- Dairy Free Mac And Cheese Daiya Recipe
- Dairy Free Mac And Cheese Daiya
- Dairy Free Mac And Cheese Daiya Salad
Between my dog and myself, we have a host of dietary hurdles to overcome. He can’t digest protein or citrus; I can’t have gluten or dairy. We’re a hot mess, he and I, yet we make it work. I diligently make him banana and potato biscuits every week, and for myself, I indulge in the most verboten dish of all for the lactose and gluten-averse: mac ‘n cheese.
I like this recipe for a lot of reasons. It’s super easy, fast, cheap, and allows for endless customization. But best of all, it reminds me of the blue-box version my mom used to make when I was young. We all know this box. Delicious when you’re age 8, but tastes more like chalky nostalgia in your 20s.
(8 cups) of water in medium saucepan. Stir in macaroni pasta. 7 to 8 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Return to saucepan, massage sauce packet to mix thoroughly. Cheeze sauce over hot macaroni. Stir until blended. We took the best of mac and cheese and made it plant-based. Our Cheezy Mac comes in five delicious flavors that your whole family will love. Each flavor features our velvety cheeze sauce (in a convenient squeeze pouch) and gluten-free pasta. Enjoy the creamy, cheezy, easy, deliciousness with each bite of our dairy-free Cheezy Mac.
The process is exactly the same for this recipe, only I’ve substituted high quality, diet-friendly ingredients for stuff in the box. The starchy pasta water helps everything bind together without the need for milk. I can usually tolerate a small amount of butter without my body staging a coup d’etat, but if your dietary sensitivities are more severe, a substitute like Earth Balance works fine. I like using Daiya vegan cheese and use a combination of 60:40 cheddar to mozzarella to add a clingy thickness to the sauce, plus gluten-free noodles, but the recipe is essentially a template. Modify however you see fit — regular pasta, different varieties of vegan cheese, add blanched peas or sautéed kale…the world is yours.
I love mac and cheese. My whole family loves mac and cheese. But on a plant-based diet we had been missing our fix. Enter Daiya’s Deluxe Cheezy Mac.
I’m not sure what we were expecting when we started with this but we were pleasantly surprised by what we had in store for us. This box of Daiya’s Deluxe Cheezy Mac is advertised as dairy, soy and gluten free. Non-GMO verified and of course plant-based.
First I should mention that we got our box from Whole Foods and during quarantine the Amazon delivery worked great. Here’s a link to Daiya Deluxe Cheezy Mac directly on Amazon.
Dairy Free Mac And Cheese Daiya Recipe
Nutritional Facts
I can’t say enough about reading the nutritional facts and how important that is. Regardless of how healthy you think you are keeping your family, even if you’re eating mac and cheese :). I started to do some digging.
So what stuck out to me was the amount of sodium per serving. Daiya Deluxe Cheezy Mac shows 580mg per serving! This of course seems quite high but let’s compare it to other non-dairy mac and cheese.
- Kraft Macaroni & Cheese shows 530mg per serving.
- Happy Belly Original Macaroni & Cheese shows 500mg per serving.
- Annies Home Grown Organic Mac & Cheese shows between 520mg to 570mg per serving. Difference mostly being on the type of cheese being used.
- Velveeta Shells & Cheese shows 910mg per serving!
Dairy Free Mac And Cheese Daiya
So while Daiya Deluxe Cheezy Mac doesn’t compare to the Velveeta version it still is inline with the other non-dairy mac & cheeses. I should mention, if the sodium topic is of interest to you then make sure to check out this article posted from healthline about other foods high in sodium. I learned that this is inline with what a hotdog or bratwurst of sodium per serving.
Dairy Free Mac And Cheese Daiya Salad
Unboxing
Add the Daiya cheese. Stir until completely melted (no lumps). This may take longer than expected-Daiya cheese takes much longer to melt entirely than real cheese. Add the rest of the spices and stir. If you have any other mac & cheese variations, add those ingredients now. If the sauce is too thick, add more milk or creamer; if it's too thin. Cook gluten free macaroni until tender, about 15 minutes. In a medium saucepan melt the buttery spread, then stir in the gluten free flour and the spices. Slowly add in the dairy free milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils; reduce heat to a simmer, but keep stirring constantly.
No surprises here. Standard bag of macaroni and bag of the secret sauce.
Time to Cook
Daiya Deluxe Cheezy Mac comes with really tasty gluten free macaroni. It uses brown rice pasta to avoid the gluten and we really loved it.
Once we added the cheese things started really coming together. A little secret: I NEVER use the whole packet of cheese. It always seemed too much and this case was no different. I think we ended up using about a quarter of the whole bag. Now you could argue that you don’t get the full effect of the dish but on the positive side you also don’t get the full sodium effect.
Final Verdict
The box says that it’s good for 3 servings. Which in my house usually means good for 1.5 people. This was no different. Overall we really enjoyed Daiya’s take on mac & cheese. The mac was great the non-dairy cheese was also not too over-powering. It definitely scratched an itch that we had. So if you’re looking for a wonderful alternative to a dairy based mac & cheese make sure to check out Daiya Deluxe Cheezy Mac.