This is the ultimate vegan mac and cheese! It uses virtually two ingredients; is kid-friendly; quick & easy to prepare; and is ready in less than 15 minutes! A banging side for barbecue or a throw together on those busy weekday nights, you’ll want to add this to your repertoire.
The making of the ultimate vegan mac and cheese
Many vegan mac and cheese recipes use a cashews or macadamias to create the rich and creamy mouthfeel. But for those with nut allergies, nature has another answer: ackees!
A fatty fruit, nutritionally similar to an avocado. It’s sometimes called cheese fruit (for good reason). Their buttery texture make them perfect for silky nut free sauces.
Making “Ackee Cream”
The “ackee cream” is a bare basic sauce that you can build on. At its most rudimentary, we could consider simply pureed ackees with a pinch of salt “ackee cream”.
For this recipe, ackees are blended with water and nutritional yeast added to amplify the cheesey flavor. To make an even creamier version sub coconut milk for water.
Build on the flavour complexity by adding garlic, fresh herbs or roasted vegetables.
Mac ‘n Kees
Making Mac ‘n kees is SUUUUPER simple.
- Boil pasta;
- Make ackee cream;
- Combine; done!
As a finishing touch, toasted panko gives a nice texture contrast.
To do this:
- In a small bowl combine 2 tablespoons of panko, ¼ teaspoon of dried parsley flakes and ½ teaspoon olive oil
- Spread on a baking sheet and toast at 350F for about 5 to 8 minutes until crisp and golden brown.
Baked vegan Mac and cheese
You can bake the Mac n Kees to finish it off if you like. It can be baked using the same recipe. But if I want to make it so that I can slice the finished product. I make a slurry from arrowroot or cornstarch; and heat the cream to thicken before adding it to the pasta and baking.
What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. If you make this or any of the recipes from this site be sure to #amazingackee and @amazingackee so I can see your posts across social media.
Until next time, thanks for stopping by 😊
Mac ‘n Kees
Ingredients
- 2 cups Elbow macaroni
- 1 cup Parboiled ackee**
- Nutritional yeast as needed (optional)
- Salt as needed
Instructions
Prepare the pasta
- In a saucepan, prepare the pasta according to package instructions – be sure to salt your water as this will help to flavour the sauce
- When the pasta is done, reserve a cup of the water and drain
Prepare the “ackee cream”:
- Place prepared ackee in blender and add a few tablespoons of the reserved pasta water and puree till smooth. Add more water a tablespoon at a time till desired consistency is achieved – not too thin, it should be thick enough to coat the pasta well.Taste and adjust salt
- Pour the ackee cream into the saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Add pasta, toss and cook till heated through and sauce thickens to coat the pasta.
- Add desired amount of nutritional yeast if using.
- Note: If you added a bit too much water when you made the cream bring it up to a simmer briefly so that some of the water evaporates and the cream thickens before adding the pasta
- Enjoy!
**I’ve made this dish using both canned and freshly prepared ackees. For the fresh ackees, I had a mixture of both Butter & Cheese Ackee but I wanted the ackee to blend into a smooth silky puree. I took the ackee I needed for the recipe and placed it in a small saucepan with a tablespoon of water and a pinch of baking soda. Covered it and let it simmer over a low heat till all the water had evaporated and then continued with the recipe as shown above.