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Someone in our family…you know who…is going through a serious macaroni and cheese phase. It’s funny how kids get something in their heads and just fixate on it. This has happened to Kenya with tons of foods such as pizza, pasta, yogurt, muffins, cheese, even string beans (seriously, he couldn’t get enough of them) and now he’s obsessed with mac and cheese.
I’ve been having a blast coming up with fun pasta and cheese recipes and these Mac, Chicken and Cheese Bites are a tasty way to give your kids a double boost of protein. I especially love these bites because they fit beautifully in a lunch box and even little kids can easily hold them in their hands. When Kenya first saw these he asked, “What are those” and I said, “mac and cheese muffins”. “Macaroni”, “cheese” and “muffin” all in the same sentence? They were a winner before he even tried the first bite! I wonder if that means this phase will last three times as long?
Mac, Chicken and Cheese Bites
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 Tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/2 Cup milk
- 1 Cup White Cheddar
- 1/2 Cup parmesan cheese, divided
- 1/4 Cup bread crumbs
- 1 Cup shredded cooked chicken
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cook pasta until al dente, according to package directions (the pasta I used said to cook for 9-12 minutes, so I cooked it for 10 minutes).
- Drain the pasta and set aside.
- In a small heavy bottomed saucepan melt 2 Tbsp of the butter.
- Whisk in the flour and salt and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the milk in a slow stream and whisk to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes stirring occasionally .
- Add the white cheddar and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and stir until melted.
- Pour the cheese sauce and chicken over the pasta and stir to combine.
- In a bowl, combine the 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.
- Grease mini muffin cups.
- Pour about 1/4 cup of the macaroni mixture into the muffin cups, sprinkle the top with the bread and cheese mixture and bake for 15-20 minutes (I cooked mine for 20 mins) or until breadcrumbs are golden brown.
- Cool in muffin cups, remove and serve.
- *Allow to cool and place in ziploc bag,label and freeze up to 4 months. When ready, place in toaster oven or oven at 300 for 10 minutes or until heated through.
Nutrition
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The nutrition information is for 1 Mac, Chicken and Cheese Bite!
Would you mind letting me know what would be considered an adult serving of this food? I see in the nutrition information that the recipe makes 20 bites and I am trying to find out if the accompanying calorie and nutrition calculations are per one bite or if the stats were calculated on another amount. I am currently trying to track my food intake and want to make sure what I should be utilizing as a serving. Thanks!
BTW, I made these for my almost one and a half year old and she loved them! She is going through a picky face right now and it was incredibly satisfying to serve these as part of dinner that she ate with enthusiasm. Thank you so much for your books and this site, they have been a great guide for me to plan her meals.
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I love these! Make them all the time. I make w and wo the chicken and have added spinach, peas and carrots. I also up the veggie factor by adding some pumpin, sweet potato or butternut squash purée in the cheese sauce.
About the same amount of time. 20 minutes, or until golden brown!
How long do these need to cook when using regular size muffin cup pans?
I’m a grama and want to make some of these recipes for grampa!
I made these for my daughter’s lunch and had high expectations for them! She loves mac-n-cheese, but she told me that even after heating them up for lunch (they have a microwave in her classroom), they tasted “bad” – she asked me to never make them again. Bummer! Had high hopes for this recipe in integrating it into our Bento lunch boxes, but my 1st grader doesnt like this one! Her comments is “they taste bad”.
Just made these for my daughter’s birthday party and they were a big hit. I used a big muffin pan but lined the cups with parchment paper. Baked for 20 min. They stayed together beautifully.
I did most in mini muffin tins and ended up with 4 for the big muffin and I prefer the minis. They stay together better, especially coming out of the tins and the minis are great to pick up and eat. I used a teaspoon to gently take them out. My kids and I loved them!
Mine fell apart! What did I do wrong? I used rice milk in place of milk but my roux looked great and I wouldn’t expect a diff result…?
Hi! I loved this idea and tried to make them yesterday but mine fell apart as I tried to get them out of the muffin cups. Any suggestions to keep that from happening again?
I used this as a base recipe for our dinner last night. I used ham and spinach, added a little onion and garlic powder, and baked in a 9×9 casserole dish. It was so good. We only had enough leftovers for my daughter’s lunch today..
That would be totally fine from a food safety standpoint!
Would it hurt to take these out of the freezer, let them thaw in the fridge over night and send them for lunch the next day, with out heating them? Or would it be safer to heat them in the morning (straight from thenfreez) let them cool then put them in the lunch?