The quickest, easiest macaroni and cheese you’ll ever make using ONE POT only! Noodles included! No boiling water – so straining – six easy ingredients – a weeknight side dish dream! Also great to make ahead for the kiddos!
PSA: This Easy One-Pot Macaroni and Cheese will have strainers all over the world gathering dust. Because with this beauty, that is only 6 ingredients (not counting salt, pepper and water – if you don’t have those in your pantry, call me) and stupid easy creamy dreamy deliciously steamy (steamy? well, you know) you don’t even need to boil the noodles. They cook in with all the other ingredients. They work together like team USA in the Olympics to bring home the Gold of macaroni and cheese.
Macaroni and Cheese may as well be oxygen at our house. Let’s just say that if the five food groups of a toddler diet could be named, mac and cheese would most def be one. So I wanted to make a super simple easy recipe that you just toss all the ingredients in, bring them to a boil, mix in some cheese and bam. Dinner. For like a month. Because divvying this easy one-pot macaroni and cheese into individual servings will have dinner covered for at least two weeks (that’s if you feed your toddler mac and cheese every single night – no judgement here). Or maybe a month if you spread the mac and cheese consumption out throughout the month (so like every other night). Pop them in the freezer for those crazy hectic weeknights (so basically, Monday through um – Friday).
I can’t tell you how many times I botched this one pot macaroni and cheese in the initial testing phases – my problem was that I was putting in way too much liquid. I kept thinking to myself “Noodles need a lot of water to cook, so I must must add lots of liquid”. However, I never really considered the fact that a large portion of that water gets tossed in the sink when you strain the noods! So I cut back, way back. And this combination of water and milk is perfection. Then you stir in the cheese at the end and you have the smoothest creamiest one-pot macaroni and cheese that one could ever hope for. And you only got ONE POT dirty! HAZZAH!
Easy One-Pot Macaroni and Cheese
2018-05-21 07:06:50
The quickest, easiest macaroni and cheese you'll ever make - using ONE POT only! Noodles included! No boiling water - so straining - one pot is all you need
Ingredients
- 1lb Cavitappi (curcly shaped pasta)*
- 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
- 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) flour
- 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3 cups water
- 2 cups milk (I used 1% - whole or 2% should work just fine)
- 3 cups shredded cheese of your choice (I used all cheddar, but any combination of cheese works in mac in cheese!)
Instructions
- In a large, heavy bottomed pot, melt your butter. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the flour and dijon mustard until a thick paste forms. Slowly whisk in your 2 cups of milk, and then 3 cups of water. Whisk hard until the clumps disappear. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and then, add your cavitappi. Return the mixture to a boil, and then lower to medium heat, keeping a steady simmer. Let the pasta cook on medium heat, stirring frequently. The more you stir, the less likely the pasta will get stuck to the bottom of the pot and the more evenly your pasta will cook. You'll notice that the liquid will eventually get less and less and after about 15 minutes, your pasta will be cooked and the liquid should be just about gone.
- Off the heat, stir in your shredded cheese. Serve immediately or store for up to a month in the freezer.
Notes
- I've only tested this recipe using Cavitappi (it's my most favorite mac and cheese pasta) - the liquid measurements could be different for a smaller/less dense type of pasta
And They Cooked Happily Ever After https://www.andtheycookedhappilyeverafter.com/