The BEST High-Protein Mac and Cheese

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Mac and cheese is a family favourite in my house.

My brother requests it at least once a week.

My mom is not a huge fan of pasta but even she really likes my Mac and Cheese recipe. I have recently adapted it in two ways to make it a little higher in protein as well.

I am always looking for ways to add more protein since I am trying to eat better and lose some weight before my wedding this summer.

Ways to add more Protein

There are many ways to add more protein to your meals.

One of the most obvious ways is by adding a protein or meat of some sort to your meal like by adding bacon in the mac and cheese or serving it with chicken on the side.

I have done both!

Another thing you can do which is my favourite way to sneak it in is by adding cottage cheese to your cheese sauce. If the texture of cottage cheese puts you off, I completely understand. You can blend it first until it is smooth and then add it in and you won’t even notice!

The last way to add more protein, and personally my least favourite is by adding Greek yogurt in the cheese sauce. You can substitute the amount of milk you use in your roux and instead add plain greek yogurt.

Yes, this will help you get more protein but honestly, it tasted a little off to me. I would much prefer to make this a bacon mac and cheese with cottage cheese instead but if you don’t mind the taste then that is a great option!

Recipe Steps

The first thing you need to do (other than boil your pasta) is start your roux. Your roux should be EQUAL parts butter and flour.

You will need to cook this until all of the flour cooks out and it turns this more golden brown colour.

Then you can start adding in your milk to create the sauce. I also like to add the seasonings in this step so that they can cook a little bit longer.

I feel like it makes the spices taste even better.

The spices that are my non-negotiables are salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and cayenne.

I also love to add dijon mustard, it just gives a little bit of extra flavour that is so great.

Once your milk sauce starts to come together, turn down the heat and slowly start adding in a handful of cheese at a time.

It will all come together but if you do not turn down the heat it will cause the cheese to curdle.

This is optional, but if you want more protein you can add cottage cheese which adds more cheesiness to the flavour but also makes it thicker and helps it coat onto the noodles better!

This is the finished cheese sauce, it’s a little clumpy from the cottage cheese but it doesn’t bother me at all!

Then we combine everything together in a baking dish and put it in the oven.

To assemble the mac and cheese, you can do it kind of like a lasagna and stack more cheese in between the layers of noodles.

That way everything is coated with cheese and it is so good to eat!

This is a close-up of the mac and cheese once it is done.

You can leave it in the oven a little longer if you prefer to have more crisp edges in your mac and cheese!

This is my favourite mac and cheese recipe and I hope you recreate it and send me the pictures!

The Recipe

Here is exactly how I make my Mac and Cheese.