Yesterday’s joke has actually turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy; I’ve been eating pumpkin non-stop all week. And I can’t seem to stop. Maybe there is some truth to my Long Weekend Hangover theory after all. Pumpkin does make everything better.
Oh, and I have a great Pumpkin chia pudding recipe coming up. It might be one of my all-time favourite quick & easy pumpkin recipes. It’s that exciting.
But so is this cheeze sauce…
I was thrilled to find out that many of you went crazy for my Butternut Mac ‘n Cheeze recipe. This recipe might go down as one of the most popular in 2011. I received all kinds of comments, tweets, Facebook comments, and emails about this recipe last week. It’s always good to know that you guys enjoy the same crazy things that I do!
I knew a pumpkin version of this cheeze sauce was not far away. Many of you commented and told me that you made a pumpkin version and it turned out great. I was pretty excited about how quickly it would come together. All I had to do was stir in a cup of canned pumpkin at the end of making the sauce. Quick and easy!
There’s no blender required. No food processor. Just a stove top (but I’m sure you could also make this in the microwave too).
This Pumpkin Cheeze sauce exceeded my expectations. I couldn’t keep my spoon out of it.
Ok, Ok, it was my finger. Sue me.
[
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
Pumpkin Mac 'n Cheeze Sauce
Yield
~1.25-1.5 cups or approx. 4 servings
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Dear KD & Velveeta, deepest sympathies. xo. Adapted from Butternut Mac n Cheeze.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Earth Balance (or other non-dairy butter replacer)
- 3/4 cup unsweetened and unflavoured Almond milk
- 1 tbsp arrowroot powder (or cornstarch or flour)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 6 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- Kosher salt & black pepper, to taste (I used 1/2 tsp salt)
- herbs/seasonings, to taste (sage or cinnamon would be nice!)
Directions
- Add Earth balance in a pot over low-medium heat.
- In a small bowl, whisk together milk and arrowroot powder (or cornstarch or flour) and garlic powder until clumps are gone. Add into pot and whisk.
- Stir in nutritional yeast, Dijon, S & P and whisk over low heat until thickened (about 5-7 minutes or so). Lastly, add in 1 cup of canned pumpkin and stir until combined and heated through.
- Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
This was so easy I wanted to shed tears of happiness. I’ve been having my share of frustrations with recipes over the past couple weeks and to have something come together perfectly on the first try was welcomed.
I love how orange the sauce is too. I never thought I would see the day when I would eat a cheeze sauce and feel healthy! The nutritional info was also a pleasant surprise (see end of recipe). I forgot how much protein and fibre nutritional yeast has in it!
I also wanted to point out that I made a couple adjustments to the original recipe. I cut the milk down to 3/4 cup instead of using 1 cup to make the sauce a bit thicker. I also cut down the salt to 1/2 tsp instead of 3/4 tsp. Lastly, I increased the nutritional yeast to 6 tbsp instead of 5 tbsp. I’ve updated these changes in the Butternut sauce recipe too.
I made two servings of pasta and added enough sauce until I felt like it was enough.
…which is a lot. :)
Bring it on!
As for which version I like better?
It’s close. I would have to say the butternut version wins by an inch. You really cant beat fresh, roasted butternut! With that being said, I know I will end up making this version more often just because it’s so easy.
Now, you can spice up this sauce any way you’d like.
I think a little cinnamon stirred in would be lovely to bring out the pumpkin flavour. I actually added some dried sage (after the photoshoot) and that was nice too.
I served it with red kidney beans and sautéed kale and a sprinkle of Herbamare. I also used some leftover cornbread topping and mixed it into my mac ‘n cheeze. Great idea.
Wondering where to purchase nutritional yeast? You can find it in the natural foods section of many grocery stores (Loblaws/Superstore carries it) as well as bulk food stores and health stores. I’m sure you can find it online too. For those of you who purchase nutritional yeast, please leave a comment and let me (and others) know where you buy it!
What other ways do you think this sauce could be adapted? Any other mix-in ideas? Any other vegetables?
I vow to try them all.
Ahamzing! Pumpkin does cure all :)
I can’t wait to try this – I’ve already made your butternut version twice! I always buy my nutritional yeast at the Bulk Barn.
You make the best looking vegan mac & cheese I’ve ever seen!
Yum! Just made Chole Coscorelli’s version recently– which is more italian like– but your version looks better! Love the addition of notch– one of my favorite add-ins these days :) Mmmm. Can’t wait to try!
Wow-everything you make looks so amazing! I had an OSG recipe day yesterday it seems. My kids and I made your High Protein Garlic Mashed Potatoes and loved it! We couldn’t taste the beans at all-how cool! We also made Pumpkin Gingerbread Smoothie…sooo good! And today we’ll make the Ultimate Vegan Lentil Walnut Loaf. We would’ve done it yesterday but I was missing a few ingredients. Thanks for all the goodies!!
Sarah, you’re on a roll! I’m so happy to hear the recipes are enjoyed.
I made the pumpkin version a few days ago, it was tasty and not to pumpkin(y)
After reading your b-nut cheeze sauce recipe, I adapted slightly and made a pumpkin sauce and it was like crack! :) I add a dash of cumin to mine and less nutritional yeast, but oh my gosh, so good!
Awesome update! I’m planning on roasting up a little baby butternut squash when I get home to make the butternut version. I was planning on mixing in some peas, spinach, and cayenne!
Mine was cheap and easy ordered from amazon.com! This looks fabulous- can’t wait to try it! :)
Mmmmm, I made a similar sauce but I used goat cheese and I cubed and roasted up pumpkin and pureed the cheese sauce with the pumpkin. I know roasting a pumpkin is so much more work than opening up a can of it but really, it was soo amazing. No I won’t be roasting a pumpkin every time I want some (which is often) but once in a while its an awesome treat.
I can’t wait to try this in hopes that it tastes enough like “cheese” for my kids. My son battles with some terrible acid issues in his tummy and we are working hard to find foods that are not so hard on his stomach. I think he is going to love this sauce over noodles! Thank you so much for doing the hard work of experimenting so I don’t have to!!
Oh, I really hope it passes the test!
Is Herbamare similar to Mrs. Dash?
Is Mrs Dash sodium free? If so, then no!
Man, this looks delicious! :P
Looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it! I think you should come up with a great vegan version of a thick queso-like cheese dip!
I made the butternut squash mac and cheeze last night and loved it! I’ve already sent the link to a few friends! This one is next!
PS I’ve been excited to have leftovers for supper all day
I love all this mac n cheese lovin lately!!! This looks incredible!
Oh my…that looks SO good! :-D <3 xyx
Oh I want to dive into a bowl of that mac n cheeze sauce. I bet that sauce would be divine on just about anything..a veggie dip, a salad dressing even, a marinade…you name it, I want it! YUM!
Hmm, I just made this for lunch, and I have to say that I didn’t really like it. I couldn’t even finish what I served myself! I thought it kind of tasted like pumpkin with mustard and nutritional yeast flakes stirred in. I add some extra pepper and some turmeric, but I didn’t like it any better. :( Also, the carb listing on the nutritional stats seemed higher than it should’ve been. I have to count carbs because I’m pre-diabetic, and when I did it the carb count was only a bit over 9…
Sorry to hear that you weren’t a fan of it!
The nutritional info was obtained from Nutrition data website and it’s calculated by their programs.
I need to add this to my Pumpkin Recipe Round Up post ASAP …. YUMMMMMMMMMM