Crockpot Mac and Cheese – no cook noodles

Creamy, dreamy, and easy mac and cheese in the crockpot- does it exist?? I needed to take something to a work lunch, but I was skeptical this would work. I wanted it to be hot and delicious and cheesy and creamy and fix all of my problems. I also wanted it to be zero work and cook in a crockpot in my office while I left it unattended. Is this too much to ask of a cheesy carb laden dish?

I do not, in general, recommend the following method of trying out a recipe, but it worked out ok for me in this instance. I didn’t test this recipe beforehand- I just took all the ingredients with me to my office. I had a mason jar of cream in my purse. And butter. And a wooden spoon. Guess what – it was all fine! Enneagram 9 speaking. It’s fine, don’t worry about it. It’s fine. It’s fine. (But also, I was fully prepared to run to the store to buy some potato salad if this was a flop).

Here’s the plan:

• Dump a bunch of macaroni noodles in your crockpot. Just dump them in. Yes, uncooked.

• Dump in a couple kinds of milk. Evaporated milk is good, and whole milk or some heavy cream is good, but it’s negotiable. You don’t have evaporated milk? That’s ok, use whole milk. No whole milk? That’s ok, another kind will do. Here, I used a combination of 2% milk and heavy cream. I haven’t tested non dairy milks yet but it’s on my to do list.

• Next we’re going to cube some cream cheese, butter, and either Velveeta cheese or American Cheese and throw into the crockpot. If processed cheese freaks you out, you can buy real American Cheese at a grocery store deli counter.

• And also throw in some shredded cheddar cheese. FOLD IN THE CHEESE (or stir… or dump. You know).

• Sprinkle on some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and mustard powder. Give everything a good swish. The mustard powder seems weird, I know, but trust me. The macaroni and cheese will not taste like actual mustard. It just gives it a little oomph of flavor depth.

• Turn the crockpot to HIGH. Put the lid on, say a prayer, and walk away. Leave it alone for 45 min – 1 hour for everything to start to get warm and cozy together. Try not to look at it or take off the lid. I know, it’s hard. I only accomplished this because I had to go to a meeting for an hour but I thought about it the whole time and I wondered how my macaroni was doing.

• Come back, give everything a stir, turn it to LOW, and leave it alone for another hour or so. Here’s where you’re going to have to make a game time decision. You can do it. Everyone’s crockpot runs a little differently. Mine gets to the temperature of the sun in about 3 minutes and the macaroni was done after another 1 1/2 hours of cooking on low- so 2 1/2 hours total. Yours might not be an inferno and might need closer to 2 hours more, so 3 – 3 1/2 hours total. Just go stir it every once in a while and nibble on a macaroni noodle to see if it’s done. Maybe eat some shredded cheese.

When it’s done, and the noodles are cooked, give everything a big stir and marvel at your work. Serve it to your people and accept their praises.

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2 from 1 vote

Crockpot Mac and Cheese – no cook noodles

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 16 oz dry macaroni noodles
• 12 oz evaporated milk (1 can)
• 3 cups milk (2% milk, whole milk, cream, half and half)
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 4 oz Velveeta or American Cheese
• 4 T butter
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 t salt
• ½ t pepper
• ½ t dry mustard powder

Instructions

• Combine dry macaroni noodles, evaporated milk and milk in the crockpot.
• Add cubed cream cheese and butter.
• Stir in shredded cheese and garlic powder, salt, pepper, and mustard powder.
• Turn to high and cook for 1 hour.
• After 1 hour, stir to combine and turn the crockpot to low.
• Continue to cook another 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours on LOW, depending on how hot your crockpot gets.
• Let cool slightly and serve. Cheese sauce will thicken as it cools.