I’ve been on a bit of a mac and cheese kick this year. I love trying different recipes and methods of preparing it. This recipe caught my eye because it was a “one pot” recipe. This also appealed to Chicken Legs since he is the dishwasher in the house.
This recipe was quick and easy. The mac and cheese turned out super yummy! It was creamy and cheesy. I really liked this method of making mac and cheese. I liked how the macaroni slowly cooked in the milk and that the cheese was added at the end. I can’t wait to experiment with some other seasonings. I think some Ranch seasoning would be nice in this next time.
One Pot Mac and Cheese
adapted from whiteonricecouple.com
(Printable Recipe)
- 2 cups large elbow macaroni, uncooked (about ½ lb)
- 2 ½ cups low fat milk
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus additional for final season later
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 cup grated cheese of your choice
- black pepper to taste
Place raw elbow macaroni in colander and quickly rinse under water. Let drain. In medium sauce pan, add milk, raw elbow macaroni, salt, butter, mustard powder and garlic powder. On medium heat, slowly bring milk/macaroni mixture to a simmer, stirring the macaroni frequently as it comes up to a simmer. This will separate macaroni and keep them from sticking together. Do not leave the mixture unattended! The milk mixture will come to a boil very quickly.
Once mixture comes to a simmer, immediately turn down heat to low. Stir frequently. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until milk has been fully absorbed. If macaroni is not cooked fully, add a little more milk or water to mixture ( a few Tbsp at a time) until macaroni is fully cooked. This will take about another 5 minutes.
When milk has evaporated, stir in grated cheese of your choice. Stir the cheese evenly into the macaroni. Turn off heat. Place lid on top of pan and cover for about 5 minutes and then serve.
Made this with whole wheat pasta, turned out perfect with the pasta/milk ratio listed in the recipe.
Made tonight with wheat rotini. Next time I need to use less milk or more noodles because if I would have let the milk absorb completely the noodles would be mush. I added cheese with some milk left (which is fine because I like creamy mac). Flavor is great!
Sara – I used cheddar cheese.
What kind of cheese did you use?
Tried this last night and while the flavor was great, the texture was not. I wonder if it was because I used whole grain macaroni? Might try just the regular noodles next time and see if that helps!
Mmm, another awesome receipe, I'm making this tonight!
I really need a Mac and Cheese "fix" and this sounds like an easy way to get it. Thanks for the recipe Steph.
I just tried this recipe…very delicious! The garlic powder gives it a really good flavor. It was really easy to make too. I'll definitely be making this again.
~Emily
Steph, you've out done yourself this week! This is another great recipe! I, too like the idea of one pot recipes. 🙂
~ingrid
Great looking mac and cheese, that would be awesome with some grilled chicken. Or anything.
Macaroni and cheese is a favorite at our house, and I'd love to clean up only one pot! We'll have to try this!
I was curious about this, so I made it last night. I felt very discouraged when I was stirring a pot of raw macaroni and it was clacking around in the milk. But it did come together and tasted great.
Looks pretty darned good to me!
We don't eat a lot of mac n' cheese around here, but I have always wanted to make a home style kind. This looks great!
I've been craving mac and cheese. This post didn't help that……
Looks fantastic.
That looks good! What kind of cheese did you use?
Mom always made stove top M & C and I didn't realize it was a baked dish until fairly recently. I like the one-pot-cooked-in-milk idea.