Vegan Mushroom Spinach Mac and Cheese Skillet! Welcome to the Vegan Mushroom Spinach Mac and Cheese Skillet, where we take your childhood favorite and give it a grown-up twist that’s so delicious.

Indulge in the ultimate comfort food experience with this delectable Vegan Mushroom Spinach Mac and Cheese Skillet! Picture a creamy, cheesy blend that envelops perfectly cooked pasta, all brought to life with the earthy flavors of sautéed mushrooms and spinach. Each bite is a symphony of rich goodness, perfectly balanced with a delightful tang that will awaken your taste buds.

Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

Hi there, Ameera here!

Calling all mushroom lovers! This Whole Food Plant-Based Oil Free Vegan Mushroom Spinach Mac and Cheese Skillet is the comfort food you’ve been dreaming of. Packed with rich, savory flavors and creamy goodness, this guilt-free dish takes classic mac and cheese to a whole new level without a drop of oil.

You gotta give this one a try!

Tips for Success:

• Flavor Profile: This delicious mushroom and spinach mac and cheese is a rich and indulgent mac and cheese. It has a flavorful tang from the Dijon mustard, ume plum vinegar, and distilled white vinegar. It is very flavorful with a hint of cheesiness. It is definitely an adult mac and cheese.
• Mushroom Powerhouse: Mushrooms are packed with selenium which helps make antioxidants to prevent cell damage.  They are also full of vitamin B6 that helps support the nervous system and form red blood cells. They are also an excellent source of zinc which supports your immune system. They can help lower blood pressure, supports weight loss, protects brain health and improves gut health.
• Tanginess: The sauce has delicious tang. We love that yummy tang. If you are concerned, then feel free to scale back on the distilled white vinegar, Dijon mustard, or ume plum vinegar.
• Ume Plum Vinegar: We used Eden Ume Plum Vinegar. We get a lot of questions on ume plum vinegar.  It is fairly inexpensive and adds amazing flavor. You can find it in most health food grocery stores (or you can purchase it online). You can leave it out if you can’t find it, adjust your flavors accordingly. We have quite a few recipes that use ume plum vinegar as it adds dimension to dishes.
• Large Deep Skillet Sautéing: There is no need to clean the skillet after removing the sautéed onions and garlic and moving them to the high-speed blender, and then sautéing the mushrooms in the tamari.
• Tamari: We used San J Tamari Soy Sauce, Gluten Free, Reduced Sodium. You can substitute the tamari with reduced sodium soy sauce, Braggs Liquid Aminos, or Braggs Coconut Liquid Aminos.
• Mushrooms: We used Baby Bella mushrooms. Feel free to use your favorite mushrooms in this dish.
• Mushroom Liquids: When sautéing the mushrooms to get them to reduce in size, they will release quite a bit of liquids when sautéing them in the tamari, which is exactly what you want. Once the mushrooms have reduced in size by approximately half, then move to the next step. If there is any mushroom liquid still remaining in the skillet, keep it. It will add additional flavor to the dish.
• Cashew Substitutes: You can try the typical cashew substitutes: silken tofu, white beans, other nuts or seeds with the understanding that the flavor and texture will change accordingly.  You may need to adjust/add ingredients to compensate.   We have not tested any substitutions.
• Sauciness: This mac and cheese is saucy. The sauce easily and lusciously coats the 6 oz. macaroni, mushrooms, and spinach nicely. You could push it to 8 oz. with the understanding that the dish will not be as saucy. Additionally, if you increase any of the ingredients or add other ingredients, the dish could be on the dry side. If you prefer sauciness, then scale back to 6 oz. of pasta.
• Thickness of the Sauce: Initially the sauce will appear to be on the thinner side, but will thicken up as it cooks, then will thicken more as it slightly cools once removed from the stove in Step 8.
• Cooked Macaroni: Shake off any excess water and allow to drain for a few minutes.  Any lingering water that hangs onto the pasta will water down your sauce.
• Oven Version: You can easily make this dish on the stove, then dump everything into a casserole pan and bake at 400 F until heated through, approximately 15 minutes.
• Pasta of choice: You can use your favorite small cut pasta in this dish such as elbows or small shells.
• Gluten Free Pasta:  Be sure to thoroughly rinse the pasta after cooking if using gluten free pasta as it tends to get a little mushy due to its excess starch.
• Amount of Spinach: We enjoyed the 4 cups of chopped baby spinach; however, you can easily leave out the spinach and add a little more pasta or you can scale back on the spinach if you wish.
• Frozen Spinach: You can substitute the baby spinach for frozen or canned spinach. Make sure you cook the spinach to wring out all the excess liquids from the spinach to avoid a watery dish.
• Dried Crushed Thyme Leaves: If you can’t find dried crushed thyme leaves, you can use ground thyme, but use half the amount.
• Dried Crushed Thyme Leaves in the Blender: We purposefully separated the dried crushed thyme leaves to avoid placing them in the high-speed blender to avoid the chance of blending them as sometimes, they can take on a slightly bitter taste when overly processed by the high-speed blender blades.
• Table Salt: If using table salt, you should use less table salt than the amount listed in the ingredients as sea salt crystals are larger than table salt crystals. Since table salt crystals are very fine, less table salt is required to season a dish. We would suggest starting with about 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of sea salt listed. You can always add more salt but cannot take it away. We recommend using sea salt as it is less refined than table salt.

Leftovers and Freezing:

Leftovers will generally keep 5 days in the refrigerator.  Store in a covered container.

This dish can be frozen.

Pantry Products:

• 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.  Feel free to use your favorite vegetable broth.
• Ume Plum Vinegar: We used Eden Ume Plum Vinegar.
• Tamari: We used San J Tamari Soy Sauce, Gluten Free, Reduced Sodium. You can substitute the tamari with reduced sodium soy sauce, Braggs Liquid Aminos, or Braggs Coconut Liquid Aminos.
• Dijon Mustard: We used Koops Dijon Mustard.  Feel free to use your favorite Dijon mustard.

Kitchen Equipment:

• Stock pot (to cook the elbow pasta)
• High-Speed Blender
• Large, deep skillet

If you try this cozy mac and cheese, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.

Vegan Mushroom Spinach Mac and Cheese Skillet

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 15 Minutes
• Cook Time: 25-30 Minutes
• Total Time: 45 Minutes
• Yield: 4-6 Servings 1x
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Stovetop
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

Indulge in the ultimate comfort food experience with this delectable Vegan Mushroom Spinach Mac and Cheese Skillet!

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Ingredients

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Base Ingredients:

• 6 to 8 oz. elbow macaroni
• 1 ½ cups diced yellow onions (1 large yellow onion)
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 16 oz. mushrooms, sliced (+/-) *
• 2 Tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari *
• 3 to 4 cups chopped fresh baby spinach (lightly packed)

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 cup [raw] cashews *
• 1 ½ cups low-sodium vegetable broth (divided) *
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• ½ teaspoon ume plum vinegar *
• ½ to 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard *
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ to 1 ¼ teaspoons sea salt (+/-) *
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper (+/-)

Other Ingredients:

• ½ to 1 teaspoon dried crushed thyme leaves *

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Instructions

1. Place the cashews into a small bowl, cover with boiling water, allow to sit for 15 minutes, then drain off the water (and discard). Set the soaked cashews aside until Step 7.
2. Cook elbow macaroni according to package directions, shake well to remove any excess water, set aside to drain until ready to use in Step 8.
3. In a large, deep skillet, sauté the diced onions over medium-high heat for 6 to 7 minutes until softened, add a splash of water to prevent burning, if needed.
4. Add the minced garlic to the skillet, stir constantly for 30 seconds, remove the skillet from the stove and then dump the sauteed onions and garlic into a high-speed blender, set aside until ready to use in Step 7.
5. Add the sliced mushrooms to the now empty large, deep skillet along with the tamari, sauté for approximately 8 minutes or until the mushrooms have reduced in size and have released their liquids.
6. Add the chopped baby spinach and ¼ cup veggie broth to the skillet along with the sliced mushrooms, sauté over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes until the spinach has significantly reduced and cooked.
7. Add all the Sauce Ingredients, including the soaked cashews, (remaining 1 ¼ cup veggie broth), into the high-speed blender along with the sauteed onions and garlic from Step 4; blend on high for one minute or until smooth and emulsified, then place the sauce into the large, deep skillet along with the cooked mushrooms and spinach, stir well. Add the dried crushed thyme leaves at this time, stir to incorporate. Bring to a boil, then immediately lower to simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes.
8. Add the cooked elbow pasta to the large skillet, mix well to thoroughly coat the cooked pasta, simmer for several minutes to heat through. Remove from the stove, allow to sit for 3 minutes to allow the pasta to soak up some of the sauce.
9. Top with freshly cracked black pepper and chopped fresh parsley (if desired), enjoy!

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Notes

*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used. 

*Sea Salt:  Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

*Serving:  4 to 6

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