Creamy Stovetop Mac and Cheese
The best homemade mac and cheese just like your grandma would make, ready in less than 15 minutes and made from scratch with real food ingredients.
- Prep Time: 1 min
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
- Category: Sides
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Scale
- 8 oz elbow pasta
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 4 Tbsp flour
- 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature and cubed
- 8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2–2 1/2 cups milk, divided
- 1/4 tsp each: garlic powder, ground nutmeg, onion powder, paprika
- 1/4 tsp chili powder (optional)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Strain in a colander and set aside.
- In the same pot, melt butter. Add flour and stir so that it makes a paste with the melted butter. Allow the flour to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Add 1 1/2 cups of milk while stirring constantly. Stir until the sauce is smooth.
- Add the cream cheese and cheddar cheese and stir often until the cheese is melted.
- Season with the garlic powder, nutmeg, onion powder, paprika, pepper and chili powder, if using.
- Rinse the pasta with water so that the noodles don’t stick together. Add the pasta to the cheese sauce and stir well, but gently so that the noodles don’t break. Taste and add additional seasoning as desired. If the sauce is too thick, thin with milk 1/4 cup at a time.
Notes
Want to sneak in some veggies? Sub pumpkin puree or mashed sweet potato for the cream cheese! It still tastes amazing PLUS you can feed your picky eater some veggies and they won’t even know!
Nutrition
- Calories: 506
Keywords: homemade easy mac and cheese
Find it online: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/mac-and-cheese/