Instant Pot Vegan Mac and Cheese
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Instant Pot Vegan Mac and Cheese is a staple for any busy family wanting to get a healthy dinner on the table quickly and effortlessly.
Instant Pot Vegan mac and cheese.
It’s totally a thing, and it’s a thing you are going to want to know about, especially if you’re trying to adapt a dairy-free/plant-based lifestyle on a busy schedule!
This vegan Instant Pot mac and cheese is comfort food at its finest. It’s a bowlful of warmth that will remind you of your favorite pasta dish from childhood, and it’s WAY better than the type that comes in a blue box.
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Also, check out this vegan mac and cheese and vegan broccoli mac and cheese. There’s no such thing as knowing too many mac and cheese recipes!
Why You’ll Love This Instant Pot Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe
- This vegan mac and cheese recipe is super easy and fast. The Instant Pot cooks the pasta and veggies at the same time, so you don’t need to use the stovetop!
- Since it’s vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free, everyone can indulge in a cozy bowl of mac and cheese without allergy worries.
- This vegan Instant Pot mac and cheese is adaptable! Use your favorite pasta, add more vegetables, or tweak the sauce’s flavor with various seasonings.
Ingredients And Substitutions
Dried elbow macaroni – Feel free to use whole wheat pasta in this vegan Instant Pot mac and cheese for a fiber boost.
Olive oil and water – For cooking the pasta in the Instant Pot. The oil keeps it from sticking.
Raw cashews – The star ingredients to make a creamy and cheesy mac and cheese sauce without dairy. No butternut squash here!
Potato and carrots – Before serving your Instant Pot vegan mac and cheese, you can fold in more veggies to make it extra hearty! Fresh baby spinach, roasted broccoli, or steamed green beans will make delicious additions to this comforting meal.
Garlic and vegan butter – These get cooked with the veggies to add depth of flavor.
Water – For cooking the vegetables in the Instant Pot.
Additional cheese sauce ingredients:
Unsweetened almond milk and vegetable broth – These two make up the rich and flavorful base of the plant-based mac and cheese sauce.
Onion powder, salt, and paprika – Put your own spin to this vegan mac and cheese with various spices and seasonings! For example, Dijon mustard can help balance the richness of the sauce.
Nutritional yeast – The vegan cheese substitute to this Instant Pot mac and cheese.
Tapioca flour – Thickens the vegan cheese sauce.
Fresh lemon juice – The added tang helps boost that familiar cheesy flavor we love in mac and cheese.
Tips For Making This Recipe
No Trivet? No Problem!
If you don’t have a trivet, cook the veggies on the stovetop. Add the cashews, potatoes, carrots, and garlic to a pot, cover them with water, and boil over high heat. Then, lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes or until the veggies are soft enough to go into the blender.
Avoid Mushy Pasta
When cooking macaroni in the Instant Pot, do the quick release immediately once the 4-minute cook time is up. If you leave it sitting, you’ll risk overcooking the pasta.
Storage and Reheating Tips
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. To serve, reheat your mac and cheese on the stovetop, adding some plant-based milk if the pasta seems dry.
Vegan Instant Pot Mac and Cheese Recipe FAQs
Can you make this recipe without an Instant Pot?
If you don’t have an Instant Pot, boil the pasta and cook the veggies on the stovetop separately. However, this vegan mac and cheese is quick and easy because it’s made in an Instant Pot.
Does this vegan mac and cheese taste like real mac and cheese?
Not exactly. The truth of the matter is that nothing really does, and you kind of have to learn to accept that. However, this Instant Pot vegan mac and cheese is close enough to the real thing with its creamy texture and rich, savory flavor.
Is this Instant Pot vegan mac and cheese gluten-free?
Yes. Just double-check the ingredients, especially the pasta.
Is it okay to freeze Instant Pot vegan mac and cheese?
I don’t recommend freezing this Instant Pot vegan mac n’ cheese, as the texture will not be the same after thawing and reheating.
How to quick release Instant Pot without making a mess?
When doing a quick release, you want to move the pressure release valve VERY slowly and carefully so the pasta water doesn’t spray all over your kitchen.
More Delicious Vegan Pasta and Sauce Recipes
- Vegan Spaghetti Squash Alfredo
- Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff
- One-Pot Classic Mushroom Vegan Bolognese Sauce
- Easy Creamy Vegan Alfredo Sauce
- Vegan Pasta Puttanesca
I found this recipe for Vegan Lasagna that I HAVE to try!
Yay! You have made it this far, and I am so glad! Hey – If you make this recipe, I’d love for you to give it a quick review & star rating ★ below. Your comment and/or rating helps other readers!
Instant Pot Vegan Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried elbow macaroni
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp vegan butter
- 1/4 cup water
More vegan cheese sauce ingredients:
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 3/4 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 and 1/2 tbsp tapioca flour
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Add the macaroni, olive oil, and water to the Instant Pot.
- Place a trivet on top of the pasta and set a cake pan over the trivet.
- Add the cashews, chopped potatoes, carrots, garlic, vegan butter, and 1/4 cup of water to the cake pan. Cover with a foil.
- Cover the Instant Pot with its lid and make sure the vent is closed.
- Cook at High Pressure for 4 minutes. Once the cook time is finished, immediately do a quick release.
- Remove the cake pan from the Instant Pot and pour its contents into the blender.
- Remove the trivet and stir the pasta.
- Add the remaining sauce ingredients to the blender and blend on High for 30 seconds or until smooth.
- Pour the sauce mixture back into the Instant Pot and mix everything well. The sauce will initially look thin, but it’ll thicken as you stir it with the pasta for a few minutes.
Notes
- If you don’t have a trivet, cook the veggies on the stovetop. Add the cashews, potatoes, carrots, and garlic to a pot, cover them with water, and boil over high heat. Then, lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes or until the veggies are soft enough to go into the blender.
- When cooking macaroni in the Instant Pot, do the quick release immediately once the 4-minute cook time is up. If you leave it sitting, you’ll risk overcooking the pasta.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. To serve, reheat your mac and cheese on the stovetop, adding some plant-based milk if the pasta seems dry.
This came out so delicious even though I used a different type of pasta. The sauce is unbelievably creamy and savory. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hi Melinda, this is amazing to hear. Thanks for taking the time to share how the recipe turned out for you.
Can you cut this recipe in half?
Hi Chris, I haven’t tried that so I am not sure if it would work.
Hello,
I would love to give this recipe a try tonight, however, we don’t use Nutrional Yeast. Is there something I can sub for it, or just simply omit it? Thanks so much.
So nutritional yeast adds a somewhat nutty cheesy flavor to foods, which is why vegans love it so much. While there’s not really a substitute for it, you can blend up all the other ingredients, give it a taste and adjust with other seasonings if it doesn’t seem as flavorful. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!
I haven’t ever tried the full recipe in the instant pot because I don’t have a trivet, but this sauce has become a staple in my home! I usually steam all the sauce ingredients (the ones that would go in the instant pot) in a saucepan, then add to a blender with the other ingredients. I absolutely love to add salsa to this and use it as queso dip. It’s reminiscent of a cheese dip my mom used to make. Love, love, love it! Thank you for the recipe ❤️
Made my family super happy! My daughter recently found out she can’t tolerate dairy, this recipe made her day! She said it was amazing and taste like cracker barrel! Didn’t have all the correct tools and I think I messed up the pasta ratio so we had a ton of sauce leftover. Definitely will make this again!
Hi! This recipe was delicious! My partner and I have been obsessed with our IP and have been looking at so many recipes. My question is how to make the sauce a little less floury. I could have used too much nutritional yeast, but I wasn’t sure if the recipe just results in the sauce being a bit grainy. I want to make this for a big group of non-vegans and I worry they won’t be able to handle the texture. Additionally, do you have any advice for reheating this recipe? I would like to cook it the night before. I am a student and much of my cooking is done at random times of day and then reheated later.
Thank you so much!
Hi, just wanted to let you know I made this and it was delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I’m not vegan, but I have been exploring vegan recipes as a way to reduce cholesterol from my diet. The only changes I made were that I used coconut oil instead of vegan butter and potato starch instead of tapioca four or corn starch because that was what I had on hand. One thing I want to add in reply to the commenter who said the pasta was overcooked and veggies undercooked is that in my experience altitude and the brand of pasta you use can throw off an Instant Pot recipe. It doesn’t mean a recipe is bad if you don’t get it right the first time, you just have to make adjustments to figure out what works best for you. I live at a higher altitude so I usually add 2 minutes to the cook time unless the person sharing a recipe mentions that they also live high altitude. And I have used a brand of elbow macaroni before that took nearly twice as long to cook as another brand just to reach the same consistency.
Thank you so much for chiming in Ashlee! This is definitely one of our staple recipes in my home. I 100% agree. A recipe that works for one person may not work for another, and there can be so many different factors. I’m actually high altitude myself and often forget that factor when a recipe may not work for a reader, so I appreciate you pointing that out.
Does this mean if I am not high altitude that I should reduce the amount of time your recipes say to cook them?
Can this sauce be made separately and re-heated
Yes, I often make the sauce separate and use it for other recipes.
Just came across this recipe and want to give it a try. The recommended trivet, which is 2.7 inches high, doesn’t seem like it would be tall enough to cook 16 oz. of pasta beneath it. Is this the correct size trivet?
yes that’s right! It’ll rest right on top of the pasta and cook it just right! enjoy
This recipe did not work on many levels. The pasta was over cooked and vegetable way under cooked. Ended up with a longer process as I had to redo the pasta and then had to put in the steamer for the veggies. Fail.
I’m so sorry to hear that this didn’t work for you Heather! I’ve made this over 25 times and the veggies are always very soft with the pasta being just about al dente for me. This is also a recipe that can be made on the stove alternatively
I was a little nervous trying this because of this comment, but I realized her veggies were probably undercooked because they weren’t cut small enough. I diced my veggies really small and used gluten free pasta. The pasta came out a little “slimy” – which is what happens when you do IP pasta, but is perfect for this recipe because it mixes well with the sauce. Also – be sure to immediately do a quick release when the 4 minutes are up.
So pleased with how this turned out. Yum!
YAY! Love that you gave it a shot anyway and that it turned out perfectly for you.
This was my first vegan recipe ever made, and I loved it! Definitely goin in my recipe book. Thank you!