Recipes / Lunch

Spinach Mac and Cheese Cups - Lunch Version

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Spinach Mac and Cheese Cups - Lunch Version

Tricia
The Cook
12 Servings
15 Ingredients
8 Comments

Mix comfort and healthy foods with a creamy mac and cheese loaded with spinach, all in a convenient muffin portion.

Read More
12 Servings
15 Ingredients
8 Comments

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon Butter
  • 1 tablespoon Flour, All-Purpose
  • 1 cup Skim Milk
  • 1 teaspoon mince Garlic, Cloves
  • ¾ cups Cheddar Cheese, Sharp - Shredded
  • ¾ cups Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
  • ⅓ cups Ricotta Cheese, Part-Skim
  • 1 individual Egg
  • 1 individual Egg White
  • 4 cups cook Elbows, Whole Wheat
  • 10 ounces drain Spinach, Frozen
  • ¼ teaspoons Salt
  • ¼ teaspoons Black Pepper
  • ¼ cups Bread Crumbs, Whole Wheat
  • 1 tablespoon Parmesan Cheese, Grated

Containers

Supplies

  • Labels
  • Muffin Tins
  • Cooking Sprays

Cooking Instructions

Freeze For Later Cooking Day Directions

Bake

These directions help you cook or prepare this meal PRIOR to being frozen for serving later (see Serving Day Directions when you are ready to prepare it to eat).

Why would I want to freeze this?

  1. In a small sauce pot, melt the butter over medium heat.
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Make From Frozen Serving Day Directions

Easy Assembly/Ready to Eat

These directions help you cook or reheat this meal AFTER it's been frozen for when you are ready to eat it.

  1. Thaw: In fridge
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Make It Now Cooking Directions

Oven Cook

These directions are for cooking this recipe to serve immediately and NOT to freeze for later.

  1. In a small sauce pot, melt the butter over medium heat.
  2. Add the flour, mixing it into the butter until thick.
  3. Gradually stir in the milk and garlic and raise the temp to bring the mixture to just under a boil.
  4. Add the cheeses and whisk mixture together until thoroughly combined into a cheese sauce.
  5. Remove the cheese sauce from heat and then mix in the egg and egg white until combined.
  6. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, spinach, cheese sauce, salt and pepper and mix together.
  7. Spoon the mixture evenly into the cups of greased muffin tin.
  8. Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese and sprinkle over muffins.
  9. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes until the tops slightly brown.
  10. Let cool at least 5 minutes before removing from muffin tin.

Categories

shellfish-free, fish-free, diet, summer, fall, winter, spring, kid-friendly, kosher, low-carb, low-sodium, nut-free, vegetarian, wwfreestyle, wwfreestyle5-6

Categories

shellfish-free, fish-free, diet, summer, fall, winter, spring, kid-friendly, kosher, low-carb, low-sodium, nut-free, vegetarian, wwfreestyle, wwfreestyle5-6

8 Comments

Join the discussion

    1. You are absolutely right, that is our usual policy for adapted recipes. It has been changed to link to her inspirational recipe. Thank you.

      Reply

  3. Yummo! Just made a big batch of these for today’s lunch and plenty to freeze. The kids are gobbling them up with no questions about the “green stuff”. I added four pieces of chopped bacon bits for flavor which worked well. Thanks!

    Reply

  4. I started making this and didn’t realize I was out of milk ’til it was time to add it! So on a whim I grabbed some leftover enchilada sauce in lieu of milk. I also used frozen broccoli rabe instead of the spinach because it was cheaper at my store. My toddler and I had some before I baked it into the cups and it was really good. I froze them to bring with us to eat on a vacation but unfortunately I left them in the freezer at the hotel and my toddler only had one our entire time there. Sad I wasted ’em but I wouldn’t go through the trouble of making them again—they’re messy.

    Reply

  5. The recipe calls for 4 cups of cooked pasta. How much dry pasta do I need to cook to yield 4 cups of cooked pasta? Thanks!

    Reply