Sprinkle it over the mac and you'll have crunch in every bite. Spread it on a baking sheet and bake in a 325º oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Go ahead and combine some bread crumbs or crushed crackers with minced garlic, grated parm and chopped parsley. If you don't mind washing a baking sheet. In your slow cooker, you'll want to go with HIGH as opposed to LOW heat. Think: mozzarella, fontina, and Monterey Jack. Totally! You just want to choose one (or three) with good melting properties. It also wouldn't be as rich. Heavy cream has waaay more calories and fat and would take the decadence of macaroni and cheese to a whole new (and unnecessary) level. If you only use milk, the sauce would be kinda watery and soup-like. There's already a decent amount of milk in here anyways. Meaning it's pretty perfect for mac and cheese. You really only need to stir it once before serving.Ībout 60% of its water has been removed so it's much more concentrated, making it creamy AF. With the elbow noodles! The evaporated milk, whole milk, and cheeses slowly melt together into perfectly creamy sauce. Pasta, if cooked too long, tends to get gummy if sits in a slow cooker for too long. You just need to start checking after 2 hours, every 20 minutes or so. (We were skeptical at first too!) And for more easy dinner ideas, check out our best slow-cooker recipes. And in the end you have just ONE DISH to clean. This recipe is essentially fool proof but we are here to answer to your inevitable doubts and questions are below. Everything-including the pasta!-cooks in a slow cooker. No to mention, the amount of dishes can be insane.Įnter: this slow-cooker mac & cheese. And you'll almost definitely feel the need to make a buttery topping and bake it (even though it was already perfectly cheesy and saucy already). You need to make a cheese sauce while also cooking pasta in another pot.

Homemade macaroni and cheese is a process.

The best crockpot mac & cheese