One Pot, Stove Top, Creamy Mac and Cheese – My decadent revolution
Update: This Stove Top One Pot Mac and Cheese was originally shared in 2009. It now has new step-by-step photos, video and updated technique to satisfy all our hungry readers. Also, try this “healthier” version of Broccoli Mac and Cheese. It’s another reader favorite.
Stove Top Mac and Cheese Recipe
I’m calling for a mac and cheese recipe revolution. For those sweltering Summer days when cranking up the oven means turning our kitchen into a sauna, or for those times when I don’t want to be a dishwasher, but still want to have a satisfying home cooked meal, I need a meal that can be cooked fairly quickly and efficiently. Enter the solution and what I call, my mac and cheese revolution: the One Pot, Stove Top, Creamy Macaroni and Cheese recipe.
Watch this delicious Stove Top Creamy Mac and Cheese Video:
Start by boiling small macaroni in water on low simmer
constantly stir so that macaroni doesn’t stick
after macaroni is pre-cooked in water, add milk and simmer on low heat
when macaroni is plump, tender and cooked, add the cheese
optional- add toasted bread crumbs or panko for extra crunch and texture
How to Make One Pot, Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
It’s simple, clear, and considerate of everything we need in order to still eat well and prepare quickly, without compromising on quality and taste.
- – One Pot– Yes, you read it correctly. All the raw macaroni is cooked in one pot, without a pre-boil step that most other stove top recipes require. There is no extra pot to pre-boil or wash. One pot means less dishes!
- – Stove Stop- Stove top means NO oven. During our hot summer days, that last thing that I want is to turn on my oven and sweat even more just for a bowl of mac and cheese. The stove top method is a wonderful way of cooking the macaroni pasta, quickly and to your desired texture. I can control exactly how soft or al dente I want my macaroni to be.
- – Creamy – This mac and cheese recipe is slowly cooked in water, then milk and a little butter. The cheese is added in the end and it’s so creamy and amazing.
- – Flavor blasts with creative cheeses- Now that I’ve figured out how to cook it easily and still maintain great texture, now comes the best part—-great flavor! Have fun with this recipe and experiment with flavorful, cheeses that melt well. My favorite is using parmesan and asiago cheese because I can use less cheese and still have bold flavor. Every single bite is delicious.
I’m still a huge fan of oven baked mac and cheese because the warm, comforting, casserole bake can’t be compromised. The cheesy crusts are a show stopper too. But when I’m starving and the weather is scorching hot, the last thing I want to do is to blast that oven to 350°F.
happy Stove Top Creamy Mac and Cheese times to you,
-diane
Toasted bread crumbs: I love toasted bread crumbs and it’s so easy to make. Just break up some old bread, heat it up on a skillet. Continue stirring until crumbs start to brown and become fragrant. Remove from heat and top off your macaroni and cheese!
One Pot, Stove Top Macaroni & Cheese Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound (454 g) small elbow macaroni , uncooked
- 3 cups (720 ml) water (approximately)
- 2 cups (480 ml) low-fat Milk , or more if needed
- **if more milk is needed , additional 1/4 cup milk at a time for final cooking. **Macaroni pasta varies so much! have additional milk on hand, or be ready to increase the heat if your macaroni doesn't absorb fast enough.
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Butter , for flavor
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) Mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) Salt , plus additional for final season later
- generous dash of Nutmeg
- 8 ounces (227 g) Grated Cheddar Cheese , any one or combination of (jack, cheddar, swiss, mozzarella, gouda, parmesan*, asiago*, pecorino*) *Hard cheeses are best combined with a secondary, softer, better melting cheese. Cheese varies in flavor and salt level too! The more cheddar cheese you use, the creamier the mac and cheese will be
additional toppings:(optional)
- bacon bits
- bread crumbs
- chopped parsley
- diced tomatoes
- black pepper to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Place raw elbow macaroni in colander and quickly rinse under water. Let drain.
- In medium sauce pot (about 3.5 qt), add water and raw elbow macaroni. Heat the pot on medium heat to bring the mixture to a low simmer and keep the flame consistent to maintain the low simmer.
- Stir the macaroni frequently as it comes up to a simmer. This will separate macaroni and keep them from sticking together. DO NOT LEAVE THE STOVE! The mixture will come to a low boil very quickly and leaving it unattended will leave a big mess on your stove stop.Once mixture comes to a simmer, add the milk and bring the mixture back to a low simmer. Then immediately turn down heat to LOW. Macaroni will slowly cook in the milk. Having your heat too high will burn the milk and scorch your pan
- Continue to stir the mixture frequently so that macaroni will cook evenly and absorb milk evenly. If you don't stir your mixture frequently, you will get a big clump of macaroni in the end! Stir, stir stir!Cook for about 10 minutes or until macaroni is tender. Make sure there is still some milk in the pot to melt the cheese, which makes the mac and cheese creamy. **If macaroni is not cooked fully, add a little more milk to mixture ( in small amounts) until macaroni is fully cooked.
- When the macaroni is plump and cooked, add the mustard powder, salt, nutmeg and grated cheddar cheese. Stir the cheese mixture evenly into the macaroni. We will add more milk to the pot if needed, then add the cheese to make the mixture more creamy.
- Take a final taste and add additional salt to taste. Before serving, stir one final time to mix everything together. Turn off heat and serve immediately.Add bread crumbs for a crunchy bite if you wish.
I cannot wait to try this recipe. I was looking for a good recipe, cuz I am really craving mac n’ cheese, but I am only 20 years old and am still acquiring all the pans and dishes I am ever gonna use. This seems perfect. I will come back and tell you, what I think. Thank you again for posting this. I think I may use maple bacon on top, it should be a good contrast to the cheese.
I just found this recipe through google and it was exactly what I was looking for, with the ingredients I had. I made it with fat free milk, chipotle powder and garlic powder (instead of mustard and nutmeg). It turned out great. Thanks so much for posting this!
Awesome! I was afraid to try but like you were saying, I’d do anything to avoid turning on the stove! The only changes I made were using rotini cuz that’s what I had on hand, also used sharp white cheddar from Wisconsin, baby! Delicious. I’ll definitely make this again….Is there any problems with doubling the recipe? I didn’t think so but….Thanks again!
I just made this recipie and I gotta say it was fantastic..I only changed one thing, I added a couple of dashes of Louisiana hot sauce and man oh man .. Good eats.. thanks for the recipie..
I made this for lunch today with one minor change – I didn’t have elbow macaroni so I used shells. The sauce was delicious. I couldn’t believe how the milk absorbed into the pasta and thickened up so nicely!
The only problem is (even though I kept stirring) my shell pasta got all caught up in itself. The shells that remained on their own cooked perfectly with only one extra addition of milk but the ones that got stuck to each other were still undercooked. I can see that this would not be a problem if I had actual macaroni noodles! Will try again with the proper noodle.
Oh, I also didn’t have any mustard powder so I shook in some garlic powder instead. And I had no butter in the fridge, but the sauce wasn’t missing it at all!
maybe the shells were my problem!?!? loved the easy of one pot mac and the flavor was great, but I’ll have to try it again with elbows!
I have often searched the internet and tried many different mac and cheese recipes…but finally! Exactly the one I was looking for! Thank you so much! I tried it tonight and it was delicious…PERFECT!
I am forever indebted to you. I have been searching for a good Mac & Cheese recipe for years. This one is perfect and so simple. I’ve bragged to everyone I know about this and sent several people here. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This macaroni cheese is AMAZING!!!! 😀 I never, never, never knew you could such an easy, quick, DELICIOUS (!!) macaroni cheese without a roux sauce!! In fact, this is EVEN better than a roux sauce; it’s simple, fast, uncomplicated and just plain GOOD!! I’m still remembering it…*sigh* Mmm…
Mine took a little longer because I had to add fresh milk several times; probably because I had the heat on too high (I was impatient for a bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese!! Hehe) but I didn’t mind at all. I just sipped a big, cool glass of water while I stirred my pasta. What a way to cool down (and still get a large dose of your favorite comfort food) in humid, tropical Africa!!
I topped my bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese with fresh, diced tomato, toasted, buttered breadcrumbs and a few sprigs of homegrown oregano. BLISS!!! =)) Make this, if you haven’t already!!
It’s good when you want something quick to eat, perfect for lunch/dinner, great when you haven’t got anything else in your cupboards/house and even nice for serving to company..
Thanks SO much for posting!!!
I stumbled across your site while searching for a stovetop mac and cheese recipe, and I’m glad I did! You’re now added to my Reader.
As for the recipe, I was amazed to watch the noodles thicken up on the stove with just the milk. I added in some seasoned salt, pepper, nutmeg, paprika, and a dash of red pepper flakes, and stirred, stirred, stirred. No butter, because I ran out (how does that happen?!) 1c of cheddar, sprinkles of parm. Waited while it thickened, and ate. And was kind of disappointed, actually. Could be that it was mild cheddar (all I had on hand) and the parm was a bit much. Funky texture and not much flavor.
However, there’s a happy ending. This kind of defeats the purpose, but I decided to give it another chance by reheating it in the oven, topped with breadcrumbs, and… YUM. I’ve found my new mac and cheese recipe. Thank you!
If you care about the texture of your pasta(macaroni) boil your noodles first and make a cheese sauce using a rue or evaporated milk separately. But you will need TWO POTS. This gives you much more control over the firmness of your pasta. If you like a doughy texture go for this. I found it to be gloppy and mushy. The sauce ingredients are great on their own. Add boiled pasta to it.
I agree…got the same kind of result, and have tried it twice as the first time I thought it was maybe a fluke 🙁 My milk got SO thick before the pasta was even close to done…pasta never got a good texture, just got mushy and gloppy and pastey…ugh. The flavor was okay…but definitely needs more salt and some other spices too. I think I’ll stick to the boiling the noodles seperately and making a roux…that has never failed me.
I agree too… I made it and with this amount of cheese, I didn’t get enough flavor…. I added more and still not enough. I think it was mainly the texture that kept throwing me off. Also, it was more stretchy than creamy…Even when I tried adding more milk. It was a bit bland and much too thick for my liking.
I’ve made this recipe 3 times now. The first, I rinsed the macaroni & I thought it was great! The second time, I didn’t rinse the macaroni & it was thick & inedible! The third time, I rinsed my macaroni, then decided to soak & drain about 4 times. The texture was great! You MUST rinse the macaroni in order for this recipe to work 😉
Oh thank you, thank you! I have been searching for an easy creamy stop-top mac and cheese recipe that doesn’t have flour in it. This was awesome! I made it today.
Have to comment before the food coma sets in – made this for dinner tonight and am absolutely thrilled how it turned out. This may be the mac and cheese I’ve been waiting my whole life for. 🙂
This was a brilliant method — just like making risotto, using the macaroni’s starch to thicken the liquid. Thanks for coming up with it! Mine turned out fabulous using fat free milk, just 1 T of light butter, and 2% cheese. I did wait too long before adding the cheese, I think, as it was too thick until I added a bit more milk to loosen it up. Next time I will check the pasta before the milk has completely evaporated. Thanks again!
I made this last night for a Pot Luck. It was really simple. I took my time bring it to a boil (about 20 min) and stired it ever 30 seconds but I still ended up with a decent amount of burned milk/pasta on the bottom. Maybe its because we have an electric strove top and the pot is like 20 years old? Ha.The pot is soaking right now. Either way it was sooo good. I did add butter but I added Truffle butter and it was hinting itsself in the background. So good!!! I will make again and again!
Correction on the Amercian Cheese. It has to be marked Pasteurized Process American Cheese. Sorry for the incorrect post earlier.
Wow…now i am now starving! I love mac and cheese and have been craving it for weeks. Im going to try whole wheat pasta and ff 1/2 and 1/2 with no butter as a healthier twist….i’ll let you know how it comes out! Thanks for the great recipe!