So we have a problem in our house...my daughter eats about 4 foods and won't try anything else. One of those foods is the macaroni & cheese "in the blue box" and I have been on a quest to find a homemade version. Last month I came up with my easy macaroni and cheese recipe and, while my husband and boys loved it, she wouldn't even try it.
Sigh...the quest continues.
We were doing a lot of running around that day and I wanted to give crock pot mac and cheese a try. I had tried it in the past, but had a problem with the cheese curdling or it drying out, but I know that so many people are able to make it. Thanks to Paula Deen, I now have the best recipe for crock pot mac and cheese to add to my lineup!
But my daughter still wouldn't try it. I think I need to find the pasta that comes in the blue box...and maybe add some orange food coloring for her to try it. Then again, maybe I can just wait for her to outgrow her picky-eater phase....
Serve this as a side dish or as a meal all by itself (although the next time I make it as a meal, I think I might double the recipe. My 10-year old was practically licking the inside of the crockpot!). I paired it with a cup of tomato soup and it was delicious!
One last thing - I am not usually a fan of using slow cooker liners (it's really not that hard to clean my crockpot), but I did use them this time because I was concerned about it sticking too much to the pot. I'm glad I did because it made clean-up a breeze!
Scroll down for the complete directions!
You might want to try these other crockpot recipes:
- Homemade Applesauce in the Crockpot
- Crockpot Pulled Pork Recipes
- Freezer to Crockpot Meals - Beef
- Crockpot Pepper Steak Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 2 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 10 3/4 ounce can condensed cheddar cheese soup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Boil the macaroni in water until just slightly undercooked. Drain
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter and cheese. Cook & stir until the cheese melts.
- Spray the inside of your slow cooker with non-stick spray (or use a crock pot liner
- Add the cheese/butter mixture, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper to your crockpot and stir well.
- Add the drained macaroni and stir again.
- Cook on low for about 2.5 - 3 hours, stirring occasionally
Instead of the whole milk, I use a can of evaporated milk. I also use cream cheese instead of the canned soup.
Thanks for the heads-up! I am going to make this again this weekend and I will try cream cheese!
Thanks Carrie for the cream cheese instead of the canned soup. I have also used eggs and they dong curdle, just wanted to offer that out there.