Forget cakes and cookies, mac and cheese is my comfort food of choice. And luckily, there is no shortage of variations on classic homemade mac and cheese, so it just never gets old. :) This White Cheddar Mac and Cheese is incredibly simple, fast, easy, and a little more well rounded than plain mac and cheese, so it’s totally meal-worthy and perfect for busy weeknights. The flavor is a little smoky, a little garlicky, and full of that wonderfully sharp white cheddar. In other words, soooo good!
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Do I Have to Use White Cheddar?
You can definitely use yellow (orange) cheddar in place of the white cheddar in this recipe, if you need. They both melt beautifully into a silky sauce. Yellow cheddar is usually much more budget-friendly, as well.
Can I Substitute the Evaporated Milk?
No, unfortunately, you can not substitute the evaporated milk in this recipe. This unique composition of evaporated (low moisture, high protein) is what allows the cheese to emulsify into a smooth sauce without using a roux (flour and butter mixture). It will not work with regular milk or dairy milk substitutes.
Other Substitution Ideas
Low Carb – Substitute the pasta with cauliflower florets.
Vegetarian – Substitute the chicken with tempeh, or cauliflower florets.
Cauliflower is a pretty versatile ingredient and just happens to go great with cheese sauce (see my Spicy Roasted Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce recipe).
White Cheddar Mac and Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. pasta (any short shape) ($0.67)
- 1/2 lb. frozen broccoli florets ($1.30)
- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2/3 lb.) ($2.00)
- 1 pinch salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.26)
- 1 cup evaporated milk ($0.53)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 8 oz. extra sharp white cheddar, shredded ($1.75)
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Once boiling, add the pasta and continue to boil until tender. Add the frozen broccoli florets to the pot of boiling water and pasta, and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Drain the pasta and broccoli together in a colander.
- While the pasta is cooking, prepare the chicken. Season both sides of the chicken breast with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add one tablespoon cooking oil to a large, deep skillet and heat over medium. Once hot, swirl the oil to coat the surface of the skillet, add the chicken breast, and cook on each side until golden brown and cooked through (about 5-7 minutes per side). Remove the cooked chicken to a clean cutting board and allow it to rest for five minutes, then chop it into small cubes.
- Turn the heat under the skillet used to cook the chicken down to medium-low, and add the butter. Allow the butter to melt, and use a whisk to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Pour in the evaporated milk and continue to whisk to dissolve the browned bits completely off the bottom.
- Whisk the garlic powder, smoked paprika, and salt into the evaporated milk. Once the evaporated milk is hot, begin adding the shredded white cheddar, one handful at a time, whisking until it is fully melted before adding the next handful. Once all the cheese has been whisked into the hot sauce, turn the heat down to low.
- Add the cooked and drained pasta and broccoli, and the chopped chicken to the skillet with the cheese sauce. Stir to combine and fully coat the pasta, broccoli, and chicken in the sauce, then enjoy!
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Nutrition
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How to Make White Cheddar Mac and Cheese – Step by Step Photos
Start by cooking the pasta and broccoli. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then once boiling, add 1/2 lb. pasta. Continue to boil until the pasta is tender, then add 1/2 lb. frozen broccoli florets and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Drain the pasta and broccoli together in a colander.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the chicken. Season one boneless skinless chicken breast with a pinch of salt on each side. Add 1 Tbsp cooking oil to a large deep skillet and heat over medium. Once hot, swirl the oil to coat the skillet, then add the chicken. Cook the chicken on each side until golden brown and cooked through. Remove the chicken to a clean cutting board, let it rest for five minutes, then chop into small cubes.
Turn the heat under the skillet used to cook the chicken down to medium-low and add 2 Tbsp butter. Allow the butter to melt and use a whisk to begin scraping up the browned bits from the bottom.
Pour in 1 cup evaporated milk and continue to cook and whisk until all the browned bits are dissolved off the bottom and the evaporated milk is hot.
Season the evaporated milk with 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, and 1/4 tsp salt.
Now that the evaporated milk is hot and well seasoned, begin adding the 8oz. shredded extra sharp white cheddar, one handful at a time. Whisk the cheese into the sauce until fully melted before adding the next handful.
Once all the cheddar has been added, the sauce will be smooth and thickened.
Add the cooked and drained pasta, broccoli, and chopped chicken back to the skillet with the sauce, then stir to coat.
And that’s it! White Cheddar Mac and Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli is served!!
What if I use frozen chicken already made instead of cooking a chicken breast myself? How would i make the sauce?
You’re welcome to use a pre-cooked breast! You would make the sauce the same way, you would just be starting from melting the butter in a clean pan. :)
Any use fresh broccoli before? Any tips how not to make it mushy?
You can steam or boil the fresh broccoli separately to get it just to the texture that you like it, then stir it into the mac at the end. :)
Thank you!
This is one of my top recipes. Hits everything – protein, vegetable, comfort food.
Love this dish! One thing I do to make this meal even easier is use leftover rotisserie chicken. Whenever I buy one at Costco, I pull all the leftover meat off and freeze it. I think its perfect for this recipe!
Amazing!
What can I substitute with evaporated milk with ?
Unfortunately you can’t. The unique chemistry of evaporated milk is needed to emulsify the cheese in this type of cheese sauce. You can always do a traditional cheese sauce with a butter and flour roux instead. Here is a recipe for broccoli shells and cheese that uses the traditional cheese sauce method for reference.
I’m not sure why you were told you can’t substitute the evaporated milk but I have made this many many times and have used half and half and heavy cream and both work just fine. You can even use regular milk but would need to use about 60% more than the recipe calls for and heat it up and let it evaporate until you have the amount needed. I find it easier to just use half and half. Evaporated milk is not something I keep in my house and I definitely wasn’t about to drive to the store for it so cream it was and it turned out great. Evaporated milk isn’t really anything special. Just 2% milk that’s had a large amount the water removed and to make it shelf stable.
I used 4-5 breast tenderloins and they cooked a little fast! Its really good though! I used broccoli, cauliflower and chicken and my whole family loves it!
Great! Next time I will cut the chicken in half before cooking because it didnt cookfully in the middle.
Why does this recipe use frozen broccoli instead of fresh?
Just for convenience: it’s already chopped, and it’s par-cooked before freezing so it can be added to the pasta water at the very end. You can certainly do it with fresh broccoli if you’d like, but you’ll want to boil or steam it for a longer time than listed in the recipe, and for that reason I’d probably cook it separately from the pasta.
i made this with unsweetened almond milk. i added 2 tbs of flour to the butter to thicken it up. i used fresh broccoli and colby jack cheese, grated it from a block. ended up being very good. sauce was nice and smooth.
How does this hold up as a freezer meal? Would it be good re-heated from frozen?
Mac and cheese usually doesn’t hold up so well to freezing and thawing, unfortunately.
Apologies if this question seems a bit out of nowhere, but by any chance is there a version of this recipe with Australian measurements?
We wish we could do metrics, but it would just be too difficult to try to measure everything out while cooking. Some ingredients can be simply converted with math because of volume to weight conversions.
I use this recipe but I also add a cup of chopped mushrooms with the broccoli. Since we are left with half (there are only two of us), I freeze the remaining in a microwaveable dish.
Sometimes I have been known to use a quarter cup of WHITE wine or cooking Sherry when making the sauce. This still freezes well.
Would anything change if you used fresh broccoli instead of frozen?
Hi Julie! Yes, you can use fresh. Add them to the boiling pasta water when the pasta is almost finished. You should only need to boil them for a few minutes, just until they are bright green and a little tender. :)
Julie, this is Eliot Frosst. I have used fresh broccoli but very small florets. I blanche the whole broccoli in a slightly salted and boiling water for about two minutes. I keep the stems, peel them then slice the stems julienne style and use them cold in salads for fantastic light summer lunches or slice them a little thicker cut into 2″ pieces for a hot quiche (either vegetarian or with ham and cheese)
How would you recommend reheating?
I didn’t have any of the add-ins and I had just about 7 oz each of cheese and pasta so I used the same amount of evaporated milk. It turned out great!
Its good but it needs a lot more seasoning and maybe some more milk.
This was delicious! I’m not much of a cook but this was simple and tasted great! I had to use whole milk/half n half since I didn’t have evaporated milk but the flavor was still very good. Also used fresh broccoli and it came out tender but with a slight crunch still. PERFECT! Will make more of your recipes!
I picked up
Yellow extra sharp cheese
By mistake. I used it and it was still delicious!
Cant say how many times ive done this haha
I made this last night and it turned out fantastic! I was in heaven eating it for lunch today :) It took a little time but so worth the end result. You give such easy step-by-step instructions. I usually just put my music in and cook away. Thank you for another tasty recipe.
Do you think regular milk would work?
No, unfortunately the unique chemistry of the evaporated milk is what helps the cheese emulsify into a smooth sauce instead of clumping up into a glob. :(
Yes it will definitely work. You definitely don’t need to rush out and get evaporated milk. I’ve only ever made this with cream or half and half and it came out perfectly fine and creamy. Not sure why you are being told no. Hopefully you did not have to go out and buy a can Special for This recipe.
My sauce curled up :(
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that. I’m happy to walk through the steps of the recipe with you if you’d like.
This recipe was easy and delicious. The sauce turned out really thick, so I ended up using the entire can (12 oz.) of evaporated milk. Will make this again!
I didn’t have condensed milk or white sharp cheddar but I substituted for sour cream and 3 cheese blend and worked surprisingly well. Thanks!
Oh good to know those will work in a pinch!
Delicious! Third time cooking and now its my to-go cooking guide. Love it!
Thank you Maria!
Would this be tasty even without the chicken? Or is the chicken a big source of flavor? What can I do for flavor if I make this without the chicken?
Yes, you can definitely make this without the chicken, too, and it wouldn’t need anything to replace it. The cheddar is the major flavor player here, so it would be just as delish! :)
This would be a perfect for dinner for me! My husband on the other hand doesn’t enjoy, just a pasta dish, no matter what’s in it, for dinner. He likes to see a variety. Any suggestion on sides to serve with this?
You could do a hearty green salad or something like Charred Corn and Zucchini Salad
Can you use regular milk instead of evaporated milk? Just try to cut the cost as low as possible and using items I already have to save money. Had a rough month and running low on $$. Thanks!
No, unfortunately the unique chemistry of the evaporated milk is what helps the cheese emulsify into a smooth sauce instead of clumping up into a glob. :(
yes yes yes you can. Don’t go out and buy something like that especially if you have milk on hand. With regular milk you would need to gently boil it down to get rid of the moisture. 2 1/4 cup 2% milk can be gently boiled down until you have 1cup. That’s identical to what you would buy in the store. That’s all evaporated milk is. I’ve only used heavy cream and half and half and it also turned out great. It says you can’t use anything else but if you look at alot of the comments alot of people have subbed for cream or half and half one person even used sour cream instead so yes you definitely can substitute the evaporated milk.
So yummy! I wanted leftovers for the week so I doubled the recipe (except for the chicken, which I tripled, and I used a tiny bit more of the spices to make sure it was seasoned enough) and it came out great. I used rotini pasta. Next time I will throw in another bag of vegetables to bulk it up even more!
Easily my top favorite of yours! My husband uses sharp cheddar and some sweetened condensed milk and it tastes like heaven!!
Can I use fresh broccoli florets instead of frozen? Should I add them to the water with the pasta in the beginning or can I add them towards the end like with frozen? Thanks!
Yes, you can use fresh, and your intuition was spot on. Add them to the boiling pasta water when the pasta is almost finished. You should only need to boil them for a few minutes, just until they are bright green and a little tender. :)
I dont usually comment on the recipes I try online
But this came out so good and it was super easy. Not yo mention healthy.
I havent found anything that is quick n easy, healthy and good
My 5 year old daughter loved it.
It’ll be a regular on our weeknight menu
Couple of changes I did no chicken or substitute and I used yellow sharp cheddar
What other vegetables do you recommend that can be added to this ?
Broccoli is definitely my go-to, but peas or spinach also work great!
Best homemade Mac and cheese I’ve ever made! :) thank you!
This meal, was sustaining and balanced (even though i would have added more broccoli 😋). I doubled the recipe because cooking daily in a small rv is not efficient. Given that, I still prefer more seasoning than was listed. I used penne pasta, per my so’s request, which grabbed the cheese sauce nicely. I will probably make this again, but would try a different cheese or blend for even smoother final consistency (the sharp white cheddar gave it a grainy texture as it coagulated/cooled down).
So I don’t usually comment on recipes, I made this exactly as written and my husband straight up lost his mind. I can’t remember the last time he loved a random weeknight dinner this much, especially something that was this easy to make. You are now a legend in my house.
Yay!! That makes me so happy!! :D
The cheese was impossible do do and came out terrible :( Maybe I am just a bad cook. This does not seem to be for beginners. I ended up just adding butter to the noodles and sprinkled some other cheese on top.
Turn heat down to low before adding cheese. Natural cheese with clump with too much heat.
YES…just yes. This was delicious!!! I am eating a bowl right now!! This recipe is a keeper and I am gonna make it again – thank you so much!!
This was SO EASY and SO DELICIOUS! I used orecchiette from Trader Joe’s (fine but kinda crumbly w/ lots of broken pieces) and a chicken thigh (which I bought extra of so that I could make the honey mustard chicken!), and it was SO GOOD! I haven’t tried the leftovers yet but I’m sure they’ll be amazing. The sauce was soooo creamy and yummy.
I enjoyed the recipe it was great. I used yellow sharp cheddar and still turned out good.
This tasted a little strange to me at first, I think perhaps because of the evaporated milk, but what I really liked was how good this tasted cold. I also liked how the sauce didn’t congeal like most mac & cheese sauces and stayed “gooey” long after refrigeration. It’s been super hot here in La La Land and any meal that can be eaten cold but still tastes good (I actually think this dish tastes better cold than hot) = WIN!
No idea what is evaporated milk and never in my life saw it anywhere. But substituted it with four and regular milk. Not sure if it tasted as it should, but it was delicious!
I just made this and followed the recipe exactly. I didn’t find the 1 cup of evap milk enough. I bought a 12oz can and a 5oz can because I was at the store and couldn’t remember how much the recipe said. SO GLAD I got the 12oz can because after I added everything, the pasta absorbed the cheese sauce instantly leaving this a touch dry. So I added the other 4oz and that was fine. I didn’t know what I would have done with the leftover milk anyway. I also wish i would have looked at the broccoli bag because the frozen florets were huge! I wanted much smaller pieces as in the video. But potato potahto. This is great. If you don’t have smoked paprika, get it just for this recipe! It adds so much flavor! In true ‘sweep the fridge’ style, next time I will cook mushrooms with the chicken, maybe some onion, colorful peppers would be good.
Yum! I used reduced fat (2%) evaporated milk and cheese, and it worked fine. (I’m sure it’s not as rich as with the full-fat versions, but it’s still good!) Also threw in a bag of frozen peas. And because I just thawed some cooked chicken instead of cooking it fresh, it worked fine to do all of this in one pot: drain the pasta/veggies into a colander, then use the same pot to cook up the sauce.
I subbed half the white cheddar with smoked fontina. Have never regretted a choice less. Great recipe, and reheats well!
I made this tonight for dinner and it was delicious! Thanks for the great recipes!
Sounds easy and delicious. Think I’ll add 1/4 tsp. dry mustard for some ‘zip’
Making this as I type this— would really appreciate a more specific measurement for the white cheddar cheese. I couldn’t find any pre grated in a bag so I bought a 10 oz block, measured 8oz from it using a food scale. I grated it myself but I only have a microplane which changes the volume of the cheese. Maybe a cup measurement in addition to ounces? Or explain proper way to ensure correct amount of cheese when you are hand grating.
Thanks!
Your method of weighing off 8 oz with the scale then grating was the at to go. Weight is indeed the better way to measure, since volume can vary as you stated.
You didn’t ask me, but I think weight is the most precise measurement possible for any recipe. My family would never complain if I upped the cheese by 20%–they think if some cheese is good, more is better. If you don’t want to do that, eye ball your 10 oz block of cheese, cut off 1/5 for another use, and grate all the rest. Nor would I worry much if I had to use yellow cheddar instead of white (white cheddar is usually sharp), which I can’t find grated, either–the closest being a mixed cheddar blend which was more white than yellow. It may not be as white and beautiful, but it will still taste terrific.
My substitution in this recipe was the broccoli, which I adore, but my husband won’t eat–I used some leftover sliced and sauteed mushrooms and green beans cut in 1″ length. Peas would have been good, too.
Cup measurements would actually be less accurate than ounce, since it can vary with how tightly packed the shredded cheese is in the cup, and would probably end up with a larger error. That being said, this recipe is quite flexible, so if you aren’t able to measure 8 oz. from your 10 oz. block, it will still work fine. :) I probably should have added a note about it being flexible! :P
I might try this as it sounds really good. Cheese, especially white sharp cheddar costs triple what you show though! I might have to sub the usual cheaper store brand yellow sharp cheese which still costs more than what you list here. I didn’t realize there could be such a big difference in price due to where you live.
My cheese was on sale (by coincidence), but I was prepared to pay more knowing that the other ingredients in this were all pretty inexpensive and the overall cost would likely still be quite low. :)
I can make this even cheaper – leave out the broccoli. Blech! I would probably use the whole can of evaporated milk since it’s doubtful I would have a use for the rest of the can right away! Can you tell me where you can get white cheddar for $3.50 a pound?
It was Kroger’s brand and on sale this week! Yay! If you add more evaporated milk you’ll need to add more cheese, or else the sauce will be too watery.
I don’t even have to try this to know it will be delicious! And you are right, the evaporated milk is the key to creamy, non-gritty mac and cheese! Can’t wait to make this.
Blech…Don’t try to use chicken gizzard as a substitute. I bought some because I was curious to what it tasted like, and I thought since they were small it would basically be like the cubed up chicken already done for me. Well it turns out you have to cook gizzard for like 2 hours. So I kept it on my pan for 30 minutes or so because I didn’t have that kind of time. I didn’t end up using the gizzard in the pasta, but I cooked the evaporated milk part on top of it and I feel like the sauce tastes a little off (bad aftertaste).
Ooh, yes, do not use gizzards for this. Gizzards are organ meat and quite different in both texture and flavor from regular chicken meat.
This is funny–I grew up on a farm and we used everything. My dad loved gizzards, but they are really tough, and I was happy to pass them along to him. I never thought they tasted bad, but I haven’t had one in more than 50 years and haven’t missed them at all! Organ meats, however, don’t taste much like the muscle meat–breast, leg, thigh, wing–and although I really like chicken livers, would never use them in a delicately flavored recipe like this one. I save them for pate.
Hi Beth,
I LOVE your blog. I make your recipes all the time. I love that they are absolutely delicious while not reeking havoc on my waistline! Thanks for that:D Just wondering…..does the fat content of the evaporated milk matter? Should I only use whole fat?
I haven’t tried the low-fat or non-fat evaporated milk yet, so I’m not sure if it will effect the way the cheese sauce emulsifies, but I do know that it will definitely taste better if you use the full-fat type. ;)
Beth,
out of curiosity, what percentage milk fat is in your evaporated milk? I can buy condensed milk at the supermarket (not in the USA) in anything from 4-12% MF. Not sure which would be best for this recipe.
I don’t still have the can, but at my store we had three options: regular, 2%, and fat-free. This was regular (which didn’t say “regular” but didn’t have any qualifying descriptors in the title), so I’m assuming it was made with whole milk. I believe whole milk is 3.5% milk fat.
I have tried low fat evaporated milk in similar recipes to this, and I thought it was awful. It emulsified fine, but the flavor was waaaay off. Tangy in a bad way instead of creamy and cheesy.
Thank you for sharing that! :)
We used fat free tonight (because that is what the shopper came home with), and I thought it worked fine,
Good to know, thanks! :)
I decided to make this for dinner as soon as I saw it posted earlier today! I couldn’t find white cheddar, so I used regular sharp cheddar and it was still super delicious.
Thank you for commenting! I was just wondering if sharp cheddar would work because I am not sure if my grocery store sells white cheddar.
I LOVE macaroni and cheese. Can’t wait to make this recipe!!! :-)
This looks delicious. I think I will swap the broccoli to peas/carrots since we prefer those. Can’t wait to try this.
Made it tonight. Our chicken took twice as long as expected to cook, so I think next time I will take steps to make it thinner before starting. I used half a bag of frozen carrots and a quarter bag of peas instead of broccoli. We enjoyed the recipe and agreed it could be made again (in this house that is high praise). Like other commenters our cheese was very expensive, only one brand at the store carried white cheddar and of course not the one of sale. Also, normally Beth’s servings sizes are on the small side, but not for this meal. I’d say this makes at least 5 servings.