Slow Cooker Four-Cheese Mac and Cheese
Prep: 10 Minutes | Cook: 1 Hour 30 Minutes - 1 Hour 45 Mintues | | Total: 1 Hour 30 minutes - 2 Hours
Makes 8 Servings
Ingredients
Recipe Summary
Shred blocks of cheese
Add pasta, cheese, milk, evaporated milk, spices, and mustard to a crockpot
Cook on low heat for 1 hour and mix. Check doneness of pasta and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes if needed
Toast breadcrumbs on a pan with butter
Transfer mac and cheese to a casserole dish and layer toasted breadcrumbs on top. Broil for 3-5 minutes for a crispy top
Serve hot
Recipe
Using a box shredder or a food processor, shred blocks of 3 cheese.
In a slow cooker place the uncooked pasta, cheeses, milk, evaporated milk, mustard, spices, and butter. Make sure to mix the noodles and cheese, and also ensure that as much of the noodles are covered by liquid as possible. Set to low for 1 hour.
In 1 hour check the doneness of your pasta. Different slow cookers cook at slightly different temperatures so it’s important to be overly cautious the first time you make mac and cheese with a new slow cooker as to not to overcook the pasta. If the mac and cheese is not done at this point, mix it and continue cooking and checking every 20 minutes until it is done.
After the 1 hour mark, make your toasted breadcrumb topping by melting ¼ stick of butter in a pan. Add ½ cup of panko breadcrumbs to the pan and allow them to absorb the butter and get crispy
Once the mac and cheese is done (noodles are done and the sauce is thickened), transfer the mac and cheese to a shallow tray. Spread the breadcrumbs on the mac and cheese and put into the broiler for 3-5 minutes or until the breadcrumbs become a nice golden brown.
Serve hot.
Why the Recipe Works
While traditional mac and cheese is baked, this crockpot recipe allows you to maximize oven space (i.e. if you’re making a Thanksgiving turkey which monopolizes the oven). By cooking the mac and cheese in a crockpot and then using the broiler at the end, you’re able to get a very close representation of a fully oven baked mac and cheese with only 5 minutes of oven time.
A blend of cheeses with varying degrees of sharpness is a great way to add some uniqueness to this mac and cheese. While plenty of differents of cheeses will work for this recipe, I recommend a sharp cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Muenster.
Using freshly shredded cheese is preferred vs. using pre shredded cheese. While pre shredded cheese has it’s time and place, it doesn’t melt as well due to the anti caking agents used to prevent cheese strands from sticking in the packaging. To get a gooey mac and cheese, use freshly shredded blocks of cheese. To save time grating your cheese, if you have a food processor with a grating attachment, that will greatly reduce the effort needed to shred blocks of cheese.
Dijon mustard adds some acidity and sharpness to balance the richness of the mac and cheese. You can either reduce the amount or omit based on personal preference.
Cavatappi is my preferred noodle when making mac and cheese. Even though that “technically” turns the dish into “Cavatappi and Cheese”, the ridges and the additional surface area of the noodles capture the cheese much better than a traditional macaroni. Also the shape of a cavatappi is similar to 3 or 4 macaroni put end to end, so that theoretically makes cavatappi 3 to 4 times better than macaroni for this dish.