the blender.

Prep time: PT5M

Cook time: PT10M

Total time: PT15M

Rating

4.71 stars (41 reviews)

Keywords

mac and cheese, nutritional yeast, Pasta, silken tofu, Tofu

Ingredients

12 ounce silken tofu (or soft tofu)
⅓ cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon sugar (yes, it makes a difference!)
1 pound your favourite pasta
¼ cup vegan butter

Cuisine

American

Steps

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and return to the pot off of the heat.
While the pasta cooks, add the silken tofu, nutritional yeast, Dijon mustard, garlic and onion powder, salt, lemon juice, paprika, and sugar to the blender. Blend for 20 seconds on medium low, scrape the blender, then blend for 20 seconds on medium, scrape the blender, then finish by blending on medium high for 30 seconds until the sauces looks silky smooth.
Add the vegan butter to the hot pasta, toss to coat and then pour over the cheese sauce and toss again.
Optional toppings
- If you like, it's also nice to transfer the pasta to a baking dish and either top it with melty vegan shreds or seasoned panko crumbs and broil just until the cheese is melted or the crumbs are golden brown.

Reviews

Annabel on 2026-07-02 (5 stars):
Made this yesterday as a recently turned 'vegan-from-vegetarian', and it's the first dairy-free mac+cheese (or anything cheesy!) recipe I've tried out. I was searching for a recipe that didn't include any cheddar, mozz etc... since I'm not a fan of vegan cheese, so was pleased when I came across this one. It's also nice that I already had most of the ingredients - I try to avoid buying things I need for one recipe, and then never touch again. I really like how creamy silken tofu makes sauces (I've been practically been living off gnocchi with blended vegan pesto + silken tofu for the past week!) and this is no different. I chopped up and mixed in some This Isn't Bacon rashers (not sure if this is a UK-only brand, but this has been the only bacon I've loved since turning veggie 3 years ago) after adding the sauce to the pasta, and it gave it a really nice smoky flavour. Going to use the left over sauce to have the same meal tonight, and plan on adding some air-fried broccoli as well as the bacon. I live alone and so it's great to find a recipe which is a super quick and easy meal-for-one, and isn't too expensive either. Thank you so much for this one! Quick question: if I made a big batch of the sauce, how long would it keep in the fridge, please? And is the sauce safe to be frozen?
Kallie on 2026-06-14 (5 stars):
Omg this was amazing 😻 I hate saying I modified your recipe because it was basically perfect as is but I took your note about the franks and added that in anyways at the end, doubled the lemon, and threw in a 2tsp of white miso. Will def be making again! Thank you thank you!
Anja on 2026-03-27 (5 stars):
I love this recipe! It's so easy to make and so good! I was making it already a while back and I used miso paste instead of nooch because I didn't have nooch. Now I put both and it's convincingly cheesy. The last time I made it I tried baking it, I added extra liquid but I had the same problem as years back when I tried to make a baked non vegan mac and cheese - it was overbaked and a little dry. So I know for next time to either not bake it at all or bake it for 10 minutes max. I made vegan mac and cheeses before - they were usually with white beans for creaminess and protein, but they really didn't work for me (dry and strange texture and too beany tasting). This one with silken tofu is exactly what you want from mac and cheese - creamy, cheesy tasting, not dry (unless you overbake it like me). So thank you for this recipe!
Cassie K on 2026-03-24 (5 stars):
Five stars! Both for taste and convenience. I had planned on stir fry but found I didn’t have the veggies I needed so I had to pivot at the last minute and this recipe (with a veggie side) was perfect in a pinch. I don’t keep vegan butter on hand but I substituted in 1/4 cup olive oil instead and whizzed it into the sauce. I love that there are no special ingredients that I have to plan ahead to have on hand. Sadly tonight there were no leftovers…
Shelly on 2026-03-19 (4 stars):
M&C is my ultimate favorite food and I've made literally every vegan version possible. This was good but in my and my family's opinion needs some tweaking. The texture was great but all we could taste was garlic so next time I'll cut it to 1 tsp. I only used 2 tsp dijon which was a good call as for us, one full TBS would have imparted more mustard flavor than we like. Also, the ratio of sauce to noodles wasn't right so I'll only cook 12 oz of pasta next time.
John on 2026-01-12 (5 stars):
OMG!!! Been searching for 10 years for a great low fat no oil tofu pasta recipe and this is it! I used smoked paprika which gave it a smoky flavor. This recipe is so simple and absolutely amazing.
Jenna Lehr on 2026-01-02 (4 stars):
I had high hopes to love this but I am a dairy lover and at first bite it didnt wow me.... BUT then i added a few dashes of franks red hot to the top and I loved it. For me that took it from okay to great.
Mike H on 2025-12-09 (5 stars):
Delicious. Mixed in some tempeh bacon for some extra zing/protein. I will likely double the sauce recipe for future batches, had a pound of elbows and it coats it all but just barely. YMMV. 4 stars for the sauce/pasta ratio, but 6 stars for flavor, which averages to 5 stars :)
Bethers on 2025-11-19 (5 stars):
One of my new favorite comfort foods!!!!! I will make this every 2 weeks from here on out!! Thank you
Barbara on 2025-09-29 (5 stars):
This one's a winner. I recommend starting with half the Dijon mustard and adjusting to your taste. Otherwise, I just added some soy milk to thin out the sauce. My 3 year old ate it without saying she wanted the boxed one instead! Success! 🙌