This Crockpot Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese has the perfect amount of creaminess and flavour that the whole family will love. It makes an easy vegetarian meal since all of the sauce ingredients can simmer in the slow cooker for the day. With the addition of butternut squash and lentils, this mac and cheese packs a powerful nutritional punch for the ultimate healthy comfort food! {Vegetarian}
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Is there anything more comforting and delicious than a bowl of butternut squash mac and cheese?
Creamy, cheesy and ultra satisfying, this macaroni and cheese recipe is tough to pass up. Especially when it’s a healthier protein and fibre packed version that can be made in the crockpot!
Simply toss all of the ingredients for the sauce into the slow cooker, blend it all together and add in your pasta of choice. Doesn’t get much easier than that, and so much better than Kraft Dinner!
For more butternut squash recipes, check out this Butternut Squash Barley Risotto and Butternut Squash, Pomegranate & Kale Quinoa Salad.
Why we love this Healthy Crockpot Mac and Cheese Recipe
Great for all ages: This dish is incredibly versatile and great for the whole family! Everyone including babies, toddlers, young children, older children and adults can enjoy this recipe.
Easy: You can toss all of the ingredients for the sauce in the slow cooker and let it cook for a few hours. All you have to do is blend the sauce and add the noodles. DONE.
Packed with nutrients: Unlike your typical boxed mac and cheese, this version is loaded with vitamins and minerals. The addition of the butternut squash adds a dose of vitamin C, A, fibre and potassium. The lentils add an extra source of protein, iron, and fibre. Not your everyday mac and cheese!
Satisfying: This dish is extra filling due to its fibre and protein content. It has 6 grams of fibre and 16 grams of protein per serving to be exact! How often can you find mac and cheese with that much fibre and protein?
Modifiable: Like your mac and cheese more cheesy? Add more cheese. Prefer it more creamy? Add more milk. It can be easily modified to suit all tastes and preferences.
Ingredient notes:
Another bonus? This recipe comes together with only a few simple ingredients!
- Onion and garlic: Adds extra flavour to the sauce. You can sub in shallots for the onion as well.
- Butternut squash: Incorporates a slightly sweet flavour and dose of nutrients to the sauce. Use fresh butternut squash or sub in frozen diced butternut squash for a convenient alternative.
- Lentils: Are pureed into the butternut squash cheese sauce to add some additional fibre, protein and iron. I prefer to use red split lentils due to their orange colour and because they tend to soften up quite nicely once cooked so they’re easy to blend in with the rest of the sauce. You can try using canned or green lentils as well, but it may change the colour and consistency of the sauce.
- Broth: Use a reduced sodium broth. You can use vegetable or chicken broth.
- Thyme & bay leaves: Adds additional flavour to the mac and cheese. You can use dry or fresh thyme. Sage and oregano also pairs well with butternut squash if you feel like switching up the flavours.
- Cheese: We typically use old cheddar as it has a sharper and stronger flavour so not as much is required. You can sub in your favourite cheese. Gruyere cheese works well too. Adjust the amount used according to personal taste.
- Milk: Helps add more creaminess to the sauce. Use whichever milk you prefer; either dairy or a plant-based alternative.
- Pasta: You can switch up the pasta depending on what you’re feeling. Try rotini, elbow, penne or whatever pasta you prefer.
How to make crockpot mac and cheese
Preheat your crockpot to high.
In a medium skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until softened and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add thyme and cook 2-3 minutes. Add to warmed crockpot along with the bay leaves, broth, plus the squash and dry lentils.
Stir, cover and cook in crockpot for 3-4 hours on high or until squash is very tender.
Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions to be al dente.
Once the squash is cooked, remove bay leaves from mixture.
Using an immersion blender, puree the squash to create a smooth sauce. You can also place in a regular blender if you don’t own an immersion blender.
Stir in milk and cheddar cheese.
Taste and adjust seasoning and cheese to your liking. Sauce should be slightly sweet due to the addition of the squash.
Toss with cooked pasta and serve with extra cheese, or toss in optional add-ins if desired. See below for some ideas!
Recipe Tips
- For mac and cheese that’s not mushy, undercook your pasta. If you cook it for one minute less than the package directions, it will help prevent the noodles from becoming too soft and mushy when mixed with the cheese sauce.
- I love using an immersion blender to blend the sauce since you can blend it right in the crockpot rather than transferring it to a blender. It can help save on time and dishes!
- If you want to make the mac and cheese more creamy, add a bit more cheese and milk until desired consistency is achieved.
- If serving to babies under the age of one, it’s recommended that you leave out the additional salt. However, for adults and older children, you may wish to add some salt for extra flavour.
- If making sauce for baby and rest of family, scoop out one cup of sauce for baby and add some extra seasoning to remaining portion of sauce. You can freeze baby’s sauce in an ice cube tray and pop out a sauce cube whenever you would like to mix the sauce with some pasta for a quick and easy meal.
- To save on time, you can also make a double batch of the cheese sauce and freeze. I love freezing the sauce in these Souper Cubes. Simply thaw the sauce, cook up the pasta, and stir to combine!
Recipe FAQ
You can store this mac and cheese in the fridge covered or in an air-tight container for up to four days.
To reheat, place leftover mac and cheese in a sauce pan. You may wish to add more milk to give it a creamier consistency as the sauce has a tendency to thicken up over time. Cook over low heat until heated through. Alternatively, you can pop the mac and cheese in the microwave for about 1-2 minutes or until heated through.
Yes! Once you’ve cooked the onion and garlic, add the butternut squash, lentils, broth, thyme and bay leaves to the sauce pan. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for about 20-30 minutes, or until butternut squash is soft enough to be pierced with a fork.
Puree using an immersion blender or regular blender. Stir in the cheese, milk and salt and pepper, to taste. Taste and adjust, adding in extra cheese, milk or seasoning if desired.
Meanwhile, in a separate sauce pan, prepare pasta according to package directions to make them al dente. Add sauce to the pasta and toss to coat. Serve warm.
Personally, I haven’t tried freezing the noodles with the sauce on it, however, I have tried freezing the sauce separately and then thawing it out and adding it to freshly cooked noodles. This worked out quite well.
If you would like to freeze this recipe, I would recommend just freezing the sauce as opposed to the finished dish, as the pasta might get mushy after freezing.
If you want individual portions of the sauce, I suggest freezing the sauce in an ice cube tray or these Souper Cubes so that you can pop out the desired number of sauce cubes to combine with the desired amount of prepared pasta. So handy!
To make the mac and cheese creamy after it’s been sitting a while, add one tablespoon of milk per one cup of of the mac and cheese. Mix carefully until desired consistency is achieved.
The benefit of this mac and cheese is that it’s hearty enough that it can be served up as a main dish or you can also pair it with some extra protein and have it as a side dish!
Mac and cheese tends to pair well with meatloaf, shredded beef, pork or chicken, chicken tenders or fish sticks.
Try the following recipes:
Sun-Dried Tomato Lentil Veggie Cups
Lean Chicken Meat Loaf Muffins
Almond & Coconut Crusted Fish Sticks
Almond Crusted Chicken Tenders
Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork with Homemade BBQ Sauce
Pulled Maple BBQ Beef
Beef & Quinoa BBQ Meatloaf Muffins
Optional add-ins:
The great thing about this recipe is you can add in extras to customize it according to what you’re feeling that day!
Feel free to add in:
- Peas
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Diced ham
- Bacon
- Hot sauce
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
Recipe variations
- To make vegan: Use a vegan cheese and plant-based milk alternative. You can also skip the cheese altogether and use nutritional yeast to add a cheesy flavour.
- To make gluten-free: Use gluten-free pasta of choice.
- To add extra protein: To up the protein, add more cheese or lentils, chicken, diced sausage, bacon or ham.
- Switch up the flavour: Try a pinch of smoked paprika, ground mustard, turmeric, nutmeg, nutritional yeast or red pepper flakes for a different twist on flavour.
More similar recipes
- Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
- Squash Apple Cranberry Bake
- Healthy Vegetarian Pasta Salad
- Healthy Freezer Crockpot Meals
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a rating and review!
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese Recipe {Crockpot}
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup no salt-added vegetable broth
- 2.5 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash (or sub in frozen diced butternut squash)
- 1/4 cup dry split red lentils
- 1/2 cup milk or milk alternative, or more to taste
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese or more to taste
- 3/4 pound desired pasta try: whole wheat or gluten-free rotini, macaroni, or fusilli pasta (about 2.5 cups dry)
- Salt & pepper to taste
Optional add-ins:
- Peas, broccoli, spinach
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- Drizzle of hot sauce
Instructions
- Preheat crockpot to high.
- In a medium skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until softened and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add thyme and cook 2-3 minutes.
- Add to warmed crockpot along with the bay leaves, broth, plus the squash and dry lentils. Stir, cover and cook in crockpot for 3-4 hours on high or until squash is very tender.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions to make them al dente.
- Once the squash is cooked, remove bay leaves from mixture. Using an immersion blender, puree the squash to create a smooth sauce (you can place in a regular blender if you don't own an immersion blender).
- Stir in milk and cheese. Taste and adjust seasoning and cheese to your liking. Sauce should be slightly sweet due to the addition of the squash.
- Toss with cooked pasta and serve with extra cheese, add in optional veggies or top with a pinch of red pepper flakes or hot sauce, if desired.
Notes
- For mac and cheese that’s not mushy, undercook your pasta. If you cook it for one minute less than the package directions, it will help prevent the noodles from becoming too soft and mushy when mixed with the cheese sauce.
- I love using an immersion blender to blend the sauce since you can blend it right in the crockpot rather than transferring it to a blender. It can help save on time and dishes!
- If you want to make the mac and cheese even more creamy, add a bit more cheese and milk until desired consistency is achieved.
- If serving to babies under the age of one, it’s recommended that you leave out the additional salt. However, for adults and older children, you may wish to add some salt for extra flavour.
- To save on time, you can also make a double batch of the cheese sauce and freeze. I love freezing the sauce in these Souper Cubes. Simply thaw the sauce, cook up the pasta, and stir to combine!
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted August 2018 and was updated September 2021 to include better tips and photos.
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This post may contain affiliate links which means that I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only promote products that I love and feel will benefit my readers :)
Is there a substitute for split red lentils? I can’t find any in the grocery stores around me. They only have whole.. will that work? Can I leave it out completely?
I haven’t tried this recipe using brown or green lentils, but you could try subbing those in, although it might change the colour of the sauce slightly. You could also try leaving the lentils out altogether. The main reason for adding the lentils is to provide an extra boost of protein and iron, but it shouldn’t alter the taste too much if you leave them out. Let me know how it goes if you try it out!
So good!!! I was looking for a recipe for my small slow cooker and used 2 – 3 cups of butternut. Only change I made was the cheese based on what was in my fridge. Reheated it today and added some more oat milk to thin the sauce out and it tasted just as good as the first time around.
I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe! It’s such a great way to use up that butternut squash! Thanks so much for stopping by to comment :)
Could I freeze the sauce in small portions and thaw as needed and add to pasta?
Definitely! I do this all the time by freezing the sauce in an ice cube tray so that we can make individual portions when necessary. Hope you enjoy!!