If eating mac and cheese for breakfast is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. Because this breakfast mac and cheese is loaded with flavor and is low key a super filling, high volume meal.
How filling?
Two servings weighs roughly 3/4 pound and has just 470 calories. Unlike your avocado toast, that’s a BIG breakfast!
How to Make Breakfast Mac and Cheese
As usual, this breakfast mac and cheese is super easy to make. If you can cook pasta (or microwave pre cooked pasta) and scramble eggs, you’re ready to rock.
I love customizable recipes, and this one certainly fits the bill. Here are a few quick tips on ways to make this breakfast mac and cheese even lower calorie:
- use all egg whites instead of using the four whole eggs
- omit the sausage or use chicken/turkey bacon instead
- swap the crispy topping for an extra serving or two of cheese
- use half the amount of pasta
I’ll include specifics on things like the egg whites substitution in the recipe card below.
The recipe calls for Banza pasta shells, which are a chickpea pasta that’s higher in protein and lower in carbs than traditional wheat pasta. Feel free to use any pasta you’d like, though.
For more recipes you can make with the Banza pasta shells, check out my 5-ingredient BBQ chicken mac and cheese or taco pasta bake.
If you don’t have Banza on hand, regular pasta works just fine. I compared protein pasta options against standard pasta for my ultimate protein mac and cheese recipe and found the macro differences on a per serving basis to be rather small.
Other Breakfast Mac and Cheese Ingredient Notes
If you wanted to use something other than the light alfredo sauce, you could use more Greek yogurt and add more cheese or a bit of light butter to the sauce. The cottage cheese blend from my Hawaiian macaroni salad might be a good way to boost the protein content.
You’ll find the turkey sausage crumbles near the bacon and breakfast sausage in your grocery store. If you have trouble finding it, you can use my homemade version or reduced fat pork sausage. I also have a recipe for homemade chicken breakfast sausage patties in case you’re looking to make breakfast sandwiches as well.
And because I know you’re wondering, yes, you can use Frosted Flakes instead of Corn Flakes for the topping. Don’t tell anyone, but I actually used Frosted Flakes in my first test batch. It adds a contrasting sweetness that’s actually really great if you wanted to add some spice to the dish with black pepper or hot sauce.
If you make this breakfast mac and cheese, I want to see it! Take a photo of your creation and tag me on Instagram @mason_woodruff.
Breakfast Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 oz Pasta Shells, I used Banza chickpea pasta
- 4 large Eggs
- 1 1/2 C 368g Liquid Egg Whites
- 3/4 C 180g Light Alfredo Sauce
- 1/2 C 113g Fat Free Greek Yogurt
- 1/2 C 56g Cheddar Cheese, I used shredded
- 9.6 oz bag Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Crumbles, or your choice of meat
- 2 Tbsp 28g Light Butter, I used Land O’ Lakes with canola
- 2 C 56g Corn Flakes, crushed
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 400F.
- Cook the pasta according to its packaging.
- Whisk the eggs and egg whites together before adding to a large skillet over medium heat. Fully cook.
- Add the alfredo, yogurt, cheddar, and sausage to the cooked eggs and heat until the cheese is fully melted, stirring well.
- Drain the water from the cooked pasta and add it to a 13×9 glass baking dish. Pour the egg mixture of the pasta and stir well.
- Melt the butter and add to the crushed corn flakes. Stir well before adding over the top of the pasta and egg mixture.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the corn flake topping is golden brown.
Notes
- Each serving has 6 WW Smart Points (blue plan).
- Macros per serving without the crisp topping: 201 calories, 20g protein, 15g carbs, and 8g fat
- If you’re using all egg whites, use 2 1/3 C (570g) liquid egg whites.
- To omit the alfredo sauce, add 1/2 C (113g) Greek yogurt and an extra 1/2 C (56g) cheese (cheddar or mozzarella get my vote).
I was skeptical but I couldn’t resist the change up from my usual breakfast egg bake. I couldn’t find the Banza shells so I used elbows and I left the cereal out because I don’t like crunchies on my mac and cheese. This reheated wonderfully for an entire week and my husband enjoyed it too, he’s not a mac n cheese fan (I never knew there were people out there who DIDN’T like mac and cheese, I know!) so I was pleasantly surprised that he enjoyed this one.
I was skeptical but I couldn’t resist the change up from my usual breakfast egg bake. I couldn’t find the Banza shells so I used elbows and I left the cereal out because I don’t like crunchies on my mac and cheese. This reheated wonderfully for an entire week and my husband enjoyed it too, he’s not a mac n cheese fan (I never knew there were people out there who DIDN’T like mac and cheese, I know!) so I was pleasantly surprised that he enjoyed this one.
Ok I make this every weekend now for my breakfast meal prep. As someone suggested in the Facebook group, I place the egg and sausage mixture on top of reduced fat crescent rolls and then reheat my portion each morning in the air fryer. It seriously tastes like I’m eating eggs with biscuits and gravy!!!
Ok I make this every weekend now for my breakfast meal prep. As someone suggested in the Facebook group, I place the egg and sausage mixture on top of reduced fat crescent rolls and then reheat my portion each morning in the air fryer. It seriously tastes like I’m eating eggs with biscuits and gravy!!!
I followed the recommendation from someone Proton Party facebook group to put this over crescent rolls and my life is forever changed. If I opened a restaurant this would go on the menu and may be the only thing on the menu because it’s that good. To do this version you press 8 crescent rolls (or find the dough sheet that is equivalent to 8 rolls but with no cuts) into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish, sprinkle the turkey sausage crumbles over the top of the crescent rolls, sprinkle the cheese over that (I’ve used sharp cheddar once, Monterrey Jack once, reduced fat fiesta blend twice, and then a combination of whatever I have on hand), and then pour the egg + egg white + alfredo + Greek yogurt mixture over the top of that. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until the eggs are set. I have it set in MyFitnessPal as 8 servings which is a HUGE portion and each serving comes out to 303 calories – 17 F, 16 C, 21 P when using full fat sharp cheddar cheese. Be wary of using lower fat cheeses because they won’t melt as well but it would help cut some of the fat from each serving. I’ve made this and then refrigerated in single servings and reheated in the microwave for 1:30 at 60% power and it’s still perfection!
I made this for our Christmas brunch and it was delicious. Super easy & yummy! Definitely a keeper.
I made this for our Christmas brunch and it was delicious. Super easy & yummy! Definitely a keeper.
This is the greatest of all time. I make this at least every other week! It is so great reheated which makes the perfect meal prep. I find myself hoarding the ingredients so I never run out!
I made the breakfast Mac & cheese today for the 1st time. It was even better than I expected! I’ have made a lot of mason’s recipes and my husband said this may be his favorite to date!
Honestly, wasn’t expecting much. But this is wonderful, it really broke me of my breakfast routine. For something super simple and delicious for breakfast this is a go to.
Thank you sir!!