Baked Broccoli Mac and Cheese is a crowd pleaser, and kid approved! A classic (but super-lightened-up) béchamel-inspired cheese sauce coats delicious corkscrew-shaped pasta and broccoli florets. Topped with a buttery layer of breadcrumbs and baked to cheesy perfection, this is total comfort food.
What you’ll need to make Baked Broccoli Mac and Cheese
- pasta (I enjoy using a fun shape for this dish, like Cavatappi or Cellentani); they hold the sauce really well
- light butter
- all-purpose flour
- skim milk
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- kosher salt
- ground mustard
- fat free cheddar cheese
- Velveeta American cheese slices
- fresh broccoli florets
- panko breadcrumbs
How to make Baked Broccoli Mac and Cheese
Like any good pasta dishes, start by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. We will get back to this later.
Making a lightened-up Béchamel-style sauce
First, we have to make a lightened-up Béchamel-style sauce. I know, I know. “Are you serious?!”
A Béchamel-style sauce is a sauce that starts off with a roux made of butter and flour. This is ultimately used as a thickening agent for the milk that follows.
To make a lightened-up version, I start by melting light butter in a frying pan over medium heat. I then add my flour, and whisk everything together until it clumps. I know it doesn’t look promising, but believe me, it will all work out!
Cook the clumps for a minute or two, and then add the milk.
Whisk, whisk, whisk, making sure you are breaking down those clumps of flour as best you can. Cook this sauce for approximately 10 minutes until it thickens up significantly. Then, add your spices.
Stir in the spices, and then fold in the cheeses.
Remove the sauce from the heat until the pasta and broccoli is cooked/
Cooking the pasta and broccoli
Once your water is boiling, measure out and weigh your dry pasta. For this recipe, we are using 12 oz of pasta, weighed dry. This is enough to serve 6 people, at the recommended serving size of 2 oz per person.
When the water in boiling, drop your pasta in.
We are not going to cook the pasta fully here. Our goal is to cook it about 2 minutes shorter than what the box recommends. So, for the brand of pasta I used, it recommended 11 minutes. My pasta cooked for a total of 9 minutes.
Also, two minutes before the 9 minute mark, we are also going to add the broccoli to the same pot and boil it.
Once the 9 minute mark is reached, drain your pasta and broccoli. I use a slotted spoon for this, as opposed to draining it with a colander. This is to ensure that I save the pasta water, in case my sauce needs thickening.
Putting it all together
As you scoop the pasta and broccoli out of the water, add it directly into the pan with the sauce, and then toss everything to coat.
Preheat your oven to 400. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray, and then pour the mac and cheese in. Make sure the top is even.
In a small bowl, add the other tablespoon of butter and melt it. Then, add the panko breadcrumbs and stir them together. The mixture will resemble wet sand.
Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the top of the casserole evenly. Then bake for 20 minutes.
Baked Broccoli Mac and Cheese
Equipment
- pasta pot
- large deep frying pan
- casserole dish
Ingredients
- 12 oz pasta, measured dry, I used corkscrew shape
- 4 cups broccoli florets, fresh
- 2 tbsp light butter, divided
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 cups skim milk
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp ground mustard
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups Kraft fat free cheddar
- 4 slices Velveeta American cheese
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Melt 1 tbsp of the light butter in a large, deep frying pan over medium heat.
- Add the 2 tbsp of flour, and whisk. The flour and butter will mix and form clumps.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the milk, whisking as you pour it in.
- Continue to cook over medium heat, whisking often to break down the clumps.
- Cook for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens significantly.
- Add the seasonings, stir to combine.
- Chop the American cheese slices into small pieces. Measure out 2 cups of the fat free cheddar.
- Add both cheeses to the mixture, whisking to help break them down and melt.
- Stir until all of the cheese has melted, then set aside until the pasta is done.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. (This should be done simultaneously as the sauce is cooking so that they finish at the same time).
- Add the pasta; cook for 2 minutes less than the package directions advise. (For the corkscrew pasta I used, it recommended 11 minutes. So the total cook time for my pasta was 9 minutes).
- Chop the broccoli into bite-sized florets.
- During the last two minutes of cooking, (in my example, 7 minutes in) add the broccoli florets to the water.
- If using frozen broccoli, it does not need to boil. Just defrost the florets and add them to the dish.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked pasta and broccoli from the pot and add them to the cheese sauce.
- Stir thoroughly so that all ingredients are well mixed.
- Spray a casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray, and then pour the mac and cheese in. Smooth out the top.
- Add the remaining butter to a small bowl and melt it.
- Stir in the breadcrumbs. The mixture will resemble wet sand.
- Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the casserole dish and then pop it in the oven.
- Cook for 20 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown.
Notes
- 9 WW points for 1.5 cups (all plans)
- 3 WW points for 1.5 cups (purple plan, if whole wheat pasta is used)
Nutrition
The serving size for this recipe is 1.5 cups. It is a generous portion, and I think it pairs well with a simple protein, like rotisserie chicken breast for a dinner!
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Michele says
I cannot wait to make this! It sounds delicious!
Gerri says
Yum!!!! Trying tomor
Irene says
Love how detailed the recipe is! Will definitely be making soon!
Laura says
I am going to make this for my lunch prep! Looks so good
Meghan says
Made this for dinner tonight and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!! I skipped out on the breadcrumbs and it is still sooooo delicious.
Lisa says
So so so delicious and easy. Making it for the SECOND time tonight. Yum!
Fran Schimmenti says
Wow!!! This was ridiculously delicious. Does not taste lightened up at all. Creamy and sooo good!
Theresa says
I made this today. My only change was that I used unsweetened plain almond milk. It was sooo good! I will definitely make this again.
Nancy says
We tried this dish tonight and it was amazing. I lightened it up even more by using fiber gourmet pasta. The recipe was so easy to follow. The most difficult part was finding the fat free cheese. So happy we found your site. We have been having so much fun trying all of your recipes.
Beniece says
Wonderful
Jaclyn says
We LOVED this. It is soo tasty. We added a few drops of hot sauce to it and it brought a nice heat. This will be in my rotation of meals!
Brittany says
I love this recipe! I have made it twice already and eat it alone as a meal or as a side dish. The recipe is detailed and pretty easy to follow.
Lori says
My family devoured this in one sitting and have begged me to make it again. It’s on my menu again this week.
Leah M Young says
This was very good! And makes A TON – perfect for a side. I used exact noodles that Step did and it was very cheesy and moist. Definitely will make again!
Catherine says
It’s delicious!!
Paula Klein says
Wow- i just made this. It is sincerely delicious!! I used Fiber Gourmet elbows which made it even lower in points. This will be a real crowd- pleaser. I might even make it again for Easter as I know my family will love it. Thanks Steph!!
Tiffany Boyd says
This is SO good! I made a few tweaks. I used half chicken stock and half unsweetened almond milk instead of the 2 cups of skim milk, I used fiber gourmet elbow pasta, I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter to make the roux and then used I can’t believe it’s not butter spray mixed with the panko. Got it down to about 6 points in blue. It’s a great recipe and now my go to!!
Stephanie says
Made this tonight! It was amazing. Definitely a keeper! My picky eater even went back for seconds! Thank you Steph!
Allie says
This is hands down my family’s favorite SS&S recipe (maybe their very favorite dinner recipe period). My kids would rather eat this than Kraft anyway and that’s saying something since they’re 8 and are mesmerized by the orange, powdery cheese.
Kerry Scarpinito says
One of my favorite recipes! So simple and everyone loves it.
Olivia says
Loved how nicely the dish came together! It was DELICIOUS ! Perfect for making ahead of time too.
Jennifer says
SO delicious! Great recipe.
Toni S says
Family favorite!! Made this tonight and everyone from 38 years old down to just under 2 devoured it. It will definitely be on rotation.
Kathleen says
This was delicious!! Made it for the first time today. Used Fiber Gourmet pasta and unsweetened almond milk as that is what I had on hand. Came out to 5 points per serving. Thank you so much for all of your great recipes Steph!
Shannon says
This was so good!!!! I sprinkled a little bit of garlic salt (because I love it) on top with the bread crumbs and it was delicious!!!!!!! Will definitely be making again!!
Lisa says
Another great recipe from Steph! My hubby couldn’t believe it was a lightened up version.
abby says
the best recipe i’m going to make it like this every time!