Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese with Brie & Bacon. This simple recipe packs in the veggies with a whole butternut squash and gets it’s creamy deliciousness from brie cheese and topped with salty crisp bacon. The kids will never know it’s good(ish) for them.
Rich creamy Mac & Cheese is veggie-fied with roasted butternut squash. I accidentally made one of my butternut’s slip from the vine one day in the garden. So I brought it in the house and set it on the counter. That squash has made eye-contact with me about 8,691 times in the past few weeks and today I finally decided to use it.
This recipe is easy to make and if I hadn’t opened my mouth about the addition of the butternut, my kids would’ve never known it was there. Seriously. The gorgeous orange color comes from the butternut squash puree. The addition of brie makes it decadent and rich and the extra sharp cheese adds the bite that any good homemade Mac & Cheese should have. Make it full fat, make it low fat, either way it will be delicious!
How to make Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
Start by roasting a butternut squash. This one was about 3 lbs and I only used half of it. The other half will go to making bread tomorrow.
Drizzle them with olive oil and salt and pepper. Wrap tightly with aluminum foil and roast in a 425ºF oven for 40 minutes, or until tender.
Remove the seeds and discard, then remove the flesh to a bowl. Puree in a blender or food processor, and set aside.
For the sauce, you’ll need 2 cups of milk, 4 oz cream cheese, 6 oz Brie and 4 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese.
Add all of the sauce ingredients into a large saucepan or large skillet. Think: Big enough to dump in the pasta later.
Once the cheeses are melted, add 2 cups of squash puree and whisk to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste and a 1/8 teaspoon of grated nutmeg.
Looks like Kraft! Only no preservatives, Yellow #?, or whatever else is added to the box stuff. Toss in 1 lb of al dente pasta and stir to combine. Top with crisp bacon pieces and serve.
Note: Do as I say and not as I do. If you’ll be serving this to children, wait until after they have inhaled it to tell them it has veggies in it. Just sayin!
Roasted Butternut Squash & Brie Mac & Cheese with Smoky Bacon
Ingredients
Roasted Butternut Squash
- 3 lb butternut squash, quartered
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¾ tsp kosher salt
- ¾ tsp black pepper
Sauce & Assembly
- 2 cups milk
- 6 oz brie cheese, rind removed
- 4 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 4 oz cream cheese
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- kosher salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
- 1 lb pasta, any shape, cooked & drained
- 4 bacon slices, diced and fried crispy
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF and place the quartered squash on a baking sheet lined with foil. Drizzle with the olive oil and salt a pepper and wrap tightly with more foil. Bake for 40 minutes, or until fork tender.
- Scrape out the seeds and discard. Remove the butternut squash flesh and put in a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Remove 2 cups and set aside, reserving the remainder for another use.
- Cook the pasta as directed on the package.
- In a large pot or large skillet over medium heat, add the milk, cheeses, nutmeg, and salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth. Add the 2 cups of squash puree and whisk until smooth. Add the drained, cooked pasta and toss to coat. Top with the crisp bacon bits and serve.
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Nutrition
*Nutritional information is not guaranteed to be accurate.
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Hi! I’m Heather
I’m Heather, a recipe developer and content creator based in Vancouver, Washington. I started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006 because I believed weeknight dinners shouldn’t be boring and gourmet shouldn’t mean complicated. I’m also the co-founder of Spiceology, so safe to say I think about food for a living. Stick around for recipes that actually make it into your regular rotation.
I really love this recipe and hope you will too!
Made this today. I am a chef at a homeless shelter and get many items donated. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what to make with what I have. Delicious, and I am happy to sneak in a vegetable!
I actually tried this!!! But it didn’t turn out so well. The cheese sauce never totally dissolved, small bits of cheese chunks were all over the place. Not creamy consistency at all. Oh well.
I found your pumpkin spice latte recipe on pinterest, and it caught my eye so I decided to stop over and check out your blog. Everything looks divine! I decided to become a follower because these recipes are actually “doable” if you get what I mean. Question about this particular recipe – I have some edam cheese, could I use that in place of the brie? If not, do you have a recipe that I could use edam in?
Thanks!
Kristina
http://www.pearlgateway.com – if you feel like taking a break and checking out some handmade cards and what not! 🙂
This recipe sounds incredible!!! (and not to mention looks amazing) I seriously want you to make me breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. 🙂 Your recipes always make me so hungry!
I’m so envious of the things you grow in your garden! This mac and cheese must be to die for veggies or not!
Such a delicious way to prepare butternut squash!
Absolutely love this! It’s raining here, and this would be perfect comfort food. Glad you didn’t pass the squash for the 8,692 time!
I’d like to bathe in a pot of this! I love how you can hide bn squash in mac & cheese, husbands and kids need their veggies 🙂
I need this in my life!
I’m a mac and cheese enthusiast. I could totally rock this for lunch.
@Thefarmgirlcooks – Any sweet squash or even sweet potatoes would work just fine. You barely taste it, it just adds creamy texture, color and firmness to the sauce.
@Megan – I think everyone’s trying to use up the bounty of butternuts in something more interesting that soup. 🙂 That’s what I was doing…and using up the last of the Brie from Ile de France. DELISH!
Oh my! We are certainly being challenged in the veggies department with our little one. I think I’ll be making this tonight. You rock!
I have been seeing butternut squash mac n’ cheese everywhere! What’s the deal? Clearly this is something amazing that must be made and investigated… Oh, darn. (hear the sarcasm? Inside I’m saying “SQUIIEEEE”)
~Megan
I’ve been craving mac n cheese for weeks! This isn’t helping ; )
Have you tried buttercup or ambercup squashes? The texture is sweet potato-like and very nutty. Bet it would be a lovely complement to the cheeses and bacon.
Oh my goodness, this looks amazing, especially with the bacon on top. Yum!
so creative!!