There is little else better than this vegan buffalo broccoli mac and cheese. Separately, this vegan mac and cheese and vegan buffalo broccoli are mind-blowing. Put them together, and it may be one of the best meals of your life. The broccoli is dipped in a wet batter and then coated in panko. It is baked not fried, but incredibly crispy. Tossed in an easy vegan buffalo sauce. A bit of that sauce is also mixed into the GREASTEST vegan mac and cheese of all time. This is the most legit vegan mac and cheese, made the way a traditional stove top recipe would be made.
What You Need For The Best Vegan Mac and Cheese of All Time:
- Broccoli: You need to use fresh broccoli cut into florets for this recipe.
- Non-Dairy Milk: For the batter for the broccoli and to make the “cheese” sauce.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: This helps thicken the non-dairy milk for the batter and turns it into a mock buttermilk.
- Flour, Corn Starch, Salt and Panko: These are the dry ingredients for the broccoli.
- Garlic, Vegan Butter, Flour, Vegan Cheese, Nutritional Yeast and Pasta: These are the remaining ingredients for the mac and cheese. I love to use Violife Cheddar Style Cheese!
- Hot Sauce, Vegan Butter, Garlic Powder, Cane Sugar: This is what you need to make the buffalo sauce.
People ask me all the time, “what recipe of yours could you never go without?” The answer changes a lot, as I create new things. Right now, my answer is absolutely, this vegan buffalo broccoli mac and cheese! This recipe is a little more time consuming because there are several different elements. However, it is well worth, quite easy and you can use them as separate recipes if you prefer. Both parts of this dish are equally amazing.
Why Should You Make This Spicy Mac?
- Crispy buffalo broccoli that is baked, not fried!
- The absolute creamiest, easiest most delicious vegan mac and cheese.
- Putting them together is absolutely dreamy.
- This mac and cheese is kid-approved!
- Impress all those vegan naysayers with the best meal ever!
Vegan Buffalo Broccoli Mac and Cheese
Super crispy baked buffalo broccoli served with the creamiest, easiest vegan mac and cheese.
Ingredients
For The Broccoli
- 1 Head of Broccoli, cut into florets
- 1 Cup Non-dairy milk, unsweetened I used soy milk
- 1 teaspoon Apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 Cup All purpose flour
- 1/2 Cup Corn starch
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 Cups Panko bread crumbs, vegan
For The Buffalo Sauce
- 2/3 Cup Hot sauce, I used Franks
- 1/2 Cup Vegan butter, I used Earth Balance
- 1 teaspoon Cane sugar or agave
- Pinch of Garlic powder
- Pinch of Salt
For The Mac and Cheese
- 12 Ounces Pasta shells, medium or large
- 2 Tablespoons Vegan butter
- 6 Cloves Garlic, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons All purpose flour
- 1 Cup Non-dairy milk
- 1 1/2 Cups Vegan cheddar style shreds, I used Violife
- 2 Tablespoons Nutritional yeast
- 2 Tablespoons Buffalo sauce(from what you made)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Start the broccoli first. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees(F).
- Cut the broccoli into florets and set aside.
- Whisk together the non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl. Set aside to thicken for a minute.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, stir together the flour, corn starch, and salt. Now, pour the non-dairy milk and vinegar into the bowl. Whisk to combine and create a wet batter.
- In a separate medium sized mixing bowl, add the panko.
- Now, dip each broccoli floret into the wet batter, then into the panko and toss to coat completely. I do a few at a time to speed up the process.
- Then put the broccoli on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray or lined with a silicone mat. Repeat with all the broccoli.
- Spray the tops of the broccoli with more non-stick spray. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until nice and crispy.
- While the broccoli bakes, make the buffalo sauce. Add all the ingredients to a small sauce pan. Heat on medium and whisk until the vegan butter has melted. Simmer for 1-2 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Make the mac and cheese. Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain when al dente.
- As the pasta cooks, make the cheese sauce. Heat the vegan butter in a medium sized pot on medium high.
- Add the garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Reducing heat as needed.
- Add the flour and whisk to combine with the garlic and butter to create a roux. Simmer for a minute.
- Add the non-dairy milk and whisk to combine making sure there are no lumps. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until it begins to thicken. About 2-3 minutes.
- Add the vegan cheese, nutritional yeast, 2 tablespoons of the buffalo sauce you made and a pinch of salt. Whisk to combine and continue to whisk until the vegan cheese has melted.
- Pour the pasta into the pot with the cheese sauce and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- Once the broccoli is done, toss the broccoli in the remaining buffalo sauce. Serve immediately with the mac and cheese.
Notes
The broccoli will get soggy if it sits around for a while in the sauce. Toss in the buffalo sauce right before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 540kcal | Carbohydrates: 93g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1715mg | Potassium: 404mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1251IU | Vitamin C: 27mg | Calcium: 190mg | Iron: 4mg
So good. My kids killed this Mac n cheese.
This was very, very good. Can’t speak to the Buffalo sauce cause I used store bought but everything else was delicious.
When I attempted to make the sauce it started to cook and separate, was it because I used primal kitchen brand Buffalo sauce?
The Buffalo broccoli was amazing!!
I’m not sure if this is my use of GF flour or if my GF panko was too coarse (I did try to smash it with a rolling pin) but I found when the broccoli bites were fresh, the breading was almost cornflake crunchy…which was good, but not quite what I was expecting. BUT a few hours later and also over the next day or two when I reheated on the stove – Perfection!
I made this for friends and we all loved it! Your recipes never fail to impress my friends
Yay! Thank you for sharing!
The absolute best!! Thank you!
This is a fabulous dinner menu! Tonight was one of those nights where I needed to use broccoli up and a search for something different to do with broccoli led me to this recipe. I even had the perfect amount of Violife cheddar cheese shreds leftover in my fridge and panko in my pantry…gotta love it when you have everything you need at a moment’s notice! Everything to this meal is delicious, and even though there were a lot of parts, it actually came together in under an hour for me from start to finish, which is impressive! I air fried my broccoli and they were very crunchy. I needed to keep them warm while my pasta finished. My kids loved the mac and cheese and deemed the broccoli “good” which is a huge compliment coming from them! Will definitely make again and again.
I made this tonight and it was amazing! Thank you, your recipes are exceptional!
This. Broccoli. Is. So. Good!! Serioisly!!! I didn’t make quite enough buffalo sauce to coat them fully but they were still delicious. Next time I will cut my broc into smaller bite-size pieces. Def making again!
That broccoli is next level. Sooo soo good!
This was SO yum! The breaded broccoli is a new and impressive variation on the baked bread crumb topped Mac n chz. It’s so perfect! Genius thought to do this! And the Buffalo sauce…. makes it just that much better. I halved the franks and used 1/3 cup and added pure maple syrup. I didn’t measure it… I don’t think I did. 1/3 cup of it…. Maybe 1/4? In any event it was so, so good!! Also I added just a bit of mustard powder and onion powder to the finished Mac n chz. I’ve made a lot of vegan Mac n chz recipes and this one is my fav!
I just made this for dinner and it was soooooo tasty :)! Best vegan mac and cheeze recipe I’ve made so far!
My new go to Mac and cheese! And the broccoli is soooo amazing!
My college roommate and I found this recipe over a year ago and have made this so many times since, Recently we made it for friendsgiving and everyone went crazy over it! Excellent recipe!!!
Omg… this is one of my new favorite recipes. I air fryer the broccoli and it turned out great. So glad I stumbled across this recipe.
Delicious! I used bbq sauce instead since I’m not a fan of spicy stuff. I also used broccoli and cauliflower! Both were great!