a simple recipe for mac and cheese.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups elbow macaroni
- ½ cup cauliflower florets
- cooking spray
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ½ cup milk
- 1 ½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese
- ½ (8 ounce) package cream cheese
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook elbow macaroni in boiling water, stirring occasionally until tender yet firm to the bite, 8 minutes. Drain.
- Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring water to a boil. Add cauliflower, cover, and steam until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Place cauliflower in a blender or food processor; blend until smooth.
- Coat a large saucepan with non-stick cooking spray; place over medium heat. Add oil and flour; cook, stirring constantly, until a thick paste forms, 1 to 2 minutes. Add milk; cook and stir until mixture thickens, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Mix cauliflower, Cheddar cheese, cream cheese, salt, and pepper into milk mixture; stir until sauce is smooth. Fold macaroni into sauce.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 471 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 34 g |
| Cholesterol | 78 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 19 g |
| Saturated Fat | 16 g |
| Sodium | 656 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 29 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Delicious! Thanks! I used natural Irish Dubliner cheese instead of shredded Cheddar, it added an earthy taste to it–we love this recipe, super quick, easy…can’t even tell cauliflower is in it (for those trying to “hide” it), may add more next time! Creamy, tasty, will make again.
Yum! Didn’t have cauliflower so used cooked diced carrots. Super good. Will be trying it with cauliflower next time.
This was the best & easiest homemade mac we have madea yet! Dbl recipe. Used 2 cups of cauli; but could have done 3. Used mild cheddar and Colby jack (that’s what I had). Added the cauliflower to boiling pasta when 2 mins remained. Drained and covered to keep warm (and poss keep steaming cauli). Warmed milk before adding bc my husband thinks that’s how to prevent grittiness. Perfectly creamy and very cheesy! We had crispy bacon left from breakfast so we crumbled that over the top.
This was such a simple recipe and my family loved it. Thank you kindly for posting it. It was super creamy and I added an extra tablespoon of butter, didn’t blend the cauliflower as I simply mashed it to give it extra texture. Wonderful dish that I’ll definitely make again.
The proportion are perfect. Changes I did: macaroni made with chickpeas, vegan mozarella “cheese”, vegan cream “cheese”, miz of cauliflower and broccoli instead of just cauliflower, flaxseed milk. It turned out to be one the best mac and cheese I had tried. Shocked of the great taste of vegan “cheeses”.
It turned out great! I didn’t add the flour or the olive oil.
Absolutely great!!! Added a bit more cauliflower, some zucchini, a bit of other spices.
So yummy! You do not even realize there is cauliflower in it. Absolutely yummy!
Very creamy & tasty!
This was great and I will make it again for sure! I may just use the florets of cauliflower and not grind them in a blender. I put steamed shrimp on top. So, scrumptiously delicious!
Awesome! My kids LOVED it!
Made the cheese sauce with ingredients as directed but made it in the Vitamix. Excellent, creamy sauce!
I tripled the recipe so I’d have extra to freeze. Also, I like making the roux with butter so I used butter instead of oil and used 3 tbsp butter to 3 tbsp flour, then 3 cup skim milk. The thickness of the cheese sauce was perfect. I kept the cream cheese amount the same and the cheddar amount roughly the same but added an additional 1/2 cup Jarlsberg and increased the amount of cauliflower to adjust for the increase in sauce. Very nice recipe, I would make again, and would probably garnish with Frank’s red hot sauce prior to serving.
Tasted amazing added chicken as a meat on the side. Did come out a bit thick and rich.
I can now stop searching for a mac & cheese recipe because this is the ONE!! Even my daughter, who will only eat Kraft mac and cheese, loved this! The only thing I did differently was added more milk to get the consistency I wanted; otherwise, it would have been way too thick. Thanks for sharing!
When I made this dish I added way more cauliflower to the cheese sauce and I also left some florets whole and mixed them into the cheese sauce with the noodles. It was really good for breakfast with an egg on top.
2 year old picky eater approved!
Deee licious!!! The perfect Max and cheese in my book!
This is hands the best recipe for Mac -Cheese and Cauliflower. I just had to add some velveeta cheese.
This was very tasty! My kids even liked the cauliflower in it.
First time trying a cauliflower mac-n-cheese. Loved it! Obviously, so did the family – nothing left over!