Mac and cheese, plant-based perfection — Noochy Licious has built a devoted following on one premise: the best vegan mac and cheese possible. Nutritional yeast ('nooch') creates the cheesy flavour without dairy, and the result with various toppings (buffalo, loaded, truffle) has convinced dedicated mac-and-cheese traditionalists.
Neighbourhood: Dundas West / Roncesvalles · Address: 1454 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON · Hours: Mon: Closed | Tue–Fri 5:00 – 10:00 PM | Sat–Sun 3:00 – 10:00 PM · Price Range: $ · Phone: (647) 345-8300 · Editorial status: Not yet verified
Eat mac and cheese that tastes shockingly rich and cheesy—without a drop of dairy. The rotating list of toppings, from buffalo chick’n to black truffle, means every trip can be a new experiment.
Noochy Licious lives and dies by its obsession with perfecting vegan mac and cheese, using nutritional yeast to create an authentic cheddar-like flavour that fools even dairy-lovers. Few Toronto spots go this deep on one dish—or offer so many topping options tailored specifically for vegans, gluten-free diners, and comfort food fans.
Toronto's dedicated vegan mac and cheese operations — the restaurants that have built their entire concept around the vegan mac, developing the cashew and nutritional yeast sauce to its highest possible expression — represent a category that has moved from novelty to genuine comfort food destination. Nooch mac (named for nutritional yeast, 'nooch' in vegan parlance) is the base preparation: cashew cream combined with nutritional yeast, white wine, Dijon mustard, and spices cooked and blended to the sauce consistency and colour of a mild cheddar cheese sauce.
The buffalo loaded mac (nooch mac with a hot sauce preparation — Buffalo sauce is a combination of Frank's RedHot and butter/butter alternative, traditionally — applied and combined with blue cheese alternative and celery) demonstrates how the mac platform accepts the flavour loading strategies of conventional loaded mac variants. The heat of the buffalo sauce cuts through the cashew cream's richness, the celery provides crunch and freshness, and the blue cheese alternative (typically a fermented cashew preparation with distinctive tang) approximates the original's flavour architecture.
Truffle mac (nooch mac with truffle oil, black pepper, and fresh herbs when available) is the premium variant that takes the base mac in the direction of upscale pasta rather than comfort food — the truffle oil's intensity works with the nutritional yeast's umami to create a more complex flavour profile than the base cheese sauce. As noted elsewhere, most truffle oil is synthetic rather than actual truffle; the experience is valid regardless of the philosophical position on this.
The mac bar format (various loaded options over the same base, in bowls or in toasted bun variants) has the operational advantage of allowing rapid service — the base is held hot, the toppings are added to order, and the meal is ready in 3-4 minutes. This suits the downtown lunch market that Toronto's vegan mac operations primarily serve.
Nooch is slang for nutritional yeast — deactivated yeast with a nutty, cheesy, umami flavour. In vegan mac and cheese, it provides the flavour dimension of cheese; combined with cashew cream for richness and fat, it creates a sauce with genuine cheese sauce character. The flavour is rounder and less sharp than dairy cheddar.
Buffalo mac combines the nooch mac base with Buffalo hot sauce (Frank's RedHot + butter or butter alternative), served with celery and blue cheese alternative. The hot sauce's acid and heat cuts through the cashew cream's richness, creating a more complex, balanced flavour than the cheese sauce alone.
Yes — truffle oil (synthetic 2,4-dithiapentane or, rarely, actual truffle extract in oil) is plant-based. Vegan truffle mac combines the nooch mac base with truffle oil, black pepper, and herbs. The result is more complex and more expensive than the base mac.
Several Toronto restaurants have built vegan mac programs — some dedicated mac bars and some as a menu item at broader vegan comfort food restaurants. Search 'vegan mac Toronto' for current top-rated options, as the competitive landscape changes with new openings.
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