Skip to content
Families

Healthy family recipe: Broccoli bacon mac 'n cheese

This lighter homemade cheese sauce sneaks in pureed butternut squash, which you can't taste.

    by Anna Nguyen
    Published 

This lighter homemade cheese sauce sneaks in pureed butternut squash, which you can't taste. You can roast butternut squash, buy pureed butternut squash, or substitute with canned pumpkin or mashed sweet potato for this recipe. I used Target's Simply Balanced pureed squash from the grocery aisle. It's not as healthy, but I used more bacon and cheddar cheese to boost the flavor from the original recipe. If your kids don't like extra heat, cayenne or paprika can be added later.

Broccoli bacon mac 'n cheese

Ingredients:

  1. 6 center-cut bacon slices, chopped

  2. 3 garlic cloves, minced

  3. 2 1/2 cups unsalted chicken stock (low sodium chicken broth also works)

  4. 1 cup 1% low-fat milk

  5. 1 (10-ounce) package frozen butternut squash puree, thawed

  6. 10 ounce uncooked large elbow macaroni

  7. 3 cups chopped broccoli florets

  8. 1/2 teaspoon salt

  9. 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  10. 10 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded and divided

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bacon; cook 4 minutes or until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove bacon from pan.

2. Remove all but 2 teaspoons bacon drippings from pan. Add garlic to ­drippings in pan; sauté 30 seconds.

3. Add stock, milk, and squash to pan; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

4. Add pasta; cover, ­reduce heat, and ­simmer 5 minutes, ­stirring occasionally. Stir in broccoli; cover and cook 3 minutes or until pasta is done and sauce is thickened.

5 Stir in salt, pepper, and most of the cheese. Sprinkle bacon and remaining cheese on top. Cover; let stand 1 minute.

Serves 6 (serving size: about 1 1/3 cups)

Adapted from Cooking Light

Have a question for the Healthy Kids panel? Ask it here. Read more from the Healthy Kids blog »