Hide the veggies by whizzing them into your cheese sauce for sneaky veg boost. Sure the colour's a bit of a giveaway, but it's still an easy way to boost your 5-a-day!
Using a shop-bought cheese sauce or bechamel makes this low ingredient hidden-veg mac cheese really speedy to assemble, and blending the sauce and greens creates a silky smooth vibrantly coloured sauce packed with vegetable goodness.
The cheesy breadcrumb topping adds a lovely crunch, but you could top it just with extra cheese (torn mozzarella would be a great addition) if you want a more gooey finish.
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Yields:
4 serving(s)
Prep Time:
20 mins
Cook Time:
25 mins
Total Time:
45 mins
Cal/Serv:
555
Ingredients
200g
broccoli florets
300g
macaroni pasta
100g
frozen chopped spinach
250g
ready-made bechamel, we used Cooks' Ingredients Bechamel Sauce
150g
Cheddar, coarsely grated
25g
dried breadcrumbs
Directions
Step 1Bring a large pan of salted water to boil and cook the broccoli for 4min, or until tender. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the broccoli to a high-speed blender.
Step 2Cook the pasta in the boiling water according to pack instructions. Drain well and return to the empty pan.
Step 3Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6. Meanwhile add the frozen spinach to the blender with 100ml water, 100g bechamel, 75g Cheddar and plenty of seasoning. Whizz until smooth. Scrape into the pasta pan, add remaining 150g bechamel and stir to combine. Transfer to a rough 1.5 litre ovenproof serving dish.
Step 4In a small bowl mix the breadcrumbs, remaining 75g Cheddar and some seasoning. Scatter over the pasta. Cook in the oven for 10min.
Step 5Preheat grill to high (if yours takes a while to get hot, remove the dish while preheating) and cook for 3min, or until the golden and bubbling. Serve.
Can I use fresh spinach instead?
Yes, you'll just need to wilt it down first in a hot pan before whizzing with the sauce at step 3
I'm not vegetarian, can I add some meat?
Some bacon lardons, fried until golden, would add a lovely salty bite. Stir them into the pasta at step 3.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
