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This Southwest Macaroni & Cheeze is not your typical vegan mac, this dish has some added flair with ingredients like jalapenos, cayenne, and black beans!

Bowl of Mac and cheese with mix-ins and text reading "Vegan Southwestern Mac and Cheese"

It may not be the very start of the month, but today is the start of a new bloghop! I thought for a bit that I wasn't going to be able to participate in this month's theme, but inspiration (and a little extra time) struck and I had my first dish made before I knew it! Of course, I had almost every ingredient on hand.. except for normal pasta noodles. But, I did find a bag of macaroni salad noodles in a deep, dark corner of my pantry; hey, it ended up working out great! It just looks a lil' funny.

black beans, bell pepper, cilantro, jalapeño, tomato on a cutting board

There is just one problem with this amazing Southwest Macaroni & Cheeze dish, it is HIGHLY addictive. My friend Amanda and I were having a hard time keeping ourselves from grabbing thirds, but the fact that our tummies were full stopped us ahead of time. This dish has all of the comfort of traditional mac & cheese, just with some added oomph!

More vegan Mac and cheese recipes for you!

Yield: 4

Southwest Macaroni & Cheeze

Name: Southwest Macaroni & Cheeze
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Vegan
Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups (238 g) dried noodles, gluten-free if necessary; 1 teaspoon olive oil; 1 cup (190 g) cooked black beans; 1/2 cup (95 g) chopped tomato; 1/2 cup (60 g) chopped red or orange bell pepper; 1/4 cup (10 g) diced green onion; 1 tablespoon (3 g) diced, fresh jalapeño; 1 tablespoon (1 g) minced cilantro; 2 cups (185 g) vegan cheddar shreds; 1 cup (235 ml) unsweetened non-dairy milk, depending on how creamy/thick you want it; 1/2-1 cup (120-235 ml) reserved pasta cooking water; 2 tablespoons (10 g) nutritional yeast; 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1/2 teaspoon chili powder; 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper; Salt and Pepper to taste

5.0 Stars (2 Reviews)

This Southwest Macaroni & Cheeze is not your typical vegan mac, this dish has some added flair with ingredients like jalapenos, cayenne, and black beans!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 ½ cups (238 g) dried noodles, gluten-free if necessary
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup (190 g) cooked black beans
½ cup (95 g) chopped tomato
½ cup (60 g) chopped red or orange bell pepper
¼ cup (10 g) diced green onion
1 tablespoon (3 g) diced, fresh jalapeño
1 tablespoon (1 g) minced cilantro
2 cups (185 g) vegan cheddar shreds
1 cup (235 ml) unsweetened non-dairy milk, depending on how creamy/thick you want it
½-1 cup (120-235 ml) reserved pasta cooking water
2 tablespoons (10 g) nutritional yeast
1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Cook noodles according to package instructions.
While the noodles are boiling, in a small pan on medium heat, start sauteing the black beans, tomato, bell pepper, green onions, jalapeño, and cilantro together until the bell peppers start to soften (approx. 5-7 minutes).
When the noodles are fully cooked, strain pasta in colander, reserving ½ cup (120 ml) pasta cooking water. Add cheddar shreds, non-dairy milk, pasta water, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne to pot, and simmer over medium heat until shreds have melted, whisking occasionally. If you find the sauce to be very thick, add more pasta water.
Stir the vegetable mixture into the noodles, as well. Taste the dish and season accordingly with salt and pepper. Serve warm!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g

Close up of bowl of vegan Mac and cheese with black beans and peppers

What is one of your favorite recipes for Mac & Cheese? Don't like mac & cheese, what's your favorite pasta?

This Mexican Macaroni & Cheeze is not your typical vegan mac, this dish has some added flair with ingredients like jalapenos, cayenne, and black beans!

The bloghop, this month, is filled with so many amazing blogs! I love that I’m able to be a part of it, and continue to share the foodie love. Here’s a list of all of the bloggers that are participating!

ASTIG Vegan ~ Richgail ~ @astigvegan
Badger Girl Learns to Cook ~ Kimberly ~ @BdgrGrl
BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker
Bon a croquer ~ Valerie ~ @Valouth
Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess
Elephant Eats ~ Amy
Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19
Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk
No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ TR ~ @TRCrumbley
Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose
Rico sin Azucar ~ Helena ~ @ricosinazucar
Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem
Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood
The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd
The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian
Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack
Vegetarian Mamma ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma
You Made That? ~ Suzanne ~ @YouMadeThatblog

Please join in on the #pastalove fun by linking up any pasta recipe from the month of May 2012. Don’t forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #pastalove event! The twitter hashtag is #pastalove.

More Dinner

24 Comments

LOVE the Mexican take on mac n cheese!

Whoa! Now that is one awesome looking mac and cheese! Totally trying this out next time I'm craving mac and cheese. And I'll have to track down those Mexican style shreds.

This just brought my love for vegan mac and cheese to a whole new level. I HAVE TO try this recipe.

Love all the extras and mexican flavors in this! I adore just about any mac n cheese but often make a basic version using cheddar and roasted butternut squash that's been purred - it adds great color and flavor!

Lovely and delicious with all those mexican flavors!!I just love the last pic!!Yummm..Sending you some #pastalove Jackie 🙂

Delicious!!
I love all the wonderful flavors in here....
Love the pics!!

Love the sound of this recipe and it looks great. I think the shape of the macaroni really works 😉

happy cinco de mayo indeeeeedd! i am serving this(modified, less bean version) as a side with my panini lunch with friends today!

Interesting mexican twist 😉
Love the colour, flavour must be really good!

Sending you some #pastalove!

What a terrific idea Jackie!! I don't know why, but have never changed up my mac n cheese to a Mexican version. Perfect for Cinco di Mayo!!

Loving the pasta love! That mac and cheese looks scrumptious!!!

What a lot of gorgeous cheesy goodness! I've yet to try vegan cheese, or nutritional yeast, but this is a must make! I can completely imagine it being absolutely addictive 🙂 Happy to celebrate #pastalove with you this month!

Vegan nicotine is a great tag!

Love the Mexican flavor of your mac n cheez! I was in Los Al about a week ago visiting my family in Cypress. So jealous of the Sprouts market in Rossmore. The South is quite behind on the healthy foods and cool grocery stores so enjoy your surroundings! xoxo

so glad you joined us for the #pastalove bloghop. i love how you make your posts so thematic for the month! i've never tried vegan cheese (store bought) before, but have made cashew cheese and i loved it. i haven't tried nutritional yeast either! and this mac and cheese dish looks DELISH!

Can't go wrong with mac n cheese!I love that you added jalapenos and cilantro...yum! #pasta love!

This looks amazing! Full of flavor and something we can eat 🙂 Yay!! 🙂
Cindy

I love all mac and cheese and this one is no exception. This looks awesome! I love the mexican influence here. Cinco de mayo and #pastalove all at once!