Marry Me Mac & Cheese
This Marry Me Mac & Cheese is a decadent and cheesy dish for Valentine’s Day or Any Day! Perfect to impress somebody even if it’s yourself!
With Valentine’s Day coming up, and with a bunch of folks digging the Marry Me Tofu recipe I came out with a few months back, I thought, why not make something like this Marry Me Mac & Cheese to celebrate?
After all, I’ve seen a bunch of Marry Me Pastas, but no Mac & Cheese, so I reckon that we should get a little cheesy!
And this is pretty much the same sauce as the Marry Me Tofu, only we are adding some cheese, and instead of Tofu, we’ll be bathing some macaroni in the sauce instead!
ingredients for marry me mac & Cheese
Pasta – I recommend using good old Elbow Macaroni for this, but you can of course use whatever pasta you like.
I ended up using 10 oz. for the amount of sauce. You can use less if you like it saucier, or more if you like it less saucy.
The photos on this post are all using 10 oz. though for reference!
The Marry Me Sauce – For the sauce we’ll be using vegan butter, garlic, Italian seasoning, something spicy like some calabrian chiles or red pepper flakes, vegan chick’n or veggie stock, cashew cream, vegan parmesan and sun dried tomatoes.
After that we’ll add in some Vegan Cheddar Shreds (I like Follow Your Heart and Violife), and some optional Tapioca Starch to thicken it. You can also add some pasta water if you like as well. This will help if the sauce is too thick and it’ll also emulsify the sauce.
Then top with some more Calabrian chilies, fresh basil or parsley and maybe some more vegan parmesan!
ingredient SUBSTITUTIONS
For the Cashew Cream, you can also use my Tofu Cream, or use some store bought vegan heavy cream. You will likely have some leftover cashew cream too that you can use in some other recipes!
For the vegan parmesan, I like Follow Your Heart and Violife, but you can also sub that out for 2 Tbsp of nutritional yeast.
how to make marry me mac & Cheese
This all comes together pretty quickly. I recommend boiling your water and pasta while making the sauce. If you finish making the sauce before the pasta is done (which usually happens to me) just keep it warm on low until it’s time to add the pasta.
To make the Marry Me Sauce, we simply need to cook some vegan butter or olive oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, something spicy like some calabrian chiles or red pepper flakes, veggie stock, cashew cream, vegan parmesan and sun dried tomatoes.
Then we’ll melt in our vegan cheddar shreds.
Add in your cooked Macaroni and stir to combine! Taste for seasoning, add some fresh parsley or basil if you like and dig in!
storage
Store leftovers in the fridge and eat within 3 days. Reheat with a little added plant milk or water to loosen it up.
other recipes you’ll dig!
If you made and enjoyed this recipe, please leave a rating & review! It really helps out the blog and it makes my day, thank you!
Marry Me Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 10 oz. Dried Elbow Macaroni*
- 2 Tbsp Vegan Butter (or Olive Oil)
- 4 – 5 cloves Garlic (minced)
- 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 tsp Red Chili Flakes or Calabrian Chiles (for some heat)
- 2 cups Vegan Chicken Broth (or Veggie Broth)
- 1/2 – 3/4 cup Cashew Cream** (or Tofu Cream)
- 2 – 3 tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/2 cup Vegan Parmesan (or 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast)
- 1/3 cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- 2 cups Vegan Cheddar Shreds
- 2 Tbsp Tapioca Starch (optional for thickening)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Fresh Parsley or Basil for garnish (chopped)
Instructions
- Prepare the Cashew Cream or Tofu Cream.
- Boil Pasta according to package instructions.
- While pasta water comes to a boil, in a high walled skillet or saucier pan, over medium low heat, add the vegan butter or olive oil and melt / heat up. Then add in the minced garlic, calabrian chiles or red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning. Stir to combine and cook for 1 minute making sure you don't burn the garlic or herbs.
- Stir in the vegan chicken or veggie stock and then the cashew or tofu cream. Start with 1/2 cup of the cashew cream and add more later as needed. It will thicken as it heats up. Add in the dijon mustard and whisk to combine. Raise the heat to medium and bring to a simmer.
- Add in the sun-dried tomatoes and vegan parmesan (or nutritional yeast) and stir to combine.
- Then add in the vegan cheddar shreds (and tapioca starch if using) and stir to melt. Once cheese is melted, keep the sauce warm on low until pasta is done boiling.
- Once pasta is ready, add it to the pan / skillet with the sauce and stir to combine. Feel free to add in pasta water if the sauce is too thick. This will loosen it up and emulsify it too! Taste and adjust for seasoning, add some fresh parlsey or basil if you like and dig in!
I don’t usually leave reviews but oh my GOSH! This was incredible. I ended up using all of the cashew cream which resulted in slightly more sauce than I needed. Next time I’ll use just a bit more pasta. But oh my gosh, this is definitely going to be a regular dinner for me! Soooo delicious!
Excellent, thank you for leaving a review!! Glad you liked it!
This is a PHENOMENAL recipe.
For anyone doubting: just do it!! I have never had vegan Mac n cheese that actually blew me away, in fact I have never even written a recipe review before!
I come from a family who LOVES dairy, so departing from it can feel so hard and isolating, especially since my mom makes her homemade Mac’n’Cheese with Crispy bacon, tons of cheese and heavy cream, and tomatoes! I have to be very careful about dairy and meat consumption for health reasons, and I can say with 100% confidence that this recipe surpasses any dairy free mac n cheese I have ever tried. It is so incredibly delicious. I truly do not even feel like this tastes vegan, it’s so creamy and delicious! (And doesn’t taste like every vegan recipe with the nutritional yeast flavor! Sometimes I just don’t want to taste it you know?)
Here are some “swaps” I made:
-I used organic IMAGINE vegetation NO-Chicken Broth instead of vegetable broth.
-I used Ro-tel’s canned diced red tomatoes and green chiles, an ENTIRE 1/2 cup. You could even add more!
For Plant milk I used RIPPLE, for cheese I used Aldi’s Vegan cheddar shreds, and Follow your Heart Parmesan.
Wow, thank you for the review! This might be one of my favorites that somebody has left, I really appreciate it and so glad you liked it! I love Ripple too!
I finally found Calabrian peppers at the international market so I made a double batch of this for meal prepping. I used Follow Your Heart grated parm, Ripple half and half and Daiya cheddar shreds. It turned out amazing!! This is definitely going to be added to my meal rotation ♥️
Excellent, so glad you dug it and those all sound like perfect ingredients to me!
So good! We devoured it!
YAY! As you should! Thank you!
Perfect. Just perfect. I didn’t have cashew cream or vegan cream, so I just used some oat milk and whisked in some flour. Magnificent. Anyone reading this, make sure you use Follow Your Heart cheese; a little hard to find where I am, but the best stuff on the market.
So glad you liked it! Glad the subs worked out and FYH is probably my favorite for sure! Thanks!
This is my go-to mac and cheese recipe after trying it last year. I’m looking forward to making it again tonight! lol
Excellent, thank you!!
Fabulous!
Glad you liked it!! Thank you!
Make this recipe, I promise you won’t regret it, it’s that good!! The sauce is so darn tasty I’m starting to think of what else I can put it on! Delicious!!
Glad you liked it! Thank you, I agree it’s one of my favorites!
Would silken tofu work as a substitute for cashew nuts or sunflower seeds?
Yes, if you can use something like Mori-Nu Silken Extra Firm if possible!
Made this tonight and OMG it’s amazing! Probably the best vegan pasta I’ve ever made!! Can’t wait to share with my family tomorrow!
Oh wow, love to hear this, thank you!!
Delicious! Definitely a good to now.
Excellent, thank you, glad you liked it!
Putting in the effort to go to the grocery store, getting all the proper ingredients and then taking the time to carefully follow this recipe’s instructions is the best thing I’ve done for myself this week. This mac and cheese is restaurant-worthy, it is so insanely satisfying! My love for carbs has reached the next level.
I boiled the cashews in the unsweetened milk, but later realized I think (personally) it would be better if I first boil them in water and then mix them with the milk in my blender. I added sautéed mushrooms on top and it was quite literally divine.
Oh nice, so glad to hear this, thank you!!
Made this for Christmas with my non-vegan family and it was the favorite of the night. I’ve been jonesing for a good mac and cheese recipe and the sun-dried tomatoes are the perfect accent. I’m only disappointed that I didn’t get to have any as leftovers! Finding your page has been an absolute blessing for my kitchen 😂
Oh this makes my night to hear! So happy you liked it so much, make a double batch next time! Thank you!
Another banger. This is the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had. The best part is that it doesn’t make me feel icky after.
So YUMMY
Yay, glad to hear this, thank you!
Going to use this recipe for an upcoming all vegan mac and cheese contest; I typically use Violife or Daiya. Do you have a preferred brand of store bought shreds?
I like Daiya and Follow Your Heart! Good Luck!