Description
This delicious healthy Vegan Buffalo Mac and Peas is so easy, packed with tons of bold, spicy flavor, and comes together in 20 minutes! Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, no highly processed ingredients.
Ingredients
Sauce Base Ingredients:
- ½ cup yellow onions, fine dice
- 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoon GF flour (or flour of choice) *
- ½ cup vegetable broth *
- 1 cup water (or broth)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened plain plant yogurt *
- ¼ cup hot sauce *
- 3 Tablespoons tahini
- 3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
Spice/Herb Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 Tablespoons dried minced onions
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt *
Other Ingredients:
- 6 to 10 oz. GF elbow macaroni, uncooked *
- 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
Optional Ingredients:
- 1 cup soy curls (or chickpeas) *
- Drizzle Vegan Ranch Dressing (or Vegan Blue Cheese Dressing)
- Freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
- Fill a large stock pot full of water. Add some sea salt to the water. Bring the water to a boil then add the pasta. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Boil the pasta until el dente, drain, rinse with cold water to remove any excess starch, shake well, set aside, then transfer the cooked pasta into the sauce in Step 5.
- In the meantime, in a large ceramic/enamel lined skillet, Dutch oven, or non-stick skillet, add the finely diced onions, sauté over medium-high heat for 7 to 9 minutes to soften, then add the minced garlic and flour; sauté over medium heat for several minutes.
- Add the vegetable broth and water, increase the heat to a boil, stirring constantly to start to thicken the sauce, then immediately lower to a simmer.
- Then add all the remaining Sauce Base Ingredients and Spice/Herb Ingredients, stir to incorporate. Simmer for 4 minutes.
- Add the cooked elbow pasta and peas, stir well to incorporate, heat through, then serve with a drizzle of your favorite Vegan Ranch Dressing (or Vegan Blue Cheese Dressing) and a sprinkle of freshly chopped parsley.
Notes
*Tips for Success: Make sure you finely dice and sauté the onions really well as the recipe comes together fairly quickly, so you don’t want to chomp on semi-cooked onions.
*Cooked Macaroni: Shake off any excess water and allow to drain for a few minutes, then shake the pasta again before adding to the bowl. Lift up the pasta with your fingers and wiggle with your fingers (to release extra trapped water) as elbow macaroni really tends to hold onto water inside the little tubes of pasta and you want to get as much of that out as possible. Any lingering water that hangs onto the pasta will water down your sauce.
*Flour: We used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all-purpose baking flour blend. You can use the flour of your choice.
*Vegetable Stock: We use Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.
*Optional Soy Curls: If including soy curls, follow rehydration instructions on the package, squeeze out the excess water, then chop into 2-inch pieces, add in Step 4 after the sauce has thickened.
*Pasta: The amount of macaroni used is largely dependent upon if you plan to add in soy curls or chickpeas. If omitting the soy curls or chickpeas, then increase the amount of pasta used from 6 oz. to 10 oz. We used Bionaturae Gluten Free Pasta.
*Hot Sauce: We used Frank’s RedHot Original Hot Sauce.
*Unsweetened Plain Plant Yogurt Substitute: You can substitute with an equal amount of cashew cream if you wish.
*Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing: The Ranch and/or Blue Cheese dressing drizzle is optional. It just has a nice cooling effect in contrast to the heat from the Frank’s RedHot Sauce. We enjoyed our dish both with and without the drizzle of dressing.
*Servings: 4 to 5
*Storage: Refrigerate and use within 5 days.