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)
The best simple mac & cheese, made without flour and without a roux for a simple, homemade creamy mac and cheese
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
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Bring 3 cups of well-salted water to a boil in a medium-saucepan over high heat.
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Once water comes to boil, add pasta, return to a boil, and cook 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Strain pasta, leaving the pasta in the strainer and returning the saucepan to burner over medium-low heat.
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Combine milk, butter, salt, pepper and paprika and mustard in the saucepan.
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Stir frequently until butter is melted and increase heat to medium-high.
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Once mixture comes to a simmer, return pasta to saucepan and stir well.
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Reduce heat to medium-low again.
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Add cheeses, allow to sit about 30 seconds until slightly melty and then stir until all noodles are coated.
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Serve immediately. Sprinkle with additional smoked paprika, if desired. Stir in any desired add-ins (such as bacon) immediately before serving.
Recipe Notes
This pasta tastes best when served the same day it's made.
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Joanne says
I like how easy your recipe is, and plan to make this for my guys.
Sam says
Thank you, Joanne! I Hope you and your family love it 🙂
Thomas Smith says
OMG I thought I was one of the only people who don’t make it with flour or roux. I am so happy to know that I am not crazy. I will definitely give your recipe a try. My fiancee is in love my Mac n cheese and wants to eat it all the time so let’s see if I can perfect it.
Pat says
Tonight for the monthly movie, I picked up a 10 pack of kitchen sink cookies. Everyone went crazy over them. Your assignment if you choose to accept it Sam is to make a homemade perfect kitchen sink cookie recipe. It is a basic soft peanut butter cookie containing peanut butter chips, dark chocolate chunks, white chocolate chips, coconut and bits of salted pretzel. There is so much added that every bite is cookie batter just loaded with the items listed above.
Sam says
OH. my. gosh. These cookies sound absolutely amazing, Pat! YES, I will be accepting this assignment (give me some time though, recipe development is a time consuming thing for me) but I absolutely can’t wait to try this out. How do you even fit cookie batter in with all of the add-ins!? Are they giant cookies? If you tell me what the brand is I’ll try to create them to copycat the original. I can’t wait to try it out!
Anna says
I noticed just now that you now include the converted measurements!
That makes it so much easier for us Non-Americans 🙂
Thanks for taking the time!
Sam says
I’m glad that it helps, Anna! 🙂
Jen says
Very easy, my kids demolished this but the husband and I enjoyed it too!
Sam says
That’s awesome, I’m glad everyone enjoyed it! Thanks for commenting, Jen! 🙂
Keith @ How's it Lookin? says
I gotta try this. Mac n cheese is a classic, thanks a lot
S says
This recipe is a big hit with my girls. They ask for it at least once a week.
Sam says
I’m so glad they like it! Thank you for commenting and letting me know! 🙂
Petra says
Hi Sam, you saved my day! I am leaving out flour in many dishes but all macs called for a roux or evaporated milk (??). Anyway, this is a home run – I left out the processed cheese and added a spoon of cream cheese instead and it worked great. It literally is gone and my 5 year old is happy.
Sam says
I’m so glad you both enjoyed it! It was always my favorite when I was a kid 🙂
Allen Hoglan says
I love the George Stella recipe for cauliflower mock mac and cheese…., using, in part, chopped ham, and sometimes also chopped grilled chicken. However, my wife hates cauliflower in any form and simply won’t try it. I think I like it because I always chop the florets so that they are as small as elbow macaroni. So I would like to make he some, using that same recipe, but using actual macaroni. My question is, how much dried elbow macaroni Your recipe looks awesome, by the way.do I need to use to be the same as using a pound, (or a large head) of cauliflower?
Your mac and cheese recipe looks awesome, by the way. I think my favorite thing about the Stella Style recipe is the sauce.
Sam says
Hi Allen, I’m sorry but Im not familiar with the George Stella recipe so I wouldn’t know how much macaroni to substitute. I’d guess probably exchanging weight for weight (1lb macaroni for 1 lb cauliflower) but I just am not familiar with the recipe you’re talking about. Best of luck!
Kai says
This was amazing!! Tasted so wonderful, and such a better alternative to box mac and cheese because you can buy noodles in bulk for way cheaper. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, I’ll definitely make this many more times.
Sam says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the mac & cheese, Kai! Thank you for coming back and letting me know how it turned out for you! 🙂
Annie parry says
I made this for my boyfriend and his mates who i had never cooked for before. They all loved it, was so easy to make and scored me a good 8-9 out of 10! Thank you!
Sam says
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know, Annie!! 🙂
Danielle says
Can I make this using only American cheese?
Jenifer Fagerholm says
Love it!!! Thank you! I don’t like to use flour, so glad you posted this.
Sam says
I’m so glad that you enjoyed the recipe!! Thank you for coming back and letting me know how you liked it!! 🙂
JC says
I look forward to making this with extra sharp cheddar and Pepper Jack!
I saw an earlier comment challenged you to make a “kitchen sink” cookie, but I prefer my “cupboard cookies” where I mix 1-4 random ingredients from my cupboards into my cookies (I use pudding to keep them moist and amazing).
Thanks for the recipe!
Sam says
I hope you love it! Also, those “cupboard cookies” sound amazing!! 🙂
Violet says
My kids love this recipe. Thanks
Philip says
Excellent recipe. I didnt use and mustard or praprika . And used soy milk. And it worked perfectly