Spiralized Zucchini Mac and Cheese

2021-11-05

Mac and cheese just got a healthy makeover with this spiralized zucchini mac and cheese recipe! Seasonal zoodles are coated with a vegan cheeze sauce and topped with a delicious oat crumble for your next weekday dinner!

Mac and cheese just got a healthy makeover with this spiralized zucchini mac and cheese recipe! Seasonal zoodles are coated with a vegan cheeze sauce and topped with a delicious oat crumble for your next weekday dinner!

Funny back story on this recipe… I first stumbled across Greenhouse Juice at The Detox Market back in Toronto. Since then they own storefronts, multiple retailers, stunning blog and now their official cookbook, it’s safe to say that Greenhouse has become a Toronto staple. Turns out my former classmate, Emma did the branding for Greenhouse Juice.

I was so excited to pick up the cookbook – it was truly love at first sight. It includes their trademark juice recipes, but also expands to include so much more like breakfast, snacks, DIY tutorials for things like nut milk and delicious recipes like this Spiralized Zucchini Mac and Cheese.

I emailed Emma asking if she wouldn’t mind if I shared a recipe from the book. She kindly replied yes and asked, which one I wanted to share. I had been eyeing the Spiralized Mac and Cheese and I was so grateful when she granted me permission to share. When I was reading the recipe notes, I noticed that the recipe was actually developed by a friend of Greenhouse, nutritionist Tara Tomulka who I ALSO went to high school with!

You could say our school produced some pretty badass women! Enjoy the recipe and if you want to support one of my favorite Toronto companies, definitely grab yourself a copy of The Greenhouse Cookbook!

Now let’s dive into the recipe…

How to Make Zucchini Noodles

First things first, you have to make zucchini noodles. There are a few different ways you can go around this depending on the kitchen appliances and supplies you have on hand. The easiest option in my opinion is by using a spiralizer. I have had mine for more years than I can count and am still obsessed. A great investment! To make zucchini noodles, all you do is slice off the ends, set the zucchini between the two spiralizer ends and spiralize away!

If you don’t have a spiralizer you can use a vegetable peeler or just a knife to cut noodle shapes. Fair warning: this method creates more of a thin and wide ribbon instead of a substantial curly noodle. Still gets the job done though!

Can You Use Frozen Zucchini Noodles?

More and more grocery stores are carrying pre-made zucchini noodles and frozen zoodles. From what I’ve seen pre-made are much spendier than just buying a zucchini but they will do the trick if you’re short on time or don’t have a tool to make zoodles. I have found that frozen zoodles can release a ton of water during baking so I don’t recommend those for this recipe.

Vegan Cheese Sauce! How to make it:

This vegan cheese sauce is made from a base of blended nuts and spices. The recipe calls for a mixture of cashews and Brazil nuts which I thought was so interesting! I love how creamy Brazil nuts are so of course they’d make a great sauce base. If you don’t have any Brazil nuts on hand you can substitute for more cashews.

Soak your nuts in water for at least 2 hours and then combine with water, mustard, garlic, nutritional yeast, olive oil, lemon juice, turmeric, apple cider vinegar and salt. Blend in a high-speed powered blender until smooth.

Combine your sauce and zucchini noodles in a baking dish and then top with the star of this recipe: the oat crumb crust. Bake until golden brown and warmed through!

Spiralized Zucchini Mac and Cheese with Oat Crumb Crust

Author: The Healthy Maven
Cook Time: 10
Total Time: 30
Yield: 4 servings 1x

Scale

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked (I soaked mine for 2 hours)
1/2 cup raw Brazil nuts, soaked (feel free to substitute with more cashews, which I did)
4 medium zucchini
1/2 to 1 cup filtered water, divided
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Oat Crumb Crust:

½ cup gluten-free rolled oats
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
Pinch of sea salt, for garnish
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper, for garnish
Fresh parsley or basil, for garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Cut the ends off your zucchini. We like to leave them unpeeled, but you can peel them if you’d prefer. Using a spiralizer, create zucchini “noodles.” Place them in a large bowl and set aside.
To make the cheesy sauce, combine the cashews, Brazil nuts,½ cup water, mustard, garlic, nutritional yeast, olive oil, lemon juice, turmeric, apple cider vinegar and salt in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, slowly add the remaining ½ cup water until you have reached a smooth, sauce-like consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired. Pour the sauce into the noodle bowl and mix until well coated.
To make the oat crumb crust, combine the oats and the olive oil in a food processor and pulse until well crumbled.
Arrange saucy noodles in a shallow baking dish and cover with a layer of the oat crumb crust. Bake until golden and warm all the way through, about 10 minutes.
Garnish with salt, black pepper and a few leaves of parsley or basil.

Notes

Excerpted from The Greenhouse Cookbook: Plant Based Eating and DIY Juicing by Emma Knight with Hana James, Deeva Green and Lee Reitelman. Photography by Elena Mari and Nathan Legiehn. Copyright © 2017 by Greenhouse Juice Company. Published by Penguin, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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