(upbeat music)
- Hi, I'm Rachel, and today,
I'll be testing three vegan mac and cheese celebrity recipes
to find out which one's the best.
I'll be testing recipes from Tabitha Brown, Michael Symon,
and Minimalist Baker.
Then, I'll have my parents be the judges
and pick a winner, 'cause I'm visiting my parents,
and I don't have any other options.
Let's go cook.
First up is Michael Symon's
cauliflower mac and cheese recipe
with a vegan Parmesan topping.
So first, Michael adds about a quarter cup of olive oil
to a large pan over medium heat.
Once the oil is hot,
he adds a whole head of cut-up cauliflower
and one cup of diced onion,
and then sautes that up for about five minutes
until it starts to get brown.
Then he adds two cloves of minced garlic
and sautes that until it's fragrant.
Then he adds in two cups of vegetable broth,
brings that to a simmer, and lets everything cook until soft
for about three minutes.
After that, he adds a half a teaspoon of grated nutmeg
and salt and pepper to taste.
Then he blends everything up
until it forms a smooth and creamy consistency.
Then he adds the pasta to the sauce
and tosses everything together until well-coated.
For a vegan Parmesan topping, he adds one cup of cashews,
a quarter cup of nutritional yeast,
and about one tablespoon of garlic powder
to a food processor,
and blends that up until it forms the consistency
of grated cheese.
Then he mixes some of the vegan parm with some breadcrumbs,
adds some fresh chopped parsley,
and mixes it all together for a topping.
Then he takes this and generously tops the mac and cheese.
He pops us in the oven at 475 degrees Fahrenheit
until the top gets nice and golden-brown.
Top with more fresh parsley to serve, and there you have it,
Michael Symon's vegan macaroni and cheese.
- Looks good. I'm hungry too.
It has like a little crunch.
I'm going to put my glasses on,
so I can look at the topping.
- It's a little bland.
- Hmm.
- What do I think the sauce is made out of?
Some kind of a nut paste, maybe?
Almond milk in it?
- I think the sauce might be
the cashews blended in the blender,
but it's got a little smoky undertone.
- I like the topping.
I know it's not Parmesan cheese,
but it tastes like something
that I like to put on my popcorn.
- It tastes like mac and cheese,
but not like the stuff in the box.
- It just doesn't taste cheesy enough.
- Next up is Tabitha Brown's famous vegan mac and cheese.
She posted a video of the recipe
but didn't include the measurements,
so I tried to copy it the best I could.
First, she takes about a half of a medium butternut squash
and one potato and cooks it until tender.
Then to that, she has a good amount
of garlic and herb seasoning.
To a large saucepan,
she adds one whole stick of vegan butter,
the butternut squash and potato mixture,
three to four tablespoons of nutritional yeast,
three-fourths a cup of unsweetened nondairy yogurt,
about a teaspoon of garlic powder, half a package each
of mozzarella and cheddar shredded vegan cheese.
She used the brand Daiya in her video,
so I used that as well.
Once it's melted down,
she adds about one cup of vegetable broth to the sauce
to help thin it out.
Toss the pasta with the sauce
and mix it until it's well-coated.
Top with a little bit of smoked paprika,
and you'll have Tabitha Brown's vegan mac and cheese.
- This is much cheesier looking.
Very yellow.
- The sauce is creamy.
This is really good.
- This reminds me of mac and cheese.
If it's not cheese, then you got me.
I really don't know.
- So I'm thinking the orange is maybe carrots
or sweet potatoes.
- Maybe some kind of vegetable?
Like a butternut squash or something?
- This one seems moister than the other one.
It looks like cheddar cheese melted on it.
- If you gave me this, I would not know this was vegan.
I would just say this is a really good mac and cheese.
- Next, I made a Minimalist Baker's
caramelized onion mac and cheese.
First, she takes one medium eggplant
and slices it into rounds
that are a little bit less than a half an inch thick.
Then she sprinkles each side with salt,
transfers them to a colander,
and let them sit for about 10 minutes
to drain out any of the excess moisture or bitterness.
While the eggplant is sitting,
she adds one tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet,
then one and a half onions that have been sliced into rings,
and cook those down for about 12 minutes
or until they're caramelized.
Then she adds her eggplant rounds to a baking sheet
and pats off any remaining moisture.
Then she drizzles the eggplant with olive oil
and broils it on high for about three to four minutes
on each side until they're nice and browned.
Once the eggplants are done broiling,
she lets them steam for about five minutes,
then peels off the skin from each round.
To a blender, she adds the boiled eggplant,
one and three-fourths cups of unsweetened almond milk,
one tablespoon of cornstarch,
three to four tablespoons of nutritional yeast, salt,
one to two teaspoons of garlic powder,
and blends it all up until it's nice and creamy.
Then she adds that sauce right into the same pan
where she caramelized the onions
and cooks it for about five minutes until it thickens up.
Once it's thickened, add in the pasta
and half the caramelized onions and stir until well-coated.
Then she tops it off with the other half
of the caramelized onions and serves it up.
And that's it,
Minimalist Baker's caramelized onion mac and cheese.
- All right, Rachel,
this one is gonna have a hard act to follow.
- Well, my first impression is
this does not look like mac and cheese.
- It has sort of a brownish, grayish color.
In all honesty, it's a little off-putting.
However, I do see lots of pieces of caramelized onion.
I did not expect this to taste so good.
- I think this sauce might be some kind of a nut paste.
- I want to say almost like a tahini.
- I think it's the onions that are really giving it
the real pizzazz here.
- I would think of it as a really delicious pasta side dish,
but it doesn't necessarily taste cheesy to me.
(upbeat music)
My first choice will be number two,
because the moistness and the cheesiness of it,
that was just delicious.
My next choice will be number three
because of the caramelized onions.
It added this real depth of flavor.
My third choice will be number one,
which is an overall still great,
but these other two are better.
- This one had that real solid mac and cheese taste.
It's got the color. It's got the taste.
It's got the consistency.
I'd probably pick this one second.
It Kind of reminds me of a beef stroganoff, which I like.
It's just not my impression of what mac and cheese is.
This tasted more bland.
- [Rachel] The celebrity mac and cheese that you picked-
- Yes.
- [Rachel] Is Tabitha Brown.
- I love Tabitha Brown.
- Hey, Tabitha. Good job.
- Well, there you have it.
Tamika Brown has the best vegan mac and cheese.
Is anybody really surprised?
Acting as our judges today,
we have my mom, Carla, and my dad, Peter.
- Hi, I'm Carla, and I like reading, knitting,
and watching "Pride and Prejudice" with my daughter Rachel.
- I'm Peter.
I love golfing, writing screenplays,
and I gave myself this haircut.
(beep)
(upbeat music)