Kisses&Carrots

Five-Minute Meals: Vegan Lentil Mac & Cheese

Let’s face it, some days all you want is a bowl of cheesy, gooey comfort food. I get it. We have ALL been there. But there’s always a catch—the combination of heavy dairy and lots of refined carbs always leaves me with a stomachache and feeling sluggish. So, I began researching alternatives.

For the past 2 years, I’ve been experimenting with using lentil pasta in place of traditional wheat pasta. There was definitely a learning curve. And learning to cook it in the Instant Pot (my go-to method for weeknights) was even trickier. It’s a work in progress. Nonetheless, I have come up with a recipe that fits the bill: it’s yummy, healthy and fast (it’s one of my 5-Minute Meals). It’s also loaded with protein, fiber and hidden vegetables; and, to top it all off, it’s vegan. And my kids LOVE it. This Vegan Lentil Mac & Cheese may not be the most eye-pleasing dish, but it sure is tasty!

Vegan Lentil Mac & Cheese

a healthy, vegan and gluten free alternative to traditional mac and cheese
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 3 mins
Pressurizing and De-pressurizing 20 mins
Total Time 28 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 6

Equipment

  • Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups lentil pasta
  • 2 ½ cups water
  • 1 10-12 oz package frozen cauliflower
  • 1 pouch Daiya Cheddar Style Deluxe Cheeze Sauce

Instructions
 

  • Dump lentil pasta, frozen cauliflower and water into Instant Pot.
  • Seal Instant Pot and set to 3 minutes on high pressure. It should take approximately 10 minutes to pressurize before cooking actually begins.
  • After cooking has ended, allow to de-pressurize naturally for about 10 minutes. Then vent manually.
  • Remove lid and stir in Daiya Cheddar Style Deluxe Cheeze Sauce.

Notes

For this recipe I used Bentilia Green Lentil Elbow Pasta that I bought in bulk on Amazon. Each brand of lentil pasta cooks a little differently. If you use a different brand, you may need to experiment a bit on the amount of water to use and the cook times.
Keyword 5-minute meal, clean eating, comfort food, easy healthy meal, gluten-free, high fiber, high protein, mac and cheese, vegan

This recipe gets a lot of its creaminess from the cauliflower in it. Thankfully, when cooked in the Instant Pot, the cauliflower virtually dissolves. That way, kids never need to know that there’s a cruciferous vegetable lurking in their mac & cheese, just waiting to sneak up on them and make them healthier! Sssshhh…..I won’t tell them if you don’t!

As I mentioned in the recipe card, this recipe uses Bentilia Green Lentil Elbow Pasta that I bought in bulk on Amazon. Honestly, you can use any type of lentil or chickpea pasta you prefer. (I’ve also made this with Banza Chickpea Pasta and it is consistently delicious.) But, please note that each different pasta brand cooks a little differently, so you’ll need to adjust the amount of water and the cook time.

Also, if you aren’t dairy free, you can easily substitute the Daiya Cheddar Style Deluxe Cheeze Sauce for 2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. My favorite brand is Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese because it is all natural and naturally lactose-free.

Enjoy!