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Dec 28
13

Four Cheese Macaroni & Cheese

I love macaroni and cheese. Growing up my mom made an amazing baked macaroni and cheese recipe I’d always look forward to and when I got my own place it was one of the first things I learned how to make. Coating carbs with cheese and topping them with bread crumbs and more cheese is generally not considered a “healthy” recipe (except maybe in my dreams) but after trying this recipe I’d like to commend the fine folks at Weight Watchers for making that dream a reality.

I did change several things from the original recipe (switched onions to onion powder, used lighter versions of milk and pasta, omitted a couple ingredients and added panko crumbs) and when I make it again I will definitely keep all my edits and make it the exact same way. I would never guess this is a Weight Watchers recipe. I love that it uses “real” cheeses and the addition of blue cheese to the mix gave it a great unique flavor profile.  The serving size is filling but you might be tempted to eat more just because it’s so tasty! I also highly recommend it as leftovers. Yum.

Four Cheese Macaroni & Cheese

This Four Cheese Macaroni and Cheese will make all your cheese wishes come true!

Ingredients

  • 12 oz uncooked wheat macaroni
  • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 2 ½ cups skim milk
  • Onion powder, to taste
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 cups crumbled blue cheese
  • 5 oz extra sharp shredded cheddar cheese
  • 3 oz 2% shredded cheddar cheese
  • 3/4 tsp black pepper
  • 3/4 tsp table salt
  • 2 oz grated Parmesan cheese
  • ½ c panko crumbs

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
  • Cook macaroni as directed on package, drain and set aside.
  • While cooking the macaroni, melt butter over medium-low heat in a large saucepan. Add flour a little bit at a time, stirring constantly and cook for 3 minutes. Whisk milk in slowly. Stir in onion powder and paprika. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring frequently and then remove from heat.
  • Combine the blue cheese with about two-thirds of both types of cheddar cheese in the saucepan and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in macaroni. Pour half of the macaroni mixture into your casserole dish and top with remaining cheddar cheeses. Pour in the other half of the macaroni mixture and sprinkle Parmesan cheese and panko crumbs over the top.
  • Bake for 30 minutes. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Notes

MyWW SmartPoints per (1/9th of the recipe) serving:(SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Green: 10 SmartPoints/ Blue: 10 SmartPoints/ Purple: 7 SmartPoints
Weight Watchers Points Plus:
8 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Adapted from weightwatchers.com

13 comments on “Four Cheese Macaroni & Cheese”

  1. Made this for dinner and it was a hit! My husband and vegetarian daughter each had two helpings! I like the crusty topping and the creamy macaroni. You are right – the leftovers were great the next day!

  2. Glad this was a hit! I would definitely make this again too. Thanks for commenting! 🙂

  3. How much is a serving?

  4. Just 1/9th of the baking dish. I cut mine twice in each direction to make three columns & rows so there were 9 servings.

  5. Does the blue cheese melt really good? Sounds so yummy except for that part 🙂

  6. I tried this recipe today & it was very delicious, but I didn’t find it to be as satisfying as some of the other recipes I’ve tried here.

  7. Emily, do you have the fat, fiber and calorie stats on this one. I still follow the old WW plan.

  8. I’ve done the WW recipe as it is on their website but changes that you’ve made look AMAZING. I’m making this tonight for dinner!

  9. I just made this and it was delicious…wondering if you have the fat, calorie, carb, protein stats? I don’t do WW points, just calorie etc. tracking….

  10. I used myfitnesspal to calculate nutritional info and this was what I got per serving:

    calories 274
    % Daily Value *
    Total Fat 8 g 13 %
    Saturated Fat 5 g 23 %
    Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
    Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
    Trans Fat 0 g
    Cholesterol 25 mg 8 %
    Sodium 512 mg 21 %
    Potassium 160 mg 5 %
    Total Carbohydrate 38 g 13 %
    Dietary Fiber 4 g 14 %
    Sugars 1 g
    Protein 15 g 31

  11. Do you have the calculations on this one for ww SP?

  12. I don’t know if you still check comments, but would I be able to make this ahead of time & then bake the next day?

  13. Plan on making this tonight. Can’t wait, sounds delicious. If you could please put the times on your recipes. Like how long it too to get all the ingredients ready and how long for cooking time. This will allow me to know if the recipe is a day off recipe or a recipe I can make after work.

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