You are going to love this Vegan Green Chile Mac n' Cheese. The 'cheese' sauce has a creamy cashew base cheese sauce with lots of roasted poblano peppers for added spice and flavor.
The other week I came down with a really bad cold. I'm talking no energy to do anything but sleep. I also didn't want to eat because nothing sounded good. This cold lasted about 6 days; I can't remember the last time that I got sick. By the fourth day, I started to gain back my appetite. The only thing that I wanted was spice: specifically roasted poblano peppers. I have no idea why but that is all I wanted. Pasta also sounded really good to me so I decided to make this Vegan Green Chile Mac n' Cheese recipe. It hit the spot and I started to feel much better.
The pasta sauce is rich, creamy and has this velvety texture that I just love. The roasted poblanos bring a little heat to the sauce, but I wouldn't say that the sauce is extremely spicy. A little cumin and Mexican oregano add a little Tex-Mex flair to the sauce.
Half of the poblanos go into the sauce and the other half get diced and added the pasta. I like to roast a bunch of poblano peppers on the weekend and store them in the fridge to use throughout the week. Roasted poblano peppers are one of my favorite ingredients to have on hand. They are so versatile and you can use them in so many different ways. You can serve this mac n' cheese as a stove top pasta, but I love this mac n' cheese as a baked pasta. The green chile sauce clings to each pasta shell. It's the perfect comfort food!
For a gluten-free mac n'cheese use your favorite pasta. I actually prefer making this Vegan Green Chile Mac n' Cheese with gluten-free pasta. My current favorite is the Ancient Harvest Gluten Free Pasta Shells. The texture holds up to the the sauce really well, even after being baked.
I hope that you enjoy this pasta as much as I did. I think that you'll find it to be creamy, comforting, a little spicy but not too much, and easy enough for a weeknight dinner.
Vegan Green Chile Mac n' Cheese
This Mac n' Cheese is creamy, comforting, a little spicy but not too much and easy enough for a weeknight dinner. Make the roasted poblanos on the weekend to make is weeknight pasta dish a quick meal!
Ingredients
- ¾ Cup Raw Cashews
- ½ Tablespoon Olive Oil
- ½ White Onion, diced
- 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
- 3-4 Poblano Peppers, roasted seeded and diced
- 2 Cups Vegetable Broth
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
- 1-2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
- 1 teaspoon Cumin
- ½ teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- ¼ teaspoon Mexican Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 8 ounces Pasta, gluten free if needed
Instructions
- Soak the cashews for 4 to 6 hours. Drain the cashews and add to a high speed blender. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Boil a large pot of salted water for cooking the pasta. Once boiling, cook pasta according to package directions.
- In a medium saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, 4-6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds more. Transfer to the blender with the cashews. Add half of the roasted poblano peppers {reserving the other half}, the vegetable broth, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, cumin, dijon mustard, oregano, salt and pepper. Blend until completely smooth.
- Pour the blended sauce into the same pan that you cooked the onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat until slightly thickened, 10 to 15 to minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed.
- When the pasta is done cooking drain and add to the sauce once it has thickened. Stir the pasta and add the reserved diced poblano peppers.
- For the baked mac n' cheese, pour the pasta into an 8 by 8 baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes.
Notes
For the roasted poblanos:
Heat a comal or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the poblanos and cook until blackened on all sides, turing often. This will take about 20 minutes for all sides to blackened.
Transfer the peppers to a ziploc bag and let steam for 20 minutes. Once steamed, peel off the charred skin and remove the stem and seeds. Then dice the peppers. Transfer to a storage container with a lid and store in the fridge in advance. This can be done a few days ahead of making the pasta.
Prep time doesn't include soaking the cashews
Recipe adapted from Isa Does It.
Xo Jeni
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