This vegan pumpkin mac and cheese has the most beautiful smooth, creamy sauce with tonnes of flavor – paired with the pasta shape of your choosing and grilled with breadcrumbs, sage, and vegan cheese, this makes the most delicious easy meal!

Want a non-vegan version? Try my vegetarian pumpkin mac and cheese alternative version.

I made this recipe because I had some pumpkin puree leftover from baking up a pumpkin-themed storm the past couple of weeks (pumpkin cookies or pumpkin muffins, anyone?).

The recipe is fairly similar to my creamy butternut squash pasta sauce recipe, although this version has more of that more cheesy, comforting goodness that you would expect from mac and cheese. If you want more mac and cheese variations, I think you’ll also love this orzo mac and cheese recipe!

Making this pumpkin mac and cheese

To make the creamy pumpkin sauce for your mac and cheese, you’ll first want to have some pumpkin puree to hand.

You could either make your own by roasting pumpkin, scooping the flesh out of the skins, and pureeing the pumpkin flesh with a little salt. This does tend to be a little more watery than the canned version, but I simply drain off any excess water before use.

Alternatively, you could use canned pumpkin puree – if you’re in the UK, this might be a little more difficult to get your hands on.

To make the sauce, you’ll blend pumpkin puree with nutritional yeast (for that beautifully nutty, cheesy taste), garlic, thyme, fried sage, cornflour, paprika, salt and pepper, and a little plant-based milk. The sauce should be fairly thick, but it will thicken as you heat it because of the corn flour.

Assembling the dish

Cook your pasta according to the package instructions, and then set aside. Pour your cheese sauce into a saucepan, and heat on a medium heat, stirring all the while until the sauce has thickened.

Stir in the pasta, and then empty the mac and cheese into a baking dish. Scatter over the breadcrumbs, extra sage, and vegan cheese, then grill for 5 – 10 minutes until the top is crispy.

You could omit this last step if you wanted to, but the crispy top really finishes this dish off! I also scattered over some crispy vegan bacon bits from Vivera which were delicious.