The Comforting Vegetable You Should Be Adding To Mac And Cheese

Mac and cheese is such a delicious, cozy meal that it can take practically any mix-in you want to throw at it. Most additional ingredients are geared toward amping up its rich, savory flavor — like ranch powder, which creates a next-level mac and cheese, or barbecue sauce, which brings plenty of sweet heat. But if you want a mix-in that will elevate the comfort factor of your dish while imparting a little freshness and nutrition, go for green beans instead.

While they are a crunchy veggie (when raw), green beans are no strangers to comfort food. If you're unsure of how they'll fare in mac and cheese, just take a look at dishes like green bean casserole, which also deploys a creamy sauce. Only in this case, instead of using cream of mushroom soup, you'll be incorporating a rich, cheesy sauce, which is (arguably) more delicious. When the green beans cook down, they become nice and soft, so they blend in nicely with your other ingredients. But they'll still retain a slight bite that will help balance out all the creaminess, along with most of their nutrients.

You'll want to prep your green beans before adding them to your mac and cheese by snipping off their ends and then chopping them in half. You can also use canned-cut green beans if you like, but make sure to drain them. If you go with fresh veggies, you can easily cook them when you boil your noodles. Just add the beans in about three minutes before the pasta is set to finish, then drain everything together. For a little more flavor, saute your veggies separately with seasonings like garlic, onion powder, red pepper flakes, chili oil, or a touch of lemon juice at the end. This is also a great time to heat any other veggies you want to throw in, like mushrooms, broccoli, or spinach.

Regardless of which method you choose, add everything (including the pasta and cheese sauce) to a baking dish and pop it in the oven like you normally would. Feel free to throw a little mustard or mustard powder in your cheese sauce to balance out all the mildly creamy flavors (like we do in our 3-Cheese Mushroom recipe), top your dish with breadcrumbs or fried crispy onions to get some crunch in, or incorporate your favorite hot sauce to give this meal an extra punch.