One Pot Broccoli Mac and Cheese

The easiest one pot broccoli mac and cheese you’ll ever make! Perfect for midweek cravings and busy weeknights.

Wait, YOU TOO have a child that expects dinner every night but also has very exacting opinions about what goes on her plate, how it’s presented, and how much she can get away with (not) eating before she can leave the table?

We should unionize. I’ll bring cookies.

Let’s just say it is a real life win when I stumble across a meal that we can all agree to like AND it includes a vegetable AND it comes together in one pot in less than 20 minutes.

If this sounds to you like the holy grail of dinners, then you are correct.

It’s also the only way I’ve gotten my child to actually eat macaroni and cheese (WHO IS SHE?!), so clearly it has some kind of black magic/sorcery component to it. Whatevs, I’ll take it.

This recipe is from Ali Slagle via the New York Times Cooking site and when I first bookmarked it months ago I pushed it to the back of my brain, assuming it was probably too good to be true.

I mean, a one pot mac and cheese that doesn’t require making a roux or pre-cooking your pasta or grating six different kinds of cheeses?! Sounds suspicious.

But it works! It really really works!

All you need to do to make this is stir the ingredients (pasta! broccoli! milk! salt! garlic powder! water!) together in a pot and simmer them together until the pasta is cooked through and the liquids reduce down to a creamy consistency. It does require a teensy bit of baby-sitting and fairly frequent stirring just to make sure that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot, but ultimately only cooks in about ten minutes of time so it’s pretty quick. 

The cheese is stirred in at the end, and then dinner is good to go. I used American cheese for nostalgia’s sake though the original recipe calls for cheddar.

I have no regrets.

Now, I feel like I need to disclaim that while this is not the most decadent insane mac and cheese of your life, it gets the job done and it does so while forcing you to eat your veggies.

Feel free to add a bit more cheese if you want to up the richness, but I felt like the ratio as written was perfect for a weeknight when you want something cozy but not over the top.

If you (or your tiny dictators) are not broccoli fans, then frozen peas, cauliflower, or even string beans will work well here. Just be sure to cut whatever vegetable you’re using into bite-sized pieces that approximate the size of the pasta. This just makes for easier eating (and perhaps less resistance from the peanut gallery).

One Pot Broccoli Mac and Cheese

 

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The easiest one pot broccoli mac and cheese you'll ever make! Perfect for midweek cravings and busy weeknights.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 lb elbow macaroni
• 1 lb broccoli, stems and florets chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 2½ cups whole milk
• 2 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 8 oz American cheese, shredded

Instructions

1. Stir together the macaroni, broccoli, whole milk, salt, garlic powder, and 3 cups of water in a large pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a rapid simmer over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium.
2. Simmer for 8-12 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes to ensure that the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Once the pasta is cooked through and the liquid has thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, stir in the cheese.
3. Season to taste with salt before serving.

Notes

Recipe adapted slightly from NYT Cooking

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