Broccoli Shells and Cheese
Broccoli shells and cheese is a classic American comfort food. Serve it as a hearty side with dinner, or as a light main dish.
Nutrition Facts
Ingredients
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Once boiling, add the pasta and continue to boil until the pasta is tender. Drain the pasta in a colander and set it aside until ready to use.
Meanwhile, allow the broccoli to thaw. Once partially thawed, chop the florets into smaller, bite-sized pieces, and set them aside to fully thaw while you prepare the rest of the dish.
While the pasta is cooking, begin the cheese sauce. Finely dice the onion and add it to a sauce pot with the butter. Cook the onion and butter over medium heat until the onions are softened (about 2-3 minutes).
Add the flour to the butter and onion. The flour and butter will form a paste, or roux. Whisk the roux over medium heat for 1-2 minutes more taking care not to let it scorch. This slightly cooks the flour preventing the cheese sauce from having an overly flour or paste-like flavor.
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*To use fresh broccoli in this recipe, cut two broccoli crowns into small florets. Add the cut florets to the boiling pasta water during the pasta’s last minute of cooking. This will blanch the broccoli, but leave it just firm enough to add texture. Drain the broccoli along with the pasta in the colander.
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Reviews from the Original Source
This was so delicious and so easy. I did use fresh broccoli, I steamed it.Boiled my shells then made my cheese sauce it was so good, a light cheese sauce. Perfect I followed this recipe couldn’t of been better. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe.
This was my first time making cheese sauce and it turned out great! I added some chopped garlic with the onions because we're huge fans of it. The hot sauce was a great touch, wouldn't have thought of that. I used Cholula.
This was SO good and simple. I opted for no broccoli this time (didn’t have any), and it was just the perfect comfort dinner. Didn’t take long to make at all and the sauce is cheesy and amazing. Thanks for a great recipe.
came out good, I made it gluten free by using corn pasta shells and oat flour, also I put in bacon, yummy
Great recipe! I used crushed chili flakes instead of hot sauce. Equally amazing. Thank you!
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