Spinach Mac and Cheese

In this recipe

What is Roux?
How to Make Roux for Mac and Cheese
ingredient substitutions
Storage and reheating tips
More comforting mac and cheese recipes

Rich creamy spinach is the inspiration for this mac and cheese – two great flavors that taste great together. The dish combines the popular creamy spinach flavors of Gruyère and nutmeg with the savoryness of macaroni and cheese.

Not only is this mac and cheese delicious, it’s easy. You could certainly buy a mountain of fresh spinach and cook it up, but frozen chopped spinach makes this weeknight dinner dish quick. It also feels good to know that this Mac has three whole boxes of greens. Fear not, you also get carb-on-carb action with a crunchy toasted panko topping.

What is Roux?

Here’s a little free culinary lesson for you: The cheese sauce in Mac and Cheese is called Sauce Mornay. It’s based on béchamel — a French mother sauce — that’s based on roux.

Creamed spinach doesn’t always include a roux; sometimes you just reduce whipped cream and combine it with cheese. But the trusty roux comes in handy in this recipe because you can use it to make a big batch of gravy without waiting for the reduction of a ton of cream.

How to Make Roux for Mac and Cheese

The ratio for a proper roux is equal parts fat and flour. In many cases, including this one, the fat is butter and the flour is all-purpose flour.

You can pan-fry a roux with just butter, but here you cook the shallots in the butter and then dust them with the flour. The technique is called a singer in French, but the result is still a roux.

Some people are intimidated by a roux. It can look clunky and disastrous at first, but that’s how it starts. Constant stirring will make the roux smooth. It won’t be completely smooth here because of the shallots, but you’ll see the texture change.

You want the roux for macaroni and cheese to be light in color — a white roux as opposed to blonde or brown — so only cook it long enough to cook out the flavor of the raw flour.

Then you can stir in the milk. That might make things look weird for a second too, but keep whipping and you’ll be rewarded with a smooth sauce that takes on all that shredded cheese like a champ.

ingredient substitutions

Mac and Cheese is notoriously pantry-friendly (read: last-minute). Depending on what you have on hand, or just for fun, try these swaps:

Noodles: A pound of any size elbow noodles is an obvious tweak. But any other short pasta can also be substituted: try small or medium-sized mussels, orecchiette or farfalle.
Greens: Cooked and drained chopped kale or Swiss chard would be an easy substitute for the spinach. Thawed and drained broccoli florets would also make a good substitute if you chop them up.
Cheese: Gruyère is the classic for creamed spinach, so if you want to stay that way, Emmental or Comté would be just the ticket. But Mac and Cheese’s frequent sidekick cheddar would be great here too.

Storage and reheating tips

If you have leftover macaroni and cheese, cover the casserole dish tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you reserve extra pasta water (or don’t use all that you reserve), store it in an airtight container. Before reheating individual portions in the microwave, drizzle with a little pasta water to revive that creamy freshness from the oven.

More comforting mac and cheese recipes

Creamy baked mac and cheese
Broccoli Cheddar Mac and Cheese
Green Goddess Mac and Cheese
Fast stovetop macaroni and cheese

preparation time
20 minutes

cooking time
30 minutes

total time
50 minutes

portions
8 servings

cooking spray
1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more for salting the pasta water
1 lb small Elbow Macaroni
1/4 Cup unsalted butter
1 big shallotchopped
1/4 Cup all purpose flour
4 cups cold milk
12 ounces Gruyere cheesegrated
1 Cup grated parmesandivided
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon floor cayenne pepper
3 (10 ounce) boxes frozen chopped spinachthawed and pressed very dry
3/4 Cup Panko bread crumbs
1/4 Cup olive oil

Prepare a casserole dish, turn on the grill and boil water:

Lightly coat a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish with cooking spray. Place an oven rack in the top third of the oven and set the grill to high. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Cook pasta:

Add the noodles to the boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes. Drain well, reserving 3/4 cup pasta water.
Sweat the shallot:

In a large Dutch oven or saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the shallot and cook until translucent and soft, about 5 minutes.
Make the sauce:

Dust the shallots with the flour and mix well. The mixture will be clumpy at first, but keep beating until smooth, about 1 minute.

Slowly stir in the milk, then simmer over medium-high heat until it begins to thicken to the consistency of cream, 8 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the Gruyère and 3/4 cup Parmesan. When cheese is incorporated, add salt, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper; The sauce should be rich but slightly fluffy.
Stir in the spinach and pasta and place in a casserole dish:

Add the spinach to the sauce, chop with the whisk, then stir in the pasta. Remove from the stove; Add reserved pasta water as needed if the mixture looks thick. Taste and season as needed. Transfer the mixture to the prepared casserole dish.
Make the topping:

In a medium bowl, stir together the panko, olive oil, and remaining 1/4 cup parmesan. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the pasta.
Grill Macaroni and Cheese:

Place pasta under grill and grill until topping is nicely browned, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. The panko should be evenly toasted and the edges should just bubble.