Ultimate Pumpkin Mac and Cheese with Tempeh Bacon

This is what vegan mac and cheese dreams are made of. I’m telling you RIGHT NOW. It’s rich and creamy and actually tastes like cheese! Who would have thunk? You can safely serve this to someone who turns up their nose at “healthy food” and they won’t even know what hit them. The cheese sauce is multi-purpose, so you could use it as a Queso dip for chips and veggies as well. Hold on to your hats, here is the Mac and Cheese recipe of your dreams.

What you’ll need:

16oz of quinoa, brown rice, whatever kind of pasta (cooked until aldente)

For the cheese sauce:

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/2 cup full fat coconut milk

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp sea salt

For the tempeh bacon:

1 block tempeh, crumbled

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/4 tsp salt (or more to taste)

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

5-6 dashes liquid smoke

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

Mix the cheese sauce ingredients together, set aside. For the tempeh bacon, combine all ingredients in a bowl and allow to marinate for at least a half hour. Dump into a hot pan and fry until golden and crispy. Place pasta in a bowl and mix in the cheese sauce and tempeh bacon. You can stop here and serve it in small bowls, or you can take it a cut above and bake it in the oven with cracker crumbs. We used Mary’s Crackers and mixed it with a little bit of oil and patted it on top of the mac. Bake for 15 minutes on 350F. Serve!

 Tempeh bacon all crispy and stuff