Olive Oil: Olive oil can be used as a substitute for butter in baking by using 3/4 cup of olive oil for every cup of butter called for. Note that olive oil has a strong flavor, works best in savory items like herb breads or biscuits, and would likely hurt the flavor of sweeter items, such as cakes, cookies, or pie crusts. Skip the butter the next time you make mac and cheese and use coconut oil instead. Follow the directions on the box, just make sure to substitute coconut oil for the butter or oil. How do you make mac and cheese from scratch without flour?
By/Nov. 30, 2017 1:46 pm EST/Updated: June 17, 2020 2:49 pm EST
There's nothing like a warm, gooey bowl of delicious mac and cheese, am I right? Mac and cheese is a comfort food if there ever was one, but if you don't make it right, you'll end up with a less-than-comforting bowl of dried out, not-cheesy-at-all noodles. Worse yet, you might end up with a gritty, mealy mess. That doesn't mean you should turn to that familiar blue box whenever a craving arrives — homemade mac and cheese is the best, by far (and you've got this!). To make the creamiest mac and cheese ever, you just have to do a couple of things differently than you might do them now. In fact, it's probably a lot less complicated than you might think. Armed with these tricks and ideas and a little know-how, you'll be well on your way to the creamiest mac and cheese ever. But be careful who you tell — once word gets out that you've mastered this dish, you'll have more dinner guests than you can handle!
Add cream
This one seems pretty obvious, but we're going to start with it anyway. To get creamy mac and cheese, you have to have a creamy sauce. Rather than making a more traditional béchamel with whole milk, up the ante with a partly or mostly cream base. According to Epicurious, using a combination of milk and cream instead of just milk, plus whisking your cheese into the base in three stages will make your sauce the creamiest it can be.
Add yogurt
Like cream, yogurt can give your sauce a little bit of oomph. Swirl some in for added depth of flavor and creaminess. Make sure you choose a yogurt with some fat content to it, rather than the fat-free kind. Also make sure you're using one that's not flavored (plain is best) and one without any added sugar. You don't want your cheese sauce to be sweet.
Add mascarpone
Mascarpone is a creamy Italian cheese that's the perfect secret ingredient if you're looking for an extra-creamy mac and cheese. Like cream cheese, even just a dollop of mascarpone will elevate the creaminess quotient of your favorite dish. Add a little or add a lot for the creamiest mac and cheese ever.
Add more salt
Salting pasta water is like a giant myth meatball of misleading and untrue 'scientific' facts. Salt does not make water boil faster — at least not to the degree of cooking just your basic Wednesday night dinner. For a tasty mac and cheese, you need to salt the daylights out of the water; somewhere around a tablespoon per every two quarts. If that seems too scary and salty, just do it the easy way: When you add salt, add more than that. It's pretty likely you're not putting in enough. Another important step is to salt the water as it comes to a boil. Don't just toss the salt in as soon as you pour the water into the pot. A nice kosher or sea salt will do, just skip the iodized salt unless you love the taste of metal.
The salt flavors the pasta, which will give you a tastier pasta; it's still called mac and cheese, not cheese and mac, despite what some people told you. The firm, tasty pasta will hold the cheese better, and make the dish much better. An easy way to ruin mac and cheese is with a frumpy pasta — and that's what you're going to get if you skip the salt.
Choose your cheeses thoughtfully
You might think you can just throw whatever cheeses you happen to have in the fridge into your mac and cheese, and, to a certain extent that's true. But if you're looking to make the creamiest mac and cheese you possibly can, you'll want to be a little more discerning. A cheese like Parmesan, for instance, isn't going to melt super well, meaning it's better for a topper than for your creamy cheese sauce. Cheddar and similar cheeses that melt well (Monterey Jack is a good one) will make your sauce the creamiest it can be.
Cook your noodles in milk instead of water
Cooking your noodles in milk instead of water makes your resulting mac and cheese creamier. 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.
Give cottage cheese a try
When you're considering which cheeses to use for your extra creamy mac and cheese, you might want to consider adding in some cottage cheese. It'll make the sauce extra creamy and extra cheesy without complicating the overall flavor profile too much. Again, you'll want some with a tiny bit of fat if possible for the creamiest, richest sauce, but if you can't swing cottage cheese with fat, the fat-free kind will work as well.
Be careful with the roux
Though a roux is important for thickening up your cheese sauce, you want to make sure that you don't add too much of your flour and butter mixture because otherwise the sauce can get too thick, which negatively impacts the creaminess. Too much butter and flour (otherwise known as roux when cooked) will make your sauce more like glue than a creamy, rich sauce.
Make the cheese sharp white cheddar
If you're looking for the smoothest, creamiest cheese sauce for the best macaroni and cheese ever, you'll want to use sharp white cheddar. This cheese, according to Martha Stewart Magazine, makes for the most luxurious sauce. Other kinds of cheeses can get gritty, stringy, or otherwise unappetizing, but not sharp white cheddar — that one stuns every time. Plus, the flavor is the perfect compliment to your otherwise rich, fatty dish. The sharpness of the cheese will cut through the butter and cream flavors to round things out.
Stick with the stovetop
All too often, baked macaroni and cheese takes on more of a casserole feel than the creaminess you're looking for here. To prevent that, cook it entirely on your stovetop rather than finishing it in the oven. The sauce (hopefully) won't get overly thick and clumpy on the stovetop, meaning the end result will be creamy and silky smooth — just what you're after.
Choose your noodles carefully
When making mac and cheese, you need to consider your desired ultimate outcome when choosing a noodle. You don't have to stick with macaroni every time just because that's the technical name of the dish. If you're going for the utmost creaminess, opt for a noodle that will hold a lot of sauce. Noodles with ridges are always a good choice: cavatappi, cavatell, rotini, and even penne are all good mac and cheese noodles.
Cook your pasta past al dente
Make sure you cook your noodles appropriately when making mac and cheese, especially if you want it to be the creamiest it can possibly be. You need to make sure that you cook the pasta you're using al dente, which is Italian for 'to the tooth,' because if you undercook it, your sauce can get gritty from the extra starch. You also may want to adjust the flour in the roux to accommodate how you're planning to cook your noodles. Using less flour in the roux might help to offset the undercooked noodles.
Try burrata
Looking for that salty, tangy bite to your mac and cheese but mozzarella isn't just breaking down the way you want? Try the cousin to mozzarella, burrata. The uncommon cheese is softer and silkier than mozzarella, almost oozing with deliciousness. Basically it looks like a standard mozzarella ball, but when you cut it open it's almost runny — like a poached egg, only instead of yolk it's just the tastiest mozzarella that isn't mozzarella you've ever had.
It usually carries a more hefty price tag than mozzarella, so rather than simply exchange your mac and cheese mozzarella with burrata, it's more economical to use both; just half your mozzarella amount and put burrata in its place. If you're looking for a white cheese mac and cheese, you simply cannot go wrong with burrata. Word to the wise: Once you crack opened a burrata, it goes dry pretty quickly, so if you use it, act fast and remember any leftover burrata needs to be gobbled up within 24 hours.
Hack the box
Are you just cracking open a box of Mac and Cheese? We don't judge, that's perfectly fine. But it's also perfectly fine to sort of help the box flavor a bit with some steps (or fun add-ins) that will make it taste a whole lot better. Here's a basic rule that is almost 100 percent accurate; the cheaper the price, the more butter you need. Kraft suggests 1/4 cup of butter (or margarine) — if you want this creamy you need more than that. It's not exactly healthy but that's the price you pay for creamy mac and cheese.
As for the milk, a standard box will require 1/4 cup of milk. Sub out half of that for cream. After you get the butter and cream mixed in, hit it with a shot of your favorite hot sauce, just to round out the cheesy flavor, and you'll have the best 99 cent box of mac and cheese you've ever tasted.
This no boil eggless easy baked mac and cheese without extra flour or without roux, made from scratch (homemade mac and cheese, not from the box) is my go to recipe if I wish to make a big batch of easy mac and cheese for my family.
As you can see, the mac and cheese is baked until golden brown and its very delicious but too easy to prepare!
6Easy Baked Mac And Cheese Without Flour, Roux, Eggs No Boil Recipe
Homemade Mac And Cheese From Scratch No Egg Recipe
And the best part is that you do not have to boil the pasta or noodles first following this recipe since this is a very simple and easy baked mac and cheese recipe without boiling the pasta in water first on stove top.
We just bake this mac and cheese in the oven which makes this mac and cheese recipe the most easy baked mac and cheese recipe ever!
This mac and cheese recipe is especially very useful during special occasions, as I am sure this is delicious that everyone including my kids will love this and also its enough for everyone with lots of leftovers.
When I say no flour, I mean I didn’t use any flour to make roux as called in many mac and cheese recipes.
But this is made using the macaroni shells which is made of durum wheat flour so this is not gluten free.
If you want an easy mac & cheese recipe on stove top, try this simple, easy and creamy one pot mac and cheese recipe.
The best thing with this baked mac and cheese recipe is that the effort needed to make this baked mac and cheese is minimal, we just need to dump everything and bake it!
In the above picture, you can see baked mac and cheese served with perfectly boiled corn on the cob in the background.
This is an eggless baked mac and cheese, its obviously vegetarian dish but not vegan since we use real cheese, milk, butter etc.
There is no need to add flour or make roux as this is a very simple recipe for baked mac and cheese, but it taste delicious with minimal efforts.
I usually bake mac and cheese during family dinners for occasions when you can easily prepare this in a large baking tray within few minutes and then bake the whole stuff.
I made this for last Thanksgiving for my family, but it took a while to post this.
So here is how you can easily make this baked mac and cheese following this simple and easy recipe for eggless, flourless baked mac and cheese.
How To Make Easy Baked Mac And Cheese Without Roux (Flour) And No Eggs
We use the following ingredients for this recipe.
Ingredients to make no boil mac and cheese
16 oz dry elbow pasta shells (about 4 cups)
2 cups water
4 cups whole milk
1 stick butter
5 cups shredded cheese I use a mix of cheddar and Mexican blend
salt adjust to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
Steps By Step Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
Layer the dry pasta shells in a single layer in a large sized baking pan or tray (9*13 pan is good).
Also add the ingredients water, milk, garlic powder, onion powder and enough salt, stir in evenly.
Now add 3 cups of shredded cheese, and stir into mix with the rest of the ingredients.
Also place the stick of butter on top.
Place the baking tray in the oven, set the timer for one hour to bake the mac and cheese.
In about few minutes (about 15 to 20 minutes), the butter will melt and so carefully open the oven and stir in the melted butter with the rest of the ingredients in the pan.
The contents will be really hot at this time, so be careful while doing so. To avoid this step, you may add melted butter early in the process and mix in.
Once the butter is stirred in, close the oven and bake for the rest of the time until the top begins to lightly brown and the inside is cooked.
Check the contents in between (after about 50 minutes of time), since the oven temperatures can vary and in some cases the dish may get cooked early.
Once the pasta is baked (we baked it for about an hour) and the top starts to lightly brown, carefully open the pan, add one more cup of cheese, stir the contents and add remaining one cup of shredded cheese on the top (you may adjust the amount of cheese slightly based on your preferences).
To get the most delicious cheesy baked mac and cheese which is lightly golden brown in color, increase the oven temperature to 400 degree Fahrenheit and bake for another 7 to 10 minutes or until the cheese on top is completely melted and lightly browned on top!
This last step of increasing the oven temperature to do the final baking is very important, as it helps to bake the perfect mac and cheese that is delicious and golden brown when baked.
Enjoy the baked mac and cheese while it is still slightly hot or warm for the best results. If serving later, you may reheat it in the oven as you usually do.
Tips To Make The Best Baked Mac And Cheese
To make the best and easy baked mac and cheese without roux or extra flour, make sure to use the best quality macaroni pasta shells (elbow pasta shells).
I recommend using the regular kind of pasta shells for this (not gluten free or whole wheat or any other kind) for the best results.
I am not sure if gluten free pasta or any other kind of pasta like whole wheat pasta or chickpea pasta will work for this recipe since I haven’t tried them myself.
Sof if you are not on a specific diet, stick with regular macaroni pasta shells for this baked mac and cheese recipe.
The kind of cheese that you use for this baked mac and cheese recipe is very important as it decides the flavor and cheesy texture of the baked mac and cheese.
Make sure to use the recommended amount of cheese for the recipe, or it may not turn out good.
Substitute Oil For Butter In Mac And Cheese
The cheese in the dish helps the pasta to thicken so if you use less cheese, it may end up with a lot of liquid mess. To avoid this, make sure to use the recommended amount of cheese!
Also, it is very important to use good quality cheese.
Alternative For Butter In Macaroni And Cheese
If you can, it is always best to shred the cheese yourself at home.
If you use packaged shredded cheese, make sure you are familiar with the cheese that you are using and its good for baking.
Because some of the shredded cheese comes with extra ingredients and may make the pasta dry when it cooks.
So use the cheese that you normally use for pasta dishes so you know its of good quality!
I recommend a mix of Mexican blend and cheddar cheese, which is what I prefer, but you may try other shredded cheese which you prefer also but make sure to use good quality cheese that you normally use in pasta.
Below you can read the no boil easy baked mac and cheese recipe in detail.
Easy Baked Mac And Cheese Without Flour, Roux, Eggs No Boil Recipe
This eggless, no boil easy baked mac and cheese without extra flour, roux, without eggs is so simple to make and its very delicious too.Following this method you can easily learn how to make simple and easy mac and cheese without boiling the pasta or noodles in water first, as we just do the baking to prepare the delicious mac and cheese.Recipe updated.
Servings:
Ingredients
16ozdry elbow pasta shells(about 4 cups)
2cupswater
4cupswhole milk
1stickbutter
5cupsshredded cheese I use a mix of cheddar and Mexican blend
salt adjust to taste
1teaspoongarlic powder
2teaspoonsonion powder
Instructions
In a large baking pan (9*13 will do), layer the dry pasta in a single layer.
Add the water and milk, garlic powder, onion powder and enough salt, mix well.
Now add 3 cups of shredded cheese, and stir into mix with the rest of the ingredients.
Place the pan in oven, set the timer for 1 hour to bake the mac and cheese.
In about 15 to 20 minutes, the butter will melt, so carefully open the oven and stir in the melted butter with the rest of the ingredients in the pan.
Close the oven and bake for the rest of the time. Make sure to check the contents after about 50 minutes of time, since the oven temperatures can vary and in some cases the dish may get cooked faster. You need to bake until the top begins to brown.
Once the pasta is baked (we baked it for about an hour) and the top starts to lightly brown, carefully open the pan, add one more cup of cheese, stir the contents and add remaining one cup of shredded cheese on the top (you may adjust the amount of cheese slightly based on your preferences).
Increase the oven temperature to 400 degree Fahrenheit and bake for another 7 to 10 minutes of time or until the cheese on top is completely melted and lightly browned on top. This last step of increasing the oven temperature to do the final baking is very important, as it helps to bake the perfect mac and cheese that is delicious and golden brown when baked.Enjoy the baked mac and cheese for lunch or dinner while it is still slightly hot or warm for the best results. If serving later, you may reheat it in the oven as you usually do.
Notes
This amount of mac and cheese gives enough for a large family or a small gathering or party, so you can make this for special occasions or any day as you like. I made this for Thanksgiving dinner and it was delicious, even my picky kids loved it! The addition of onion powder and garlic powder easily add flavor to the mac and cheese, but you can adjust the spices to your liking if you wish and add other flavorings if you want to.