Mac and cheese is one of Americas most beloved dishes.

All varietiesgooey or baked, embellished or plainare welcome.

Noodles draped in melted cheese and dairy; its a simple scoop of carb heaven.

But when you need a vegan option, where do you begin?

Why, with the cheese sauce, of course.

Think of it this way: most dry pastas are already vegan, so youre halfway there.

Use this cashew cheese sauce to take you the rest of the way.

The bulk of this recipe consists of soaked, softened cashews.

Its pretty amazing how soaking cashews can result in a texture totally different than the crunchy roasted version.

(Try adding them tosoups and stews.)

How to make cashew cheese sauce

1.

Soak the cashews

Theres the long way and the fast way, and both are effective.

The long way is to add the raw cashews to a bowl and cover them with room temperature water.

Leave them to soak for about four hours or overnight.

The fast way is to dump the cashews in a bowl and then cover them with freshly boiled water.

Let them soak for 30 to 45 minutes.

The cashews will look swollen, pale, and some of them will split along the center.

Other than those signs, I recommend you eat one.

The cashew will be very soft, but still have some integrity.

Add half of the liquid measurement, and blend for about 30 seconds at high speed.

Add the rest of the liquid measurement and blend again until smooth.

This sauce works best if you have a high-powered blender.

I have a pretty good blender but it wasnt enough to make the sauce as smooth as I wanted.

It will not have a stretchy cheese-pull to offer, but it is supremely creamy.

You could also stir the bread crumbs with a teaspoon of oil if you dont have a spray bottle.

My mac went into a 400F oven for 15 minutes to crisp on top and set throughout.

This made for a clean-slicing casserole, but it lost its goo factor.

Preheat the oven to 400F, if baking.

Butter a medium or large casserole dish.

Put the cashews in a bowl and cover them with just-boiled water.

Soak them for 30 to 45 minutes.

Add half of the oat milk.

Blend the mixture on high speed until thick and smooth, about 30 seconds.

Add the other half of the oat milk, and blend again until smooth.

Mix the cashew sauce together with the cooked macaroni and add it to the buttered casserole dish.

Top the mac and cheese with panko crumbs and spray them with oil.