Now I’ll be honest, I have never really experimented with nutritional yeast until a couple weeks ago. I had heard that nutritional yeast is a staple in any vegan’s pantry, but I never really understood the hype. How could this flaky/powdery substance be a substitute for cheese? I had no idea what I was missing. Okay I get it, “yeast” (just like “moist”) is a terrible, terrible word. The name itself doesn’t conjure up mouth watering images, but bear with me. Side note: I have heard nutritional yeast referred to as “nooch” or “hippie dust”, so feel free to use one of those if the name grosses you out! These yellow, golden flakes are every vegan’s dream version of cheese. It has a nutty, cheesy flavor and is so diverse! I found myself sprinkling it on everything I was eating and I couldn’t get enough.
What is nutritional yeast?
It is a deactivated form of yeast that is cultured and grown on cane sugar and molasses. It is then heated up to an extreme temperature so that the yeast is killed, or deactivated. Deactivating it keeps the yeast from growing (and therefore, turning into a frothy, foamy mess) while maintaining its nutritional value. After it is deactivated, it is then dried and harvested into flakes or powder. Nutritional yeast is NOT the same as baker’s or brewer’s yeast.
How should I use it?
There are so many uses for nutritional yeast. You can sprinkle it on salads, soups, mashed potatoes, or on popcorn. If you haven’t yet, try Pampers and Pakhlava’s “Hippie Popcorn” recipe…it’s amazing! You can blend it with almonds to make “parmesan”. It is also awesome if you use it to make creamy cheese sauces…and so I discovered cashew cheese sauce AKA vegan heaven.
When I discovered cashew cheese, I knew I had to make vegan mac n’ cheese. I was actually surprised at how quick and easy this recipe was. Honestly, the longest part for me was waiting for the pasta to cook. Once it was done, I blended the cashew cheese sauce on top, put in a skillet to cook in the oven, and sprinkled with bread crumbs! As someone that is all about simplistic meals that are not labor intensive AND healthy, this was golden.
Ingredients
Elbow macaroni (or any pasta that you have on hand)
Jalapeno
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup cashews (soaked in water overnight)
1 T lemon juice
1/2 cup water (plus 1-2 T, as needed)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 T Dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Breadcrumbs:
1/4 cup almond meal
1 T coconut oil
Herbs de provence (see notes to make your own)
pinch of sea salt
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and pour your pasta in to cook until tender. I would normally use elbow macaroni for this, but I didn’t have enough so I ended up just dumping whatever kind I had in my pantry. My family likes to call this tri-pasta!
3. Blend nutritional yeast, cashews, lemon juice, water, sea salt, Dijon mustard, and garlic in a blender until you reach a creamy consistency.
4. In a small skillet, lightly toast almond meal, coconut oil, herbs, and sea salt about 5-6 minutes or until golden brown. Make sure to stir once or twice so that it does not burn!
5. Once pasta is cooked, drain water and mix with cashew sauce. Put into an oven safe skillet and cook for about 15-20 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and enjoy!
Notes
It is very important to make sure that your cashews have been soaked overnight or at least a couple hours if you don’t have the time. This will ensure that you get a much smoother texture in your cheese sauce.
To make your own herb recipe, blend 1 T of each of the following: rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil, and fennel seed. However, I would recommend adding less than 1 T of fennel seed because the next day it tasted a little strong.
Cashew cheese recipe adapted from WanderFood Wednesday.
In the coming weeks, I will be doing a series on delicious and healthy recipes that you can make to get your hippie dust fix, so stay tuned!
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