Sweet Potato Mac & “Cheese”

I have been making this recipe for a few years now. It is the ultimate comfort food for those who are trying to cut down on dairy. It seems like the best comfort foods are usually made of 80% cheese. Probably because cheese is so good and one of the more challenging things to cut out. Also considering that most vegan-cheese recipes are not very appetizing, personally, I rather just avoid them.

I like this recipe because you literally just put a bunch of stuff in the blender, and its done. This sauce is really good, and honestly just as satisfying as the real cheese sauce. I tend to make it the vegan way (described below), but sometimes I sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top for that extra touch.

Nutritional yeast is probably something new to non-vegans, as it is usually used only in vegan recipes. I actually really like it’s nutty taste, so I use it both in vegan and non-vegan recipes. If you are not vegan, you can just use parmesan cheese as a replacement.

This is also a great recipe because it is very versatile, the kind of thing you can pull together with ingredients you may have laying around at home. For example, you can also use canned or frozen sweet potatoes. If you don’t have sweet potato, you can use a combination of carrots and regular potatoes instead, or pumpkin. 

The milk is actually optional, you can also just use water (leftover boiling water), or use any other alternative milk (almond, soy, etc.) or dairy product, depending on your dietary choices. I often make too much of this sauce, so I freeze it. It is easy to unfreeze and pour over pasta later.

Step 1 – Boil it

Peel the sweet potato, cut into chunks and boil along with the onions until soft.

Step 2 – Blend it

Strain the sweet potato and onions and place in blender, with all other ingredients. Make sure to save the boiled water and use this water for the recipe. Blend until smooth and creamy. If the sauce is still too thick, add water or milk of choice until the right consistency is achieved. Add more salt to taste if needed.   

Step 3 – Mix it

Once the sauce is ready, return to pot and mix with pasta. Mix well until hot. Season with some paprika powder or chili flakes on top.

Although to me food isn’t food unless it’s HOT, this one really goes well with some hot sauce.

VOILA!

Sweet Potato Mac & "Cheese"

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Servings 4

Ingredients

  

• 1 large sweet potato
• 2 small-medium onion or 2 tsp onion powder
• 1 clove of garlic or 1 tsp of garlic powder
• 1/2 cup water*
• 1/4 cup canned coconut milk or any other milk of choice*
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (vegan) and/or grated parmesan cheese (non-vegan)
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt, to taste

Notes

Other optional ingredients:

½ teaspoon grated whole nutmeg
½ teaspoon dried rosemary

* the recipe needs about 3/4 cups of liquid. How you wish to make up this amount is up to you. The more milk you use the silkier the sauce will be. If you don’t have any milk, using only water also works well. Make sure to save the water from boiling the sweet potatoes. As for the milk you use, it can really be any milk of your choice as long as it is not sweetened.