Skinny Creamy Mac and Cheese - Recipe Diaries (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to keeping mac and cheese creamy? ›

According to The Kitchn, cooking your noodles in milk instead of water makes the sauce creamy before you even add the cheese sauce. The starches in the noodles get released as you cook them, helping to thicken the mixture from the start. That will ultimately help with the resulting creaminess.

Pro Tip: Don't use pre-shredded cheese. Many store-bought shredded cheese brands coat their cheese with an anti-caking agent than can make sauces grainy and less creamy. While it requires a bit of an arm workout, grating your own yields the best texture.

Pasta water is also a quick and easy way to thin out a sauce that is too thick. Cheese sauces can get heavy and gummy, but using a little pasta water to loosen the sauce without compromising the taste will forever keep this from being a problem during your mac and cheese moments.

What Is the Best Cheese for Mac and Cheese? Sharp cheddar is the overwhelming popular choice, but for extra-creamy results, we think medium cheddar is even better. Other delicious options include Gruyère, smoked Gouda, and Monterey Jack.

Milk helps amplify the cheese flavor and gives it a rich texture. The water keeps it light, and reduces some calories. I boil the macaroni in water , drain it, and combine it with a cheese sauce made with flour, milk and butter.

Can you put too much cheese in mac and cheese? Yes, adding more cheese than a recipe calls for will not improve the dish. Too much cheese will result in a dish that is heavy and greasy.

To summarize, rinsing your cooked pasta would be detrimental to your final dish because that excess starch is instrumental in providing some structure and flavor to the pasta sauce that you're creating. In fact, that's the logic behind using pasta water instead of plain tap water in a pasta sauce.

Details... By paying attention to the quality of ingredients, heat control, and technique, you can often achieve a smoother and creamier mac and cheese. Make sure you are using a good melting cheese, such as cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Gruyère. Cheeses that are aged or overly processed can result in a grainy texture.

I think sour cream is a great substitute! However, it may change the flavor just slightly. For sour cream, mix it in just like I outlined in the cream cheese example, but with far less or no extra liquid. Sour cream is slightly sour (duh), so this may impact the final flavor a bit.

How do you keep cheese sauce creamy? ›

Starch (such as all-purpose flour, cornstarch, or potato flour) will keep the cheese from curdling. If using all-purpose flour, add it to the mixture before the cheese; it needs to be cooked for a few minutes to remove the starchy taste.

You don't have to make a roux for mac and cheese. Many mac and cheese recipes call for a combination of butter and flour, known as a roux, to thicken the cheese sauce. While this maneuver works particularly well for baked mac and cheese, it just isn't always required.

A big reason why your cheese isn't melting is the moisture content. The moisture content of the cheese has a great effect on the melting process. A cheese that contains higher amounts of fat will melt better than one that doesn't.

As mac and cheese sits in the fridge, the cheese mixture sets — that turns this once-creamy dish solid. To make your mac and cheese velvety again, First for Women Food Editor Charles Grayauskie suggests combining it with a bit of milk. “Stir in about 2 Tbs. of milk per 1 cup of mac and cheese and reheat,” he says.

Add 1 tablespoon of milk per cup of mac and cheese and mix to incorprate as much as possible. *If you'd like to add more creaminess and flavor, substitute half-and-half or cream. 3. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven at 350°F for 20-30 minutes, or until heated through.

Low and slow is the key

To achieve a velvety, hom*ogenous cheese sauce, you must slowly heat our cheese. The curdles in a cheese sauce come as a result of overheating the proteins in the cheese, which causes them to separate from the fat and water content, per The Washington Post.

Any milk is fine. I usually use whole milk, then add some cream, sometimes, just to make it richer. Then you add the cheese of your choice, and melt that, then put the cooked macaroni in. If you are used to using evaporated milk, it's because it makes the sauce a little creamier/richer.