It doesn’t get much better than a creamy fulfilling meal filled with healthy ingredients. This vegan green mac and cheese packed with spinach is the ultimate in kid and adult comfort food, perfect for St. Patrick’s day or any time you crave it!
Whether you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day or just need a big dose of greens, when there’s food this easy and good you better run to your kitchen! This creamy, super healthy, vegan green mac and cheese is the perfect easy way to get in on the festivities. I filled it with hidden veggies, packed it with spinach, but shhhh! Don’t tell the kids (or the husband)!
What’s better than regular mac and cheese? Mac and cheese packed with greens!
I usually make my vegan mac and cheese with veggie based cheesy sauces (see this post, this post and this one for more delicious vegan mac and cheese sauces) but this is the first fun colorful mac and cheese on the blog. The timing is perfect for St. Patrick’s day, but let’s be clear, you should eat this ANY DAY. So many reasons why:
- hidden cauliflower
- packed with spinach but undetectable in taste
- fun and colorful
- easy to make with a quick zip in the trusty high speed blender (or regular blender when you grind the cashews or soak them well)
- perfectly festive for St. Patrick’s day, Easter or even Christmas
- you can tell the kids the leprechauns made their dinner green but secretly you’re packing them with veggies
See, he doesn’t even know…
No Leprechauns were harmed in this meal
My kids didn’t even question the green part of this vegan green mac and cheese, because when you jump up and down like a crazy person and say you made leprechaun mac and cheese and yell “HOORAY!”, no one cries “WHY IS MY FOOD GREEN?!” The only snafu was when they looked wide eyed at me and asked if I made it with actual leprechauns, so I had to think fast and assure them it was purely four leaf clovers. Phew. Crisis averted.
Since dinner was silent, and everyone gobbled it up, this was a must share. We do not celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in our house (because I have enough holidays to worry about), but we eat this year round, and now that I have this green mac and cheese that is super fast and easy to whip up, I figure I may as well put this in the rotation on leprechaun day.
You can pretend too, or if you celebrate add this to your menu. It’s the prefect way to be a fun parent without a major Pinterest fail (you know you’ve had them). I’m laying it out easy, nothing fancy, nothing that takes hours to do.
Here it is, 3 tips for plant-based fun food success:
- Make it.
- Embrace the silence that ensues when it is served.
- Make sure to make it clear that this was made with pure four leaf clovers and no leprechauns were harmed.
This recipe was originally published on 3/13/2017
It doesn't get much better than a creamy fulfilling meal filled with healthy ingredients. This vegan green mac and cheese packed with spinach is the ultimate in kid and adult comfort food, perfect for St. Patrick's day or any time you crave it!
- 1 cup cauliflower , chopped, about ¼ of a head
- 1 cup cooked potato , about 1 medium potato
- ¼ of a medium onion
- 1 cup fresh spinach
- 1 clove garlic , medium size
- ¾ cup raw cashews (see note)
- ½ cup unsweetened almond or cashew milk , I use Silk brand
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seed powder
- 16 ounces your favorite pasta
Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C).
- Chop cauliflower and sprinkle with a bit of broth or oil. Spread out on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes until slightly crisp.
- Meanwhile, cook potato and onion by boiling until soft.
Once cauliflower, potato and onion are done, put them in a high speed blender with all other ingredients, except pasta, and blend until smooth.
Cook your favorite pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse, then return to pot.
Pour sauce over pasta and mix over low heat until thick and gooey. Serve!
- Sauce makes about 3 cups.
- The best method to cook the potato is by boiling it with the onion. See instructions.
- If you are not using a high speed blender you can either soak the cashews overnight or grind them into a fine powder using a coffee grinder.
Tips to prep ahead
- Cook cauliflower, potato and onion.
Baby/toddler food idea
- Best kid food ever. Overcook pasta for young baby and mash well.
Becky Striepe says
I love this! What a festive way to sneak in some extra veggies.
veggiesdontbite says
Thank you!!
Angie S says
I thought for SURE the green came from an avocado! Looks good and cute pics of the fam!
veggiesdontbite says
Nope! Ha. Thank you!!
Dianne says
I love how festively green this is, and I love all of those hidden veggies!
veggiesdontbite says
Thanks Dianne!
Casey the College Celiac says
What a cute idea! And I’m a sucker for a good vegan cheese sauce…
veggiesdontbite says
Thanks so much! It’s so yum!
Mandy says
Awwww!!! I love these pics of your beautiful family! And obviously the teaser pics of the cookbook 🙂 This mac and cheese looks sooooooo good! So creamy and any time you can sneak a little bit of green into a meal is a huge bonus…St. Patrick’s Day or not. I’m definitely going to make this ASAP!
veggiesdontbite says
Thank you Mandy!! I think you guys would love this one. My kids, and the biggest hubby kid, devoured it! Let me know if you try it!
The Vegan 8 says
Ok, the recipe sounds delicious but I must admit my favorite part of this post are those pics! I LOVE that pic of you and Leo looking at each other…soooo cute!! And then the family photo where y’all are all smiling and he’s looking at the camera like, “what’s up”, LOL! So freaking funny! I can see why everybody loved the mac and cheese too, yum!
veggiesdontbite says
Haha! Yes, he was not impressed with our funny faces. It was such a fun shoot!! Thank you!
Mandy says
I’m typing this one-handed as Willow is sleeping on my other one so I apologize for any typos ? THIS SAUCE is freaking amazing!!!!! Omg. I made this for my whole family yesterday and everyone approved (even my hard to impress grandmother). They enjoyed it with both gluten free noodles and spiralized sweet potato. I kept sneaking bites of the sauce while the noodles were cooking – i couldn’t get enough of the flavor! It had a tangy zip to it and the creaminess factor is just incredible. I’m so grateful that I can have cashews again…I’m hoping I can be friends with beans again soon because I’ve been dreaming about your cauliflower dip!! Wonderful recipe, my friend!! ❤
veggiesdontbite says
Thank you so much Mandy!! I’m so happy you guys love it as much as we do. I baked it tonight with a crispy breadcrumb topping and it was devoured! I loved your use of it on IG with the veggies, I shared on my page! Hope that was okay. I’m thrilled you made up with cashews! I’d be doomed without them. LOL!
Linda @ Veganosity says
LOVE those pictures! My favorite is the one with the signs. Everyone is making a silly face, and the baby is like, “I have nothing to do with these people.” So fun. 🙂
The sauce sounds fantastic, nothing wrong with being sneaky when it comes to spinach. Although, I have to admit that I’m wondering what clovers would taste like?
veggiesdontbite says
Thank you so much Linda! Yes, he was NOT impressed by our jokes. LOL And I’m pretty sure clovers are delicious 😉
Michelle Blackwood says
Oh my, I love everything about this post. Such a healthy and creamy Mac and Cheese recipe and you and your family are so beautiful.
veggiesdontbite says
Thanks Michelle! You are too sweet. The kids love the dish so much that I have made it many times already!
Alisa Fleming says
OMG, I don’t think I’ve ever seen kids happier to eat veggies! But I would have been pretty darn happy if my mom fed me that mac ‘n cheese, too!
veggiesdontbite says
Ha! Thanks Alisa! They loved it especially my picky middle one!
Shaylen says
This tasted awful, I took a bite and wanted to throw up immediately ?
veggiesdontbite says
Hi Shaylen, it sounds to me like you didn’t follow the directions. I have had many people make this with big success. Not to mention, my 5 year old is the worlds pickiest eater and he devoured this so I’m pretty sure it isn’t awful. It’s pretty important to follow a recipe to the tee in order for it to work. Best of luck in your future recipe tries.
JD says
I’m an adult and I love this Mac and cheese! An easy way for me to eat my greens.
Belinda says
My husband and I both agreed that this dish was really good. You really do need to have a high speed blender to process everything – really made my Vitamix work. I did use some of my pasta water to thin out the sauce.
veggiesdontbite says
Hi Belinda! I am so happy you guys liked this! If you look at the notes in the recipe, you actually can get a pretty smooth sauce using a regular blender by grinding the cashews first with a coffee grinder. I had to do this once when I had no access to my trusty vitamix and it worked really well! I was super surprised.
Aylin says
Can I ask what you used the veggie broth for? It was in your notes on the bottom of the recipe.
Regards
Aylin
veggiesdontbite says
Hi Aylin! Thanks for catching that. I have been going through and double checking all of my recipes since I transferred to a new recipe plugin and a few things got messed up, and I did not catch that. I don’t use broth in this recipe, I use the cashew milk instead.