This dairy free mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food. It’s super rich and creamy but without any actual cheese and definitely no cashews! The secret? The one ingredient that every dairy free cook should keep in their pantries - nutritional yeast.
Cook the pasta according to the package instructions, drain and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
While the pasta is cooking, start making the sauce by adding the dairy free butter and plain flour to a large, heavy based saucepan and heat until the butter has melted and a thick paste forms. Add in a small amount of the milk and mix to combine. Continue to add the milk gradually, mixing between each addition to ensure no lumps remain. You can either do this with a rubber spatula or a whisk. Once all of the milk has been added, let the sauce come to a simmer and cook until thickened. If the sauce gets too thick you can always add a touch more milk.
Add the nutritional yeast, dijon mustard, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder and salt and mix until fully incorporated and the sauce is really smooth.
Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and mix through until all the pasta is coated. Pour into a 20cm x 30cm baking dish.
In a small bowl, mix together the panko breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, salt and parsley and sprinkle over the top of the pasta. Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve immediately.