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.
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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.
I have yet to try pumpkin in anything savory.. this looks like a great start!
Mmm this looks lovely, I think it looks much better than the traditional sauce!
Your photos are gorgeous too :-)
Thanks Sophie :)
That looks amazing!
Can’t wait to try this!!
I made your pumpkin mac n cheese last week and it was absolutely DELISH!!!!
This sauce looks amazing and I really want to try it! However, I have to admit…(in a huge community of nutritional yeast- loving bloggers/readers) I once tried nutritional yeast in a vegan cheeze sauce recipe and thought it tasted so bad!! It’s made me terrified to try it again. I think it was just a bad recipe though (it was way too simple with too few other ingredients to mask the nutritional yeast’s strong taste), so I’m just wondering.. has anyone else regained love for nutritional yeast after a bad experience? I really want to give it a try again but I’m kind of scared! I threw out my nutritional yeast the other time, so I’d have to buy it again if i want to give it another go. Someone persuade me its yummy? :)
Hey Kathy! Funny thing- I HATED nutritional yeast when I first tried it! Actually the first few times. I thought the flavour was so off and strong. Turned out I was using too much. I think it would be a good idea if you gradually add it and taste as you go. You can always add more but you can’t take away it once it’s in. Goodluck!
aww thanks for letting me know, Angela! I think I may have to try it again :) I just can’t get over the fact that there are so many delicious recipes out there that everyone appears to LOVE, and I’ve been averting them simply because of the nutritional yeast. Taste buds do change.. so I suppose I’ll find out! :)
I tried making the butternut squash sauce last night, and I honestly didn’t like it either. I had never had nutritional yeast before, and maybe I used too much. What a bummer :(
It is definitely an acquired taste. I hated it at first too, but after you stop eating “real” cheese for awhile & forget what it tastes like, nutritional yeast tastes better. At least that was my experience. :)
just updating made this tonight it was awesome!! not to pumpkin taste but just enough! i cudve just ate the sauce alone i loved it lol def makin it again! thank you!!:-)
I agree, the pumpkin taste isn’t too overwhelming :) Glad you liked it!
I made this for dinner tonight. Love it! And your pumpkin maple baked bean cornbread casserole rocks too!
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it Mary!
I get nutritional yeast at my local grocery store, ShopRite, in the natural baking section.
I’m planning on making the butternut squash version sometime next week! I actually have some canned squash, so hopefully that’ll taste almost as good as using a fresh squash… Did you get any feedback from readers who made the recipe using the canned kind?
I don’t recall, but maybe check out the comments to see if anyone posted about it :) I’m sure it would be fine!
I made mine with canned squash – it was great. I actually have 3 big butternut squash from the garden but did not have time to cook them! Will need to make it again soon I guess :-)
I made a pumpkin cheeze sauce as soon as you posted the butternut mad & cheeze last week.
Subs:
-onion powder and a dash of paprika
-pepper
-no salt
-no butter
and I made it in the microwave! it took less than 2 minutes to come together, and was delicious!
I buy my nutritional yeast at bulk barn, I practically eat that stuff by the spoonful, though I try to put something under the sprinkling….er…pile of yeast before digging in!
Nice :) thanks for letting me know!
I’m so excited to try this! I have a 29oz-er of pumpkin puree in my fridge just ITCHING to be used up (shouldn’t be a problem ;P).
I always get my nutritional yeast at Bulk Barn. I have never seen it at Superstore (which I do 90% of my grocery shopping at). I’m not sure if Bulk Barn is the cheapest option (I heard iHerb online is), but it’s the most convenient for me. I love that stuff!!
izzyy
Just made the sauce and I love it. I think I’m going to have it for lunch tomorrow with pasta and I’ll put in some left-over Moroccan-spiced chickpeas, too. I think the flavours will compliment one another. I think this sauce will also be great over gnocchi for a change (from pasta). I can imagine it being great served over some kind of rice/quinoa/grain bowl, too, with fall veggies and a protein. thanks for the recipe!
Great ideas :) Glad you liked it!
I made the pumpkin version and it was amazing! I tossed it with sauteed roasted red peppers, zucchini and sundried tomatoes. Yum! You can buy Nutriional Yeast at Bulk Barn. This is the cheapest place I have found to purchase it.
just made this for dinner, and it was delish! thanks ang!
Glad you enjoyed it Steph!
Looks delicious! I made the butternut squash Mac-n-cheez last week, and even my husband, who hates regular Mac-n-cheese, loved it! We were fighting over the leftovers for lunch the next day! I had to trick him into trying it by telling him it was pasta with a roasted butternut squash sauce, which is technically true! =) I get my nutritional yeast from the bulk bins at Whole Foods. I’ve also seen it in a glass jar near the spices, and also in a large container in the vitamin section, both at Whole Foods as well.
hehe :) Sometimes I trick Eric too and tell him after he says he loves it!
Yum! I have to try this!
I have been experimenting a lot with vegan pasta sauces and that looks SO DELICIOUS!!! My hubs isn’t a big pumpkin person but I’m sure I could work it out. hehe.
I get my nutritional yeast from my local co op. I buy it in the bulk bins and it’s not too expensive
I used “original” almond milk (not unsweetened… just a little bit sweetened) because that was all I had, and it was still awesome. Added some kale, shiitakes, and pumpkin seeds… delicious!
That’s great to know it still tastes good with the Original too :) Great call on the shiitakes…I will be trying that!