Best One Pot Cheese and Macaroni

This was a tough recipe to rate. Would I serve this to guests for dinner? Probably not. Would I totally make this for a quick lunch for myself again? YES (especially because all of the ingredients are things I usually have sitting around the house anyways)! I reduced the recipe down to 1 serving for my lunch today & it went pretty well. I upped the noodles to 3/4 cup because I didn't use elbow noodles & so had to add more water. Once the noodles were done I just poured out the majority of the excess water. I added in a tbs of butter & melted it, then added in the milk as the recipe indicates. Once the cheeses were melted & the pepper added (skipped on the mustard) I tasted the macaroni & it seemed a little bland, so I added in a few dashes of hot sauce as well as sprinkled in just a bit of onion powder. This took the recipe from "okay" to "mmm...good". As far as easy & tasty lunches go, this one is a recipe I will make again!!

Great recipe for a quick easy creamy stove top mac and cheese. I switched things up a bit, but adding asiago, feta and cream cheese to the cheddar and parmesan. I found that if I stirred the cheese in as it melted and didn't add it all at once, it kept it from clumping as others have complained about. I also sauteed some onion and then added that as well. Turned out super creamy and flavorful. Thanks for the recipe! :)

Delicious, quick and easy! But very rich and cheesy too. I think next time I will either use less cheese or boil more pasta. I usually don't have Parmesan around so I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of the Cheddar and Parmesan combination. I loved it and I will definitely be making this one again!

An odd method of making mac n cheese. I used elbow macaroni, and it was cooked perfectly. The final 5 minute cooking time is almost too long as the bottom started to stick. Took off the heat and added the cheeses, pepper and mustard. Very very cheddar cheesey. Not creamy but definitely thick and cheesey. Thanks for the recipe.

Really good and FAST, and an excellent concept for making quick homemade macaroni and cheese. I skipped the Parmesan cheese and added about 3 cups of cheddar cheese, substituted white pepper for black pepper, and used a combo of skim milk and heavy cream (what I had on hand). All family members ate it!

Not at all what I expected. Tasted like strong tasting globs of melted cheese and noodles. Will not make it again.

I read on a blog to boil the pasta in the milk until the milk was almost absorbed then add in the mustard and cheese. That was how I did it and it was delicious. So easy, took a while to boil because I didn't have it all the way up so it wouldn't scorch the milk.

I kept trying to like it but I could only taste the parmesean with the macaroni. I won't save the leftovers. :-(

When I made this the sauce turned out gloppy and the pasta was underdone even though I used the kind suggested and cooked it for the recommended amount of time. It's a good thing I cut the recipe in half because my kids wouldn't eat more than a couple of bites.

I'm not rating the recipe so much as the method here. I didn't have most of the ingredients so I used mozzarella for the cheese and spiced it up with plain mustard and freshly crushed garlic and pepper. Tastes great and the kids love it. This method is barely more time consuming than the box but I feel so much better feeding it to my kids over processed junk. It's a quick and easy lunch that gave us no leftovers... And me no guilt :)

We love this recipe! It is so much easier and better than store bought mac n cheese. I use American for my three kids, and add some cheddar when they are not looking. Me and the hubby are experimenting with all the cheeses we love! Also good for a gluten free treat! Thanks for posting.

I grew up on Kraft brand so I figure I am biased. I never really liked baked or any other store brand but this has changed things. My first attempt I over salted the water not realizing that it was a no drain recipe. Even a bit over salted this was the bomb. It has an incredible flavor, could be the Dijon mustard, and if you like to experiment with cheese blends the sky's the limit. The second try we had the Dijon mustard and the cheese blend was Colby-Jack and it was heavenly. The Parmesan makes a big difference too.

An odd method of making mac n cheese. I used elbow macaroni, and it was cooked perfectly. The final 5 minute cooking time is almost too long as the bottom started to stick. Took off the heat and added the cheeses, pepper and mustard. Very very cheddar cheesey. Not creamy but definitely thick and cheesey. Thanks for the recipe.

This was to rich.

Only because I was craving some, I added some Philadelphia cream cheese (1 cup) on my first try with this lovely recipe. The result was fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing your talents. Our family had a great meal thanks to you.

bland but creamy

I loved this for its easy, one-pot method and its yumminess. This was my first attempt at homemade macaroni and cheese but won't be my last. I had to use gluten free pasta so I used a bit less water, using 3/4 the water required and it worked perfectly. I enjoyed the flavour of cheddar and parmiggiano regiano. Thank you for your recipe.

No flavor at all. Sorry:(

Interesting. I love the gooeyness of the cheese but, has very little flavor. I added in garlic salt which helped but still wasnt extremely flavorful. The recipe also tends to dry out.

Yummy alternative to boxed Mac and cheese. I cut the cheese to about 1/3 because the pic on the top looked too cheesy. I think I would do less parmesan than what it calls for because it did overwhelm the taste just a bit. But my kids all gobbled it up (they are 1, 2 1/2 and 4 next month). They would have eaten more if there had been more.

I would not recommend this recipe to anyone. If you have too much water, when you add the milk to the pasta; you really have to let it boil for a least one hour to reduce. when you add the cheese (I added one cup gruyere and two cups Tillomook cheese) - I also had to add flour to get any thickness at all. it was a waste of good ingredients. I think I'll stick to the old fashiioned way - mix & bake.

Eh, it was decent. I made it pretty much as called for in the recipe. It made for a good comfort food but nothing to write home about. Almost too cheesy for my taste and I normally love lots of cheese.

I make this all the time!! I use gluten free rice pasta and unpasturized parmesean cheese. Everyone I make it for tells me it is the best mac-n-che they have EVER HAD!! Bravo, and thanks for making me a hero, in the realm of comfort food!

I added some Smoked Gouda & Swiss and had to add a little more mik than the recipe called for and I have to say this was "The Best" version on stovetop macaroni & cheese I've ever made!

A real quick way to end up with a cheese pasta soup and tough stringy cheese glops. I'm going to order pizza.

I followed the recipe but when I added the cheese it congealed into a lump with the textureof chewed gum.

The cheese sauce did not blend at all after stirring for the 15 minutes it took for the water/milk to thicken. The sauce was quite bland, even after I added additional seasons.

Wonderful and so easy. Add scrambled eggs on top of each serving for more protein.

I added some more pepper than the recipe called for because the noodles were still overpowering the cheese do I added the pepper to kick the flavor up so it was more noticeable.

This is NOT a good 1 pot Mac and cheese recipe. Sauce just never really thickens, cheese kinda separates and never really becomes a sauce. I wonder if reducing the amount of water considerably might improve it. So bad I just threw it out and ordered a pizza.

Using this recipe led to a watery mess with sticky lumps.

Just a note: The trick to getting this recipe to work is to make sure that the water from the pasta has boiled down low enough. Then add your milk and cheeses. If not, it will be soupy and the fastest way to fix that is to put it in a casserole dish and bake it. It took me a couple of tries to get this right myself.

Just ok. I recommend not using the mustard.

I did not care for this recipe.

I really like this recipe for quick mac and cheese. Is it my favorite recipe for mac and cheese? No, but for time saving mac and cheese that's not out of a box, it's great. I always add peas or broccoli to mine to up the nutritional value. I still haven't been able to make it without burning some on the bottom of the pan though.

It was really really hard to make I put the milk in and it over flowed grr but I mention that it was so liquidy..NO not my mac n cheesed I expected it to be a lot better

Amazing recipe!! I used aged white cheddar, Gouda and Parmesan cheese. I also crisped 6 strips of bacon in the oven at 400 degrees and toasted seasoned panko bread crumbs in the toaster at 350 degrees until golden brown. Perfect combo and I LOVED only using one pot. Definitely recommend!

Delicious recipe, but I did scale down the cheese. I added a bit of asiago (1/2 cup) and 3 cups cheddar instead. Very delicious. I took a reviewers advice and used skim with some heavy cream I had on hand since we don't buy whole milk. Very, very rich and flavorful. I could only eat a little!

I tripled the recipe and added 1 less cup of milk and 1 1/2 cup of parm chs (that's all I had). I added to much dijon so next time I will add less And I added the Coscto "Kirkland"bacon crumbles that are always on hand. My guys had 3rd helpings so I know this was a hit. I should give it a 5 star for deliciousness and ease but the Caloric intake is a killer :) Thank you for the recipe

Amazing recipie I used less cheese