Fun Healthy Easy Vegan Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Hot Dogs (no-oil)
Easy Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Cut Up Veggie Dogs (Vegan and Dairy-free) Recipe
This is a kid friendly, healthy, and creamy low fat plant-based vegan macaroni and cheese recipe. It has the traditional mac n cheese color, and adding cut up veggie dogs makes it a familiar and inviting meal for kids and adults too.
It really is easy! Use your microwave and blender, to have this recipe done in 30-40 minutes.
Butternut squash is a wonderful cheese substitute because it is nutritious, orange, and creamy. Also, it is a great source of vitamin A.
For my family, this plant based mac and cheese recipe was a hit on day one, and the leftovers were tasty for lunches the next day.
Rather than using a store bought vegan cheese, here is how to make your own scrumptious dairy free cheese sauce in the microwave.
Store bought vegan cheeses tend to contain too much oil for our tastes.
Nuts (almonds or almond flour or other nut or seed of your choice) make the sauce creamy instead of butter.
How make a quick and easy butternut squash vegan cheese sauce?
For this recipe, I cut a large butternut squash in half, and peeled it. Then, I left the peel on the remaining half, covered the cut end with plastic wrap, and stored it in the fridge for over a week with no issues.
Cut the squash into cubes, scoop out any seeds or strings, and place them in a microwave safe dish with the carrots and onion.
Microwave until soft and then blend until creamy with additional ingredients – see the recipe below.
It’s fun to eat plant based weiners in a saucy macaroni and cheese
Veggie hot dogs have no cholesterol, which means your arteries won’t get clogged. Also, low fat meals will help you stay slim and trim, while providing better overall nutrition and fibre.
Try mixing gourmet plant based frankfurters with simple veggie dogs to please both adults and children. I used 4 frankfurters (not as healthy I’ll admit, but very tasty) and 5 small low fat veggie dogs.
Looking for an easy plant based mac n cheese recipe that kids like?
Kids generally like pasta, and hot dogs, this dish combines the two with a healthy no-oil butternut squash and carrot sauce. “Instead of cheese, you can use butternut squash, carrots and onion, combined with some simple seasonings to bring the dish together.
Can you make mac and cheese without milk? Yes, try using plant based milk and nutritional yeast “nooch”.
Yes! This vegan mac and cheese recipe shows you how to make mac and cheese without dairy.
Optionally use “nooch” otherwise known as nutritional yeast for even more orange color and cheesy taste.
Another butternut squash vegan recipe idea
Another recipe I created a few years ago, at the beginning of my vegan journey: Butternut Squash Apple Galette
Healthy Vegan Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Cut Up Veggie Hot Dogs
Instructions and Ingredients
Sauce
- 3/4 cup onion peeled and chopped.
- 2 cups butternut squash peeled and cut into small cubes.
- 1.5 cups carrots peeled and in small pieces, or whole baby carrots.
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp salt or less, to taste
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast optional
- 1/4 cup almonds or almond flour (what I used)
- 1/4 cup plant milk Such as oat, soy, or almond milk.
Pasta
- 375 g whole grain macaroni 1 small box
Plant Based Weiners
- 450 g veggie dogs 7-12 plant based weiners / frankfurters
- Add butternut squash, carrots, 1/2 cup water, and onion to a microwaveable dish. Cover and microwave until soft. About 10-17 minutes.
- Optionally, prepare a vegetable side dish (for example, we recently ate chopped and steamed bok choy with this meal).
- Start water boiling for the pasta, I add the macaroni pasta to the water even before it is boiling, and I stir it so it doesn't stick to the bottom. This is a trick I learned to speed up pasta cooking, from another internet chef on You Tube. One the pasta and water are boiling, set a timer for the pasta cooking time, Remember to stir!
- While the pasta cooks, place the following in a high speed blender: almond flour (or whole almonds), garlic powder, pepper, nutritional yeast, and salt.
- Chop weiners into thick slices and place in a large pot (no heat yet). Alternatively, say you don't want to dirty another pot, you can put these aside and add them for the last minute or two of the pasta cooking water to heat them up.
- Take the cooked squash, carrots, and onion out of the microwave, and add them to the blender, along with their cooking liquid plus the plant milk.
- Blend on high until creamy, taste test (beware it will be hot) for seasonings. Add another 1/4 cup plant milk if the mixture is too thick to blend. I use a stir stick that came with my Vitamix, it fits in the top of my blender and I can stir with it while blending, it is fantastic.
- Add the blended sauce to the large pot of sliced plant based weiners and set to medium heat. Stir until bubbling, immediately reduce heat to medium low. Alternatively, if you added the weiners to the cooking pasta water, drain that, and return to the pot, then add the sauce from the blender, no need to heat further, you can remove it from the heat and serve.
- Drain cooked pasta and add to the pot with the sauce and weiners. Stir to combine.
- Serve with greens on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
Don't Miss a Thing!
LIVE LONGER, FEEL BETTER, let me help you EAT WHOLE-FOODS PLANT-BASED HEALTHY VEGAN.
Sign up for FREE healthy recipes, tips, techniques and inspiration.
FOLLOW and SUBSCRIBE to VeganEnvy.com on Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook!
Get FREE healthy vegan information and recipes!
FOLLOW HERE!
Adding Healthy Plant Based Meals to Your Menu is Easy!
Help others learn – share on social media!
