Chicken and Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese

November 7, 2016

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This Macaroni and Cheese turns out to be a complete meal when grilled chicken and steamed broccoli is added to the mix! Chicken and Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese turns a side dish into dinner!

Alright, Alright…I know this Chicken and Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese doesn’t actually have macaroni in it but that’s what I’m calling it! If you want to be like all picky and stuff, I suppose you could call it Chicken and Broccoli Fusilli and Cheese but that just doesn’t have quite the same ring now does it. 😉

Chicken and Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese it is.

You’d normally just think of macaroni and cheese as a side dish, well unless you’re me and you consider macaroni and cheese to be a complete meal on it’s own, but let’s kick it up just a tad.

We’re turning this humble side dish into a full meal by simply adding some cooked chicken and steamed broccoli to the pot.

For the base? I used my favorite white cheddar mac and cheese recipe as normal. I can’t tell y’all how much I love this mac and cheese base. It’s seriously mac and cheese perfection!

I mean really, you could just eat the mac and cheese as it and be totally good with the whole making dinner thing. I mean if Thomas just made mac and cheese for me and called it dinner I would be fine.

But there are people out there, like my husband, that don’t consider mac and cheese a full meal so we have to add things like chicken and broccoli to please them. 😉

Trust me though, it’s amazing either way. Don’t like Broccoli? Add in some sauteed asparagus or peas. Don’t like chicken? Leave it out or change it up and replace it something else (I was going to say tofu butttt I would never do that soooo I’m not adding that in haha)

However with that being said, you do you. You add what you want in place of the chicken and broccoli if you need to change it up. I won’t judge.

But if you can leave it like it is, do it. It’s good, it’s realllly good.

So Far, 6 out of my 6 taste testers have loved it. By the way, anyone want to be a taste tester for some more mac and cheese recipes? haha I might be pushing it by getting my family to taste mac and cheese a few times a week.

-Tips and Answers-

For re-heating – no need to add milk before reheating like some mac and cheese recipes. This one should still be creamy after re-heating. Just make sure to stir it well.
Steam the broccoli before adding it to the mac and cheese
Cook the chicken before adding it to the mac and cheese! This mac and cheese is made on the stove top so everything needs to be cooked before mixing it in.
Cube the chicken before cooking it. Season it with salt and pepper and then saute small batches of it in a little olive oil in a skillet until cooked. Cooking it in small batched with give you a crispy outside. 🙂
When you’re melting the cheese into the milk mixture it may look like it’s very thicken at first but just keep heating it on medium heat and stir it for about 5-7 minutes and it will be smooth and creamy. This is when you want to add in the noodles, cooked chicken and steamed broccoli.