A crazy-easy macaroni and cheese with a secret ingredient that’ll make your kids flip! Adding mashed sweet potatoes to the cheese sauce makes it creamy and delicious while adding extra nutrients to the dish. Easy mac and cheese can be thrown together faster than you think!
Hey, you want to know what this easy sweet potato mac and cheese isn’t?
It’s not actually magic.
It’s not weird.
It’s not, um, super duper kale-level healthy.
But then let’s talk about what this easy sweet potato mac and cheese is, shall we? Because if I’m being honest, it is really alllllll kinds of awesome.
I’m not pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes with this dish, promise. And it’s pretty simple to make. If you’ve ever made cheese sauce before, where you start with a roux and add milk and cheese, then you’re already miles ahead of the game.
What we’re looking at here is a sumptuous cheese sauce, with mashed sweet potatoes stirred in, tossed over elbow macaroni.
That’s it. Simple and mind blowing, all at the same time.
And here’s why we care:
- The sweet potatoes add extra Vitamin A and C and potassium. .
- The sweet potatoes stretch the sauce, giving you more bang for your buck.
- The sweet potatoes add a creamy yumminess to the cheese sauce, making mac and cheese even more comforting and delish than before, which frankly is saying a lot.
- Your kids are gonna flip for this.
- It freezes like woah, and it doubles realllly easily, meaning you can make a big batch and then freeze one half for an easy dinner at a later point.
I’ve been making this sweet potato mac and cheese for the kids at the preschool where I teach and cook, and they go bananas for it. And the nutrients from the sweet potatoes make me feel better about serving mac and cheese for lunch.
Plus, this mac and cheese so comforting and filling, they all eat a big bowl and then crash for naptime after.
So maybe this mac and cheese really is magic after all.
I’ll let you make it and decide.
Sweet Potato Macaroni and Cheese
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: serves 4 1x
Description
This creamy, delectable mac and cheese gets a boost in the creamy factor by the addition of mashed sweet potatoes. This is a great dish to meal prep; depending on the amount of time you’ve got, you can make the whole sauce ahead of time, or just roast the sweet potatoes first and hold them for a few days in the fridge. If you leave the skins on, they don’t even need to be wrapped or packaged while they’re chilled.
Ingredients
1 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons white flour
5 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk (2% or whole works best)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 large sweet potato (about 1 ½ pounds)
½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400*F and wrap the sweet potato in foil. Place it on a sheet pan and place the pan in the oven. Roast until soft all the way through, about 20-30 minutes.
Once the sweet potato is roasted, peel it and mash it.
Make the cheese sauce:
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir until mixed. Let cook until the flour starts to turn a light golden brown, then stir in the milk until smooth.
Add the cheese one small handful at a time, stirring between each addition. Once all the cheese is added, stir in the sweet potato until smooth, then remove from the heat.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and add the elbow macaroni. Cook until al dente, about 7-8 minutes.
Drain the pasta but do not rinse. Toss with the cheese sauce until fully coated, then serve.