Mac N Cheese Broccoli Bake is inspired by one of my favourite microwaveable dish, Amy’s Broccoli & Cheddar Bake. My version is also gluten-free and vegetarian.
I wanted to see if I can cook a gluten-free pasta bake and this was my first time. I can say it was a success!
Mac N Cheese Broccoli Bake uses gluten free pasta and gluten free cracker crumbs. How do you make cracker crumbs? Simply use a rolling pin to crush the crackers into crumbs
Cheddar Bechamel Sauce (aka Mac N Cheese sauce): I used old aged cheddar and white cheddar. Still 2 cups total for this recipe. This was my first time cooking a cheddar béchamel sauce and it was so smooth and has a beautiful sheen, compared to béchamel sauce without any cheese added. I loved it!
Mac N Cheese Broccoli Bake
Ingredients
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp flour (Gluten Free: 2 Tbsp potato flour)
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 2 cups old aged cheddar
- salt and pepper to season
- 2 cups broccoli crown florets, chopped
- 3 cups gluten free pasta I used Fussili Catelli GF pasta
- 1 cup gluten free breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs I used crackers, Breton GF herb & garlic
Instructions
- You can prepare the béchamel sauce and boil the pasta at the same time if you can!
Cheddar bechamel sauce
- In a large pan, cook garlic in butter for 1 minute on low-medium heat until the garlic is starting to brown. Add flour and mix until smooth. Add in milk gradually while mixing. When it's smooth, add cheddar cheese and mix until smooth with no lumps. Set aside.
Pasta & Broccoli
- In a sauce pan, boil pasta using the time on the pasta packaging instruction for time needed. Keep the boiled water for the broccoli, so remove pasta only.
- Chop broccoli crown into smaller florets. After removing pasta out of the boiling water, place broccoli pieces into the water and cook with lid covered for around 5 minutes or until the broccoli is just tender and holding together well.
- Remove broccoli from the water and strain as much of the water out before placing the broccoli into the béchamel sauce. Fold broccoli into the béchamel sauce.
- In a square 8×8 or 9×9 pan, lined with tin foil, scoop the béchamel broccoli into the pan evenly. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top.
- Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes and if needed 5 minutes boiled at 425F until breadcrumb is slightly browned and cheesy sauce on the top is starting to harden. Enjoy after 5 minutes of cooling!
Boiling the broccoli in the same sauce pan and hot water after boiling the pasta is an excellent way to save time. I did not add more water into the sauce pan after removing the pasta out of the water. When you use a sauce pan lid to cover up the broccoli when boiling, the broccoli that’s not covered in water is still being cooked like being “steamed”.
This is how I like my Mac N Cheese – with lots of Ketchup! 🙂
Enjoy!!! Have an incredible day 🙂
