That one time I made 4 boxes of mac and (dairy-free) cheese in one day...
Macaroni and cheese is high up there on my list of favorite foods. Ever since starting a vegan diet about 5 years ago, I've been trying to find the perfect bowl of mac and cheese. I thought for sure that I found it once I started using Daiya cheese, melting it with some almond milk and Earth Balance butter, and then mixing it all together with some elbow noodles. That was until I discovered all the boxed vegan mac and cheese options out there. It's like the universe shifted and the gods of macaroni and vegan cheese decided to grace me with variety - something rare in the world of veganism.
Annie's is a brand that I am somewhat familiar with, but was super surprised to find vegan mac & cheese in their product archive. The taste of this mac & cheese wasn't as cheesy as I would have liked it to be, but then I remember it's not real cheese and it must be extremely difficult to make something taste as distinct as cheese without being actual cheese, and then I was more than okay with the taste and realize it's actually pretty good. It was also a bit dry after adding everything the instructions listed, but I just added a bit more almond milk and it was a perfect consistency.
Unlike all the other Mac & Cheese's, this box came with a squeeze packet of already melted "cheese" instead of your typical packet of powdered cheese. Since I was already accustomed to the taste of Daiya cheese and absolutely loved it, I wasn't surprised at all when I tasted the Deluxe Cheezy Mac and fell in love.
I was very familiar with the brand Earth Balance because they make my "buttery spread" (vegan butter) of choice, but I was not at all familiar with any of their other products other than their butter so I was pleasantly surprised to find their vegan macaroni and cheese on Amazon. The noodle shape in this box is definitely my favorite out of all the vegan mac and cheese noodles I've tried. I'm not even sure why, but I love it. The vegan cheese flavor was surprisingly tasty. Two thumbs up.
So Delicious is my go-to vegan ice cream brand. Their soy and almond ice cream flavors are my absolute favorite desserts, so I was ready for their mac & cheese to be my new favorite lunch/dinner. Maybe even breakfast. The "cheesy" taste wasn't too strong, which can be a good thing if you don't want to be overwhelmed with a new kind of cheese flavor.
All in all, I was extremely surprised and happy with the results from this vegan mac & cheese taste test. I went into this not really expecting much from some of these brands, but left with an entire blog post about macaroni and cheese (I'm definitely living the dream) and a very happy belly.
What's your favorite vegan mac & cheese brand?
This is amaazing post! I like pasta, because it is so delicious.
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