Mac & cheese is good old Southern comfort food that is unfortunately not one of the healthier options. Laden with carbohydrates, saturated fat, and sodium, this dish will eventually stop being comforting and start being agonizing for the body. Excess of these bad ingredients can lead to obesity, heart disease, kidney problems, and lots more.
However, you can still make mac & cheese that’s perfectly good and much healthier for you. There will be some minor adjustments, of course, but none too major that the taste or quality of the dish will be affected.
Let’s take a look at some of the easy ways you can optimize your mac & cheese to be healthier.
1. Throw Out Pre-Packaged Mac & Cheese
The first thing you need to do to make healthier mac & cheese is throw out all those boxes of grocery-bought mac & cheese! Made with pasta that’s been processed beyond belief and cheese powders that are packed with sodium, they offer little to no nutritional benefit other than making you full. While these boxes are certainly helpful if you need a meal in a flash, you shouldn’t be eating them too much.
Thankfully, homemade mac & cheese isn’t too hard to make. You just need pasta, milk, butter, and cheese. You can make it on the stove or the oven using many recipes on the Internet.
2. Switch Out Regular Pasta with Healthier Pasta
And speaking of needing pasta, you can try substituting your regular macaroni with healthier macaroni. For starters, you can use whole-grain macaroni instead of white macaroni. This kind of pasta still contains a lot of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They make you feel very full quickly, regulating your blood sugar levels and preventing you from overeating.
Another thing you can do is use pasta made out of vegetables. Some use carrots, chickpeas, spinach, and other vegetables in their dough. If you’ve got some kiddos at home who refuse to eat their veggies, then this is the way to go—it’ll be hard to pick out the vegetables if they’re in the pasta!
3. Adjust the Cheese Sauce
Refrain from using high-calorie or high-fat cheeses. Instead, you should go for more mozzarella, camembert, or Swiss cheese. If you really want to use other cheeses, you should go for stronger flavors like sharp cheddar and Gruyere that will flavor your dish without using too much of it.
Furthermore, did you know your cheese sauce doesn’t have to be made of just cheese? There are so many ways to adjust your cheese sauces to be healthier!
One way to do this is by adding Greek yogurt to your cheese. This adds an interesting, tangy flavor to your mac & cheese and is super healthy too. Greek yogurt has a lot of protein and contains far fewer calories than a block of cheese. Another option is to blend chickpeas or other legumes into a paste and add it to your cheese sauce. It feels just like the real thing and increases your sauce without adding more cheese.
4. Replace Dairy Milk with Milk Alternatives
These days, dairy milk isn’t your only option anymore. There are lots of interesting milk products like oat milk, rice milk, soy milk, almond milk, cashew milk, and so much more to choose from! So, consider switching your regular dairy milk with any plant-based milk. The experience won’t be much different, but the nutritional value certainly will improve a lot.
Taste-wise, mac & cheese made with plant-based milk has subtle differences. They’ll taste mostly the same but might have a bit more nuttiness or lightness to them depending on the milk you use.
5. Add Some Vegetables
You’re getting carbohydrates from the macaroni and protein from the cheese, but where do you get vitamins and minerals? Without them, your meal will not be well-balanced!
So, we highly recommend adding some vegetables in there to even things out. It will make your dish weightier and more filling so there’s no danger of over-eating. Since vegetables are full of fiber, they take longer to digest and will be giving you energy throughout the entire day.
And honestly? Vegetables in mac & cheese are just so much fun. It adds pops of color. It also lends a different texture—who wouldn’t want to try eating soft macaroni and crunchy vegetables at the same time?
6. Toss in Some Lean Proteins
Another way to make a more filling and healthier mac & cheese is by adding some lean proteins like shredded chicken breast, ground turkey, or even tofu. Not only do they add more healthy proteins to the meal, but they also make things more flavorful.
Proteins are the building blocks of our muscles. We need lots of protein to help us build muscles, repair damage, strengthen bones, and much more. Unfortunately, however, many adults in the United States fail to get their recommended daily intake of protein, which then leads them to eat more carbohydrates than they should. So, you should definitely lessen the macaroni and add more protein.
7. Spice Things Up
Cutting back on cheese undoubtedly strips a lot of the flavor from mac & cheese. However, you can easily make up for it by adding lots of your favorite herbs and spices! A little goes a long way with these bad boys, and the best part is that they have virtually no calories. So, feel free to go ham with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, chili flakes, smoked paprika, and any other herb or spice you can get your hands on!
According to a study by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who season their foods with at least one teaspoon tend to have lower blood pressure later in life. Who knew one spoonful could make such a huge difference?
