easy cheesy vegan pasta

if i may paint a picture for you: imagine you’re staring deep into your cupboards and hoping a quick and easy dinner will shimmy forward and introduce itself to you, effort-free and ready very soon. now imagine this is real life and that literally does not happen, so you start to pull bits and bobs from that cupboard until you think you can make something, anything, and maybe it hopefully tastes like boxed mac and cheese. these are how my cupboard visions transpire and yes, i truly do always want a box of mac and cheese to be hiding in there and it never, ever is.

hi hello, and meet your new best friend in such moments. easy cheesy vegan pasta!!

this recipe is basic in the best ways, sort of fancy because shell pasta is fun?, could be a side dish but yummy enough to be a big bowl of ‘yes i’ll eat the whole thing thanks’, and is ready in 10 minutes.

if you’re new to the vegan pasta sauce world, welcome! it’s nice here. you might need a few ingredients that aren’t your typical staples, but trust me when i tell you that they won't be hard to find and that vegan cream cheese is a miracle on earth in the this the year of our lord 2021. i also have a sneaking suspicion that the cozy urge to stay indoors and panic-eat bowls on bowls of cheesy pasta will not be a unique feeling in 2022 (looking at you, omicron!)

a few things before we get started:

- easy is the operative and important word with this dish. if you aren’t a plant-based eater, some of the ingredients might be new for you but EASY is still the mood.
- as the name implies, this dish is vegan! we’re making cheesy miracles from nutritional yeast (which tastes wonderfully, suspiciously like kraft powdered cheese) and giving it boost and shine from vegan butter and plant-based cream cheese.
- if you’re wanting to make this literally cheesy or add your own non-vegan swaps, i wholeheartedly nudge you to plumb the depths of the internet elsewhere, because it’s full of cheesy pasta recipes and this isn’t the time nor the place here.
- this dish is best eaten warm, when you make it. i had leftovers and refrigerated them and reheating was… not stellar.

easy cheesy vegan pasta
makes: 2 servings
prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 10 minutes

8oz. of dry pasta (i like shells for this so the sauce sticks in all the ridges and nooks)
2tbsp vegan butter
1tbsp plant-based cream cheese (kite hill or miyokos are brands i’ve used and liked)
1/2c unsweetened almond milk (plus a few splashes, if needed)
1/2c nutritional yeast
1tsp garlic powder
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp pepper

bring a pot of water to boil. add the pasta once boiling, and cook until package instructions + al dente. reserve 1/3c pasta water before draining.

while the pasta cooks, heat a skillet over medium. add the butter and almond milk. once the butter is melted, add the cream cheese, nutritional yeast, and spices. lower heat the medium low, and whisk the sauce until smooth. let it simmer for a few minutes, and add another splash or two of almond milk if it begins to thicken too much.

add the cooked pasta to the skillet, and remove from heat. coat the pasta with the cheesy sauce, and add the reserved pasta water slowly, stirring to combine.