{"id":7774,"date":"2026-02-08T17:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7774"},"modified":"2026-02-08T17:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:31:11","slug":"creamy-mac-n-cheese-with-chicken-and-baby-kale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7774","title":{"rendered":"Creamy Mac n Cheese With Chicken and Baby Kale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"502\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.myfitnesspal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Creamy-Mac-n-Cheese-With-Chicken-and-Baby-Kale-1024x643.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Creamy Mac n Cheese With Chicken and Baby Kale\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Frozen butternut squash cubes add body and nutrients to this simple one-pot macaroni and cheese. We\u2019ve added chicken breast and baby kale to make this a complete meal. Substitute spinach or chopped chard if you like. By using whole-wheat macaroni, you can boost the fiber by around 3 grams per serving. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/fdc.nal.usda.gov\/food-details\/2708358\/nutrients\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(1)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Active time:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 15 minutes <\/span><b>Total time:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 30 minutes<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Creamy Mac n Cheese With Chicken and Baby Kale<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 tsp olive oil<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1 lb (452g) boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size strips<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1\/2 tsp salt<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1\/2 tsp pepper<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1 small onion, finely chopped<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 cups (473g) low-sodium chicken broth<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1 cup (244g) 2% milk<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1 10 oz. (283g) package frozen butternut squash<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 tsp dry mustard<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1 bay leaf<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 1\/4 cups (252g) whole-wheat elbow macaroni<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">3 cups (128g) baby kale<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1 1\/4 cups (140g) sharp cheddar cheese<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 tbsp nutritional yeast<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Directions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Heat the oil in a large saucepan or skillet set over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the chicken. Season with the salt and pepper and cook without stirring for 2 minutes. Add the onions, stir and continue to cook until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cover.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Add the broth, milk, squash, mustard and bay leaf to the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mash the squash with a potato masher until mostly smooth. Add the pasta and stir to combine. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 6 minutes, stirring once. Fold in the chicken-onion mixture and kale with a rubber spatula, cover and cook until the kale has wilted, 2 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Remove the pan from the heat and stir the cheese and nutritional yeast into the pasta. Serve immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Serves: 6 | Serving size: 1 cup<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Nutrition (per serving):<\/b> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Calories: 382; Total Fat: 11g; Saturated Fat: 4g; Monounsaturated Fat: 3g; Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g ; Cholesterol: 23mg; Sodium: 364mg; Carbohydrate: 42g; Dietary Fiber: 6g; Sugar: 6g; Protein: 34g<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Originally published November 20, 2018; Updated February 2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.myfitnesspal.com\/creamy-mac-n-cheese-with-chicken-and-baby-kale\/\">Creamy Mac n Cheese With Chicken and Baby Kale<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.myfitnesspal.com\">MyFitnessPal Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frozen butternut squash cubes add body and nutrients to this simple one-pot macaroni and cheese. We\u2019ve added chicken breast and baby kale to make this a complete meal. Substitute spinach&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":756,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[2395,1177,54,8466,8429,7650],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Creamy Mac n Cheese With Chicken and Baby Kale - Frisco Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=7774\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Creamy Mac n Cheese With Chicken and Baby Kale - Frisco Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Frozen butternut squash cubes add body and nutrients to this simple one-pot macaroni and cheese. 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