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Microwave Vegan Mac and Nooch for One

Believe it or not, this delicious, single-serving, creamy macaroni recipe is ready to eat in 5 minutes and you’d never know it was cooked in a microwave! It’s perfect for lunch, after work, or after a workout. Make rich Vegan Mac and Nooch in one bowl using simple ingredients without nuts, soy, coconut, potatoes or the other common Vegan Mac and Cheese ingredients.

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Video tutorial for Microwave Mac and Nooch for One

How to cook dry pasta in the microwave

I had my doubts when I first heard about microwaving pasta so I don’t blame you if you’re cringing right now. But trust me, made right, it tastes no different than pasta cooked on the stove. Or don’t trust me. Try it yourself!

  1. Pour three-quarters of a cup of regular dry macaroni noodles into a microwave safe bowl.
  2. Add a cup of water.
  3. Add a bit of salt for flavour; about 1/8 teaspoon.
  4. Then microwave on high for 3 minutes. (Normally, the regular cook function on your microwave will use the “high” setting automatically. You would manually adjust if you were to cook at a lower setting.)
  5. Stir and test a noodle to see where you’re at.
  6. Continue cooking with 30 to 60-second intervals, checking between each interval to test the doneness of the pasta. (This took only one 60 seond round for me). Add a spoonful or two of water if the bowl starts to get too dry. When your noodles are fully cooked, they might have just a little water left

Keep in mind, I’ve only tested this with regular wheat-based dry pasta noodles. I’m not sure if this would work the same with bean-based or other gluten-free dry pasta. If you try it, please let me know how it goes.

The Creamy Nooch Sauce

Make this a one-bowl recipe by simply stirring all of the sauce ingredients into the bowl of cooked macaroni. First, add a smooth sesame paste. I used this Chinese sesame paste as I’m super addicted to its wonderfully fragrant nutty flavour without any bitterness. It’s also so good on baked potatoes with salsa, on toast with maple syrup, by itself on a spoon…you get the idea. I buy it from T&T Supermarket here in Canada. You can use any type of tahini you like.

If you don’t have tahini or don’t want to use it, you can use vegan butter! Personally, I love it even more for the flavour even if I love the sesame paste more for the nutrition and creamier texture.

The sesame paste combined with the water left in the bowl quickly creates a sauce you can add more flavours to. Nutritional yeast, AKA nooch, adds a sort of cheesy, sort of nutty, sort of chicken-soup-ish flavour –delicious! Add salt and pepper and you could stop there. But you don’t have to. Add garlic powder, onion powder, other herbs, curry powder…the possibilities are endless. As you mix in the ingredients, the sauce may start to dry up a bit; especially if the pasta was on the undercooked side. Loosen up the sauce by adding some vegetable broth, water, vegan butter, or even just olive oil. Add just a small spoonful at a time and stir well to achieve the creaminess that you desire.

For the video, I also added a quarter cup of frozen green peas and cooked for 30 more seconds in the microwave to heat those through. Other vegetables like corn and chopped greens would work well too. Throw in some leftover Vegan Buffalo “Chicken”, chopped smoked tofu, or cooked lentils and you’ll have yourself a complete meal. This is your vegan mac and cheese nooch and there are no rules!

Recipe for Microwave Mac and Nooch For One

Yield: 1 serving

Microwave Mac and Nooch For One

macaroni in nutritional yeast sauce

This single-serving recipe for Vegan Mac and Nooch is the perfect solution for when you want something tasty and filling right now! Only pantry ingredients and 5 minutes!

Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup dry uncooked macaroni noodles
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon tahini (use the kind using toasted sesame seeds without bitterness or Chinese sesame paste) OR 2 teaspoons vegan butter
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 cup frozen peas (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • pinch white pepper
  • Optional!
  • Additional seasonings like crushed red pepper, white pepper, herbs, etc.

Instructions

  1. Pour three-quarters of a cup of regular dry macaroni noodles into a microwave safe bowl. Add a cup of water. Add a bit of salt for flavour; about 1/8 teaspoon.
  2. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. (Normally, the regular cook function on your microwave will use the “high” setting automatically. You would manually adjust if you were to cook at a lower setting.)
  3. Stir and test a noodle to see where you’re at.
  4. Continue cooking with 30 to 60-second intervals, checking between each interval to test the doneness of the pasta. Add a spoonful or two of water if the bowl starts to get too dry. When your noodles are fully cooked, they might have just a little water left
  5. Optionally stir in frozen green peas and microwave on high for 30 seconds to heat through.
  6. Add sesame paste (tahini) and stir in. Add nutritional yeast and lemon juice. Stir well. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper. Loosen up the sauce by adding some vegetable broth, water, vegan butter, or even just olive oil. Add just a small spoonful at a time and stir well to achieve the creaminess that you desire. Add some herbs, crushed red pepper flakes or any other seasonings on top. Enjoy!

Notes

Most likely, you have all the ingredients in your pantry already so there’s no need for a special trip to the grocery store. The ingredients are flexible as well. Add more or less seasoning to your preferences and feel free to substitute other vegetables for the frozen green peas. And if you don’t usually stock nutritional yeast in your pantry…well…what are you doing with your life? J/k just use a little vegetable stock powder/paste or miso paste to taste.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

1

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 290Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 365mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 7gSugar: 3gProtein: 12g

Nutritional Information automatically calculated by a plugin and may not be correct.

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Easy Vegan Meals for One | What I Ate #98

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Showing 10 comments
  • Aliénor
    Reply

    Hi Mary ! I have a question about the nutritional yeast you use : which brand is it ? It looks like a good quality one 🙂
    Thanks for all your cool videos, I appreciate the way you describe textures and flavours it helps understanding what to do 🙂
    Aliénor

    • Mary
      Reply

      Hi Aliénor,
      Lately, I use Hoosier. I also like Bob’s Red Mill.
      Thanks for the kind words, hun!
      Cheers,
      Mary

  • Aliénor Muscat
    Reply

    Thank you very much for the reply !

    Cheers,

    Aliénor

  • Lee
    Reply

    My mom introduced me to microwave pasta over 20 yrs ago. I make pasta soup every morning for my stepdaughter. I nuke a big bowl of pasta (small shapes) in water to cover (by a lot!) for 8-12 mins, or till al dente. You don’t need to cover the bowl while cooking as it never boils over. Then I just drain the pasta, take portion for one serving, pour hot broth over, and put in a thermos. Super easy!
    Btw, the broth is super simple. Turn on your Keurig. Put one teaspoon of Better than Bullion paste in a measuring cup. Hit the middle size button on the Keurig. Stir for instant broth.

    • Mary
      Reply

      That’s wonderful, Lee. Thanks for sharing – Mary

  • Terisa
    Reply

    Do you suggest a different brand of sesame paste…i can’t find that one where I live.

    • Mary
      Reply

      lol sorry, it’s literally the only one I really like so I don’t pay attention to other brand names. I’m sure any toasted tahini sauce will work. Toasted because the other stuff is bitter. Or just use vegan butter —which to me is even more delicious 🙂
      Cheers,
      Mary

  • Lulu
    Reply

    I made this last week when I wasn’t in the mood to cook something big, I hadn’t had a food delivery in weeks so I didn’t have fresh food, and it was nice and warm outside so I wanted something light!

    Oh my goodness, what a game changer. I wasn’t expecting too much, especially with how few ingredients there were, but it was so tasty! I ended up using butter, and added a teaspoon of dijon mustard, a hefty bit of garlic granules and a pinch of onion powder, which was a tasty combo with everything else here.

    I’ve got a meal plan in place so as not to waste any of the fresh veggies which I finally got on Friday, otherwise I would be basically eating this all week long. There was something so comforting about it. Thank you, Mary! Great to have quick and that only uses pantry items 🙂

    • Mary
      Reply

      I’m so happy to hear this, Lulu <3 So glad you enjoyed this mac n nooch. And thanks for sharing your own spin on it!
      Cheers,
      Mary

  • Lindsay
    Reply

    I made this. I used cellentani Barilla protein pasta. I knew the cook time may need adjusted. I microwaved it for 9 minutes which is still acceptable to me. I used 1 tbsp margarine, 1 tbsp nooch, and salt, pepper, garlic, msg to taste. Tasted nice. Nooch forward, but I love nooch lol. The sauce didn’t get creamy. That’s my only complaint. It thickened a little as it cooled. I will try this with tahini like you recommended because it looks so lovely in your video! I may also try with a vegan milk and tapioca starch. I love that it is microwaveable in one bowl! I was considering buying Huel dehydrated Mac because of the protein, calories, and ease of cooking, but this is similar in cook time, calories, and protein. And way cheaper! Thanks so much for this idea!

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