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!
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
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!!
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!