Creamy mac and cheese without flour or cheese product. Just REAL cheese to make this gooey, creamy comfort classic.
Mac and Cheese without Flour
I am a HUGE mac and cheese fan. Seriously. My motto is “if it doesn’t have cheese in it, it’s not worth eating.” So a food where the main ingredient is cheese? Count me in!! I’ve experimented with making different mac and cheese recipes here at home and I’ve come across two main problems:
1. Starting the cheese sauce with a roux, or basic white sauce. The problem with this is that no matter how much cheese you put in the sauce, you can still get a mild flour flavor. The creamy cheesy texture is also slightly distorted to mildly gritty.
2. Using Velveeta or other cheese “products.” Making the cheese sauce with these cheese products is, quite frankly, delicious. It’s smooth and creamy with a great texture. But what exactly is this stuff that we have to label it “product” and can put it in the unrefrigerated section??? (I’ve heard from some Canadian friends that they have Velveeta that’s actually made of CHEESE!! I’ll admit I’m a little jealous that we got the short-stick on that one here in the States.)
AT LAST, I have made a recipe that gets rid of BOTH of these problems and still results in a delicious, creamy, cheesy mac and cheese without flour or any sort of cheese “product.” What’s even better is that this mac and cheese without flour is truly as easy as making macaroni and cheese with the “cheese product!” The easiness (and clean-up!) rival the boxed macaroni and cheese.
Mac and Cheese Without Flour Recipe
- 8 oz package elbow macaroni
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup evaporated milk heavy cream, or half & half
- 8 oz block of cheese shredded
- First boil the noodles in a large pot, according to box instructions. Drain the noodles after the allotted time.
- While the noodles are still in the strainer, put 2 tablespoons of butter into the same pot and return to the stove on medium heat. When the butter is melted, add in your cream and stir. The cream needs to warm before adding the cheese, so continue stirring for another minute or so.
- When the cream is hot and steaming, but not boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and add about a quarter of the cheese.
- Continue stirring until all the cheese is melted, and then add more in quarters, until all the cheese is melted.
- Dump the noodles back in the pot and stir until the noodles are coated.
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I followed your directions exactly and my cheese sauce came out curdled and very soupy. I used half&half, half a block mozzarella, half a block of munster and two table spoons of butter. What could I have done wrong?
It’s hard to know without knowing *exactly* what you did. But if I had to guess, I’d say the half-and-half was either too hot or not hot enough when you added the cheese. It should be hot and steaming, but not boiling when you add the cheese, and it should mix in nicely.
You might consider using the evaporated milk as well because it’s not as nit-picky about the temperature. Cream and half-and-half can curdle if they’re introduced to too much heat.
Please let me know if you have any other specific questions. I’ll be happy to answer 🙂
It may also have been the cheese selection. I made ours using 1 block of extra sharp yellow cheddar and 1 block of extra sharp white (mixed in some onion powder and garlic salt and crushed Club crackers) and it turned out great. I will probably try other cheeses as well but will try to keep a strong cheddar base. The mozzarella may have released too much moisture?
That’s a good thought too. I’ve used mozzarella with this cheese sauce recipe for my Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas recipe, and it actually worked great. But I’ve never tried it with munster. I’ll have to try it and see what happens.
Jennie, did you use Munster or Muenster cheese? I’m going to test out Marc’s theory about the type of cheese, and I want to make sure we’re on the same page 🙂
You can’t use mozzarella. That’s a stringy cheese, not a smooth-melting cheese.
Can you bake this recipe after it is prepared?
I’ve never tried it but I would guess that you can. The sauce will likely thicken/ evaporate a bit more. I would probably make a little more sauce than the recipe indicates to counteract that. But I think it would be okay to pop it in the oven for 10-15 minutes with extra cheese on top or a breadcrumb topping.
This was a hit in our house! I wanted to make Mac n cheese, but I hate how it gets gritty when I use flour. We used cheddar, and heavy cream and it turned out fabulous!
I JUST made this recipe to go with sausages tonight and it was great!
It is a great recipe, and this sauce is a perfect cheese base for any of your favorite flavours, or delicious just on its own!
Dad here with a Gluten free son, my kids absolutely loved this rendition. Super simple and as good as it gets. Great base for other recipes too.
Yay! I’m glad it was a win with the kiddos! (Mine love it too 🙂
You do know that the macaroni contains a ton of flour? I’m going to try it with either rice pasta or corn pasta. Corn pasta is very yummy, thank you for the recipe. My cheese sauce is going over broccoli.
Yes, I’m aware. This is not a gluten issue for me. I’m okay with traditional pasta. Just a flourless cheese sauce 🙂
Oh…my…goodness!!! My family loves that you shared this! I often make homemade “mac’n cheese”, but was frustrated with the graininess and finally did a search to see if there were any solutions out there besides using a higher fat milk (not skim with a roux). I found your recipe this week and I added it to the meal plan. It…was…DELICIOUS!!! I used 4 oz. Fontina and 4 oz. Cabot Extra Sharp White Cheddar. Next time I would do 2 oz. of each and 4 oz. of Sharp Cheddar and add just a splash of milk because it does get a little thick and we loved the creamy, creamy texture. Thank you again so much for sharing!
Just found this recipe via a Google search for “mac and cheese without flour” (too lazy to go to the store right now). I used a blend of cheeses I had in my fridge and it turned out delicious! I’m just cooking for myself so I halved the recipe, figuring I would eat some now and save the rest for lunch tomorrow, but I don’t think there will be any left over…
The cream base is what I use for my Philly Cheese Steaks and Steak N Cheese sandwiches. So easy to prepare and a a superb creamy texture. My customers love the cheese. I use a little starch to thicken it though.
I have not made this yet but will experiments for that perfect mac n cheese!