We all know how delicious mac and cheese is. It’s one of America’s best dishes! However, have you tried adding (vegan) beef crumbles to it and turning it into a delicious vegan hamburger helper? This is one of the easiest dinners you can make during the week, finishing up in 10 minutes! The added protein from the crumbles will make you feel totally satisfied with hunger and taste. Today, I’m going to show you how to make the easiest, most delicious vegan hamburger helper. You’ll thank me later, I know it.
Vegan Hamburger Helper
I feel like so many of my recipes revolve around nutritional yeast, but can you blame me? It’s the best way to make anything taste super cheesy and delicious without the cruelty. What’s there to lose?! This mac and cheese recipe is actually really similar to my blog post where I show you how to make the Mac & Cheese powder! You’ll be making the cheese sauce using that powder for this recipe.
Last night, I had some of this and I did something that was a LIFE CHANGER. I added Italian seasoned panko bread on top. It was like a warm delicious mac and cheese bake. I could probably eat that every single day for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy. If someone told me that the world was going to end tomorrow and we’d all be doomed to never seeing life again, I would spend the day eating this dish, with added bread because why not?
This vegan hamburger helper recipe is
cheesy
protein-packed
satisfying
definitely your new go-to end of world last meal
Related recipes: Easy Vegan Mac & Cheese Powder
The hardest thing to get right is making the right amount of sauce for the amount of pasta. I’m a volume eater, and I can never cook the right amount of pasta. So basically, if you and 25 of your closest friends are ever hungry, I always make enough pasta. For this recipe, I actually had to add double the cheese sauce because I cooked way too much pasta (more than the recipe amount because I have no self control)
Recipe for Vegan Hamburger Helper
For this recipe, you’ll need that mac and cheese powder from my other blog post about mac and cheese. You can find it here! You’ll also need macaroni or your choice of pasta, unsweetened almond milk, and vegan beef crumbles ( I use Gardein). That’s it! It’s seriously the most simple dinner you can create and is a good base recipe to add more things if you’re interested! I like to have this with a side of steamed vegetables. If you’re feeling saucy, you can add the panko bread and bake in the oven at 375ºF for 20 minutes or until the layer of crumbs gets toasty. This will just completely elevate the dish.
The first thing you’re going to do is cook the pasta per the box instructions. Once cooked, drain in a strainer. Using the same pot, add the almond milk and the cheese powder. Whisk until it turns into a thick queso-like sauce. Think those nacho cheese containers you get in the movie theatre with your nachos.
Once the sauce is at this consistency, add the beef crumbles in. Since these are cooked, but frozen, all you have to do is thaw them out and get them nice and hot. Once you add to the sauce, keep stirring until it’s cooked. If the sauce is getting too thick, feel free to add a tiny bit of almond milk at a time until it’s runnier, a teaspoon at a time.
When the beef is cooked, remove from the heat and add the pasta in. Mix well until everything is evenly coated. Serve immediately or transfer to a greased baking dish (like an 8×8). Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Top the dish with panko bread crumbs of your choice. Add into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top layer is nice and toasted. Serve immediately!
Looking for more vegan recipes? Check out: Cheesy Tofu Scramble | Vegan
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups of uncooked pasta
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/3 cup mac & cheese powder
- 1 cup beefless crumbles (I use Gardein)
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions on package. Drain and set aside
- In the same pot you cooked the pasta, add the almond milk and powder. Whisk until the sauce gets thick, like a queso dip, 3-4 minutes.
- Add the beef crumbles to the cheese sauce and keep stirring. If the sauce gets too think, add more almond milk 1 teaspoon at a time
- Remove from heat and add pasta
- Mix well and coat pasta evenly
- Serve immediately
- Preheat oven to 375ºF
- Transfer pasta to a 8x8 baking dish
- Top with your favorite panko bread, I use italian seasoned. (If you're vegan, check the ingredients! Most have egg!)
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the topping is toasty and hot
- Serve immediately
Notes
Feel free to double up the sauce recipe if you like extra cheesy pasta. I had to double up the sauce because I added more pasta than the recipe asked for. Worth it for extra cheese!
If you end up making the easiest vegan hamburger helper recipe, tag me on Instagram @thetinyherbivore so I can see your creations! Feel free to use the hashtag #thetinyherbivore so I definitely don’t miss it! What do you guys think of this recipe? Let me know in the comments below or DM me on Instagram!
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