Creamy Broccoli Mac and Cheese
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The EASIEST and CREAMIEST mac and cheese made in less than 30 min! Comfort food perfection! And it is the perfect way to sneak in those greens!
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Greetings from Paris!!! We hopped on a flight from Indianapolis to JFK to Paris, except our luggage didn’t quite follow us all the way to France.
So we’re drowning our sorrows in croissant after croissant after croissant. It really seems to be helping.
But in the meantime, for those of you getting ready for those New Year’s resolutions, I have my favorite mac and cheese recipe to share today.
Now when I say resolutions, I’ll be eating kale and kale starting January 1st. So for these last 3 days, let’s indulge and eat our hearts out with the creamiest mac and cheese ever.
I also did you guys a favor and added broccoli.
The broccoli is good for you – promise.
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Creamy Broccoli Mac and Cheese: Frequently Asked Questions
You can substitute penne, elbow macaroni, ziti or fusilli.
This really depends on personal preference. The broccoli florets (if chopped small) should cook through with the cheese in the last few steps but if you prefer softer broccoli, you can parboil them, adding them in during the last 5 minutes when cooking your pasta shells.
Half and half is equal parts of whole milk and cream. For 1 cup half and half, you can substitute 3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream or 2/3 cup skim or low-fat milk + 1/3 cup heavy cream.
Creamy Broccoli Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 ounces medium pasta shells
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ⅓ cups whole milk
- 1 cup half and half
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cups chopped broccoli florets
- 6 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Melt butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and shallot, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, half and half and Dijon until slightly thickened, about 3-4 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk as needed; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in pasta, broccoli and cheese until well combined, about 3-4 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Did you make this recipe?
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This is my second time making this dish and it was so simple I get my daughter to be in-charged. It is also very delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe. Definitely will cook it again.
What happened to mine? Mine was really horrible. Indeed very creamy, pretty light yellow but grainy and super bland. Maybe I shouldn’t have used the preshredded cheese? Glad to read others really liked it. Mine fell into the zero super unfun not good category.
Preshredded cheese contains an anti-caking agent that wreaks havoc on sauces. My guess would be that’s your problem. Cheese sauces can also separate and get grainy if they get too hot. If you decide to try it again, definitely buy a block of cheese and grate it yourself and turn the heat down before you stir in the cheese. Good luck!
What’s half and half mean please?
Half heavy cream, half milk; it’s an American thing.
Good
Soo tasty and easy! I can’t believe I haven’t done this before!!
So good quick and ready in less than a hour, very good and will be making it again.
Amazing! I’ve recently started making more healthy recipes, and this ones going in the books! Super easy and creamy, and I substituted half and half for vegetable broth- came out great.
Another delicious recipe – thank you! We loved this dish! It was creamy, cheesy and super comforting on a cool, rainy night here in Vancouver! I did as others commented and added my broccoli to the boiling pasta water for the last minute of the pasta cook time. I had to blend sharp cheddar with Gruyere cheese (because that is all I had in the fridge). It tasted wonderful! The sauce was so creamy, smooth and cheesy! Mmmmmmm Yum! Love the versatility of this recipe! Thank you for your awesome inspiration!
This was my first try at a Damn Delicious recipe but certainly not my last. My wife and I agreed it was some of the best mac & cheese we’d ever had. My kids were less enthusiastic, but they liked it, even the broccoli. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Delicous! It turned out great. We like our broccoli a little soft so I just threw it in the boiling water with the noodles for the last minute. Perfect.
Haven’t made it yet….how many calories per serving?
This was fantastic!! I put the broccoli in my food processor so it was in very small pieces (just personal preference). Otherwise the only thing I changed was leaving out the mustard and using a yellow onion because I had no shallots. My question-has anyone tried freezing this? I have more broccoli and this was soo good. Thanks!
Was delicious, but the broccoli was undercooked and needed to be steamed before combining it with the other ingredients.
Okay, I NEVER write food reviews. But I cannot get over how good this is. I made a few changes for my taste, but honestly believe that the original recipe is probably fantastic on its own.
I used 1 tsp of onion powder instead of the shallots, but still browned the garlic in the butter on its own like the recipe calls for. I used almond milk instead of whole milk but kept the half and half, and used 2 tsps of dijon because I love the taste. I also used Lowery’s instead of regular salt, and added a little bit of cayenne and paprika to the milk mixture while it was thickening. Also used an entire 8 oz bag of shredded cheese.
SO GOOD! Thank you for this recipe! I’ll be making it all the time now.
I made this and added shrimp to the mix. I didn’t have any shallots so I just used regular white onion instead. (This was apart of my “buy nothing to cook challenge”. I also just had regular elbow macaroni instead of the pasta shells, which of course taste the same.) But it was DELICIOUS! I actually brought some to work and am currently eating it at my desk.
I can’t wait to try more of her recipes!
This was delicious! I wasn’t sure the broccoli would be sufficiently cooked, so I added it to the pasta for the last three minutes. I added one more tablespoon of butter when sauteeing the shallot and garlic, and also topped the pan with about a half cup of cheddar and baked at 350 for five minutes, although 10 would have been perfect. Next time I might add some cayenne pepper for a bit of a kick.
One of the few vegetarian dishes our whole family enjoys
Just made this for me and my younger brother ; so easy to make. Tastes amazing , I added a lot of cheese and some pepper : coriander / hot dogs/ and chilli sauce . 10/10
I made this recipe today and it was delicious.. I chopped my broccoli smaller and didnt use as much. Also steamed it until slightly tender. Instead of a shallot, I used yellow onion. I used 8 oz of Velveeta, and seasoned it with seasoning salt. After it was all mixed together I sprinkled it with cheddar cheese and baked it until the cheese melted. Sooo delicious.
Can I make it with less milk and some more cheese? Or will it impact the cooking?
I am definitely making this recipe at home
quick, easy and so Delicious !!!
Thank you!
First site I have found interest in. Cooked 2 of your dishes so far. Came out perfect. Thanks. Cooking from your recipes again this eve
do you just throw in raw fresh broccoli or are you supposed to cook it with the pasta? I made this last night and the broccoli was so hard, seemed like i missed a step but didn’t see anything in the recipe that I was supposed to cook the broccoli.
The raw broccoli is cooked in step 4. If you prefer more cooked broccoli, you can cook it for longer to better suit your personal preferences.