Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

Nutrition

Calories: 493kcal | Carbohydrates: 55.1g | Protein: 25.1g | Fat: 15.8g | Fiber: 12g

This is a great Fall recipe that you can eat as a main or as a side; we like to eat it as a side, paired with some BBQ Seitan! This is a medium protein dish, which gets its protein from the Extra Firm Silken Tofu and Nutritional Yeast. If you want to make this more macro-friendly, you could swap out the macaroni noodles with a red lentil or chickpea pasta replacement; you could also leave off the breadcrumbs to save some non-protein calories.

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Servings 4

US CustomaryMetric

Ingredients

1/2x1x2x3x4x

US CustomaryMetric

Mac & Cheese

• ▢ 4 servings Red Lentil Macaroni Noodles
• ▢ 11 oz Extra Firm Silken Tofu I used Mori Nu
• ▢ 1 Onion diced
• ▢ 1 bulb Garlic minced
• ▢ 3 cup Butternut Squash diced
• ▢ 3/4 cup Nutritional Yeast
• ▢ 1 cup Soy Milk unsweetened
• ▢ 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
• ▢ 1/2 tsp Turmeric
• ▢ 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• ▢ 1 1/2 tsp Salt
• ▢ 1 tsp Rubbed Sage
• ▢ 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

Breadcrumb Topping

• ▢ 2/3 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
• ▢ 2 tbsp Vegan Butter
• ▢ 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
• ▢ 1 cup Vegan Parmesan

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Instructions

 

• Pre-heat oven to 375 ºF (190 C).
• On a parchment paper lined baking sheet, spread out your diced butternut squash and onion. Cook for 15 minutes.
• Add minced garlic to baking sheet, and cook for another 10 minutes, until squash is fork tender.
• Boil a pot of water and cook macaroni noodles per package instructions.
• In a blender, combine veggies, tofu, milk, nutritional yeast, sage, pumpkin pie spice, salt, turmeric, garlic powder, lemon juice until smooth and creamy (you’re blending everything except what’s used to make the breadcrumb topping).
• Drain water from pasta and mix in sauce until well-coated.
• In a small bowl, melt vegan butter.
• Combine melted butter, smoke paprika, breadcrumbs and vegan Parm until well-mixed.
• Transfer the mac and cheese mixture to a casserole dish.
• Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture evenly over the mac and cheese.
• Bake in oven for 15 - 20 minutes. I like to broil at the end for a couple of minutes to brown the breadcrumbs and parm.

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This Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese is the perfect Fall side dish that still adds a little protein your meal! You can also just eat it as a main, which I sometimes do! The protein comes from the silken tofu, nutritional yeast and red lentil pasta. The silken tofu adds a lot of creaminess to the “cheese” sauce without using cashews. The nutritional yeast adds the cheesy flavor – you’ll see a lot of recipes that only use a couple of tablespoons of nutritional yeast, but I love the flavor so I use a lot – it’s also very high in protein! I tend to use lentil pasta for added protein. Extra bonus – this mac & cheese is veggie packed!

Ingredients

Mac & Cheese

• Macaroni noodles – I used lentil macaroni noodles, because they add some extra protein, but feel free to use whatever noodles you like!
• Extra Firm Silken Tofu – make sure you use silken tofu instead of normal tofu. If you use regular tofu (extra firm/super firm), you will end up with something closer to a paste than a sauce. If you haven’t used silken tofu before, there are two types – refrigerated and shelf-stable – both will work for this recipe! The refrigerated silken tofu is usually next to the other tofus at most grocery stores. The shelf-stable silken tofu tends to be in the International Food isle (at least in the States). You can also buy the shelf-stable variety online. I like the brand Mori-Nu and usually buy their Extra Firm Silken Tofu.
• Nutritional Yeast – this is a must-have ingredient if you’re making non-dairy cheese flavored things! Nutritional Yeast is a shelf-stable ingredient that you can find at most grocery stores and you can also buy it online! It also has a lot of protein!
• Onion
• Garlic – I use fresh garlic because I think it tastes better. You can use pre-minced garlic if you’re trying to save time though!
• Butternut Squash – fresh or frozen will work!
• Soy milk – this is my prefered plant-based milk because it has the best macros, but you can use whichever milk you like. I prefer to use a creamy milk for this like soy or oat milk.
• Lemon – I try to use fresh lemons when possible but store-bought lemon juice will also work. If you don’t have either, you could try using a mild vinegar like apple cider or white wine vinegar since the lemon juice is used to add acidity to the cheese sauce.
• Turmeric, garlic powder, salt, rubbed sage, pumpkin pie spice

Breadcrumb Topping

• Breadcrumbs – I really love panko breadcrumbs, but you can use whichever breadcrumbs you like. If you’re feeling adventurous and want to add some extra protein to the recipe, you can use half breadcrumbs/half TVP
• Vegan butter – I usually use Miyokos but any brand will work.
• Smoke Paprika
• Vegan Parmesan – I used Follow Your Heart because it browns amazingly well in the oven

Silly Little Haiku

Veggies in the sauce

So you can trick your children

Make them eat veggies