Perfect Vegan Mac & Cheese (and it's Gluten Free!)

Mac & Cheese makes the top ten list of "most missed foods" for both vegans and people who cannot eat gluten. There are a few hundred vegan Mac & Cheese recipes on the internet and every vegan cookbook has a version, however most of them taste too artificial or don't even resemble the taste of cheese. There are also dozens of gluten free pastas on the shelves of your supermarket, and yet they always taste too slimy, too rice-y, or just plain wrong when mixed with a creamy sauce. So what's a gluten-free vegan to do?! Well you can do what I did and try 50 different recipes and combinations of different gluten free pastas to find the magical balance, or you can just take my word for it and make this recipe! It's been tried on non-vegans (full-on-omni brother) and people who eat regular pasta like it's going out of style. The comments were: "I could eat this every day", "this is vegan?", "wow, this is super good"... etc etc etc. So just make it already; you know you want to!

Perfect Vegan Mac and Cheese
Probably the most important thing in this recipe is to use the brand of pasta and the brand of cheese that I recommend. I've tried many, many different brands and these two are by far the most superior of the bunch for making mac & cheese. After all, it's pasta and cheese... don't screw up the two main ingredients! 


The pasta is: San Zenone 100% organic CORN pasta.
Boil one 340g bag exactly according to package directions. Do not over cook.

Cheese Sauce Recipe:
1 cup Daiya CHEDDAR style cheese
1 cup Natura rice milk - original flavor. (Do not use almond, soy or hemp milk...it ruins the cheese sauce)
2 tbsp vegan margarine
2 minced garlic cloves
1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast (your preference on taste)
salt & pepper, to taste

In a separate cup or bowl, combine:
2 tbsp rice milk
mixed with 1 heaping tbsp corn starch to make a slurry and set aside.

In a saucepan, combine cheese, rice milk, margarine, garlic, nutritional yeast and salt & pepper. Heat over medium heat until the cheese is melted. Then pour in the corn starch slurry. The sauce will thicken very quickly after adding the slurry, so stir constantly for 20-45 seconds (until desired thickness). Do not leave unattended as it will burn.

Pour over pasta and devour!
Note: The pasta and cheese sauce are both best enjoyed immediately; if you make the dish ahead of time, store the pasta and cheese sauce separately.