Baked macaroni and cheese that’s gorgeously creamy but made with no cream! Loaded up with chicken and broccoli so it’s a complete meal. In one pot. On the table in 30 minutes. What more can you ask for? Oh – maybe just a cooking video to see how EASY this is to make? 😉
There’s a whole giant head of broccoli in this. And you don’t even need to steam it separately, it gets cooked right in the same pot with the mac and cheese. 🙂 Plus chicken + pasta + cheese = complete meal. At least, in my books!
I adore Mac and Cheese. If I see it on a menu, especially at posh restaurants, I have to have it on the side. Any Sydney-siders tried Neil Perry’s Mac and Cheese at his Rockpool Bar & Grill restaurant? It’s utterly incredible.
It’s also so rich that I can’t have more than a couple of (generously heaped) spoons of it.
So the Mac and Cheese I make at home that’s suitable for serving as a meal is made without cream by using a roux as a base. Sounds fancy (it’s French!), but it’s just melted butter + flour whisked into milk to create a creamy sauce.
I make this in the oven so that way you can make it all in one pot, rather than cooking the macaroni separately and mixing it into the sauce. Making it this way requires an exact amount of liquid to macaroni ratio, specific water + milk combo (too much milk = takes far too long for pasta to rehydrate) and following the cook times specified in the recipe.
Oh – the other very specific steps I do are:
a) Stirring the cheese in just before grilling/broiling to brown the top (if you add it beforehand, it takes forever for the pasta to cook); and
b) Sprinkling the panko and parmesan on at the end, then broiling/grilling it to brown. This serves 2 purposes: browning the crunchy topping while the pasta finishes cooking using the residual heat, and the sauce thickens. You’ll be surprised how much the sauce thickens during the broiling phase. 🙂
Here’s the video so you can see for yourself the magic of how you can make Mac and Cheese in one pot! With no cream!!
Regular readers have probably noticed that cast iron cookware appears often in my recipes. It’s because I love recipes that start off on the stove then finish in the oven – one of my favourite techniques. And cast iron cookware is so fantastic for even distribution and retention of heat on both the stove and in the oven.
It’s also the #1 culprit for the curses and screeches of pain that occurs more regularly than I care to admit.
I just forget HOW GOOD they are with heat retention, and how hot they stay even after a decent period of time out of the oven. I underestimate how long it takes for the dutch ovens to cool down (ages and ages!) and go to grab the pot with my bare hands. Other times, I can’t find my oven mitts so I try to take it out of the oven using a flimsy dishcloth instead (ouch ouch ouch!).
So it’s with many thanks to Burnaid that I’ve created a guide for what to do if you burn yourself. I really hope you never yourself, but this is important information that everyone should know so please take a minute to read it. 2 easy important steps. Do you know what they are?
And know that you can always easily find it on my site because I’ve created a page especially for it now so you can find it under About on my menu bar.🙂
OK! So back to this Mac N Cheese….hmmmm. Not sure what else to say about this!
√ One pot
√ Easy
√ Creamy and cheesy
√ Complete meal
√ No cream
Errrm….ticked all my boxes for an easy, scrumptious midweek meal! 😉 – Nagi x
THE MAC & CHEESE COLLECTION
- Chicken and Broccoli Mac & Cheese – this recipe
- Baked Mac and Cheese – huge reader favourite!
-
Shrimp Mac and Cheese – outrageously delicious!
-
Stovetop Mac and Cheese – one pot, 20 minutes
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Baked Macaroni Cheese with Chicken & BROCCOLI
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb / 500g skinless chicken breast or thigh fillets , cut into bite size pieces
Mac N Cheese
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 small onion , finely chopped
- 4 tbsp plain flour
- 2 1/2 cups milk , low fat
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 2 cups macaroni / elbow pasta (Note 1)
- 1 large head of broccoli , broken into florets (or 1 1/2 smaller ones)
- 1 1/2 - 2 cups grated cheese (cheddar, tasty or gruyere)
Topping
- 1/4 cup panko (or ordinary breadcrumbs)
- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Heat oil in a deep heavy based skillet or dutch oven over high heat. Add chicken and cook until just cooked - it's fine if it's still raw inside. Remove chicken into a bowl. (Note 2)
- Reduce heat to medium and melt butter. Add garlic and onion and saute for 5 minutes until onion is translucent. Add flour and cook for 1 minute.
- Pour in half the milk and whisk it in so the flour butter mixture melts. It should thicken quite quickly - around 30 seconds. Pour the remaining milk in, whisking constantly, then add the water, salt and pepper.
- Turn the heat up to medium high and cook, whisking occasionally, for around 3 to 5 minutes until you start seeing steam rising from the white sauce when you whisk it.
- Add the macaroni and chicken, stir, then top with broccoli.
- Place the lid on and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, switch oven to broiler/grill on high.
- Remove lid (Note 3), stir through cheese, then sprinkle over panko and parmesan. (Will still look bit watery at this stage).
- Place pot under the broiler/grill for 5 minutes, or until top is golden.
- Remove, then let it stand for 5 minutes before serving (sauce thickens quickly).
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Im loving mushrooms at the moment and love to add extra veggies, do you think they would work in this recipe or the greek one pot chicken recipe?
DEFINATELY! Just saute them so the water comes out and they soften slightly before adding the liquids and baking, otherwise the water in the mushrooms will make the sauce water 🙂 Same goes with other veggies!
I love your tips as always, Nagi. The macaroni looks perfect. And the video – swoon!! You know, I jumped into the world of video myself this week – yes, ME who’s usually 3 years behind everyone else with these sorts of things. Enjoyed it so much, and it really wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
Anyway, back to your post. Love the burn tips too – I burn my hands on my hair straighteners EVERY week, so very useful indeed (and my darn hair only stays straight for about an hour).
Woah woah!! Really?? I have to check it OUT!!!!
I love one pot meals and this one was delicious. My little grandson and daughter scraped their bowls clean
Thank you so much Belinda! Glad to hear the little one(s) scraped their bowls!!! <3 N x
Mac and cheese is a favourite here too, although the kids always get annoyed when I ‘spoil’ it by adding veggies. Although now they are getting older they are more health conscious so I can probably get away with it! Glad I am not the only one who still manages to burn myself. Hope it is better soon.
Hi Bronnie! Hope you’re having a great week….almost at the end of it, YAY!!! Ugh, I’m such a klutz, I constantly have minor kitchen incidents, burns being the worst offender.? I hope you haven’t had any major disasters yourself – touch wood! N x
Love one pot meals. Canon you imagine I have never made Mac and cheese…too rich. Now ,no cream I will have to try it. Thanks for a great recipe.
Woah! YES you must try it!! This is a great one to break in with because it’s not insanely rich like they are at restaurants! 🙂 I do hope you enjoy it Lisa!!
Nagi, the queen of one pot meals and the cream-no cream dish! I’m totally with you on the mac n’ cheese thing – just give me a giant spoon and I’m set… no smaller bowl needed. As for this dish, it’s like mac n’ cheese and broccoli and cheese soup had a love child! Absolutely delicious!
*Snort!* OK – wait. If I want a title, I want that one ?
Mmmmm, just looky here at all that comfort food goodness. With a safe helping of broccoli thrown in I would feel no guilt. LOVE Mac & Cheese, especially homemade 🙂
Well hello there Kevin! Long time no chat! Popping over to catch up on what’s been happening! 🙂
Hey there! I’ve sent you a couple emails with updates instead of in the comment section on your site. You didn’t get them? Even my Valentines Day one? I figured you were so busy making all these wonderful videos or a new project. LOVE you! 🙂
NO! I didn’t get them!!! Mind you, I had a computer virus around that time….let me check my filters!!! <3 N x
See, I thought something was up. I’ll email you from Keviniscooking email and let’s see. 🙂
What a great looking recipe!! I love the idea of making it all in one pot. In fact I don’t think you’d even need a dish — just set the whole pot in front of me with a huge serving spoon. YUM!! xxxooo
BA HA HA!!! Deal! But I get to sit beside you – give me a spoon too, let’s dig in together!!! ❤️
Full disclosure, mac and cheese is usually too rich for me. But omg, this looks amazing! You’ve solved the heaviness with gobs of gorgeous broccoli. I happen to have a big brick of comte in the fridge right now and this is the PERFECT way to use it!!
ME TOO Marissa! I grew up with creamy sauces made from roux not CREAM, I couldn’t eat this if it was made with cream. Way too rich!! 🙂
We had this for dinner last night and it was fantastic! Perfect combination of ingredients and the panko/parmesan crust I could eat just by itself! Nice and moist and creamy though in the future might try a little more cheese and a combination of cheeses. I wonder what other vegetable would work well in this instead of the Broccoli or maybe in combination with it?
WOO HOO!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for you Steve, the first to try this recipe and come back to share your thoughts!!!! Any other veggie would work well, but harder ones like carrots would need to be chopped and sautéed to help soften, and watery ones like zucchini and eggplant also sautéed to get the water out otherwise they will make the sauce watery. 🙂 I think spinach would be a lovely addition to stir through with the cheese too!
A yummy twist, adding chicken and broccoli is a great idea. By the way, I enjoyed watching your video for truly crispy wings, I can’t wait to try it too 🙂
Thanks Muna!!! Those crispy wings are insanely good! I still remember the first time I made them, I was SO AMAZED how crispy they came out!
I just love your videos – they bring the recipe to life and show me how simple making dinner is going to be. Love your work Nagi 🙂
oh that looks yummy, Nagi! Anything that takes half an hour or less to cook is a life-aver in my books for evenings. I’ve just watched your video and found it compelling: there’s something addictive about watching food being cooked, especially in such nice light. x
What a lovely, modern interpretation of Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Nagi. A full meal!
Thanks so much Victoria, that’s so kind of you to say! N x
sneaky sneak! i bet my nieces wouldn’t even know there are veggies. Grand plans! i like it!
It’s easy to see past veggies hidden amongst CREAMY SAUCE, isn’t it? ?
I LOVE cooking with cast iron pans and dutch ovens for that exact same reason! And I like you, I have SO MANY burn scars on my hands because I always manage to touch the handles while they’re still hot. That burn cream is made for people like me! If only I can find it or something similar in America…
This one pot wonder looks amazing, Nagi!! Just want to dig right in. (P.S. LOVE that white color of your dutch oven!)
I know, right?? I swear, my fingerprints always have trouble scanning at airports!!! It’s terrible!!! N x
Hi Nagi! Like you I can’t resist a good mac n’ cheese! And a one pot complete meal makes it even better! I always top my homemade with Panko and parmesan too! 🙂
Dorothy, I know I’ve said this before….but gosh, you and I have such similar taste it’s almost scary!!! YOU ROCK!!! ??❤️
This looks absolutely amazing!!! I usually don’t make mac & cheese because it’s really unhealthy but now it’s got protien and broccoli so I’ve got no excuse not to make it 😉
I know exactly what you mean. In fact, I honestly cannot remember the last time I made it with cream!!
I just love this idea Nagi…one pot for one of my favourite dishes 🙂 Who doen’t love mac and cheese? And yes, the one at Rockpool is incredible 🙂
I know, right?? Neil Perry is a genius!