Vegan Thai Curry Mac and Cheese! Looking for something fun and new? We’ve got the perfect dish for you; a delicious vegan twist on an American comfort food classic.
Velvety, nourishing, and filling, this oil free Vegan Thai Curry Mac and Cheese is a delicious fusion of aromatic red curry flavors and comforting mac and cheese. If you love curry and you love mac and cheese, then this dish sure to be right up your alley.
Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
We love Thai Curry dishes, and we are also huge fans of mac and cheese! We decided to combine the two to arrive at this yummy dish. Yasmeen devoured it, and had three helpings. LOL
You gotta give this one a try!
Tips for Success:
- Flavor Profile: This dish is a fusion of Thai red curry flavors mixed with a mac and cheese.
- Red Curry Paste and Curry Powder: This recipe calls for both; however, our family members were completed divided over the intensity of the red curry flavor in this dish. Some wanted more red curry paste while others wanted more curry powder. Our suggestion is to make the sauce using the lower end of the recipe recommendations for red curry paste and curry powder, taste test and increase as needed to achieve the desired flavor. The best way to taste test is by placing a few cooked elbows into a small dish and putting a teaspoon or so of the sauce in, mixing well, then taste testing. Doing this allowed us to easily adjust the flavors by simply add more red curry paste and/or curry powder to the high-speed blender, give it a whirl and taste testing again.
- Frozen Cauliflower vs Fresh Cauliflower: You can use either fresh or frozen cauliflower. If using fresh cauliflower, cut the cauliflower pieces into small florets. We used frozen for convenience.
- Plant Milk: We used an unsweetened plain plant milk; however, if you wish you can substitute the plant milk with light coconut milk
- Plant Milk: Lite Unsweetened Coconut Milk: You can substitute the unsweetened plain plant milk with light unsweetened coconut milk, but you will need to adjust the Thai curry paste (potentially use more) as the light coconut milk is thicker and has more flavor than plain unsweetened plant milk. Light Unsweetened Coconut Milk is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, full fat unsweetened coconut milk is not. If you use coconut milk, then do not add the coconut extract.
- Coconut Extract: Coconut extract is an excellent choice when trying to use a lower-fat plant milk but you still want the essence of coconut milk. You only need a few drops, taste test for flavor and add more, if needed.
- Curry Powders: All curry powders are not the same. There are tons of curry options and blends. Use your favorite curry blend. Each blend tends to accent different spices within the blend. We have found that some blends are heavy with turmeric and tend to be slightly acidic on the backend of the palate and others may contain a lot of heat. Feel free to adjust spices based upon the curry blend selected.
- Sauciness: This mac and cheese has a generous amount of sauce. Additionally, you may find you need to use the tamper tool with the high-speed blender to keep the sauce moving.
- Veggie Add-Ins: You can pretty much add in any veggies you wish. Peas and broccoli are always excellent choices. If you add in veggies, then reduce the amount of macaroni accordingly to avoid a drier dish.
- 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 Free: The beauty of this mac and cheese is that the heat from the cooked cauliflower and potatoes carries through to sauce. When you mix the sauce with the cooked macaroni, you can simply mix and serve, no oven is required unless, of course, you want to put it in the oven to warm it up if the dish is not served right away.
- Pasta of choice: You can use your favorite pasta in this dish.
Leftovers and Freezing:
Leftovers will generally keep for 4-5 days in the refrigerator. Store in a covered container. Reheating can be done on the stovetop or in the microwave.
This dish can be frozen.
Pantry Products Used:
- Red Curry Paste: We used Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste. We suggest Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste for this recipe as other brands could possibly contain significantly more heat than the Thai Kitchen brand. If not using Thai Kitchen, then start out on the very low end and build from there as other brands may carry a lot of heat. Thai Kitchen does not.
- 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.
- Frozen Cauliflower: We used a 14.4 oz bag of Birds Eye Frozen Cauliflower Florets. Feel free to use your favorite frozen cauliflower. Or use fresh cauliflower florets.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Kitchen Products Used:
- Stock pot to cook the pasta
- Stock pot to boil the potatoes and cauliflower
- High-Speed Blender
If you try this fun twist on 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.
PrintVegan Thai Curry Mac and Cheese
- Prep Time: 15 Minutes
- Cook Time: 15-20 Minutes
- Total Time: 30 Minutes
- Yield: 4-6 Servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Velvety, nourishing, and filling, this oil free Vegan Thai Curry Mac and Cheese is a delicious fusion of aromatic red curry flavors and comforting mac and cheese.
Ingredients
Boil Ingredients:
- 1 – [ 14.4 oz. bag ] frozen cauliflower florets *
- 3 cups Russet potatoes, peeled, small dice
Sauce Ingredients:
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons unsweetened plain plant milk
- 3 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari *
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast (+/-)
- 2 to 4 teaspoons red curry paste (+/-) *
- 2 drops coconut extract (+/-) (optional) *
Sauce Herb/Spice Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon curry powder (+/-) *
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
Other Ingredients
- 16 oz. elbow macaroni (or pasta of choice)
- 1 cup frozen broccoli florets (or frozen peas) (+/-) *
Instructions
- Cook macaroni according to package directions to al dente, drain, rinse briefly with cold water to remove any excess starch, shake well, set aside.
- Place the frozen cauliflower florets and diced potatoes into a medium stockpot, bring to a boil, gently boil until fork tender (about 10 to 15 minutes). Drain off the water, then place them in a high-speed blender.
- Heat the broccoli florets (or peas) in the microwave (or steam) until they reach the desired tenderness, set aside.
- Add all the Sauce Ingredients and Spice/Herb Ingredients into the high-speed blender with the cooked cauliflower and potatoes. Blend on high until smooth and emulsified. You may need to use the tamper tool to keep the sauce moving.
- Place the cooked pasta back into the medium-sized stockpot, add the cooked broccoli florets (or peas) and pour the sauce over top, mix well to combine. Serve and enjoy!
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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This looks so interesting! I love curry and mac and cheese. I have also wanted to try using coconut extract instead of milk. What brand of coconut extract do you use? I did not see one in my store so probably need to putchase prom Amazon
Hi there Kim,
Thank you so much for reaching out to us. We apologize for the late response. We’ve use a couple different brands over the years. Some of the ones on Amazon are Watkins and Vanilla Bean Kings.
-Ameera and Robin
thank you! i will give one of them a try! i am
excited to try this recipe!