Many of you know that weekly mac ‘n cheese is a part of my routine now, so with Passover quickly approaching I knew I couldn’t let it stop me from eating what is probably my favorite meal of the week! Normally my mac ‘n cheese recipes feature nutritional yeast fairly heavily because 1) that stuff just has a cheesiness to it and 2) it’s how I like to get my B12! BUT, unfortunately, nutritional yeast is not considered Kosher for Passover.
So, after considering many alternatives – so many cheesy flavored, vegan alternatives are NOT strictly kosher for Passover depending on how you keep kosher – I settled on dried porcini mushrooms. Other than that, I pretty much followed my normal cheesy sauce recipe, but took out a few ingredients and messed with the amounts of others.
Now, the other problem was the noodles. When I stopped by the grocery store, all of the noodles labeled “kosher for Passover” had egg in them (boooooo). Now, there are noodles that are labeled kosher for Passover and are vegan: the Gefen brand. If you have to have that KfP label, that’s probably your best bet and, depending on your grocery store, you may have to order online.
If you aren’t as particular about the label itself but more concerned about the ingredients, you have a few other options, such as quinoa pasta or cassava pasta. The last option, which is what I used, is to make your mac ‘n cheese with a kitniyot pasta – I used brown rice noodles. This opens you up to rice noodles, bean noodles, or seed noodles. You’ll just want to check the ingredients to make sure there isn’t any other type of wheat in there (checking the gluten-free section of your grocery store should help!).
Lastly, you can mix this dish up with toppings like sundried tomatoes or other veggies. Try carrots or broccoli, or if you eat kitniyot you could add peas.
Depending on what kind of noodles you use, this dish can be entirely gluten-free. If you’re as big a fan as I am of mac ‘n cheese, this dish could even make an easy and delicious appetizer, side dish, or main course for your seder.
This Kosher for Passover recipe isn’t the only one you can make – check out my Vegan & Kosher 8 Day Guide to Passover with over 25 recipes (including recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner) to help you get through the entire week of Passover. I would love to hear how this recipe turns out for you and how you make it your own. Let me know in the comments or message me at @thejewishvegan on Instagram. And, as always, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out. Now, let’s get started!
Kosher for Passover Vegan Mac N Cheese
Equipment
- high speed blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashews unroasted, unsalted
- ½ cup water
- 4 servings Kosher for Passover noodles
- 1½ tbsp lemon juice
- 14 grams dried porcini mushrooms
- 5 tbsp vegan milk such as almond or cashew
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp pepper
- salt to taste
- sundried tomatoes for garnish as desired
Instructions
- Boil the cashews in water for 15 minutes, then drain and set aside. Cook pasta according to directions and set aside.
- Add the boiled cashews, ½ cup water, lemon juice, mushrooms, milk, garlic powder, turmeric, pepper, and some salt to your blender and blend until smooth and creamy. You can add more milk if you'd like a thinner consistency.
- Pour the sauce onto the pasta and mix. Taste to see if any additional salt is needed.
- Add any toppings, such as sundried tomatoes, and then serve hot.
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