An easy, homemade creamy, mac and cheese made on the stovetop, a simple mac and cheese recipe without flour, and no roux required!
To be honest, I didn’t even know that macaroni and cheese even was supposed to be made with a roux until a few years ago. Yeah, it makes sense looking back, but when I was growing up it was never made that way. There was a very simple process that my mom used: boil your pasta, strain your pasta, stir in milk, butter, and cheese (American cheese, only), and voila, you’re done! No flour whisking required.
As far as I’m aware, there never was a real “recipe”, just a brief eyeballing of ingredients as they went into the pot.
But, when I decided on a whim make Macaroni & Cheese the other day and was in a hurry trying to cook three other things at the same time and not burn any of them, I didn’t want to just eyeball things, I wanted it to come out tasting right and I just wanted to follow a really simple recipe.
Every single recipe that came up in Google used flour. I had no time for flour or for a roux.
So I did what my Mom did and I eyeballed things. It came out great.
And the next day I decided to make an actual easy stovetop mac and cheese recipe to share. One that didn’t require whisking flour into milk for a roux (don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a recipe with a nice simple roux, but not when I’m in a hurry for some quick and easy mac & cheese).
I tweaked this recipe many times (seriously, I still have several pounds of edible reject batches in my fridge — batches that didn’t quite make the cut) and finally settled on a nice, simple recipe that I think you’ll like.
I do use American cheese here. If you’d prefer, you can use just cheddar (I included notes in the recipe), but I love the creaminess that the American cheese offers. Plus it felt like an appropriate nod to the macaroni and cheese of my childhood.
I also added a few extra spices — a dash of ground mustard and a sprinkle of smoked paprika, but these are totally optional. Feel free to add any extras into the pasta that you see fit (bacon comes to mind).
And there you have it, the simplest, best macaroni and cheese recipe.
Enjoy!
Easy Macaroni & Cheese (no flour/no roux)
Ingredients
- 8 oz dried macaroni about 2 cups (227g)
- 1 cup milk (235ml)
- 2 Tablespoons butter (30g)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika optional
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard optional
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (113g)
- 4 slices American Cheese (if you don't have American cheese, you can substitute another cup (113g) of cheddar cheese, but the macaroni will be less creamy)
Instructions
- Bring 3 cups of well-salted water to a boil in a medium-saucepan over high heat.
- Once water comes to boil, add pasta, return to a boil, and cook 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Strain pasta, leaving the pasta in the strainer and returning the saucepan to burner over medium-low heat.
- Combine milk, butter, salt, pepper and paprika and mustard in the saucepan.
- Stir frequently until butter is melted and increase heat to medium-high.
- Once mixture comes to a simmer, return pasta to saucepan and stir well.
- Reduce heat to medium-low again.
- Add cheeses, allow to sit about 30 seconds until slightly melty and then stir until all noodles are coated.
- Serve immediately. Sprinkle with additional smoked paprika, if desired. Stir in any desired add-ins (such as bacon) immediately before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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Katrina says
Just made this and OMG it’s amazing. I’m not usually a macaroni cheese fan but my eldest really wanted some for dinner, all the recipes had flour which I didn’t then I found this. I’ll be making this again. 😁👍
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Katrina! 🙂
Pam Hunsche says
How do you keep the macaroni and cheese warm for super bowl party?
Sam says
Do you have a crockpot? I’d put it in there on the warm setting. Enjoy! 🙂
Dodo says
My grated cheddar cheese clumped into one big blob. What did I do wrong?
Sam says
Could your heat have still been on high or medium-high when you added the cheese? If the temperature was too hot the cheese may have seized.
Britney says
Same thing happened to me. What kind of milk and cheddar cheese did you use?
Dodo says
I kept the pot on the heat while stirring in my grated aged cheddar cheese (it’s just an orange block cheese from Costco), that’s probably why it clumped. Too much heat. I used skim milk. Tried it again by taking it off the heat and adding the cheese little by little. It took 15 mins of stirring, but I got most of it to melt and not clump. Honestly, I’d rather buy Annie’s boxed mac n cheese because it’s so much easier!
Robin says
Would this freeze well?
Sam says
Yes it should be fine to freeze. Enjoy! 🙂
Katrina says
Will be making this for dinner tonight although we don’t have paprika and the only mustard in the whole house is spicy brown mustard for some odd reason. Going to add in some shredded pork loin from last nights dinner and some broccoli. I was also thinking of cutting up some potatoes to throw in since we have so many potatoes. Last week at the store they had a deal on potatoes they were 99cents a bag so i grabbed 4 bags and i’ve been adding potatoes to everything i cook.
Sam says
That sounds delicious, I hope you enjoy Katrina! 🙂
Marty says
Well, tonight i made one of the myriad of ‘roux’ versions. It’s ok, but not ‘right’ .
Then i found yours and i totally agree. My mom used to make mac and cheese all the time. And mostly made it into a casserole. With bread crumbs just before burning.. And while I don’t remember how she made it, the ‘roux’ versions NEVER taste right.
So my next experiment will be to do what you said. I think the whole point people miss is the name is mac and cheese, not mac and cheese and floury ickiness added. And omg.. I think it’s possible she used Velveeta. Was Velveeta around in the 60’s?
I’m kinda nauseous from the roux and cheese. So, i am thinking i’ll toss it and try again. It’s funny how scents and tastes stay with you forever and it’s why I know the roux versions are wrong. Plus, it freaking looks beige. Cheese is not beige!!
Will let you know on my next endeavor.. Thanks for vindicating my theory about mac and cheese 🙂
Sam says
😂 So glad to hear that you agree! I hope you love this version, Marty! 🙂
LaShun says
Your mom probably made a custard style mac and cheese which uses eggs.
Maggie says
Just perfect Sam. We’ve brought the kids for a tour through France and had no flour in our motorhome. This was super easy to make and our mac cheese mad oldest absolutely loved it. We had no American cheese so used extra cheddar and a Maggi seasoning alongside Aromat. Thanks so much.
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it! 🙂
Marlene Jones says
Tryin this tonight. I hate the ones with roux. Always gritty to me. This sounds too easy thank you.
Sam says
I hope you love it!
Nyadeng says
Best homeade recipe ever. I doubled the servings and I’m glad I did. Plenty of Mac and Cheese for all! Thank you Lovely.
Sam says
It’s the only mac and cheese I ever make any more! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Jessie says
I just made it for lunch, and it’s so yummy! I tried making my own the other day and just winging it, but it tasted like mustard, so I decided to find a recipe. Guess I found a great one! I’ll definitely use it again.
Sam says
Hi Jessie! I am so glad you enjoyed it! Sometimes making it up by yourself can get tricky. Glad I was able to help! 😃
T says
I made this recipe and it was absolutely delicious.
Sam says
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Marina says
Thanks for the recipe. I didn’t have any flour in the house and I came across this one. But I used heavy cream instead of milk, and substituted American cheese for shredded Parmesan. And I left out the mustard, paprika, and pepper. And it came out great and very creamy.
Mace says
I really wanted mac ncheese but had none of the right ingredients you asked for; I used shredded provolone cheese, 4 slices of mozerella cheese, 1 cup of cashew milk, and normal butter and it actually came out really good somehow. I was so happy that this recipe didn’t require flour 🙂
Philip says
Excellent recipe. I didnt use and mustard or praprika . And used soy milk. And it worked perfectly