Photos updated on 3/11/2014. Brussels sprouts are one of those things that I’ve heard so many awful things about, I never bothered to try them. Recently, they’ve been popping up on pretty much every blog I read, so I figured I’d finally give them a try. I saw a recipe for Buffalo Veggie Pasta bake over on Coffee and Quinoa that was full of Brussels sprouts. Given my not-so-secret new love of Buffalo sauce, I just had to try it out. Erica goes on about her love of cheese, so I felt a little bad veganizing this recipe. But, sorry I’m not sorry– the vegan version is AMAZING! Because this was my first time with Brussels sprouts, I didn’t want to put too many in. Once I tasted them, I was so upset I didn’t add more! They soaked in flavor from the cheese sauce so well and played nicely with the spicy hot sauce. I also mashed up an avocado to include in the cheese sauce, which gave it an insanely creamy texture for a vegan sauce. If you don’t like any of the veggies in this, feel free to sub them out but I really liked the combo. I know bleu cheese is the thing to mix with Buffalo sauce, but I have a Penicillin allergy, so it’s not safe for me to eat unless I want to be covered in hives (beautiful picture, right? Your welcome). Josh is Ranch-obsessed, so he drizzled his with Ranch dressing, while I’m sour cream obsessed, so that’s the route I took. Both options were tasty ones and helped tame the spiciness. Be sure to adjust the hot sauce to taste! If you add too much, no amount of creamy dressing is going to make it edible for you.
Vegan Buffalo Veggie Mac and Cheese
Author: Kelly Hutchinson
Serves: 8
Ingredients
8 oz whole wheat shell pasta or GF pasta
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
½ yellow onion, minced
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
8 oz baby bella mushrooms, rough chopped
½ pound Brussels sprouts, sliced into circles
3 c unsweetened almond milk (or other milk)
1 ½ c nutritional yeast
4 tbsp cornstarch
½ tsp liquid smoke
1 avocado (Optional)
¼ – ½ c Franks RedHot (I used ½ c)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 and grease a casserole dish.
Cook pasta according to package directions.
While the pasta is cooking, begin sauteing veggies in a large pan (I used a thin layer of water, but you could use oil or butter). Start with the garlic, onion, and carrots. Add the mushrooms and Brussels once the carrots have begun to soften. Continue until veggies are your desired texture: they will not soften any more while baking.
Mix together the milk, nutritional yeast, cornstarch, liquid smoke, and hot sauce. Mash the avocado, adding a little water as necessary to form a paste. Stir into the hot sauce mixture.
Pour the sauce over the veggie saute and allow to thicken slightly.
Mix the veggies with sauce with the noodles. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 10 – 15 minutes, until the sauce is nice and creamy, stirring about halfway through if the top starts to look a little dry.
Top with bleu cheese, Ranch dressing, sour cream, or anything you want and serve.
I originally wrote the recipe using avocado — I’ve since tried without and it is just as rich and creamy. Nutritional estimate does not include avocado. [br]This casserole gets better with age. On day 2, the sauce looks and feels even more like real cheese.
[…] seemingly weird pizza combo came to be: Josh loves Brussels sprouts. He regularly asks for this vegan buffalo mac and cheese, in part because it’s packed full of Brussels, but I secretly think that the fact that […]
[…] This Brussels sprouts recipe. A few weeks ago, I tried Brussels Sprouts for the first time in a vegan mac and cheese. All I’ve ever heard is how gross they are and what a weird texture they have, so my […]
stephanie Apr 02, 2013
OMG I am new to your blog…this looks amazing! I have a vegan mac n cheese recipe that I usually use and is amazing, but didn’t know how adding hot sauce to it would be so I searched for one and came across yours! I am definitely making it this week:)
I’ve never had brussels sprouts! I always hear bad things about them so I never bothered…. but you may have convinced me : ) This looks great! I love the idea of topping with some sour cream
Kelly Mar 13, 2013
This was my first time trying them. At least if you don’t like them, there’s plenty of noodles and carrots to eat instead plus the hot sauce dilutes the flavor a little 😉 Perfect way to try them, I think.
I need to try this, the only vegan cheese I ever made was terrible. I’m not vegan, but it’d be nice to shave off some calories with a vegan version.
Kelly Mar 12, 2013
Id super recommend this mac and cheese or the cheese sauce…or the bbq veggie enchiladas. It honestly took me 2 tries eating the exact same thing before I came around to nutritional yeast, but these are some of the best tasting ways to have it. The cheese sauce would be the least time intensive, so if you don’t like it you didn’t waste an hour making dinner– use it quick nachos, yum!
I’ve never had brussels sprouts! I’m scared of them. But I bet I’d like this…
Kelly Mar 11, 2013
I was scared, too! I think this was the perfect way to try them. They had enough flavor from the sauce that the brussels sprouts flavor was very subtle.
Brussel sprouts are still not my favorite vegetable but I think drowned in cheese would it tolerable. And this recipe as whole sounds knock your socks off good!
I’m a new brussel sprouts convert too. This recipe looks great. I’m constantly looking for more vegetable heavy recipes with fewer grains. Mac n cheese is always a win!
I jsut about died and gone to heaven here. 🙂 I’ve never made a vegan mac and cheese before! And the liquid smoke you added- I love it! And I adore brussels sprouts! And mushrooms. So many insanely delicious things in this Kelly!! I can’t wait to make it. Pinned!
Kelly Mar 11, 2013
It seems like most people haven’t tried a vegan mac and cheese before, I love them and make them all the time. Thanks for pinning– let me know if you try it!
What a great idea….veggie mac & cheese! I’m in love with brussels sprouts. I was probably the only kid on the planet that ate them AND liked them. I love them roasted, sauteed, etc, but have seen them in salads a lot. The leaves basically take the place of lettuce. I had one brussels sprout salad with egg and marcona almond in a nice vinaigrette. Sky’s the limit!
And….yet another recipe that I had to bookmark immediately! This sounds SO good. Plus, that fact that it is vegan is awesome. Keep the great recipes coming :).
Kelly Mar 11, 2013
Thanks! I know you like spicy, so I figured you’d like this one 🙂
Because this was my first time with Brussels sprouts, I didn’t want to put too many in. Once I tasted them, I was so upset I didn’t add more! They soaked in flavor from the cheese sauce so well and played nicely with the spicy hot sauce. I also mashed up an avocado to include in the cheese sauce, which gave it an insanely creamy texture for a vegan sauce. If you don’t like any of the veggies in this, feel free to sub them out but I really liked the combo. 
I know bleu cheese is the thing to mix with Buffalo sauce, but I have a Penicillin allergy, so it’s not safe for me to eat unless I want to be covered in hives (beautiful picture, right? Your welcome). Josh is Ranch-obsessed, so he drizzled his with Ranch dressing, while I’m sour cream obsessed, so that’s the route I took. Both options were tasty ones and helped tame the spiciness. Be sure to adjust the hot sauce to taste! If you add too much, no amount of creamy dressing is going to make it edible for you.
[…] his case about contributing to the meal plan, to which he responds, “Why can’t we have vegan buffalo mac and cheese every day?” <– I’m not […]
[…] RECIPE: Vegan Buffalo Veggie Mac And Cheese […]
[…] source […]
[…] seemingly weird pizza combo came to be: Josh loves Brussels sprouts. He regularly asks for this vegan buffalo mac and cheese, in part because it’s packed full of Brussels, but I secretly think that the fact that […]
[…] This Brussels sprouts recipe. A few weeks ago, I tried Brussels Sprouts for the first time in a vegan mac and cheese. All I’ve ever heard is how gross they are and what a weird texture they have, so my […]
OMG I am new to your blog…this looks amazing! I have a vegan mac n cheese recipe that I usually use and is amazing, but didn’t know how adding hot sauce to it would be so I searched for one and came across yours! I am definitely making it this week:)
Let me know how it turns out!
I love adding veggies to mac and cheese! Never did it with brussels sprouts! Or avocado. Love it!
I’ve never had brussels sprouts! I always hear bad things about them so I never bothered…. but you may have convinced me : ) This looks great! I love the idea of topping with some sour cream
This was my first time trying them. At least if you don’t like them, there’s plenty of noodles and carrots to eat instead plus the hot sauce dilutes the flavor a little 😉 Perfect way to try them, I think.
I need to try this, the only vegan cheese I ever made was terrible. I’m not vegan, but it’d be nice to shave off some calories with a vegan version.
Id super recommend this mac and cheese or the cheese sauce…or the bbq veggie enchiladas. It honestly took me 2 tries eating the exact same thing before I came around to nutritional yeast, but these are some of the best tasting ways to have it. The cheese sauce would be the least time intensive, so if you don’t like it you didn’t waste an hour making dinner– use it quick nachos, yum!
I’ve never had brussels sprouts! I’m scared of them. But I bet I’d like this…
I was scared, too! I think this was the perfect way to try them. They had enough flavor from the sauce that the brussels sprouts flavor was very subtle.
Your recipes make me so hungry! Love nutritional yeast
Thanks for the shout-out! Love that you veganized it – I will have to try your vegan version! 🙂
Brussel sprouts are still not my favorite vegetable but I think drowned in cheese would it tolerable. And this recipe as whole sounds knock your socks off good!
I’m a new brussel sprouts convert too. This recipe looks great. I’m constantly looking for more vegetable heavy recipes with fewer grains. Mac n cheese is always a win!
This sounds delicious. I would love some for lunch right about now! 🙂
I had some left overs for lunch today, soo tasty!
I jsut about died and gone to heaven here. 🙂 I’ve never made a vegan mac and cheese before! And the liquid smoke you added- I love it! And I adore brussels sprouts! And mushrooms. So many insanely delicious things in this Kelly!! I can’t wait to make it. Pinned!
It seems like most people haven’t tried a vegan mac and cheese before, I love them and make them all the time. Thanks for pinning– let me know if you try it!
What a great idea….veggie mac & cheese! I’m in love with brussels sprouts. I was probably the only kid on the planet that ate them AND liked them. I love them roasted, sauteed, etc, but have seen them in salads a lot. The leaves basically take the place of lettuce. I had one brussels sprout salad with egg and marcona almond in a nice vinaigrette. Sky’s the limit!
I am a Brussels sprouts FIEND. They get such a bad wrap, but are so tasty! This is one of my fave ways to cook them:
http://www.thelawstudentswife.com/2012/11/maple-roasted-brussels-sprouts-with-walnuts-and-feta/
I am so shocked to see vegan mac’n’cheese, but this looks incredible. I love how many veggies you packed in, and Frank’s is amazing on just about anything!
Brussel sprouts are my favorite vegetable. BUT they are only good roasted, grilled or fried. This looks awesome!
Do you have any good recipes? I have half a pound of them left and I’m willing to be a little more adventurous now.
This look really good, who knew you could have vegan mac and cheese!
And….yet another recipe that I had to bookmark immediately! This sounds SO good. Plus, that fact that it is vegan is awesome. Keep the great recipes coming :).
Thanks! I know you like spicy, so I figured you’d like this one 🙂
I sure do! Sometimes a little too much..it isn’t so great for my acid reflux! :/
I get awful heartburn, too 🙁 Usually just smelling something spicy will do it to me, so I might as well eat it.