This week people from the United States celebrated Thanksgiving, and Mac & Cheese is a common staple for this holiday! There isn’t an American child alive that doesn’t love a diet consisting largely of easy cheesy mac & cheese. Its creamy cheesy consistency is one of our favorite comfort foods, so some may even say it’s one of the most important dishes at Thanksgiving. (I’d be among them.)
The Origins of Mac & Cheese
While we consider easy cheesy Mac & Cheese an American icon, the country-wide favorite most likely hails from Northern Europe. I love finding out American food origins because all Americans, besides Native Americans, are descendants of immigrants. Dishes typically attributed to American cuisine like french fries, apple pie, and even hot dogs are actually from other places!
Another fun fact is that many of these dishes were brought over not just by immigrants but thanks to Thomas Jefferson. Yes, as in one of the founding fathers and presidents of America, Thomas Jefferson. The president was a major foodie who brought tons of recipes and products back from his travels. Supposedly, he was in Paris when he tried this mouth-watering cheesy dish. Along with many other foods, he brought over the macaroni pasta and tons of recipes to go with it.
While currently living in Spain, I was having a major craving for this dish leading up to Thanksgiving week. I decided to whip a lactose-intolerant friendly version of this dish. You can also make it gluten-free. I am really proud of this because easy cheesy mac & cheese is by nature not lactose-free or gluten-free but some easy substitutions can make this safe for those who need to avoid either.
What types of cheese to choose for easy cheesy mac & cheese
I’ve tried many combinations but so far my favorite combo is parmesan and sharp cheddar. This is my dynamic duo, but you can choose any combinations of two or three or even just stick to one. Sharp cheddar brings out that classic mac & cheese flavor that we all grew up with in America, but parmesan gives it a more elevated flavor, in my opinion.
Some of the best cheeses to choose for easy cheesy mac & cheese are:
- Sharp Cheddar
- Parmesan
- Gouda
- Cream Cheese
- Brie
- Goat Cheese
- Gruyere
Important note on choosing a cheese
Get yourself a block of your favorite cheeses and shred it yourself. Pre-shedded cheese is often coated with an anti-clumping agent and doesn’t melt as easily. Make sure to check out the 7 Best Cheeses for Mac & Cheese for more recommendations on guidelines.
Cooking tips for the ultimate easy cheesy mac & cheese
The cheese: buy blocks of cheese instead of a bag of the pre-shredded variety. Bagged cheese often has a coating and it doesn’t melt as nicely as a freshly grated block of cheese.
The pasta: Obviously you want to use macaroni to keep it classic, but I couldn´t find any in Spain, so I used penne pasta. Boil it to 2-3 minutes less than the recommended time because you are going to keep cooking it in the oven.
The sauce: Once you finish making the sauce, bring out salt, black pepper, chili powder or paprika, and garlic powder to give it a little bit of pizazz. Flavor it to your liking.
Making ahead: you will love that you can freeze a tray of this easy cheesy mac & cheese. Prepare the dish and before popping it in the oven, cover it with aluminum foil and store it in your freezer. Thaw it in the fridge and then bake it in the oven for ooey-gooey magic.
Making your mac & cheese lactose-free or gluten-free
Lactose-friendly edition:
If you’re also lactose intolerant like I am, stick to hard and aged cheeses like parmesan and sharp cheddar. Hard and aged cheeses have lower lactose levels than their young soft siblings and will be better for your stomach. That’s why parmesan and sharp cheddar always make it into my blend.
You may also sub the butter for margarine and the whole milk for lactose-free milk or sugar-free plain soy milk. If you use lactose-free milks, you may need to add more flour or corn flour to make sure your cheese sauce thickens enough.
Gluten-free edition:
For this version, switch the pasta for any one of your favorite gluten-free pastas. You can also use corn flour instead of wheat flour to make your cheese sauce but add it slowly because corn flour thickens up more than wheat flour. If it becomes too thick, you can slowly add more milk to make it the right consistency. In terms of the topping, you can choose to skip the breadcrumbs or use gluten-free bread to make your own gluten-free bread crumbs ahead of time.
Ingredients
Cheese Sauce
¼ cup of butter
⅓ cup of all-purpose flour
3 cups of whole milk
2 cups of freshly grated cheese (I use 1 cup of parmesan and 1 of cheddar)
Salt, chili powder/paprika, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
Pasta
2 cups of dry pasta
Topping
½ ounce of your choice of cheese
A pinch of paprika
½ cup of bread crumbs, panko crumbs, or crushed crackers
Instructions
- Bring 8-10 cups of water to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt and some olive oil to the water. Once boiling add the pasta and boil to 2-3 minutes below the time indicated on the box. Drain and rinse with cold water. You might want to toss with some olive oil to avoid sticking.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and then add the flour. Whisk the mixture until it blends nicely into a sandy color and consistency.
- Very slowly begin to add the milk while whisking. Once the milk has all been adding, continue whisking until the sauce thickens. It may take up to 10 minutes but you don’t want to rush this part.
- Recommendations: if it’s not thickening, try to turn up the heat a little bit or add a little bit more flour.
- If you’ve used lactose-free milk you will definitely have to add more flour and possibly even corn flour to make up for the substitution.
- Once the sauce is at the right consistency, add the cheese and then season with the salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder to taste.
- Begin to preheat the oven to 350 F or 175 C.
- Then you will pour the pasta into the cheese sauce and mix it up. It should look like there is more sauce than pasta (yum!)
- Finally you will top the pasta with more cheese, a bit of paprika, and your bread crumbs.
- Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the top is a little bit golden with a drool-worthy bubbling finish.
