Ultimate Creamy Macaroni
Cheese
Experience the ultimate comfort food with this incredibly rich and creamy macaroni and cheese. Featuring a luscious, scratch-made cheese sauce clinging perfectly to tender spiral pasta.
Macaroni and cheese is the quintessential comfort dish, beloved across generations for its heart-warming simplicity and indulgent texture. The secret to a truly memorable mac and cheese lies in the sauce—a silky, velvety blanket of melted cheese that coats every curve of the pasta. Using spiral noodles is a brilliant touch, as their corkscrew shape is perfectly designed to trap maximum amounts of that rich, gooey goodness.
Ingredients
- 400 g dry spiral macaroni (fusilli or rotini)
- 4 tbsp butter
- 2 cups milk or light cream
- 2 cups shredded orange cheddar cheese
- 1 cup shredded white cheese (like gruyere or white cheddar)
- to taste salt and freshly ground black pepper
- optional fresh parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- 1Boil the macaroni
Carefully pour the dry spiral macaroni into a pot of boiling water. Stir the pasta gently as it goes in to prevent it from clumping or sticking to the bottom of the pot. Cook until the pasta reaches your desired tenderness.
Tip: Generously salt the boiling water before adding the pasta. This is the only opportunity to season the macaroni itself from the inside out. - 2Melt the butter and warm the milk
In a separate pot or saucepan, gently melt the chunks of butter over low to medium heat. Once completely melted, pour in the milk or light cream and stir continuously until the mixture is warm and evenly heated to form your liquid base.
Tip: Keep a close eye on the pot and stir constantly since the butter and milk mixture can easily scald or burn if the heat is too high. - 3Add the shredded cheese
Gradually drop handfuls of the shredded white and orange cheese mixture into the hot milk and butter liquid base. Stir the mixture constantly until the cheese is completely melted and the sauce achieves a perfectly smooth and thick consistency.
Tip: For the silkiest texture, freshly grate your cheese from a block because pre packaged cheeses often contain starches that can make the sauce grainy. - 4Check the cheese sauce consistency
Lift a spoonful of the melted cheese sauce to check its consistency. It should be thick, smooth, and easily pourable without any lumps. The cheese should be completely melted into the warm dairy mixture to form a rich and velvety base for the pasta.
Tip: Keep the heat low while melting the cheese to prevent the sauce from breaking or becoming grainy. - 5Combine the pasta and sauce
Take the freshly prepared cheese sauce and pour it directly over the drained cooked spiral macaroni in a large mixing bowl. Gently fold everything together until every noodle is heavily coated, then season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.
Tip: If the sauce feels slightly too thick when mixing, add a small splash of warm milk or reserved pasta water to loosen it up.
