Lightened-up, ultra creamy Greek yogurt mac and cheese…
The healthy mac and cheese recipe you can feel good about serving your family.
So rich and creamy, it might be the creamiest mac and cheese recipe you will ever find… even without any butter or flour!
This Greek yogurt mac and cheese is healthy comfort food at its absolute yummiest.
You May Also Like: Vegan Mac And Cheese
A few weeks ago, my mother called me up after work and mentioned she was trying to figure out what to make as a quick and easy dinner for herself and my dad.
At the time, I had an idea for a Greek yogurt mac and cheese recipe in my head, but I’d never actually made it.
I said she could try the idea out if she felt up for experimenting.
Happily, my mother is a good sport and accepted the job. I wrote down the very basic gist of a recipe, sent it to her as an email, and she got to work…
A few hours later, she sent me a reply email that the meal was fantastic – a keeper for sure!
In fact, all of the photos in this post are actually hers. When she texted me a few pictures of her finished results, I loved them so much that I decided, “Why take new pictures for the blog post with my fancy Canon camera when these iphone photos look so good?!”
Greek Yogurt Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry elbows or small pasta (7 oz)
- 2 cups shredded cheese, such as Daiya
- 1/2 cup milk of choice
- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp salt (I use 1/4 tsp)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened Greek yogurt (I used dairy-free Homemade Greek Yogurt)
- optional spinach, kale, or veggies of choice
Instructions
- Cook the macaroni in salted water until al dente, then drain but don’t rinse with water. Meanwhile, in a small pot, stir together the milk, cheese, and salt until cheese melts. Add the yogurt and cook on low, just until the sauce is hot. Stir in the cooked pasta and any veggies you desire.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
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I admit I was skeptical going in, but this is a great recipe and won me over. I’m a big mac and cheese lover (real mac and cheese, not the fake stuff), and my husband is a huge carnivore, but this got two thumbs up from us both!
I tried this a few times, but it kept coming out watery or stringy. The trick I discovered tonight? Use labneh instead of regular yogurt. Or just strain yogurt. I used Chobani yogurt, which is apparently too watery. I had made some into labneh and had it lying around, so I used that, along with Kraft cheese and soy milk.
Just reading this…the recipe calls for Greek yogurt, which I think is what people in other countries might call labneh. My family is Syrian so growing up we called it labneh when we made it ourselves, but Greek yogurt in the stores is basically the same. The recipe may need some qualification about that for those not living in the US since using regular plain yogurt may alter the taste/texture.
So psyched at how this turned out! I expected it to taste good but “healthy”. But it does not taste healthy at all! It tastes just like regular mac and cheese, really creamy!
Greek yogurt mac and cheese sounded so crazy to me, but I like both Greek yogurt and mac and cheese so I had to try it for myself. Don’t write anything off until you try, I always say to people when they turn their noses up at things they don’t know, such as some of my healthy dishes that I make.
In this case, I’m glad I gave it a shot because it’s really good! The Greek yogurt makes it nice and creamy.
I make this all the time now! Sometimes I add broccoli, sometimes I add frozen peas, sometimes I just keep it plain. The recipe is so versatile!
Wonderful recipe! Made it for my picky 12 year old son and he loved it! Phew, what a relief. I added one special ingredient which was Season All. No measurement just shook it in. Thank you for sharing!!
As soon as I paured the source on the noodles, everything separated and the cheese became very clumpy, I’ll try it again because it tastes fine, I just don’t know how you would make the sauce stay a sauce.
Did you wait to stir in the Greek yogurt after the cheese, milk, and salt mixture had already melted? If you didn’t, that might be one contributing factor to the “clumpiness” of the sauce. Another possibility is the type of cheese. I haven’t been able to get this sauce to have the consistency of most other sauces I’ve eaten before, but I have been able to get it to not clump too badly using real cheese (I’ve never tried Daiya). Be careful about how long you cook the sauce as well – you don’t want to overcook it.
See my comment below to Elizabeth. It’s an issue only with certain types of cheese apparently. It’s really good when it works and worth another try for sure!
Great idea with the greek yogurt! Now I’m wondering if it’d be a good base for a broccoli cheese soup? Does anyone know at what temperature the healthy bacteria cultures in greek yogurt die? I understand this recipe calls for cooking on low which probably/hopefully is low enough … just a thought that crossed my mind.
Delicious! I used ziti and a “pizza” cheese blend. I also added a little bit of garlic powder. The first time, it turned out wonderfully with a great taste and texture; the second time, I accidentally mixed in the Greek yogurt with everything instead of waiting to stir it in…and ended up with a gloppy (but tasty) mess! I’ll be more careful next time, and there definitely will be a next time. 🙂
Not sure why some people had trouble. I made this last night with real cheese (cheddar) and skim milk and it was perfect!
Somehow I didn’t realize I was supposed to use vegan cheese -.- I used 2% and sharp cheddar and it was a disaster. I heated the milk then added the cheese, and it just clumped into little grainy nasty pieces. This recipe somewhat satisfied my mac n cheese craving, but I can barely eat it and would never serve it to someone. It in no way turned out like the creamy, delicious-looking picture.
I made this with non vegan cheese and loved it so much I sent the recipe to my sister. She made it and reported the same issue as you. Confused because mine had turned out so well, I googled it and found this from a comment on another similar recipe for greek yogurt mac and cheese: “cheese sauces break not because of the milk or yogurt but because of the cheese. If you use cheddar cheese, the oil causes the sauce to break. Cheddar is one of the oiliest cheeses. We found that buying a bag of shredded cheese that is a Mac and cheese blend. Mozzarella and swiss are great too.” Other comments on that recipe said that overheating the yogurt is also not a good idea. Hope you try it again because it is REALLY good when it works!
Thank you for the suggestion! I wanted so badly to love this recipe because it is simple, and much lighter than normal Mac…thanks to you I have some hope to retry!
Made this with frozen peas and carrots. DELISH!
I rarely leave comments on blogs but wanted to let you know how much my family and I love this recipe. We are not vegans or vegetarians, but I try to sneak healthy dishes into my family’s diet, including two teenagers and a picky toddler. This recipe is a hit with everyone!
I used skim milk and faye (spelling?) the first time with cheddar cheese and it was so delicious that I served a vegan version for my vegan sister (who turned me onto your blog in the first place), and the vegan version was very well received too!
Great recipe! I made it last night using regular greek yogurt instead of vegan and it turned out great!
We just ate this for dinner with rice pasta and it was PHENOMENAL! We made the sauce exactly as directed and had enough sauce to coat the entire 12 oz bag. We are so pleased to have found your blog, thank you for creating food for us clean eaters with restrictions!!!