Macaroni and cheese is always a winner with children. It is the ultimate comfort food for kids and adults alike. The brilliant thing about this recipe is that this is a healthy macaroni and cheese because it is absolutely packed with hidden veggies.
I know from the picture I bet you are doubting me. But trust me there is more vegetables in this recipe than there is cheese sauce!
Why this recipe works
- There are no flash or fancy ingredients, it’s all basic stuff you will have in pantry and fridge
- The cauliflower and zucchini in the recipe completely and utterly disappear, so even the pickiest of eaters will be impressed with this mac n cheese.
- It freezes and reheats well so save any leftovers so that you can always have a kid-friendly meal on hand.
The ingredients you will need
The ingredients for this healthy mac and cheese are typically pantry and refrigerator basics for the cheese sauce (butter, flour, milk and cheese) plus some veggies (cauliflower, zucchini and onion). Bacon is an optional extra.
- Although this is a macaroni recipe other pasta shapes such as spirals or penne work just fine.
- If you don’t have zucchini, no bother just up the cauliflower.
- You can also use butternut squash purée, pumpkin purée or broccoli purée, although they will alter the colour of the dish
- I include a cheese sauce recipe in the recipe card below
Step by step instructions
- Cook your chosen pasta as per the manufacturer’s instructions
Prepare the veggies
- Finely dice the onion and set to one side for later
- Cut the cauliflower into large florets, peel and cut up the zucchini, steam until tender, purée. I use a stick blender for this. (photos 1-3)
Make the cheese sauce
- Heat 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 (photo 4)
- Heat butter in a saucepan
- Add onion and bacon and sauté until onion softened and translucent. This step is optional the recipe will work just fine without either the onion or bacon
- Add the flour and cook for around 2mins whilst stirring
- Gradually add the milk
- Bring the sauce just to the boil then reduce the heat. At this point you should have quite a thick but smooth sauce (photo 5)
- Stir through the grated cheese until melted
- Remove from heat and stir through the vegetable purée, you should now have a smooth cheese sauce, loaded with hidden veggies (Photo 6 & 7)
Make and Bake
- Stir the hidden veggie cheese sauce through the cooked pasta. You can actually stop at this step and serve the mac and cheese like this (photo 8)
- Pour the pasta and sauce into an ovenproof dish
- top with extra grated cheese and bake until the cheese is golden and melted on top.
Recipe FAQs and Tips
Absolutely this recipe will work with any pasta, for the recipe to be gluten-free you will need to make a gluten-free cheese sauce as well
For this recipe, yes you do. I share some other recipes where I blend raw cauliflower into coconut cream but in this mac n cheese it’s better cooked first.
Yes. If you have leftovers they can be stored in the fridge for 3 days. You can also freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Make sure you reheat to piping hot, I find the microwave does a great job reheating this recipe.
- 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.
- To make a cheese sauce quickly with no lumps heat your milk first! You can do this either in a saucepan or in the microwave but it really does speed up the cheese sauce making process
- If you want a nice cream coloured cheese sauce be sure to peel the zucchini!
- Try this recipe with butternut, pumpkin or sweet potato purée it’s super delicious alternative kids will love
Let’s talk hidden veggies
There are large quantities of 3 vegetables cleverly hidden in this macaroni cheese recipe.
- Onion, yes never forget onion is a vegetable, and if you dice/slice it finely and cook it gently it goes lovely and sweet, do not burn your onion it adds a bitter flavour
- Cauliflower puree completely disappears into the cheese sauce
- Courgette I call it courgette, you may call it zucchini. For the very picky eater, one way to start with courgette is too peel it, the white flesh just disappears into the sauce. If you have more adventurous eaters in your family then simply don’t peel it. The sauce will have a green tinge but it will still taste just fine.
Some people have reservations about sneaking vegetables. I believe there is a place and enough space for both options. Sneaking and not sneaking.
My kids have meals where the vegetables are loud and proud and meals where the vegetables are more subtle. Feel free to read my thoughts on whether to sneak or not to sneak vegetables, and also my other hacks for boosting the vegetable content in meals.
Hidden veggie recipes
If you are looking for other kid-friendly meals and snacks that have a veggie boost be sure to check these out as well
- My ultimate hidden vegetable lasagne
- My chicken rissoles and beef rissoles both pack a vegetable punch
- My veggie-loaded chicken curry for kids or mince curry really popular
- This chicken leek pie is so good!
Healthy Mac and Cheese
Healthy homemade macaroni cheese recipe a mac n cheese makeover packed with hidden vegetables perfect tor the picky eater, kid friendly food
Ingredients
- 250g (1 ½ cups) uncooked pasta (macaroni, penne, spirals etc)
- 400g cauliflower (approx. half a small cauliflower)
- 250g zucchini (2 medium)
- 2 Tbsp (30g) butter or your preferred oil
- 2 Tbsp plain flour
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 2 rashers of streaky bacon finely diced
- 250 ml milk (1 cup)
- 125g 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 3/4 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
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 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 Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 242Total Fat 14gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 34mgSodium 332mgCarbohydrates 17gFiber 3gSugar 3gProtein 13g
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