Description
Broccoli cheddar mac and cheese is the perfect easy weeknight meal! It’s hearty, cheesy, and incredibly delicious and it comes together quickly!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
- 1–1.5lb boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- Salt & pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8oz pasta
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1/4 cup chicken broth (or just use 1/4 cup milk)
- 1.5 cups 2% or whole milk
- 1 tsp dijon (optional)
- 1/2 tsp hot sauce (optional)
- 6oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Blanch the broccoli. Cut a broccoli head into florets, then bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the broccoli. Cook for 2-3 minutes until bright green in color. Immediately transfer the broccoli to a bowl of ice water for 1-2 minutes to stop the cooking process. Drain completely, then chop the broccoli into bite-sized chunks. Set aside.
- Cook the chicken. Season the chicken with paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. In a large high-sided skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil. Cook chicken for 6-7 minutes each side, until internal temperature reads 165ºF with a meat thermometer. Remove the chicken from the pan and let it rest on a cutting board for 5-10 minutes before cutting into bite sized cubed pieces.
- Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook 1-2 minutes short of al dente (it shouldn’t feel crunchy in the center of the noodle, but shouldn’t be perfectly soft yet). Reserve about 1 cup of pasta water, then drain. Timing tip: Start cooking the pasta when the chicken is almost done cooking to try to line up the timing of the cooked pasta with the finished sauce.
- Make the roux. In the same pan used to cook the chicken, reduce the heat to medium and add butter and flour. Whisk constantly so there are no clumps. The roux will begin to have a nutty aroma and start to deepen in color. You’ll scrape up some of the fond from the pan with the whisk in the process.
- Add liquid. Slowly add chicken broth to the pan, a couple tablespoons at a time. Constantly whisk to incorporate it into the roux, ensuring there are no clumps before adding the milk. Slowly add in the milk a little bit at a time while constantly whisking, again ensuring there are no clumps before adding more milk.
- Add cheese and seasonings. Once the sauce base is whisked perfectly and clump-free, remove the pan from the heat and add in the cheese a little bit at a time. Whisk constantly to ensure the cheese melts perfectly into the sauce without clumps. Whisk dijon and hot sauce into the sauce. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add pasta, broccoli, and chicken. Return the pan with the sauce to medium-low heat. Add the cooked pasta into the pan and gently fold it into the sauce. Let the pasta simmer in the sauce to finish cooking for another minute. Then add the chopped broccoli and cubed chicken and gently fold it into the pasta. If the sauce is too thick, add a little bit of pasta water a few tablespoons at a time to loosen up the sauce.
Notes
- Timing is everything for this mac and cheese dish, because once the sauce comes together, everything needs to happen pretty quickly! I suggest getting all of your ingredients measured out and ready to go before you even start cooking. Half your cheese shredded, your broccoli cut into florets, your chicken seasoned, and all other ingredients measured out.
- As far as timing the cooking process goes, I would start by blanching the broccoli while you start to cook the chicken. The chicken will take about 15 minutes to cook without much active cook time, which gives you plenty of time to cook, cool, and chop the broccoli. When the chicken is halfway done, start boiling water for your pasta. When the chicken finishes cooking, let it rest while you prepare the roux. After you’ve reached the point where you’ve added all of the milk to the roux, take a moment to cut the chicken into cubes while the sauce heats up. Then return to the sauce the add your cheese. At this point, your pasta should be almost done, and your broccoli and chicken already cut, so it’s as easy as putting everything together in the pan!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 744
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 1102.6 mg
- Fat: 30.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 54.1 g
- Protein: 59.9 g
- Cholesterol: 189.1 mg
