Tofu Mac & Cheese
This Tofu Mac & Cheese bypasses cheese all together! It’s a quick and easy weeknight meal that’s also nutritious and delicious!
I have made a whole lotta Mac & Cheese recipes on this blog, and this is the first one I’ve done using Tofu! Thanks to Extra Firm Silken Tofu, this dish is still nice and luxurious, but also super easy to throw together on a weeknight! It comes together in the time it takes to boil pasta!
What’s the best tofu for tofu mac & Cheese?
I highly recommend using Extra Firm Silken Tofu. It’s shelf stable (though some stores have it in the refrigerated section next to the produce).
This is different than regular silken tofu that comes packed in water. The texture is much thicker and less watery. In fact, it’s what I use for my Tofu Mayo!
You can find more info by my friend Kelly Bone on Serious Eats. Suffice to say, if you can’t find this kind of tofu, you can try using regular Silken or Soft Tofu, but you may want to use less plant milk. Your mileage may vary!
ingredients for Tofu Mac & Cheese
Besides the tofu, we are really just using some nutritional yeast and pantry staples to season this!
- Nutritional Yeast – This does a lot of the heavy lifting flavor wise, so unfortunately there is not a good substitute!
- Seasonings – We’ll be using some Smoked Paprika, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Salt and Pepper!
- Dijon Mustard, Vinegar – For some acidity and zing! I recommend adding 1 tsp of Dijon, and more as you go since not all Dijons have the same level of acidity.
- Sazon – This is something I like to add for color and flavor! Sazon typically has MSG in it as well as Annatto which is a common ingredient in boxed mac n’ cheese to add a nice vivid color. If you can’t find it, just use some MSG or Salt instead, and keep in mind, the sauce won’t be as yellow as it is in the photos!
- Oil – You can leave this out if you are avoiding oil, but I think it really adds some nice richness to the sauce!
- Tapioca Starch – This will help thicken the sauce and give it some stretch!
- Pasta Water – Likewise, this will work in tandem with the tapioca starch to make this creamier but still nice and thick!
- Macaroni – You can use the classic Elbow pasta, or any short pasta you like, shells, fusilli, whatever!
how to make Tofu Mac & Cheese
Cook pasta according to package instructions. While water boils and pasta cooks, add the Tofu to a blender and blend until smooth, then add all the rest of the ingredients except the Tapioca Starch.
Combine the sauce with the cooked pasta. Adding the tapioca starch to thicken, and some pasta water to make it creamy!
storage
You can store the leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for about 3 -4 days. It will likely dry out, so add a splash of unsweetened plant milk when reheating. I suggest doing so on the stovetop, but a microwave will work too.
Other Pasta REcipes
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!
Tofu Mac & Cheese
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 oz Dried Elbow Pasta
- 11 oz Extra Firm Silken Tofu (See Notes)
- 1 cup Plant Milk (Unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp Veggie Bouillon
- 1 Tbsp Vinegar
- 1 – 3 tsp Dijon Mustard
- 2 Tbsp Oil
- 1/2 – 1 tsp Sazon (or MSG or Salt to taste, SEE NOTES)
- 1 Tbsp Tapioca Starch
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions.
- While water boils and pasta cooks, add the Tofu to a food processor and blend until smooth, then add all the rest of the ingredients except the Tapioca Starch.Dijon Mustard Note – I recommend adding 1 tsp of Dijon, and more as you go since not all Dijons have the same level of acidity.Sazon Note – Sazon will give this a more vivid orange / yellow hue. The kind of Nutritional Yeast will also color it differently.
- Add that mixture to a pot and heat on medium low. Once pasta has been cooked to your liking, add it to the pot with the tofu cheese sauce. Reserve at least 1 cup of pasta water. I like to use a slotted spider spoon to transfer the pasta to the tofu cheese sauce.
- Stir to combine, it will be very loose, and a bit watery. This is ok! Add 1 Tbsp of tapioca starch and stir to combine. Heat over medium low, the tapioca starch will thicken the sauce. If you want it thicker, add 1 tsp of Tapioca Starch at a time until it’s at your desired thickness.
- Now pour in about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Stir to combine, the sauce should get creamier. Continue adding splashes of pasta water until it’s at your desired thickness.
- Season to taste adding anything you like and enjoy!
Notes
Tasty but the colour of mine is very bland compared to yours! I followed the recipe exactly. Wondering what I could do to make it more orange next time?
Hmm, sorry to hear that! Nooch, Turmeric and Sazon are lending to the color. Especially the Sazon, some Nooch is more vivid colored than others, I used Braggs. Most other ones I’ve noticed to lend as much of a yellowish color.
I made this tonight with msg and Braggs and the color was off for me too. Also wasn’t a huge fan of the flavors. Not as cheesy as I expected and the smoked paprika was a bit prominent. Might try his powder mac recipe instead.
Sorry to hear that, the Sazon will impart a lot of color (and flavor) I’ll add a note about that!
Turned out yummy and definitely worth a try! I will probably use a little less vinegar next time but it was delicious.
Glad you liked it, thank you!
As a vegetarian who loves mac and cheese, I gave this a go as a healthier option and loved the flavour! I did go a little harder on the nooch because I like it and was towards the bottom of the packet so just tipped it all in. And I couldn’t find that Extra Firm Silken Tofu in Australia so I had to use the one packaged in water, but the texture still turned out great. Oh, and I only had chinkiang vinegar which maybe wasn’t the best flavour combo, I still put in the full tablespoon and it was fine but it probably could have been improved with either less vinegar or a different type.
As a person who likes cooking in batches though, I am now struggling a little to find a good way to reheat it… which is also a problem with normal mac and cheese so I see vegan sauce isn’t immune haha.
Hey glad you liked it! I suggest reheating it with a little plant milk to loosen it up! Hope that works out! Thank you!
Very yummy. My non-vegan husband loved it. He doesn’t like cashew cheese type Macs but he loved this tofu based one. It was simple to make and we will add it to our weeknight meals.
Oh nice, glad you both liked it! Glad it’s in the rotation! Thank you!
Delicious! I had some firm silken tofu that I needed to use up so I figured I’d try this recipe and just adjust the amount of plant milk. I also wasn’t able to find the sazon in my local stores. I also doubled the recipe and my husband and I ate it all in one sitting. 😳 I immediately went online afterwards and ordered the sazon from Amazon so I can make it again. It wasn’t bad without the sazon, but the color was definitely paler than in the photos but it still tasted great.
Oh aha love to hear this! Sazon is such a great ingredient to have around, I’m sure you’ll love it, thank you!
I got the sazon this past week and made this recipe again this weekend. While it was good without it, it does definitely take it up a notch. 😋
Oh that’s awesome, I need to publish my homemade Sazon recipe for folks who can’t find it!
Do you think this dish (or just the cheese sauce in another use) could be baked?? I loves a baked macaroni and cheese. Also, I want to try a breakfast casserole with this sauce (no tapioca or pasta water, of course). I’d hate to waste my ingredients if it wouldn’t work. Thanks in advance!
Hi there, I’m not sure to be honest as I’ve never tried that! I don’t know how the tofu would react to being baked, it might dry out. As for the no tapioca starch, it might be too thin, even without the pasta water, but give it a go if you want to try it!
I didn’t have tapioca starch on hand and used flour instead to thicken my sauce and it worked! I’ve used similar recipes for making queso to bake on nachos and it’s kept its creamy consistency so I believe baking this dish would still work. I usually still make my Mac and “cheese” on the stovetop and then if I want it taste more baked, I just put it into a baking dish and add some breadcrumbs and crush up chickpea puffs on top of broil it on low for a bit
Adding 1 small (4 oz) jar of pimientos for every 16 oz of tofu will make the orange color pop gorgeously! This is one of the easiest, most delicious vegan mac and cheese recipes ever!!
Oh wow, that’s a great idea, I should try that out and add a note since some folks can’t find Sazon, thank you!!
Amazing!!! I was eating this out of the pot and probably ate 4 servings of it in the last 24 hours. This reminded me of a Mac and cheese I used to get going out to eat as a kid. So tasty and nostalgic. All the great taste of mac and cheese without the stomach ache of all that dairy. Love it!
Hahah I know the feeling, so glad you liked it! Thank you!!
Super quick and easy way to make great Mac and cheese! Love it!
I make my own sazon, so I didn’t get the same color everyone is obsessed with, but it tasted amazing. I’ll definitely make this again, and probably experience with this cheese sauce on other meals. Thank you!
Awesome so glad you liked it! I’ll have to experiment with homemade sazon too!
First time trying to make ANY vegan Mac & Cheese. I stayed away from the others (mainly cashew style) as they seemed a little more complex. Not this recipe!
Extremely easy (blend, heat, serve), and I really enjoyed the flavors and the texture. I couldn’t believe it when it actually looked like it had some stringiness like a regular cheese version.
I love smoky, and I could definitely taste that little bit from the smoked paprika. I only had distilled white vinegar, so I went sparingly on that, but it still turned out very well.
Next time, going to add a little liquid smoke, a little more nooch, and get proper vinegar. But as it, I think my kids might even enjoy it!
Well done. Definitely checking out more of the page / recipes.
Awesome, so glad you liked it on the first try to boot! Thank you!
this was SO good possibly my favorite homemade vegan mac and cheese. I didn’t have sazon so I added some chili powder for color and a little kick, and i mixed it with some marinated soy chunks for a little more substance. reheated it for dinner the next day by covering it with breadcrumbs and baking it for 20 minutes. Amazing.
Oh those sound like good moves! So glad you like it! Thank you!
I make this at least once a week. The easiest and best vegan Mac I’ve found! Thank you!
Nice, so glad it’s in the rotation! Thank you!!
Thank you for this amazing recipe.
I made a big batch of the sauce with some tweaks:
5-6 Cashews+water instead of plant based milk (didn’t have at home)
MSG instead of Sazon (didn’t have at home)
Hot english mustard instead of dijon (less amount)
Around 20 cashews instead of 2 tbsp of oil (i like cashews, they add a sweet taste similar to dairy)
Regular paprika instead of smoked (didn’t have smoked at home)
No turmeric (didn’t have at home)
More vinegar to taste
Tried this over bread (as a cheesy spread), with pasta, and as a dip for oven baked broccoli. Turned out amazing, especially for pasta and broccoli!
On bread it strangely tastes too noochy-mustardy but on pasta it balances out really well to make a creamy sauce. Also goes really well with some sriracha drizzled on top/ with some crispy onions on top.
OH wow, cool that it works with all those tweaks! Interesting about the sauce on bread, I’ll have to try that, thanks!!
Yummy yummy yummy! I made this last night and it was tasty as heck. My omnivore partner said it was “fantastic” and (for once lol) he didn’t add dairy cheese to his plate. and instead he ate it fully vegan. I used MSG since I don’t have sazon, and since I don’t have tapioca starch, I subbed cornstarch but added it early on in a slurry with some of the plant milk since cornstarch thickens better being cooked. We also put some hot sauce on our mac and cheese to add some more flavor and heat, which really took it up a notch. I’ll definitely be making this again. Thank you for the recipe!
Amazing, I’m glad he had it totally vegan! This makes my day to hear, thank you!
SO yummy! And it just couldn’t be easier. I added some Just One, which is an amazing high protein powder made from only mung beans. It is perfect in a dish like this, really boosts the umami factor. But with all the nooch, it’s already so delicious. Thanks so much!
Oh nice, I need to find that protein powder, sounds cool!! thank you!
Tasty but not as good as cashew-based mac and cheese sauce, in my opinion – not as rich and indulgent, and I could taste the tofu a bit. (I like the taste of tofu but not in my cheese sauce!) I used the same brand of shelf-stable extra firm silken tofu. Still made for a nice dinner though.