Vegan pumpkin cauliflower mac and cheese is a creamy and delicious plant based meal that is perfect for fall! It’s easy to make, packed with nutrition, and a great option if you follow a dairy free diet or are lactose intolerant!
Seriously what can’t you add pumpkin to these days?! If you follow me on Instagram then you know I push the pumpkin envelop and try to cook or bake it into as many foods as possible in the fall! It’s kind of my thing 🙂
Sweet or savory pumpkin puree can add nutrition to any baked good, pasta sauce, oat milk latte and more. Pumpkin is busting with vitamin A, C, E as well as fiber and potassium. Not every pumpkin product out there contains real pumpkin, so be weary of that when you’re going down the aisles of Target in the fall!
On chilly fall nights when you want a big hot bowl of noodles, kick things up a notch with this dairy free pumpkin mac and cheese recipe. Many dairy free pumpkin mac and cheese recipes use cashews as the base for the sauce, and I like those versions too, but for this one I wanted to see what would happen if I blended roasted cauliflower instead!
Turns out when you roast cauliflower and then blend it like I did here with pumpkin puree and the other ingredients you do get a pasta sauce-like consistency. The cauliflower taste is not super overpowering and is really masked by the pumpkin puree and nut cheese flavor of the nutritional yeast.
The shredded zucchini mixed in with the noodles adds more nutrition and texture in a fun way. Again, you can’t really taste it but it’s adding vitamin C, A, and fiber to each bite! Zucchini is in the squash family, so the more the merrier!
If you want to know more about veggies that are in season in the fall plus some recipes for how to use them, be sure to check out this blog post on the nutritional benefits of fall produce!
Ingredients in Vegan Pumpkin Cauliflower Mac and Cheese:
- 1 head of cauliflower
- pumpkin puree
- 1 zucchini
- pasta noodles of your choice
- unsweetened almond milk
- nutritional yeast
- avocado oil
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- cinnamon
- apple cider vinegar
- dijon mustard
- salt and pepper
- pumpkin seeds
Vegan Pumpkin Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 box 16 oz whole wheat, gluten free or chickpea pasta, cooked as directed ( I used Banza cavatappi here!)
- 1 can 15 oz. pumpkin puree
- 1 medium zucchini
- 1 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp. avocado oil
- 1 tbsp. dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp. tahini
- 2 tsp. garlic powder
- 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- ½ tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 415 degrees F. Wash and chop the head of cauliflower into florets and toss them in the coconut oil.
- 2. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes. Cook the pasta according to package directions, and shred the entire zucchini and squeeze out the excess water using a paper towel.
- 3. Once the cauliflower has roasted and cooled slightly, add it plus the other ingredients to a high speed blender or food processor.
- 4. Blend until creamy and the consistency has reached the same as pasta sauce ( you may need to add more almond milk, 1 tbsp at a time)
- 5. Transfer to a skillet to heat up, adding the pasta and the sauce and still together until covered. Add the shredded zucchini and mix everything together.
- 6. In a separate small bowl toast the pumpkin seeds on medium-low heat until they look shiny, puffed up a little and you hear a few little popping noises.
- 6. Transfer to a bowl and top with toasted pumpkin seeds and extra nutritional yeast on top if desired.
- 7. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
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