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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Kaitlin says
August 2, 2019 at 11:26 pmLove that this doesn’t require flour and all that- I always mess that up. This was DELICIOUS and crazy easy! For the second cheese all I had was a block of cream cheese so used that and it made it SUPER creamy! Thanks for this recipe. Saved it and will definitely be my new go-to Mac and cheese!
Sam says
August 3, 2019 at 10:22 pmI am so glad you enjoy the mac and cheese so much, Kaitlin! 🙂
Anna says
July 31, 2019 at 12:37 pmThis sauce was delicious! I also added cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Spectacular!
Sam says
July 31, 2019 at 8:54 pmThat you so much, Anna! I am so glad you enjoyed the macaroni and cheese! 🙂
Em says
July 26, 2019 at 12:20 pmOh man, this sauce is money. I was in the mood for some mac and cheese after work but didn’t have any in the house, so I whipped up this sauce minus the paprika and mustard to go on top of some microwave noodles and it’s so creamy and cheesy and amazing. Thank you for sharing, I will definitely be using this in the future!
Sam says
July 26, 2019 at 12:55 pmI am so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Carolinne says
July 12, 2019 at 12:22 amJust tried and it got amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe. I added way more cheese (we, my husband and I, totally love cheese) and used cream cheese as well. It’s the perfect dish for cheese and pasta lovers. Thank you!
Sam says
July 12, 2019 at 10:49 amI am so glad you enjoyed the mac and cheese so much! Nothing wrong with a little extra cheese if you ask me. 🙂
katie says
July 10, 2019 at 1:55 pmIs there any reason we couldn’t put this in a baking dish for, say, 30 minutes at 350? We like the baked top.
Sam says
July 10, 2019 at 2:28 pmHi Katie, I don’t see why not. 30 minutes might be a bit long though, I’d hate for it to dry out!
katie says
July 10, 2019 at 5:26 pmThanks, I’m gonna go try it right now!
Deborah says
July 9, 2019 at 7:45 pmI loved it! Thank you! I was craving macaroni and cheese and needed something easy since I’m pretty bad at making anything. The cheese turned out a little grainy so I should’ve put it on slower but other than that it was perfect!
Sam says
July 9, 2019 at 9:17 pmI am so glad you enjoyed it, Deborah! 🙂
AT says
June 8, 2019 at 8:58 pmI was looking for a recipe without flour and this is perfect. Quick and simple and so delicious ! I was craving Mac n cheese and I got my fix !!
Thank you!
Sam says
June 8, 2019 at 10:38 pmI’m so glad you enjoyed! Thank you for commenting! 🙂
Shannon says
May 30, 2019 at 4:12 pmVery good.. Simple, quick and turned out well. I only wish there’d have been an add on if you wanted a crispy crust on it. I love it as is, but my fiancee likes a crispy crust on it. I tried to wing it and it turned out ok, but not as good as I’d like.
Sam says
May 30, 2019 at 5:20 pmUsually baking is required to get a crispy crust on top, check out my baked mac & cheese recipe, that might be what you’re looking for 🙂
David Appenzellar says
May 14, 2019 at 5:26 amI so loved that you shared a recipe your mom made from scratch and that she just threw together when when wanted to make Mac n Cheese. So many of our great family recipes were cooked like that and if you didn’t spend the time with them in the kitchen the recipe is lost forever when they are gone. And I’ve found it’s so hard to write down portions of ingredients and get the dish to turn out right. My brother used to want me to do that after our mom died and I tried and finally told him if you want to know how cool with me. I will say my go to Mac n Cheese is cooked elbow macaroni and after I drain it it goes into a microwaveable bowl. I add whole milk, margarine, salt and pepper to taste and cut up blocks of Velveeta cheese. I start off on high for a couple of minutes and stir and keep heating for a few and stirring until it is all melted and covering the macaroni well and taste. If it needs more cheese flavor add and heat and melted. If I happen to have to much cheese and it’s not melting well blended just add some more milk. It’s trial and error but is quick to make and I love the creamy cheese and Mac flavor. I’ll try yours as I never thought of American cheese in it plus my dad loves cheddar cheese. I like finding new recipes and exact amounts guarantee success but man those family recipes where the ladies cooked by throwing it together always was great and glad someone like you is sharing your Mom’s cooking. What a great tribute to her and keeps her memory alive. A sign of a life lived well when generations later she is still thought of and I’m sure she’s quite proud of the daughter you are!!!!