I love nutritional yeast – mostly because it reminds me of Gentlemen Broncos, which makes me laugh. If you haven’t seen it yet, please do! It’s one of the best intentionally terrible movies you will ever see. Bonus: Then yeast will make you laugh too. Here’s some stuff you should know about nutritional yeast:
- Technically a fungus, nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast grown on cane and beet molasses.
- The flavor is best described as nutty or cheesy, which also makes me laugh.
- Depending on the type you buy, it either looks like cornmeal or yellow flakes.
- Our New Zealand friends know it as Brufax. They also pronounce “aluminum” hilariously.
- Nutritional yeast is a complete protein, rich in B-complex vitamins and it makes you pee bright yellow.
Now that you’re basically a yeast expert, WTF do you do with it? Well, if you’re a good little vegan or vegetarian you’re probably already putting it in almost everything you eat. Because of its savory nature, nutritional yeast is great sprinkled into soups and stews, stir frys, in dips, on salads… I sprinkle it on popcorn for a cheesy flavor and use it like Parmesan on my pasta. Even if you’re not vegetarian, it’s a great flavor and nutrient boost to all of your food.
This week end we used a whole heap of nutritional yeast in a vegan mac and “cheese” recipe my husband has been talking about since I met him about 8 years ago. Its Eric Z’s mac n’ yeast, and it was worth the 8 year wait. We went for the classic elbow-shape so Teno would eat it, but rotini or anything else that grabs onto sauce would work too.
Mac n’ Yeast
Ingredients
- 1 lb macaroni
- 6 tablespoons vegan butter
- 1/3 cup flour
- 2.5 cups boiling water
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
- 2 cups nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon season salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Vege-Sal seasoned salt
- 1 pinch paprika
- 1 handful breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350. Cook the macaroni half way (whatever time the package instructs, half it.) Drain and set aside.
- . In a saucepan, melt margarine over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth and bubbly.
- Add boiling water and soy sauce or Bragg’s, whisk until smooth and thick. Add nutritional yeast and whisk until completely smooth.
- Add seasonings and mustard -then mix 1/2 of “cheese” with the noodles – transfer to a casserole dish.
- Pour the remaining “cheese” on top and sprinkle with paprika and bread crumbs
- Bake for 25 mins and finish in broiler until crispy and browned.
This sounds amazing! I want to try it! 🙂
Yum nutritional yeast is so good!
I’ve only had hemp milk once. There’s a coffee hut in Washington dedicated to Harry And The Hendersons. Well at this place they sell a “Cheech and Chong” which is Oregon chai and hemp milk. I loved it! Never had hemp ice cream, luckily that coupon would be able to be used at a store that’s actually in my town.
I feel like you should warn the non-vegan non-vegetarian crowd that nutritional yeast has a learning curve… I eat it on everything always, but I’ve also been vegan for longer than I care to disclose. If you’ve never had it, I think it’s at first kinda rank.
I recently tried a hemp milk in latte at a wicked cool shop in Seattle called Healeo (https://www.facebook.com/#!/healeo) We also got crazy and tried their hemp soft serve – also AWESOME! It was creamy & sweet no aftertaste. No reason not to have huge helpings.
I never thought my hubby (johnnyproblem) would try hemp anything (same deal as you) but it was suprisingly great.
I am fairly new to being vegan and have tried soy, which I don’t care for too much, rice and almond milk. None of them really do it for me though. I almost bought some hemp milk the other day, but was not ready to pay that much and it be disgusting. It’s good to hear that it’s not. And I would definitely use it in smoothies. I would love to try hemp milk! And hemp ice cream just sounds amazing!
Oh, and thanks for the mac n’ yeast recipe, can’t wait to try it! I may have to watch Gentlemen Broncos again too, a truly understated, hilarious movie, I loved it!
Haven’t tried hemp milk! I do use soy or almond milk. I actually never knew about hemp milk. Thanx for the story.
I haven’t tried it! It’s a bit hard to find (especially for a decent price). I’d love to try it though. I use almond and soy sometimes.
Nutritional yeast…yes. First had it on popcorn with Bragg’s at a movie theater…of all places. ( In San Francisco)
I’ve only used hemp seeds to make granola, would love to try ice cream.
Never tried it, but it looks good. Yeah, green smoothies are never a promising delicacy (Gotta brighten them up with lots of berries).
I have never tried either, mostly because I hadn’t seen them around here! (I had to go off both soy and dairy for over a year, so believe me, I tried everything.) However, it turns out they are now local. So woot.
I’ve tried Hemp ice cream and it was amazing! Pretty pricey though, so these coupons would be much appreciated.
no, never actually noticed it, but was happily surprised there are 3 close locations that carry it, must try now…
I haven’t tried it before because it’s only available from one store that I don’t go to often. But I really want to try it if it means that I can get a discount!
I LOVE Hemp milk. I am a vegan who cannot tolerate much soy, so I have tried every type of “milk.” Rice is too watery, almond is too blah, and coconut has too many calories. I have tried other brands of hemp milk, but they do not compare to Living Harvest. I had Tempt ice cream twice and it is damn good. Living Harvest is easy to find around here in NY. Yay for hemp 😉
In my ever long quest in weight loss, I like to experiment and see what works for me. I heard about hemp milk on a Doctor Oz episode but have never tried it. Since I live fairly close to NYC the coupon can be used in Whole Foods Market, which I adore.
XOXO,
Danielle
love the milk, never tried the ice cream, would love too
I’m totally stoked to make Mac ‘N Yeast, moderately stoked to try hemp milk, and completely un-stoked to swallow a mouthful of Satan’s vomit. A good friend of mine has been trying to sell me on ‘green smoothies’ for a hot minute, but they give me an “icky” face and that’s just not good for wrinkles. Maybe it’s time to revisit…and also an excuse to buy a new blender. Upgrade!
No, I haven’t tried hemp milk or ice cream! I would love to try it. Other non-dairy milks are hard for me to swallow. So Delicious coconut milk tastes chalky. Rice milk is super watery & has a horrible aftertaste. Almond is alright, but watery. Soy milk is probably the most palatable. I’m curious where Hemp milk will stand in my quest to find a good non-dairy milk!
I’m basically afraid of hemp milk and almond milk is too thick and creepy. Sign me up!
I’ve bought hemp milk and hemp ice cream, the milk was great though it was a couple years ago (I usually buy rice milk), and the ice cream was phenomenal, I got the Tempt chocolate ice cream and it was possibly the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever had. And I have several health food stores nearby which carry Tempt milk and ice cream…
I’ve been raving about hemp milk so much people are probably tired of hearing it guess I’m a hemp pimp hehe. Use it in smoothies & shakes several times a week.My 16-month-old loves it as well he always signs for *more* after chugging a glass! =) I make my mac pretty much the same way also throw in avocado & maca on top since IMO maca has a cheeezy taste.
i never even knew there was a thing as hemp milk!!! i would <3 to give it a whirl though….
I’ve never tried hemp milk! I tried soy milk a few times, but I’m just generally not a milk drinker – I only use it to cook with. Hemp ice cream sounds interesting, I’d like to give it a try!
I love macaroni and cheese and this looks and sounds delic, thanks for sharing.
I love tempt hemp and have been giving it to my toddler since he weaned from breastmilk. However, do look for an unsweetened variety since other contain more brown rice syrup or cane juice.
So I used the search box thingie and no results came up. So I didn’t enter the contest. Then I went to Whole Foods today and guess what I found? Tempt Hemp Milk. FML.
what kind of mustard in the mac n yeast? powder, yellow, dijon?
please elaborate on ‘veggie salt’
thanks!
Yellow mustard! And veggie salt = something like Mrs. Dash, totally optional.
Thanks for the site, I appriciate your effort you have put in making it.
Hi, Natalie.
Is the cheese sauce supposed to become really thick? Mine turned out sort of like dough and I’m just wondering if I did something wrong.
It sounds overcooked – either the heat was too high or it was on the heat for too long. I’d pull it off the heat as soon as it looks thick enough to be a sauce.