The Best Stovetop Mac and Cheese

This Stovetop Mac and Cheese recipe is loaded with large orecchiette pasta, filled with pockets of gooey cheese and ultra creamy! You’ll never make boxed mac and cheese after this! It’s the BEST Stovetop Mac and Cheese!

This recipe was originally posted in August 2018 – I’ve since updated the photos and content. Enjoy!

Mac and cheese is probably my forever favorite comfort food. There’s just something about it. The creaminess, all of the cheese, the slightly chewy al dente noodles.

But then there are people like my husband, Ben, who like to ruin all things good in the world by putting KETCHUP. ON MAC AND CHEESE. What kind of monster even does that?! How could you ever ruin something as amazingly cheesy as this? Thankfully, he never puts ketchup on this goodness!

Why this dish is truly the BEST: 

Listen y’all, there are times when you’re getting home from a long day and the last thing you want is some fancy dinner that’s going to take one hour to make. You want the 15 minute condensed version. And I’m totally there with you!

Listen, I’m ALL about boxed mac and cheese. My favorite is Annie’s White Cheddar Shells. They’re delicious and they have pretty good ingredients for what it is.

But, even if you may be saving time by using boxed, you’re never going to achieve those large delicious shells filled with melty gooey cheese that this stovetop mac and cheese can produce. Like, borderline Velveeta goodness but with like, real food ingredients. It’s pretty phenomenal.

This mac and cheese is a time saver AND delicious! It’s absolutely velvety smooth and extra delicious. It’s loaded with 2 different types of cheese and gets melty and creamy and buttery and the cheesy sauce coats the noodles entirely and WOW. 

The noodles are a little bit al dente so they have the perfect firmness to them that stands up to the creamy texture of the rest of the dish. 

It’s insanely simple as well – I’ll share some of my favorite tips below, but first let’s talk about what you’ll need. Thankfully it’s mostly pantry/fridge staples!

What You’ll Need:

• Orichette pasta (or you can use any type of shells)
• Salted butter
• all purpose flour
• Shredded cheese (i used two different kinds – sharp cheddar and gruyere)
• Whole milk (yes, whole. makes it extra creamy!)
• Splash of heavy cream (optional but makes it extra delicious!)
• Salt and pepper to taste

So yeah, 7 ingredients. Pretty easy huh?

Best Tips for Making Extra Creamy Mac and Cheese

Begin by making your noodles! Make sure your pasta water is SALTY in order to give the noodles flavor. Cook according to the package directions – my noodles took about 10-12 minutes depending on if you like them al dente or not (which I would recommend!)

In order to achieve the creamiest mac, you’re going to have to make a roux. I promise that’s a word that sounds super fancy but in fact it’s super simple. 

What is a roux? Basically it’s where you combine melted butter with all purpose flour in order to help thicken a sauce! 

So, get a pot warm on medium heat and melt salted butter – which yes, I definitely recommend salted.

Let it melt fully in the pot and then add in the all purpose flour with a whisk and immediately whisk the flour into the butter to help it cook. Once the two are combined and are a sauce, begin to add the whole milk a little at a time. 

Continue stirring with the whisk. It should thicken pretty quickly. Add in the remaining milk a little bit at a time – continually whisking to thicken the sauce. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: You never want to bring this mixture to a boil, just a simmer. If you boil it, you could scald the milk. 

Continue to stir with a whisk or rubber spatula for about 5-7 minutes. When it is pretty thickened, add in your cheese with a wooden spoon and mix to combine until your cheese is fully melted.

It didn’t take long for me! You just have to make sure you incorporate it really well until it’s a fully combined creamy thick sauce. Take it off the heat.

At this point, your noodles should probably be done. Drain those quickly and add them directly into the cheese sauce. Stir to combine and watch the beauty of extremely cheesy mac and cheese come to life.

If you’d like, stir in a tablespoon of heavy cream for EXTRA GOODNESS. Totally optional, though. Once it’s all stirred together, add a heavy dose of salt and pepper. Red pepper flakes are optional.

Consume immediately while hot. It’s so good and wow the cheese is extra melty and the noodles are extra tender with a slight al-dente bite and it’s all so thick and velvety.

Reheating This Stovetop Mac and Cheese:

Reheating this worked so well! All I did was store the leftovers in a sealed glass tupperware. I popped it in the microwave for about a minute or a minute and a half. Then when I took it out, I stirred in a splash of milk to get that creaminess back into the texture.

I really hope you guys love this version of Stovetop Mac and Cheese as much as I do! Try it out instead of a box next time. I promise you won’t regret it!

Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are a few more you might like:

Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese

Cheesy Pesto Spaghetti Pie 

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta 

Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! Like a recipe that you saw? Follow me on Pinterest here! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie