This Protein Packed Hidden Veggie Cheesy Pasta is a healthy recipe that even picky toddlers will love. It’s made with healthy ingredients like sweet potatoes, cauliflower and cottage cheese! Keep scrolling for the recipe.
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If you have a picky toddler, or even if you’re a picky eater yourself 😉 this is the recipe for you. It looks and tastes like a delicious macaroni & cheese, but it’s actually packed with vegetables *and* protein! But you’d never know that…
Who says you can’t have comfort food *and* stick to your nutrition goals? Not me! Honestly, it’s a lot easier than you think — you just have to get a little creative. The secret is the sauce. It’s the perfect vehicle for hiding those veggies. Plus, they give it a thick, rich consistency.
Protein Packed Hidden Veggie Cheesy Pasta – Toddler Friendly Recipe
This Protein Packed Hidden Veggie Cheesy Pasta is a healthy recipe that even picky toddlers will love. It’s made with healthy ingredients like sweet potatoes, cauliflower and cottage cheese!
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Dinner, Pasta, Kid-Friendly
- Method: Roast
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1lb pasta of choice
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 cup cauliflower
- 1 cup butternut squash *
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 cup plain full fat cottage cheese
- (optional) 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- 1 cup water or vegetable stock (+ more if needed)
- (optional) any additional seasonings you like
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
- Place sweet potato, cauliflower, butternut squash and garlic into a large bowl. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper & spices
- Spread vegetables onto the baking sheets and baking for 30 minutes, flipping midway
- While the vegetables are roasting, prepare pasta as directed
- When done, let the vegetables cool a bit then add to a blender or food processor with cottage cheese, nutritional yeast and liquid. Blend until a smooth & creamy consistency, adding more liquid as needed. Taste it and see if you’d like to add any more salt/pepper/seasoning
- Pour sauce ** over cooked & drained pasta and toss until pasta is fully coated
Notes
* or carrots, or more sweet potato. See below for more vegetable options
** you will likely not need to use all of the sauce. Options for storage/freezing below!
Keywords: toddler friendly recipe ideas, kid friendly recipe ideas, easy toddler recipes, toddler friendly hidden vegetables, hidden vegetable macaroni & cheese, hidden veggie pasta sauce, veggie recipes for toddler, healthy cheese sauce, high protein macaroni and cheese, hidden veggie mac and cheese
What kind of pasta should I use?
You can use any regular or gluten-free pasta. If you opt for a chickpea pasta or bean-based pasta, then you get a bit of extra protein and fiber.
Can I use any other vegetables?
Yes, just about any of your favorite vegetables will work in this recipe! In this case, I like using orange vegetables like sweet potatoes, butternut squash or carrots as it lends to that “cheese” looking sauce (especially when trying to fool a picky toddler ;))
Do I have to roast the vegetables?
No, you could cook them any way you’d like to (steam, air fry etc.). I like to roast vegetables only because it tends to add more flavor.
Can I use frozen vegetables?
Yes! Fresh or frozen vegetables would work just fine.
What should I do with leftover sauce?
Since this recipe yields a lot of sauce, I recommend making more pasta. In addition, you can pour it over vegetables or chicken. Also, it’s easy to freeze the remaining sauce in an ice cube tray. Now, I like this method because I can pop some out for (individual) use in the future. I try to use it within 2 months of freezing.
As always if you make this Protein Packed Hidden Veggie Cheesy Pasta or any of my other recipes, be sure to tag me on Instagram @hungry.blonde so I can see how it turned out! xoxo GG
You might also like:
Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese
Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce
Cauliflower Cream Sauce
Why does it say you need the beans at the start? But not in the recipe or instructions? When do I add them. Do I need them? I made the sauce without them and it’s not great
Sorry I got the beans from another similar recipe. But went with this one. The cottage cheese was too over powering. Didn’t turn out like the picture at all for me. It almost looks curdled. And can only smell the cottage cheese. Shame as waste of time and good ingredients. Don’t know how anything could be done wrong. All cooked as instructed and correct quantities.
The roasted vegetables were delicious on their own, the sauce was a disaster! As soon as you add the cottage cheese it seems to curdle, even though I let the veggies cool down, it tasted okay but not super appetising and a horrible texture. My 2 year old wouldn’t even try it and my 4 year old ate about half but definitely didn’t love it. Bit disappointed as I made a batch and they didn’t like it at all. I used most of the roasted veggies to make a salad for myself which was delicious!
★★