After popular demand, I am posting the recipe for my lactose-free mac and cheese that I shared on my Instagram story last night (*hugs*).
This recipe is simple, easy, and can serve as a side dish or as an entree itself!
Lactose free cheese is hard to find so when I stumbled upon Beemster at our local Safeway – I knew I struck gold! I used Beemster’s lactose free cheese and lactose free milk in my recipe. If you can’t find Beemster’s lactose free cheese in your grocery store – dont worry! There are alternative (no sugar, aged cheese) that you can substitute with. Here’s a little snippet directly from Beemster’s site that can help you in finding alternatives for lactose free cheese –
Lactose is a sugar found in milk. If you, like an estimated 40 million other Americans, are lactose intolerant, it means that your body is unable to fully digest this sugar.
To check if a cheese is lactose free, look at the Sugar entry on the Nutrition Facts panel. If the amount listed is 0g, then the cheese contains no more than half a gram of lactose per ounce.
Serves: 4-5
Cooking time: 40-45 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 cups Lactaid Reduced Fat 2% (lactose free) milk*
- 1/2 lb Penne Pasta – or pasta of your choice (dry)*
- 3 cups shredded lactose free cheese*
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 oregano leaves
- 1 tbs melted butter
*Alternatively, you can use regular milk and or cheese of your choice if you are not lactose intolerant. You can also substitute the pasta for gluten-free (i.e. lentils, etc..) instead.
Prep & Cooking
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- In a large pot, pour 3 cups of Lactaid Reduced Fat 2% (lactose free) milk and bring to a boil
- Add 1/2 lb of Penne Pasta (dry) to the boiling milk and stir constantly until pasta is cooked (7-10 minutes)
- Turn off stove and mix in 3 cups of shredded lactose free cheese. Mix until cheese is melted and evenly mixed into pasta (now this is officially macaroni or penne and cheese!)
- Place macaroni/penne and cheese into a pyrex dish
- In a bowl, add in 1 cup breadcrumbs, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 oregano leaves, and 1 tbs melted butter. Mix these ingredients evenly – this will now become an herb and garlic breadcrumb topping!
- Sprinkle the herb and garlic breadcrumb topping evenly on top of the macaroni/penne and cheese & place into oven for 20-30 minutes (or until topping is golden brown).
Give it a try and definitely let me know if you have any questions OR if you’ve added your own twist (*heart eyes* + *wink*) do share!
irene azhina Chrobak 