We visited a restaurant a few weeks ago and my other half had an epic steak which came with fries as well as a side of Mac & cheese. I tried a spoonful and it was EPIC! My memories of Mac & Cheese are from trying the stuff you get in a tin when I was a kid and thinking it was the most disgusting thing I’d ever eaten. I never had Mac and cheese ever again until the other week. It’s essentially pasta in a cheese sauce though, isn’t it? And I’ve had plenty of that so I decided to see if I could recreate a high protein version and it turned out really successful.
The first hurdle was a cheese sauce, typically these are high in fat (cheese, milk and butter!!!!!) and high in carbs (flour!) so I needed to completely change the macros. I had some Pea protein powder in my cupboard and read that it’s a pretty good powder to swap for flour, particularly with cheese sauces. I swapped flour for this, swapped the milk for unsweetened almond milk (way lower in calories at 13kcal per 100ml) and swapped the full fat cheese for some Eat Lean protein cheese plus a little parmesan to help add a stronger cheese taste. After gently heating and mixing my sauce, the cheese didn’t fully melt because it’s quite a hard cheese, but it was very nearly there and once mixed in it wouldn’t matter. It tasted really good too.
You could just stick with the macaroni pasta and cheese sauce if you want minimal Mac & cheese, however, I wanted to turn this into more of a meal so added diced onion, chicken and broccoli plus a little diced celery for a low calorie bulk. I did mean to add a little mustard powder to help colour it, but I totally forgot. I’ll try that next time. Tastes absolutely fine without it though.
If you want to add even more protein (and less carbs) you can swap out the macaroni pasta for some Dr. Zak’s High Protein pasta (70P, 23C per serving), or to completely win with the macros, use Carbzone Low carb penne (75P, 15C per serving). I stuck with normal Macaroni for mine though because carbs are good! 😀
Protein Mac & Cheese Recipe
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
For the Sauce:
40g Pea Protein powder
400-500ml, Unsweetened Almond Milk
100g Eat Lean Protein Cheese
4 tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 cloves garlic, diced
Salt, to taste
For the mix:
400g Chicken Breast, cubed
200g Macaroni Pasta*
200g Onions, diced
200g Broccoli, split into small florets
200g Celery Sticks, diced
*For higher protein and lower carb, swap the macaroni for 200g Dr. Zak’s High Protein pasta, or Carbzone low carb penne pasta.
Method:
1. Boil the Macaroni pasta in salted water according to the packet.
2. Steam the broccoli in the microwave for a couple of minutes to soften.
3. Fry the diced onion, celery and chicken on a low heat.
4. Put a pan on a very low heat with a few squirts of oil and gently fry the garlic.
5. Add the pea protein powder and a little almond milk to the garlic, stir. You want to add a little almond at a time and keep stiring to form a smooth sauce. Stop when you have a slightly runny sauce which still coats the back of the spoon.
6. Add all of the cheese and parmesan to the sauce with a little salt. Stir gently until the cheese has mostly melted. If you’re using protein cheese you may find that it doesn’t fully melt.
7. Drain the pasta and add it to the cheese sauce along with the steamed broccoli, fried chicken, onions and celery.
8. Mix well to ensure that everything gets coated in the sauce.
9. Put in one big ovenproof dish, or 4 individuals.
10. Oven bake for 20mins on 180C (fan assisted).
Macros: 433kcal, 51P, 44C, 5F (Per serving)
Macaroni replaced with Carbzone penne: 415kcal, 75P, 15C, 6F
Macaroni replaced with Dr. Zak’s HP pasta: 451kcal, 70P, 23C, 8F
macros2muscles 