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a bowl of mac and cheese sitting on a placemat with a spoon

Healthy Mac and Cheese

A homemade mac and cheese recipe that is perfect for the whole family including picky eaters, this veggie mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food.
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Course: Hidden Veggies
Cuisine: American
Keyword: healthy mac and cheese, healthy mac and cheese recipe with veggies, veggie mac and cheese, homemade mac and cheese
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 242kcal
Author: My Kids Lick The Bowl

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4.57 from 461 votes

Ingredients

  • 250 g 1 ½ cups uncooked pasta (macaroni, penne, spirals etc)
  • 400 g cauliflower approx. half a small cauliflower
  • 250 g zucchini 2 medium
  • 2 tablespoon 30g butter or your preferred oil
  • 2 tablespoon plain flour
  • 1 medium onion finely diced
  • 2 rashers of streaky bacon finely diced
  • 250 ml milk 1 cup
  • 125 g grated cheese 1 cup

Instructions

  • Cook the pasta as per the packet directions, drain and set aside
  • Roughly chop the cauliflower, peel the courgette/zucchini, roughy chop and steam with the cauliflower until tender
  • While the cauliflower is cooking start on the roux sauce (white sauce). 
  • Heat butter/oil in a saucepan
  • Add onion and bacon and sauté until onion softened and translucent 
  • Add the flour and cook for around 2mins whilst stirring
  • Gradually add the milk (I find if you preheat the milk first, which you can do in the microwave, you will get a smoother sauce and the sauce will thicken much more quickly)
  • Bring the sauce just to the boil then reduce the heat. At this point you should have quite a thick but smooth sauce
  • Stir in ¾ Cup of the grated cheese, it should melt through the sauce, remove from heat
  • Once the cauliflower and courgette is tender, drain, then puree. I usually use a whizz stick/stick blender. You will end up with around 2  cups of vegetable puree,
  • Stir the vegetable puree into your cheese your sauce
  • Combine your sauce with the pasta
  • Then pour the pasta and sauce mixture into a greased oven proof dish. You can top with the remaining grated cheese
  • Bake for around 20mins at 180 degrees celsius, until the cheese on top is melted, bubbling and golden
  • Serve

Video

Notes

  • Remove the bacon entirely and you will still have a lovely vegetarian dish.
  • I use butter when I make a roux sauce/white sauce as I just find it cooks better for me, but you can use olive oil
  • You can use gluten-free pasta in this recipe
  • Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. It can also be frozen and reheated in the microwave when needed
  • I often freeze this dish into kiddy portions, using a silicone muffin tray. Once frozen I pop them out and put them in a zip lock bag, then reheat as many portions as I need.
  • Add sliced boiled eggs to up the protein content
  • It also makes a great side dish for lean meat, fish or chicken.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 242kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 34mg | Sodium: 332mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g