Once you try this Vegan Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese, you'll never crave the cheesy version again. Each creamy bite is packed with flavor and extra nutritional benefits from the butternut squash and kale. It’s easy enough to cook for weeknight dinners or meal prep for later in the week!
Mac and Cheese is voted one of America's top favorite foods. Study after study showed it within the top 10! Is it because it goes so well with burgers and hot dogs - more of America's favorite foods? Or is it America's obsession with cheese?
Whatever the reason, I wanted to make a healthier version since it is loved by so many.
If you love cooking with butternut squash, you will enjoy these butternut squash wontons or a bowl of butternut squash soup.
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💚 Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple, wholesome ingredients!
- Easy to make recipe and it’s perfect for meal prep too.
- Family-friendly dish that’s loved by kids and adults.
- Have a tough time getting kids to eat their veggies? This butternut squash mac and cheese recipe sneaks them in a bit in a dish that will entice them to eat it up!
- Nutritious side dish for any meal!
🛒 Ingredients
Making butternut squash vegan mac and cheese is super easy using ingredients available in most grocery stores. Here's what you need:
- Pasta: Use any short pasta when making mac and cheese.
- Butternut squash: We’re using fresh butternut squash pasta in this recipe, but you can also use about 2 ½ cups of frozen squash to save some time.
TOP TIP: Not sure how to cut up butternut squash, learn more about selecting, cutting, and roasting butternut squash.
- Olive oil: A healthy olive oil that’s great for this type of cooking.
- Aromatics: Fresh onion and garlic are sautéed together to flavor the butternut squash sauce.
- Tahini: This sesame seed paste gives the sauce creaminess along with a bit of flavor. You can find it in many large grocery stores or purchase a jar from a Mediterranean specialty store or online.
- Vegetable broth or oat milk: Use whichever you prefer, but the oat milk gives the sauce a bit more creaminess.
- Nutritional yeast: Just a touch to give this vegan sauce a bit of cheesy flavor.
- Kale: Adds color and nutrition to this dish. You can also use spinach. Frozen greens work well also if you're pinched for time. Just be sure to thaw it out and squeeze it really well.
For the full list of ingredients and quantities, check out the recipe card at the end of the page.
✅ How to Make Vegan Mac and Cheese with Butternut Squash
Now we get to the good part! Let's get started cooking. Here are the main steps in making this vegan mac and cheese recipe. Detailed instructions are in the recipe card further down on the page.
- Place the cubed butternut squash in a large bowl and toss it with the olive oil and salt. Spread it on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake for approximately 30 minutes, shifting the cubes around halfway through.
- Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan and add the chopped onion. When it’s softened, add the garlic and cook for 2 - 3 more minutes.
- Add the kale to the pan and cook until wilted.
- Place the veggie mixture in a food processor. Add the tahini and the broth or plant-based milk and blend until smooth.
- Mix all the ingredients together in the pot and stir until well blended.
- Cook on the stove until heated, and add additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Top the cooked butternut squash vegan mac and cheese with a bit of freshly chopped kale.
🍽️ How to Serve
- Mac and cheese is everyone’s comfort food side dish! Serve it up with burgers or for cookouts.
- Turn it into a main dish! Add a protein such as chickpeas, or crumbled tofu bacon, or use protein pasta instead of regular wheat pasta.
- The main dish goes great with a vegan Caesar salad or roasted cabbage.
🌿 Seasonal Recipe Variations
- Butternut Squash: During the fall months, you can swap the butternut squash for pumpkin when they’re plentiful or other types of squash throughout the winter season when they are their peak season.
- Kale: In the summer, swap out the kale for broccoli or zucchini. It works great to chop the broccoli into small pieces and add it to the sauce. For the zucchini, grate it first and squeeze some of the water out. Add it to the sauce and pasta, and it will cook quickly as everything heats up on the stove.
❄️ Storage Tips
Make ahead: To save a bit of time, you can roast the butternut squash ahead of time. This will save you about 40 minutes during the week.
Another option is to finish cooking the sauce, saving you even more time. Then when you’re ready to serve it up, all you need to do is cook the pasta, heat the sauce, and blend them.
Leftovers: Store the leftover butternut squash and mac cheese in an airtight container for up to five days in the refrigerator.
Freezer: I do not recommend freezing the pasta as it will be quite mushy when thawed out, but you can freeze the sauce. To freeze the sauce, allow it to cool completely and then store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months. Allow it to thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat as noted below.
Reheat: To reheat the sauce on its own, place it in a saucepan and heat over medium-low heat. Add more vegetable broth or milk as needed to thin out the sauce. Then when heated, add your hot pasta and finish the recipe.
For heating the pasta and sauce together, I recommend using a skillet on medium heat. Add a bit of liquid to give the sauce more moisture and cook until heated.
💸 Money Saving Substitutions
- Extra sauce left? Great! Use it as a cheese sauce over veggies, rice, or anything else that sounds appealing!
- Too much pasta? If you cooked extra pasta and want to repurpose it for another meal, how about making a batch of this nomato sauce for a totally different meal another day of the week?
- Looking for more dishes to use up the nutritional yeast? It will last in your pantry for quite a while, but I understand not wanting to buy products just to have them sit around. I highly recommend bang bang cauliflower and vegan turnip gratin for some other ways to use it!
❓FAQ
The traditional pasta is elbow macaroni, but I like to jazz it up and use different shapes. Any short pasta such as shells, bowties, spirals, or similar works the best because the sauce gets into all the little curves of the pasta, so you get a bit in each bite.
Sure thing! After mixing the cooked noodles and sauce together. Transfer it to a casserole dish. Add a topping if you want, and bake for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Be sure to undercook your pasta a bit since it will cook more in the oven.
🌎 Sustainability Suggestions
The carbon footprint of this recipe is 545.0 gCO2e per serving (18.0% fair daily food emissions). That's a low carbon footprint for such a filling and hearty meal! That sounds great, right, but what does it actually mean?
A carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, that are produced by our daily activities and lifestyle choices.
Things like how you heat your house, your mode of transportation to work, and even the food you choose to put into your body all contribute to your carbon footprint.
That's why it's more important than ever to be mindful of your food choices and eat sustainably. You can learn more about how to make the transition to living more sustainably on the blog.
➕ More Vegan Pasta Recipes
If you made this recipe, please leave a star 🌟 rating on the recipe card right below! You can also drop a review in the comment section. Your feedback is appreciated! And don’t forget to tag @themindfulfork so we can see your creations.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound pasta cooked
- 1 medium butternut squash peeled and cubed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup tahini
- 1 cup vegetable broth or oat milk
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 cups chopped fresh kale put aside 2 tablespoons and chop fine for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven 375°.
- In a large bowl, toss the cubed butternut squash with olive oil and salt. Spread butternut squash on a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake for approximately 30 minutes, shifting around halfway through.
- While roasting, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small fry pan and add chopped onion. When softened, add the garlic and cook 2 - 3 more minutes. Add the kale and cook until wilted.
- Combine the butternut squash and onion & kale mix to a food processor. Add tahini, broth or plant-based milk and blend until smooth.
- After straining the pasta, mix all the ingredients together in the same pot and stir until well blended. Heat and add additional salt & pepper if needed.
- Top with 2 tablespoons freshly chopped kale.
Notes
-
Make ahead: To save just a bit of time you can opt to only roast the butternut squash ahead of time. This will save you about 40 minutes during the week.
Another option is to also finish cooking the sauce, saving you even a bit more time. Then when you’re ready to serve it up, all you need to do is cook the pasta, heat the sauce and mix it together.
Leftovers: Store the leftover butternut squash and mac cheese in an airtight container for up to five days in the refrigerator.
Freezer: I do not recommend freezing the pasta as it will be quite mushy when thawed out but you can freeze the sauce. To freeze the sauce, allow it to cool completely and then store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months. Allow it to thaw in the fridge overnight and then reheat as noted below.
Reheat: To reheat the sauce on its own, place it in a saucepan and heat over medium low heat. Add more vegetable broth or milk as needed to thin out the sauce. Then when heated, add your hot pasta and finish the recipe.
For heating the pasta and sauce together I recommend using a skillet on medium heat. Add a bit of liquid to give the sauce some more moisture and cook until heated through.
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