Cheesy, vegan, & delicious kid-friendly mac and cheese!
Grown ups love this mac and cheese because it is packed with nutrition and is a wholesome option for lunch or dinner that you can feel good about serving to the entire family.
And kids love this mac and cheese… because it just tastes really good!
With the recent controversy surrounding boxed macaroni and cheese, after an article in The New York Times revealed that high concentrations of potentially harmful chemicals may be present in boxes from brands such as Kraft, I wanted to come up with a healthier alternative to boxed mac and cheese that’s actually GOOD for you, without all the artificial colors and flavors.
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Okay, so the photo totally gave it away.
Yes, there’s cauliflower in here… and carrot too!
The cauliflower thickens the sauce and adds creaminess without the saturated fat of heavy cream, while the Vitamin A-packed carrot gives it that classic cheesy color without any unnatural food dyes or preservatives.
And yet, if you don’t already know beforehand that the veggies are in there, you won’t be able to tell.
I adapted this recipe from a pasta alfredo recipe posted on the blog awhile back, but the inspiration to use carrot (and also wagon wheel pasta) actually came from a packaged product I often see at Whole Foods but have never tried, called Kidfresh Wagon Wheels Mac + Cheese.
One day, while in the frozen section of the store (probably looking for ice cream!), the Kidfresh box caught my eye with its claim of “Creamy Cheese Sauce With Hidden Vegetables.”
After inspecting the ingredients out of curiosity and seeing that carrot was the hidden vegetable, I was too intrigued not to try adding carrot to my own homemade cheese sauce.
They were definitely on to something, because it worked really well!
Kid-Friendly Mac & Cheese Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw cauliflower florets
- 2/3 cup chopped carrot
- 1 cup unsweetened milk of choice or nondairy creamer
- 2 tbsp oil or buttery spread
- 3/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp salt (I like 1 tsp)
- 1/4 cup cheese-style shreds or nutritional yeast
Instructions
- *This sauce can go on anything you wish! If you want to make macaroni and cheese, it will cover about 5 servings of pasta (uncooked 10 oz total pasta).Bring first six ingredients to a boil in a medium pot. Cover and lower to a simmer 25 minutes or until the vegetables are fall-apart tender. Stir in the yeast or cheesy shreds until melted. Pulverize completely, using an immersion or regular blender. Add a little more milk of choice for a thinner sauce. I can’t vouch for the taste if you omit the oil or buttery spread, as I’ve not tried that omission.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
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*Gasp!* Yum!!! I love cheese sauces made with vegetables! I once did a different one with yellow zucchini squash and carrot (which is delicious), but not cauliflower, yet! I am DEFINITELY making this as soon as we get some more cauliflower!! And wagon wheels–best kind of mac and cheese ever, not only for their great shape, but because they hold more sauce!
Thank you, Katie!
Have to make this week!
Xo,
Em
This looks so fantastic. I can’t wait to try it out on my kids. They love CCK recipes and so do I.
Is the 1 cup of milk the liquid that we are bringing to a boil? Or do we also add a few cups of water?
No extra water.
Now you just need a version that has lower Sodium. People who have Heart Disease are limited to 2,000 mg of sodium a day. One serving of this dish uses 1/4 of your daily allowance. Meal planning/eating is quite challenging. No one seems to be considering sodium levels. Oprah’s new side dishes have the same problem. I’m not wasting my limit on a 1/2 cup side dish.
You could always use just a dash, or eliminate the sodium completely. The recipe does say, “to suit desired taste” so use what you’re comfortable with. Katie makes the recipes as she likes them and gives options for her readers. I say the salt amount in this recipe is an option. And of course, play around with your seasonings. I think some garlic, a little pepper, maybe a squirt of mustard would be really tasty in here.
I would just opt for a salt free seasoning and serve over veg vs. pasta. Problem solved 😉
Amazing! Kids are definitely going to love this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
This looks amazing! I’m totally going to make it for my kids next week!
Paige
wow, who knew you could make such a healthy mac and cheese that adults would like too, and with cauliflower! I’m impressed, thank you!
I tried making vegan macaroni and cheese the other day. Ehhhhh, did not go too well! Definitely will try making this rendition of the sauce for sure!
I’ve made the cauli alfredo sauce a million times but I actually liked this even better! I doubled everything except the earth balance (just used one T total) and since I’m kid-free added canned chipotles in adobo sauce. Tossed it into the vitamix and blended until super creamy and served it over a giant bowl of roasted brussel sprouts for a decadent, high volume/low cal dinner to offset the rest of my weekend indulgences 🙂
Sooo good!!! My 2 year old and I have had this for dinner already.. twice! The sauce made a lot more than I expected it to (about 3x more) so we froze it, defrosted it last night, reheated on the stove and it tasted just as good! It’s by far the best vegan mac n cheese I’ve tried, not only the taste, but the fact that it contains only minimal amount of vegan cheese (that stuff is so full of chemicals) and much less calories as well! We used Trader Joe’s brown rice/quinoa Fussili pasta and it was amazing. A+++ / 5 Stars
So great to know it freezes well!
Do I add water to boil? I’d love to make this now…
Can you use regular shredded cheese? We are not vegan but I love the idea of sneaking veggies into one of my kids favorite foods. I hate the boxed mac and cheese, so full of junk so this would be a great alternative!
Thanks!
Yes, in any of Katie’s recipes where it says cheese shreds of choice, that is fine to use whatever ones you want, as many of her readers are not vegan and make the recipes to suit their own needs.
Would using chopped up baby carrots work?
Yep, tried it. Works fine.
Hi, thank you so much for this recipe! I made this and it was absolutely delicious! It didn’t pass off for the real Mac and cheese with my kids, but they loved it as another pasta dish. As for me, I don’t even like pasta and I’ll be making this again today ?
I added broth to the pot and ate this as soup. Yummy!
Katie! OMG this is amazing! I made it for dinner tonight (to be served over penne pasta and sauteed mushrooms and I can’t even believe how amazing this is. Thank you!
I felt the same way! Never thought it would be so good!