Upgrading Kraft Macaroni And Cheese
Things To Serve With This Recipe
1. Green salad: Try a simple green salad with your mac and cheese. Add some cherry tomatoes, chopped cucumber, and your favorite salad dressing.
2. Roasted vegetables: Roasted vegetables are a great side dish to any meal. Try roasting broccoli, cauliflower, or carrots and serve them alongside your mac and cheese.
3. Garlic bread: Garlic bread is always a good idea. Try serving your mac and cheese with some toasted garlic bread for dipping.
4. Fried chicken: This might sound like an odd combination, but it works. The crispy fried chicken pairs perfectly with the creamy mac and cheese.
5. Honey glazed ham: Another great option for a meaty side dish. The sweetness of the honey-glazed ham pairs perfectly with the rich and creamy mac and cheese.
6. Bacon: Because bacon makes everything better. Add some crumbled bacon to your mac and cheese for an extra decadent dish.
7. Sautéed mushrooms: Sautéed mushrooms are a great way to add some extra flavor and texture to your mac and cheese.
8. Caramelized onions: Caramelized onions will add a sweet and savory flavor to your mac and cheese.
9. Kale or spinach: If you want to sneak in some greens, try adding some kale or spinach to your mac and cheese. It will add some extra color and nutrition to your dish.
Recommended Reading: Honey Baked Ham Alexandria Va
How Do You Keep Mac And Cheese From Drying Out
Mac and cheese is usually served warm, but it can also be served cold. It is important to note that mac and cheese does not dry out easily because it contains milk. Therefore, it is important to store it properly. One way to ensure that the mac and cheese stays moist is to wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. This will help to preserve moisture. Another way to keep mac and cheese from drying out is to put it into the refrigerator immediately after it comes out of the oven. This will help to maintain the moisture content.
Don’t Miss: Where Can I Buy Dairy Free Cream Cheese
Tips For The Best Mac & Cheese
-
Freshly grated cheese dont use pre shredded. They have anti caking agents that can make the sauce grainy
-
No bloated overcooked pasta Cool macaroni slightly and lightly coat in butter. This stops the macaroni from absorbing more liquid while baking, resulting in bloated overcooked pasta and less sauce
-
Stir constantly once you add the milk to ensure your sauce is silky smooth
-
Plenty of sauce Because I like my Mac and Cheese saucy, not dried up so you can cut it like cake!
-
Can you make Mac and Cheese ahead of time? Most recipes are not suitable for making ahead, but this recipe is! The best way is to cool pasta then toss with sauce and adding breadcrumb topping. Cool, refrigerate or freeze then bake on the day of.
-
How long can Mac and Cheese stay in the fridge? This Macaroni Cheese recipe is good for 3 to 5 days in the fridge. Most will not keep well because theres not enough sauce so it gets absorbed by the pasta and youre left with dry, sauceless pasta.
-
Freezing? Yes! Assemble, cool, do not bake, just freeze it. Thaw then on the day of, bake per the recipe.
-
Add ins? This recipe is great as it is, but theres tons of add-in options. Add shredded chicken, sautéed onion and bell peppers/capsicum, bacon, hot sauce , dried herbs of choice
Also Check: How To Make Velveeta Cheese Sauce
Finishing The Macaroni And Cheese
DRAIN the macaroni and mix the sauce with the cooked macaroni. Again taste, and if needed, add extra pepper or salt. DIVIDE the macaroni over the oven dish. DIVIDE the rest of the grated cheese on top.
Top it off with panko and a few small cubes of butter here and there. BAKE in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese has a beautiful golden brown colour to it. Enjoy!
What do you think of this recipe?
Read Also: Where Can I Buy Low Sodium Cheese
How To Reheat Mac And Cheese In The Oven
Popping your mac and cheese in the oven is perfect for when you have a lot of it to reheat, like a whole casserole. It also spreads the heat evenly so you wont burn that perfectly gooey mac and cheese.
If you made your mac and cheese in advance, its best to save the toppings for later so you can still add milk before reheating. This is because mac and cheese can dry out in the fridge. Adding milk brings back that creaminess to the dish.
Best Cheese For Baked Mac And Cheese
Dont be scared when using cheese for this recipe. I used three types of cheeses to grace every noodle of this dish. For the best flavor, I highly recommend adding a sharp cheddar to your baked mac and cheese. Just a warning though, dont use the pre-shredded bagged cheese as it has preservatives that make it drier compared to fresh-grated cheese.
Sharp cheddar cheese, mozzarella, jack cheese, are my top fave. Or you can also use pepper jack cheese, gouda, fontina, and Gruyere.
Don’t Miss: What Cheese Do You Use For Mac And Cheese
Baked Mac And Cheese Ingredients
Be sure to check the printable recipe card below for the complete ingredients list and their exact quantities.
- Pasta: We use the classic elbow pasta but any other short pasta shape can be used.
- Flour: We use all-purpose flour to create a roux that will thickened the cheesy sauce.
- Butter: We usually use unsalted butter but salted butter works as well. Cut it into smaller pieces so it melts quickly and evenly.
- Milk and half and half: The combination of whole milk and half and half creates a velvety rich homemade cheese sauce. For a more decadent and richer sauce, use a combination of heavy cream and half and half. You can use 2% milk instead of whole milk for a lighter sauce.Seasonings: Salt, ground black pepper, nutmeg, garlic powder and dried mustard aka mustard powder. If you want to add some spicy heat, cayenne pepper or a few dashes of hot sauce can be added.
- Cheese: We use a combination of cheeses to make the decadent cheesy sauce. Sharp cheddar cheese, Gruyere cheese and white cheddar cheese. You can use your favorite cheese or a combination of 2-3 type of cheese. Its best to shred your own cheese at home but if you have to use pre-shredded cheese, thats Ok.
- Mac n cheese topping: Panko bread crumbs, melted butter and seasoned salt.
Tips For The Best Macaroni And Cheese Youll Ever Eat
Feel like you may still need some help? If you have time, jump over to this post for the juicy details: 18 Secrets to the Richest, Creamiest Mac and Cheese Youll Ever Eat or focus on these tips:
Never stop stirring your milk once it hits the pan. If your skillet is too hot or you walk away and for a minute you could scorch the white sauce and it will curdle. It doesnt really hurt the taste, but it will look sort of clumpy. Some readers have called it grainy. It only takes 5 minutes. Just hang out and stir until that sauce is thick enough to coat the back of your spoon.
Use good cheese in your baked macaroni and cheese. That means avoiding bagged, pre-shredded cheeses because they contain cellulose that can in some cases cause your cheese not to melt as it should. -And speaking of cheese, you have so many options! My favorite is sharp cheddar and Swiss.
-Try to choose a melting cheese and a flavor cheesefor the best flavor and texture in your baked macaroni and cheese.
Do taste as you go. Taste your cheese sauce before you add your pasta. Is it bland? That can be because of the cheese you used or even the kind of salt you seasoned with. If it doesnt have enough flavor, add a pinch more salt, stir it in and taste it again until it suits you.
-Feel free to add more pasta if you want to. Some people say that this recipe doesnt have enough noodles in it, but Ive never had that problem. And yes, you should cook your pasta before adding it to the cheese sauce.
Recommended Reading: Is Gouda Cheese Keto Friendly
How To Reheat Cooked Brussels Sprouts
In The Oven:
- Place macaroni and cheese in a dish that can be heated in the oven.
- Add 1 tablespoon of milk per cup of macaroni and cheese and thoroughly incorporate.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil and reheat at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes, or until well heated.
In The Microwave:
- Heat the mac and cheese in the microwave for 1 minute on medium.
- Remove the macaroni and cheese from the microwave and mix to combine.
- Check to see whether its heated enough. If you believe it needs further reheating, heat it in 30-second increments until it reaches the temperature you want.
Perfect Mac And Cheese In 5 Steps:
Recommended Reading: Does Blue Cheese Cause Migraines
Is Mac And Cheese Junk Food
Macaroni and cheese have a bad reputation for being a harmful indulgence especially when it comes to canned or packaged black. On the outside, mac and cheese are just cheese and carbs, but dig a little deeper and you will find that Americas favorite homemade cooking has some amazing health benefits.
Read Also: Does Aged Cheese Have Lactose
Cooking Tips For Baked Mac And Cheese
- Boiling the pasta cook the pasta less than you normally would. I like to boil my elbow pasta for between 4 and 5 minutes. The pasta will continue to cook in the oven, and you dont want it to get mushy.
- Use room temp liquids if you can cold liquids generally take longer to thicken than warmer ones. I usually set my milk and half and half out while the water for the pasta is coming up to a boil.
- The cheeses use your favorites! Our personal favorites are the cheddar and gruyere used in this recipe, but you can be very creative with the cheese selection here. Mozzarella, gouda, smoked gouda, swiss, monterey jack, colby jack, colby. There are plenty of reader comments down below the recipe that talk about the cheeses they used!
- Shred your own I know its a pain, and its SO tempting to use the pre-shredded cheese in the bags. But those bags of cheese contain a starchy substance that keeps the cheese from clumping which also prohibits it from melting as well as it should.
Read Also: Where Can I Buy Ricotta Salata Cheese
Smoking The Mack And Cheese In The Smoker
Setting up the smoker to smoke the Mac and Cheese is an important step. First and always, preheat your smoker to 350 degrees and let it get to temperature. Once at temperature, let it run at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.
The Mac and Cheese will be smoked at 225 not 350 degrees.
Once the smoker is preheated, set the temperature to 225 degrees F and place the Mac and Cheese inside the smoker. Be careful not to let the smoker produce too much smoke or dirty smoke while smoking the mac n cheese. If the fire in your pellet grill or charcoal smoker needs to be restarted, remove the mac and cheese to avoid excessive dirty smoke.
What To Serve With Costco Mac And Cheese
Mac and cheese are one of the most famous dishes in the world. It goes well with a bunch of sides such as salads like tomato and cucumber salad, or roasted vegetables. Alternatively, you can serve this Costco mac and cheese with chicken wings and dipping sauces like mayo, ketchup, or yum-yum sauce.
Check out this list of delicious side dishes to serve with Kirkland mac and cheese:
You May Like: Does Chuck E Cheese Allow Outside Food
How To Measure Pasta For This Recipe
Sometimes a reader or two has had an issue with how much pasta this recipe needs. This recipe is written by volume and sometimes people think that since a cup is 8 ounces that they can simply use 12-16 ounces of pasta or go by the weight of the dry pasta written on the box.
Youll end up with problems if you do this. Please follow the volume instructions and measure your pasta dry in a measuring cup meant for dry items . Small pastas like ditalini or little wagon wheels can go up to about 2 cups and be fine in the recipe, and large ones like bow tie or cellentani can as well. If you will stick to elbow pasta until you get the hang of things youll be better off.
Ive made this recipe with every pasta shape on the market and if you will measure in cups, your recipe will be just right.
Dont Miss: Honey Baked Ham Snellville Ga
How To Freeze Cooked Macaroni And Cheese
Step 1: Cool Completely
Leaving your warm mac and cheese at room temperature for too long places it at risk for harmful bacterial growth. The safest way to cool your warm mac and cheese dish is by placing it in an ice bath.
Pour ice water into a flat pan or dish which is wider than the mac and cheese serving dish. Fill it only one-third of the way with water and a few ice cubes. Place your macaroni dish in the ice bath so that the base is surrounded by the ice water and cools down quickly.
Leave the dish in the ice bath for at least 5 minutes, until cool to touch or near room temperature. Dont ever place mac and cheese that is still warm in the freezer. The steam forms ice-crystals which will ruin the texture of the dish once thawed.
Step 2: Portion
If you are freezing the dish in its entirety, skip this step and go straight to step 3. Portion the mac and cheese into individual servings so that you do not have to defrost the entire batch at once and can take out just as much as you need at a time.
Step 3: Wrap and Seal
For smaller portions, scoop each portion into a resealable freezer bag. Lie the bag flat and press out all the air before sealing.
If you are freezing an entire casserole, make sure the dish you have baked your macaroni and cheese in is freezer-friendly. Cover the whole dish twice with cling film, making sure that all the corners are well-sealed and that no gaps are left open where air can enter.
Step 4: Foil Wrap
Read Also: Where Can I Buy Frozen Cheese Omelets
How To Tell If Kraft Mac And Cheese Has Gone Bad
There arent exactly many physical indicators to show that a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese has gone bad, if it ever does. Unlike fresh produce or fresh pasta which are likely to go bad and spoil beyond a certain time frame, dry pasta in a box is preserved to last longer.
Cooked macaroni and cheese, however, can and will go bad, and when it does, youll know it. Spoiled, cooked mac and cheese will have an unpleasant odor. The cheese will smell rancid and there is a good chance that you will see some discoloration. You will also find that the mac and cheese have taken on a moldy appearance, which is when you dump it.
If all the ingredients of Krafts Mac and Cheese are still in their original packets, and are dry and still sealed, then the likely possibility is that it has not spoiled.
If, however, the packet has been opened, its seal has been broken or has been damaged, then there is a possibility of moisture seeping in. There may be signs of mould, you may also find that the pasta has become clumpy or soft or you might notice that the sauce mix is damp and lumpy.
Irrespective of whether or not you find any moisture or mould, if left unused for too long, the sauce mix or the flavor packet will lose its flavor and potency and this means youll need to throw it away, not just out of caution and to avoid any mould or fungal formation, but also because it simply will not taste as good as it rightly should.
