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Luxury Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese (vegetarian & vegan recipe)

A luxury slow cooker macaroni cheese. The best mac and cheese I've made in years and the best part is this is a dump recipe. Dump in the ingredients, switch the slow cooker on and walk away.



Macaroni cheese. We all love it. It's like a comforting hug in a bowl.

When I was growing up my mum regularly made mac and cheese, although growing up in Scotland it was always called macaroni cheese. Whatever you call it, it's always a winner.

This recipe is one of the easiest. No longer do you need to stand stirring a sauce and have several pans to clean. Now you can just dump in all in your slow cooker, turn it on and walk away. Leaving it to get on with making the most heavenly mac n cheese.

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Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese


Yes there is a lot of cheese in there. I did tell you it was luxury.

I've made a slow cooker pot of this in both the vegan and vegetarian versions and they both brought about groans of pleasure.

Starting from top left and reading across each row:

  1. Elbow pasta (which is my favourite shape for macaroni cheese, although you may use your favourite pasta shape) in milk 
  2. Add creme fraiche
  3. Add cream cheese
  4. Add grated cheddar
  5. Add grated Parmesan style cheese
  6. Add English mustard powder, salt and pepper
  7. Stir well
  8. Set to high and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the pasta is cooked and the sauce is rich and creamy
  9. Serve and enjoy!

The full recipe is below, but I hope you now see just how luxurious and easy it is to make.

Also try my easy vegetarian macaroni cheese, which is a family recipe.

Vegan Macaroni Cheese


It's often easier to make a vegetarian dish than a vegan dish, but it's getting easier all the time to make a vegan dish that is similar in flavour and texture. New products  are coming onto the market all the time.

Soaking Cashews


Me, I can't be bothered with all the soaking of cashews overnight, so I'm delighted with all these fabulous products. Have I ever soaked a cashew? No! Will I ever soak a cashew? Probably not!

Vegan Cheese


These are our favourites, but there are others available. 

We like Violife all the way. The cream cheese is good, the cheddar melts so well, although it is very mild and their style of Parmesan cheese, which they call Prosociano is amazing. It has that tang of Parmesan and the same fabulous texture. If you want to add a really cheesy flavour to a dish, add this. Be generous with it over pasta of any type.

reader's comment- recipe gave her the confidence to start using vegan cheese.



Vegan Creme Fraiche


For creme fraiche we like Oatly. Although they call it creamy oat fraiche instead of creme fraiche. We often add it to a creamy mushroom sauce too.

Vegan Single Cream


We use like either Alpro single or Oatly creamy oat single (pouring) cream. They are both great in sauces.

Plant Based Milk


Use your favourite dairy-free milk, but maybe not a really sweet one. Save that for your breakfast cereal. Graham's favourites are Koko or Oatly.


Luxury Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese


This recipe is total luxury and if you are on a diet don't make it. It is calorific, but it's also heavenly and will make you very, very happy.

Make it for your family or yourself on a cold winter night and enjoy the warm hug it gives you.

Food should be about pleasure too, so don't hold back. As they say everything in moderation!


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dinner
Scottish, vegan, vegetarian
Luxury Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese
A dump recipe for the slow cooker. This luxury mac and cheese is the best you'll try. It's so rich, creamy and cheesy. It tastes totally sinful. Vegetarian recipe and vegan recipe.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9aImIhmlvr-w6hnmcXEITmmppiE62zGREeT1lv3L94xGnEl62g2KvyJ2j6eP69_dXxo25sgJoGa6O283DvZpCEzNZnNeXVOppxY5YoOa_7KJE9d41RjEchTOtqbEB8bGry4ZAIY8b0Co/s1600/mac+and+cheese+close+up.jpg2018-11-30
Yield: 4-6

Luxury Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese

A dump recipe for the slow cooker. This luxury mac and cheese is the best you'll try. It's so rich, creamy and cheesy. It tastes totally sinful. Vegetarian recipe and vegan recipe.
prep time: 5 minscook time: 1 hour and 30 minstotal time: 1 hours and 35 mins

ingredients


  • 250g elbow pasta (or your favourite macaroni pasta shape)
  • 1 litre/4 cups milk (dairy or plant based)
  • 225ml/1 cup single cream (dairy, oat or soya)
  • 3 heaped tbsp creme fraiche (dairy or oat)
  • 3 heaped tbsp cream cheese (dairy or vegan)
  • 200g/2 cups grated cheddar (dairy or vegan)
  • 150g/1½ cups grated Parmesan (vegetarian or vegan)
  • 2 tsp English mustard powder
  • a good grinding of salt and pepper

instructions


  1. Dump all the ingredients into a slow cooker and stir well to combine.
  2. Set to high and cook for 1 ½  - 2 hours until the pasta is cooked and the sauce is thick and lush. Stirring occasionally.
  3. Serve and enjoy!
calories
573
fat (grams)
25.4
sat. fat (grams)
15.4
carbs (grams)
46.7
protein (grams)
40.7
sugar (grams)
8.4
Created using The Recipes Generator


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Vegan Spinach & Cream Cheese Stuffed Pasta ShellsA simple recipe for a stuffed pasta recipe made in a slow cooker. The perfect midweek meal for vegans or vegetarians.



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Veggie Christmas banner

More Vegan Winter & Christmas Recipes

For more winter meal ideas check out my post 48 Easy Winter Vegan Meals and check out my page Veggie Christmas for lots of vegetarian and vegan Christmas recipes that will take the stress out of Christmas (they are all super easy).


For more vegetarian and vegan slow cooker recipes, check out my page Easy Vegetarian and Vegan Slow Cooker Recipes

14 comments

  1. Honestly, I hadn't ever bothered soaking a cashew either -- but I was trying to remake a recipe of my mother's, which meant I wanted to at least give it a nod to doing it right! I just tossed them in a cup of water overnight and went to bed -- so it was very PASSIVE soaking, to be sure! I ADORE that there are so many products now which make the long, hard effort a thing of the past, though. Vegan is getting easier every day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well that doesn't sound too bad, but honestly I would forget. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants when cooking and decide on the day what I am cooking. I know, I know, I should be more organised. Just too much going on!

      Yes it is so much easier to cook and eat vegan, which is great.

      Delete
  2. I'm interested in your vegan substitutes - I recently decided to check our biolife ingredients and it is similar to violife - lots of coconut oil but does not seem to have the sort of nutritional profile to replace dairy cheese for me, which is a shame as I love the taste of it. I am interested in the oatly products - a friend recently told me about a great vegan butter made from oats that he found at a market but has not found made widely - wonder if oatly do one! And mac and cheese in a slow cooker sounds great.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I know what you mean, I don't use them for extra nutrition. I rely on the other fresh ingredients I cook with to cover that. This recipe is purely comfort and indulgence.

      I haven't seen any oat butter.

      The slow cooker mac and cheese is so, so good!

      Delete
  3. I'm in love with the ease of this recipe. Dump ingredients, and then slow cook. Looks so so good.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't use my slow cooker very often but I am going to try this. I like that it is all made in one pot and you don't have to cook the pasta separately. Jill

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes that has to be the bet part of this, well actually the creamy, cheesy gorgeousness is the best, but it is a really simple recipe, which is good to have. I hope you try it Jill.

      Delete
  5. Can you substitue the creme fraiche out for something else vegan?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could add some vegan plain yoghurt. It just adds to the flavour and texture. You are going to love it!

      Delete
  6. My son made this today, but we wondered if the amount of milk was right. I'm not sure 2.5 cups is a litre of milk. It was bit wet, even after 2+ hours. We rescued it by heating on the hob with flour. Next time, and there will be next time, it was delish, I would try much less milk.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've made it a few times and not had a problem. It does have a lot of sauce. Mind you if you open it too much to stir, water can drop from the lid and make it a bit watery and there is always a bit of difference from slow cooker to slow cooker.

      Try adding a bit less next time and be careful when opening the lid.

      I am so glad you enjoyed it though.

      Delete
    2. You are right. I made a mistake when typing in the cup measures for the milk. The litre is correct but I checked my notes typed in the wrong number for the cups. Thanks so much for spotting that. Luckily most of my audience is from the UK and metric. I've updated it now.

      Delete
  7. Absolutely lush. Best recipe for Mac and cheese ever.

    ReplyDelete

I love reading comments, so thank you for taking the time to leave one. Unfortunately, I'm bombarded with spam, so I've turned on comment moderation. I'll publish your comments as soon as I can and respond to them. Don't panic, they will disappear when you hit publish. Jac x