Low carb and keto-friendly pasta covered in a rich and creamy cheese sauce. This comforting keto macaroni and cheese tastes very similar to the real thing and is just 6 grams of net carbs per serving.

I have been wanting to create a keto mac and cheese for a while. Most keto macaroni and cheese recipes I’ve come across use cauliflower florets as a substitute for the pasta. And while I love my cauliflower recipes, I really wanted to create a version that used pasta.

Last month, I shared with you my skillet lasagna using low carb lasagna noodles. This dish uses the same versatile low carb noodle recipe.

Ingredients

Superfine almond flour
Xanthan gum
Psyllium husk powder
Large eggs
Cream cheese cut into small cubes
Heavy cream
Garlic powder
Mustard powder
Shredded cheddar cheese
Grated Parmesan cheese
Black pepper

Optional garnishes: You can add chopped fresh herbs like basil, parsley, or thyme to garnish your pasta. You can also sprinkle additional cheese over the top for serving. If you want some spice, add some red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper to the sauce.

Keto Low Carb Pasta

This pasta is made with just 4 ingredients: almond flour, egg, xanthan gum and psyllium husk powder.

The dough works very much like traditional pasta dough. It can be rolled, shaped, etc.

Before the pasta is cooked, it even looks like regular pasta, though the brown color makes it look more like whole-wheat pasta.

After the pasta is cooked, it does lose its brown color and turns a light gray due to the psyllium husk. Unfortunately, this can’t be helped.

The cooked pasta is tender and has a texture very similar to regular pasta. It does have a slight grittiness due to the almond flour, but it just makes it taste like whole wheat pasta to me.

Keto Cheese Sauce

Traditional cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese uses a flour roux to thicken the sauce. To keep this low carb, I left out the flour roux and used a combination of cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, cream cheese and heavy cream to create a cheese sauce with the same flavor that is equally thick, creamy and smooth.

After the pasta is cooked, it’s stirred into the cheese sauce until all the pasta tubes are covered in sauce.

How to Shape Keto Pasta

The simplest way to shape this is by rolling out the dough and cutting into thin strips to form noodles.

However, my family really wanted something that looked like real macaroni and cheese so I played around with some other easy shapes that do not require a pasta maker.

Farfelle

Another easy shape is creating farfelle pasta. All you need to do is cut the dough into rectangles and then pinch the center of the rectangle in to create the bow shape. If you want wavy edges, use a pastry cutter to cut the rectangles.

Tube Pasta

The most time consuming was creating tube pasta. With the help of a chopstick, I was able to create penne, freeform elbow macaroni and macaroni pasta tubes.

First, the dough is wrapped around the thinner side of a chopstick. The edges are pinched shut and then you slide the dough off the chopstick. Using a pastry cutter or sharp knife, you slice into 1-inch tubes.

Slice straight for macaroni pasta tubes or elbow macaroni and diagonal for penne.

For this recipe, I used the macaroni pasta tube shape. Once you have your pasta made, you can make the keto macaroni and cheese.

Recipe Steps

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta and boil it for about two minutes or until the pasta is soft. Drain it and set it aside.

Combine the cream cheese, heavy cream, garlic powder, and mustard powder in a medium saucepan. Whisk the mixture over low heat until the cream cheese is melted.

Add the cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese. Whisk until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Season the cheese sauce with pepper, if using.

Add the cooked keto pasta to the sauce and stir until it’s evenly coated. Serve the mac and cheese right away.

More Keto Pasta Recipes