If pasta in a creamy, dreamy pumpkin sauce sounds good to you, you will love this vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese made from real Hokkaido pumpkin, not pumpkin purée.
This is the perfect fall-ified version of mac and cheese: Vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese.
The creamy sauce is made with
- cashew cream (cashews mixed with water)
- roasted Hokkaido pumpkin cubes
- roasted onion
You can serve this Pumpkin Mac and Cheese as a main dish or as a side dish with e.g. vegan steak, sausages, or part of a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast.
How to make Vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
The ingredients
- elbow pasta or macaroni pasta
- Hokkaido pumpkin
- yellow onion
- oil (olive oil for coating the pumpkin cubes and onion works fine)
- cashews (I use roasted & salted cashews, but you can also use unsalted, unroasted cashews, just add a bit more salt)
- salt
- water
Possible Add-Ins
You can also upgrade this Vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese by adding:
- peas
- spinach
- caramelized onions
- crispy tofu/tempeh cubes
- mushrooms
- roasted Brussels sprouts
The basic steps
Serve it with…
- Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts in Soy Sauce
- Braised Red Cabbage
- Vegan Steak with Herb Butter and Roasted Potatoes
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I hope you enjoy this vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese as much as I do! Let me know if you give it a try!
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Cheers, Bianca
Vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
If pasta in a creamy, dreamy pumpkin sauce sounds good to you, you will love this vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese made from real Hokkaido pumpkin, not pumpkin purée.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups elbow pasta
- 1/2 Hokkaido pumpkin halved, deseeded, peeled, cut into cubes (300g)
- 1 yellow onion roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/3 cup cashews roasted & salted are the best to use; but unroasted and unsalted is okay too!
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt more to taste
Instructions
- Put the pumpkin cubes on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Drizzle them with olive oil. Mix well until coated evenly. Spread them out. Add roughly chopped yellow onion. Bake at 400°F/200°C for about 30-35 minutes until slightly brown and soft.
- Meanwhile, boil the pasta. (Save the pasta water for the pumpkin sauce)
- Blend cashews and water in a blender to make cashew cream.
- Into the cashew cream, add the roasted pumpkin, onion, and salt. Blend. Add more and more pasta water until it is thin enough to pour. I added 2/3 cup of pasta water.
- Pour the pumpkin sauce over the drained pasta and mix well! And it's ready to serve. I've added chopped fresh parsley on top.
Nutrition
Calories: 732kcalCarbohydrates: 132gProtein: 23gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gSodium: 411mgPotassium: 1254mgFiber: 9gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 3099IUVitamin C: 31mgCalcium: 108mgIron: 4mg
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