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.
This is great! I love making my mac and cheese with butternut squash – so satisfying!
Hi Angela! I love your site and all your recipes. I can’t wait to make this for my family! I have a GIGANTIC thing of canned pumpkin and don’t have any idea how I’m gonna finish the entire batch. I tried your pumpkin spiced latte and I just have to say that it is AMAZING. Even I, a person who hates coffee, loved it. I’m so excited to try this! I’m probably going to top it with nutmeg because I love that junk. Also, recipe suggestions: Sweet Potato Hummus? Pumpkin Nut Bread? Soft Vanilla Sugar Cookies? How To Make Applesauce Fun?
P.S. Recipe suggestions means things I am craving right now
Yum! I haven’t even had a chance to make the butternut squash mac n’ cheese and here you come up with something that looks equally delicious! Now I have to decide which to make first. I just made your GF Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies for a friend who is GF and Dairy Free for health reasons and she loved them! Keep up the good work.
Made the butternut squash one last week, I was AMAZED at how delicious something so simple was. Changes I made were to add a whole cooked onion to my coconut oil (rather than earth balance) and frozen peas at the end to the blended sauce. I think the onion did add some depth and flavour, worth the extra effort.
Ooh this is going to be topped over steamed veggies in the very near future!
I have been buying most of my health food store necessities from nutsonline.com since moving overseas….shipping is pretty fast. might be an option for some of you looking to buy nutritional yeast. I have a HUGE butternut squash on my kitchen cart right now…..after seeing this ….i think it’s calling my name!!! Let me turn the oven on, NOW!
This sounds yummy, but I’m wondering if the pumpkin makes it sweet? I definitely would want it to be savory :)
I wouldn’t say it’s very sweet. I don’t find pumpkin tastes sweet though.
Angela, I live in Germany and when I buy nutritional yeast the package says the yeast shoudn’t be cooked otherwise the vitamins are lost – they are supposed to be sensitive to heat. Do you know anything about that?
Hey Juliana, No I haven’t heard that before! I hope it’s not true..
OMG…I just love pumpkin season..I have been eting it in almost everthing these past few weeks! I buy my nutritional yet at Whole Foods and Wegmans in the bulk bins.
Yum, so creative! I posted your Pumpkin Butter on my blog today! I love the stuff! Going to have it in my yogurt for breakfast this morning!
Mmm so tasty sounding! Yum!
I subbed in smart balance light for less calories in the butter & only did 5T of nutritional yeast (I don’t like it to be too overpowering) and this recipe was DELICIOUS! I ate it with pasta & broccoli yesterday and plan on eating it again the same way for lunch today. :) Your recipes are my favorites. I am always sending non-vegan friends to your site to show them that vegan food IS delicious!
I am not vegan and have never tried nutritional yeast, but I think it might be time to give it a shot! The nice thing is that it is sold at our local health food market (called Strawberry Fields) in bulk, so I can buy as much as I need and not worry about wasting it if I can’t quite handle the taste. Thanks for posting this recipe… for vegans and non-vegans who are just trying to expand their meatless meal options!
I didn’t like nutritional yeast when I first tried it…well the first few times, so I suggest starting with a bit and add & taste as you go :)
Hi – this looks great! Can I substitute olive oil for earth balance? Or another type of oil?
I’m not sure…I’d worry it might make it a bit too oily in consistency? You could probably try using 1 tsp oil? I really love the flavour that earth balance lends though so I’d worry about a strong tasting oil. Please let me know if you try it!
I just skipped the earth balance and I thought it was fine. I am trying not to do too many oils due to the processing etc and from what I have seen, earth balance is made of several oils (though I cannot find the ingredients of some of them – only the type they have in our store).
Oh My Gosh, this looks amazing! Funnily enough, I made the butternut version last week & used the leftover squash to make a pumpkin recipe: http://veganstastebetter.net/2011/10/09/shells-and-squeeze-pumki-pie-oatmeal/
I just bought some nutritional yeast, 4.5 oz, from Fry’s which is like Sam’s Club/Safeway, only I think it’s only in Arizona. they carry a lot of Kroger products and the yeast was found by the specialty baking products (Bob’s Red Mill stuff). It was pretty cheap too.
This looks delicious! I cannot wait to try it! I love all your pumpkin recipes – I was in India last year and what I missed most was fall and pumpkin foods! (though they had great pumpkin there that I just steamed and ate – but not the same in boiling hot weather!) I think this would be great on any grain – esp rice.
Two ideas for you…a vegan pumpkin black bean soup (have looked for recipes but not crazy about any yet) and I have also made pumpkin soft pretzels…yummmmmm!
Thanks for another great recipe – I am excited to be home this weekend (after many weekends away) to cook the long list of recipes from your blog that I keep a list of!
Oh – and for nutritional yeast – not sure if anyone has posted about this but I order from Vitacost (not sure if they ship to canada) – I get so much from them and it is all discounted – supplements, cleaning and beauty products and organic foods. Last time I got nutritional yeast and lots of organic canned pumpkin and butternut squash! And free shipping to boot!
I buy nutritional yeast at Whole Foods. They carry it in bulk and in a giant container. I usually buy in bulk only what I need. I cannot wait to try this recipe out on Sunday! Thanks!
Just made this recipe, and wanted to let you know it was nothing short of AMAZING! It was so quick and easy to make, and even my die-hard lacto-carnivore brother in law was in love with it. I’ve tried a ton of vegan cheezy sauce recipes in the past, and they always end up a little too “nutritional yeast-y,” for lack of a better term. The blend of both the yeast AND the pumpkin was exactly what I was looking for — smooth, creamy, savory and delicious!
Hey Val, I’m glad to hear that!