We LOVE macaroni cheese in this house. In fact when I ask keira what she wants for dinner it’s generally macaroni cheese. I had been making my own recipe and then decided to give PW’s a go and it’s so good. There was no turning back. More sauce and way more cheese than mine but I’ve worked it out so it’s metric with low fat milk and it still tastes good! The best thing about this recipe is the empty bowls that come back. The worst thing about this dish is that I go back for thirds. And then maybe some more when I put the leftovers away. I can’t help it.
Pioneer Woman’s Macaroni Cheese my way.
500g macaroni
50g butter
2 1/2 Tbsp plain flour
2 1/2 cups low fat milk ( I use Shape for mine)
450g light vintage cheddar/any cheese you like, grated
1 egg
2Tbs dijon mustard
salt, pepper, smoked paprika
Bring water to the boil and cook your macaroni. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and when almost melted add in your flour and stir well. It will be like a paste consistency and leave it on the heat. Once it starts to bubble you want to whisk in your milk. Whisk in mustard then heat and stir until sauce is nice and thick. Now you want to take out 1/2 cup of your milk mixture and add the beaten egg to this milk then return this egg/milk mixture to the saucepan with cheese. Whisk until cheese has melted and season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and a dash more mustard if your name is retro daddy. add to your drained pasta and serve. Then watch your family come back for seconds.
Now PW keeps some cheese aside and pours the macaroni into a greased baking dish, tops with remaining cheese and bakes. We can’t wait that long.
I’m with you Corrie. I love this recipe and use it all the time. It’s really not that much harder or longer than the boxed but certainly way better!
I struggle to get my little 2 1/2 year old to eat. I’m going to try this
Mac and Cheese is a staple here too. I have tried the PW version and Caden didn’t like it. I think it was the mustard. So next time I am just going to decrease the amount of mustard. We bake ours and occasionally add tomato on top as well as the cheese.
Definitely going to try this, thank you
You (and your kiddies) might also like this one – even though it’s simple it’s full of flavour, its from taste.com.au :
Tomato macaroni cheese bake
Ingredients (serves 4)
250g macaroni pasta, cooked, drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
1 large green capsicum, deseeded, diced
250g bacon, rind removed, chopped
125g can corn kernels, drained
1 tablespoon plain flour
420g can Heinz Big Red Tomato Condensed Soup
1/2 cup light thickened cream
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
Add above ingredients to your shopping list
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat until sizzling. Add onion and capsicum. Cook for 3 minutes. Add bacon and corn. Cook for a further 2 minutes or until heated through.
Add flour. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Combine soup and cream. Stir into vegetable mixture. Bring to the boil. Pour mixture over pasta. Add 3/4 cup cheese. Stir until well combined.
Spoon mixture into a 5.5cm deep, 16.5cm x 24cm (base) ovenproof dish. Top with remaining cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Serve.
(I personally leave out the corn because I don’t like it)
Oooh yummmm, I will have to try this over the weekend. I’ve only made mac & Cheese from scratch once and it didn’t go down well – my boys said they prefer the packet one. I didn’t follow a recipe, just winged it and winged it badly – looking forward to see if this version gets a thumbs up from my 3!
Liam’s favourite food is Macaroni cheese too. He would happily live on it. Our recipe doesn’t contain egg though, so I might have to give this one a whirl. We bake ours in the oven with cheese and breadcrumbs on top. Sometimes I stir through some vegies, or some tuna or chicken and mushrooms. It’s a good basic around here…
It is PERFECT mac’n’cheese weather this weekend – YUMMO!
I’ll admit that I mostly scroll past people’s recipe blog posts. Lots of them are chocolate cake which I don’t like, and even the recipes which do look yummy just don’t grab me because I’m not very confident in the kitchen.
But this recipe…. now macaroni cheese is something I can get into!! Can’t wait to try it out.
yummyyyyyyyyyy
but i’m on diet
This sounds yummy. I always make it from scratch but have never heard of adding an egg to it so will give this a go for sure!
This recipe looks yummy. I have never used the packet version but then I had never thought of using an egg, either.
You forgot to pur in PW’s carry on about pregrated cheese!
x
I used to make macaroni cheese a similar way, but then I went to my cousin’s place one day and my uncle did some sort of hammy, tomato-y goodness to it, that I’ve started doing something different.
Slice one spanish (purple) onion, fry it for a minute then add sliced mushrooms and brown. Open a can of chopped Italian tomatoes, put about 2/3 of it into the pan with the onions and mushrooms and simmer off some of the liquid. Season liberally with salt and pepper. slice several slices of ham into 1cm strips and add to the mix.
Stir all this into your (original) macaroni cheese mix (maybe I’d skip the mustard powder though). Taste again and make sure there’s enough salt (it seems to need quite a lot, unfortunately).
I also grate cheese on top and bake in the oven until golden.
Enjoy!
I think it’s cute that you call it macaroni cheese. I live in Georgia so we call instead of macaroni and cheese (like most Americans) we call it macaroni ‘n cheese. We love it at our house! My preacher’s wife has a delicious recipe that she makes in the crock pot. I’ve started making it that way and it is heavenly!
Oh my I could dive into that pot. I avoid making Mac &cheese as I can’t stop eating it. Cheese and pasta together WIN WIN WIN. I love the addition of mustard, my daughter not so much.
Now I’m trying to work out if Mac &cheese is acceptable for breakfast….
Almost half a kilo of cheese? Geez! How many people does that serve? My thighs are scared just looking at it!
i made this last night and it was so yummy! loved the addition of mustard (and a bit more smeared on top). great recipe!
Thanks for the recipe. The two teenage boys in my house love this and there is even enough left over for another night.
Hi! I just wanted to share with you… I was looking for a simple but tasty recipe for my 3 year old and 17 month old who have been a little fussy lately. I remembered that you sometimes have recipes on your blog so I searched your recipes page and decided to try the macaroni cheese and the sweet potato, spinach and feta fritatta. We have since cooked these two recipes every week! Thank you so much! You have motivated me to try new things again