Savory, Fast, Creamy Stovetop Mac and Cheese Recipe
This is one of the easiest and tastiest mac and cheese recipes you can devour. Change up the cheeses as you like. Enjoy!
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Servings: 4
Equipment
- large stainless steel pot ideal for pasta
- flat sauce pan for the cheese sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb pasta - preferably something easy to fork shells, rotini, or bouble are great choices
- 12 oz cheddar cheese this works out to one and a half of those blocks of cheese in your grocer's fridge section. Substitute with extra sharp or other varieties. I like to use cheddar and Monterrey Jack.
- 4 slices American cheese love that Land O' Lakes from the deli--tastes better than the prepackaged stuff
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan optional
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 cups milk use whole milk and skip the calorie counting, at least for this recipe
- Frank's Red Hot sauce secret flavor kicker, but optional
- salt for boiling pasta and a few shakes in the sauce
Instructions
- Place a pot with enough water to boil the pasta on a burner and set to high heat. Salt the water to bring to a boil faster.
- Prep your cheese. I usually just cut up the blocks I am going to use so that I have 1.5 blocks at the ready. Dice the blocks up into smaller cubes. Save the other 1.5 blocks for snacks and other recipes. I crumble the American cheese right into the sauce as it is heating. I also grate the parmesan directly into the sauce when it is finished, but you can grate ahead of time, if you prefer. Nothing needs to be exact here.
- Give the water a few minutes to heat up and then start the sauce. Dump the two tablespoons of the cornstarch into the pan.
- Place the sauce pan on a burner and set to medium heat. SLOWLY pour in the milk, mixing well with a wooden spoon as you do this. Add the 2 tbsp butter. You are trying to avoid creating any lumps. Keep stirring the mixture and ADD THE CHEESE IN BATCHES. You can let it melt for a bit, but stir every few minutes. You want to see a bubble or two every so often, but definitely do not boil or the sauce will curdle.
- Add in several big shakes of hot sauce -- this gives the sauce a nice deep color reminiscent of the blue box and lends a sublime heat to the dish :) If your family just doesn't like hot seasonings, you can skip this step.
- Keep stirring until all of the cheese cubes are melted. Turn off and remove from heat . Lit sit for a minute. Add the parmesan--you can either fold in or grate the parmesan into the sauce. Save this step for last--just like making an Al Fredo sauce. It prevents the cheese from heating too long and curdling. The parmesan will melt nicely into the sauce. Cover the sauce with a lid and tend to the pasta.
- Cook the pasta extra Al Dente--shorter than you would for a normal pasta. Drain the pasta well in a collander and do not rinse. Let it sit for 30 or more seconds. Transfer back into the pot. Using a wooden spoon, pour the cheese sauce over the pasta, scraping out as much as you can of the cheese sauce. You may want to use a rubber spatula to get all of it. Stir and fold several times into the pasta, but do not over stir.
- That's it! You are done. Now continue prepping your meal and prepare for the compliments!
