I have something really fun (and delicious) for you today!! I’m so excited about this, guys. My friend, Daniel Shumski, released his second book yesterday and it’s a gem! The book is called Will It Skillet? (a follow up to his first book, Will It Waffle?, LOL, I love his book titles!) and it contains 53 easy recipes that can be made in a cast iron skillet. Not only is this great for easy weeknight cooking, but if you’re an avid camper, this book will probably serve you well. Anyway, he’s letting me share one of the recipes from the book with you, so I chose the Mac and Cheese Recipe.
Let me just tell you, THIS is my new favorite mac and cheese. When you don’t quite have the time or energy to make a true cheese sauce with a roux, like in our extra cheesy Homemade Mac and Cheese recipe, this one skillet method is a winner! I’ve made it twice this week and already want more!
This recipe has been reprinted with the permission and generosity of Danial Shumski and Workman Publishing.
Why This is My New Favorite Mac and Cheese
So what’s so special about this mac and cheese? Wellllll let me count the ways.
- It doesn’t require making a roux or béchamel sauce, so it’s super fast, easy, and fool-proof.
- It’s incredibly silky and rich! And it doesn’t get grainy as it cools like other “miracle” or one-pot mac and cheeses. It’s just rich cheesy perfection.
- Because the cheese sauce doesn’t use a butter and flour based roux, you could potentially make this gluten free by using a gluten free pasta. Everyone can be in mac and cheese heaven!!
- Seriously, there are only seven ingredients. And that’s counting salt.
Just be careful, because like I said, this mac and cheese is just so easy and delicious that it’s also very dangerous. I can see myself keeping the very few ingredients needed to make this on hand and just making mac and cheese all the time. Pandora’s box has been opened.
P.S. You can absolutely make this in a regular sauce pot. You don’t need a cast iron skillet for this recipe. But for reference, I use this 10″ Lodge cast iron skillet.
Skillet Mac and Cheese
Servings 2Ingredients
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 2 cups elbow macaroni* ($0.70)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.27)
- 3/4 cup evaporated milk ($0.55)
- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard ($0.03)
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 1.5 cups shredded sharp cheddar ($1.00)
Instructions
- Fill the skillet two-thirds full of water, add the salt, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Add the macaroni, turn the heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally, until just shy of al dente. This should take about 10 minutes, but check the pasta package for recommended cooking times and aim for the lower end if a range is given. (The macaroni will continue to cook a bit in the sauce.) When the macaroni is ready, biting into a piece should reveal a very thin core of uncooked pasta.
- Drain the macaroni and return it to the skillet. Turn the heat to low. Add the butter and stir until it melts.
- Add the evaporated milk, mustard, and cayenne and stir well to combine. Add the cheese in three batches, stirring frequently as each batch is added and waiting until the cheese has melted before adding the next batch. After about 5 minutes total, the sauce will be smooth and noticeably thicker.
- Serve hot. Leftovers can be refrigerated in a covered container for up to 2 days.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Skillet Mac and Cheese – Step by Step Photos
Here is Daniel’s book, for reference. Seriously so many yummy things in here!
To begin the mac and cheese, fill your skillet about 3/4 full with water and add 1/2 tsp salt. Bring it up to a boil over medium-high heat. Add 2 cups (or about 1/2 lb.) of elbow macaroni or any shape of similar size. Boil the pasta just until it is al dente. Leave it slightly under done because it will continue to cook and soften in the sauce. Make sure to stir it often as it boils if you’re using a shallow skillet like this. Once cooked, drain the pasta in a colander.
Turn the heat down to LOW and return the cooked and drained pasta to the skillet, along with 2 Tbsp butter. Stir the butter into the pasta until it is completely melted.
Add 3/4 cup evaporated milk and let it begin to heat through.
Make sure you buy “evaporated milk” and not “sweetened condensed milk” because they are two very VERY different things. ;) Luckily, the 3/4 cup needed for this recipe was 1/2 of this can, so I saved the other half to make a second batch a couple days later (see? DANGEROUS).
Also add 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard and a pinch of cayenne.
Once the evaporated milk has heated up a bit (this shouldn’t take more than a minute or so), begin adding 1.5 cups shredded sharp cheddar, one handful at a time. Make sure the cheese is fully melted in before adding the next handful. I added my cheese in three batches.
As the cheese melts in the sauce will thicken into the silkiest, cheesiest skillet of goodness you’ve ever eaten. It’s so perfect.
And that’s it! You’re done! Now just try not to eat it all yourself. ;)
I had to make a couple substitutions, the big one being powdered milk instead of evaporated. I blended a 1:1 ratio of powder to water, just a teeny bit scant on the water. I didn’t have quite enough cheddar for 1.5 cups, so I used kashkaval cheese for the rest, which is a great melting cheese–I think of it as a Bulgarian cheddar.
It came out…fine. Oddly sweet, maybe because of the powdered milk. A generous amount of black pepper helps, but I wish I’d just done a half batch to try the substitutions. Overall, I didn’t think it was much easier than a roux-based stovetop mac & cheese, so I will probably just stick to that since I have no problems with gluten.
Four stars since I had substitutions, but the way my result tasted was really a three.
Wow I just made this and I’m not sure I can save any for leftovers. So cheesy and delicious! I added a little cooked ground turkey to make it a little more filling and I’m still gorging myself. 10/10 will definitely make again.
Two words for the perfect mac & cheese = Instant Pot.
Just made this with GF pasta – and I am SO HAPPY! The packaged, powdered GF mac and cheese things are awful, and I so miss good, creamy mac and cheese. While it wasn’t up to my younger son’s taste (he’s 11), my 14YO son surprisingly liked it – and he’s not a mac and cheese eater! Thank you Daniel and Beth – I can enjoy mac and cheese again!
I grew up with cast iron skillets and could not / will not cook for any length of time without them.
When my hands can not handle the weight of moving cast iron I will probably quite cooking!…lol
I think I’m going to need to pick up a copy of this book! I’m a cast-iron convert, and have been cooking most everything in my 10″ Lodge skillet. That thing just lives on my stovetop :) can’t wait to try this, my kids will never eat my homemade mac and cheeses. I think it’s that grainy thing.
This looks really tasty! I like the idea of making mac and cheese in a skillet because the edges would be nice and crunchy! My favorite
While this fills a place in anyone’s quick and easy category, I still love oven baked mac and cheese the best, probably because my mom always used eggs to develop a custard based baked mac and cheese, as did the school cafeteria in my childhood.My children, now well into middle age, prefer stove top creamy styles. Ina Garten has used expanded cheese selections to make a sort of bridge version–baked, no eggs. But, if you use enough good cheese, the only bad versions are preprepared boxed varieties with powdered cheese. I haven’t tried eggs in a stovetop version, but suspect I will like that one!
I’m looking forward to making this one soon. I love a creamy Mac and cheese but I usually don’t have the ingredients to make a white sauce. There is a recipe for making a cheese sauce with evaporated milk in my grandmother’s World War 2 Joy of Cooking but I had forgotten about it!
DO YOU HAVE TO USE A CAST IRON SKILLET? I DON’T HAVE ONE AT THIS TIME. THANKS.
She says in the introduction that it can be made just fine made in a regular pot. ;)
I have a cast iron skillet that I love to use. I have never used it to make mac n’ cheese, but I will most certainly will now. What a great idea.
I make a version that’s a combination of this recipe and your one-pot mac and cheese in a large nonstick skillet. I like to add in a can of green chiles or some roasted cauliflower and and smoked paprika to amp up the flavor.
Great suggestions. Thanks.
+1 on the AB egg idea, too!
I tried a similar recipe with skim evaporated milk, and the sauce broke when I stirred in the cheese. It was a total bust because the sauce was already mixed into the pasta so I couldn’t even repair it. If you have to use low/no-fat milk, take it off the heat and let it cool a little bit before you add the cheddar to prevent the greasy/chunky mess.
Can I use cream or half & half instead of evaporated milk?
This looks so good!
No. The high amount of milk proteins in the evaporated milk are what emulsifies the whole thing and keeps the sauce together. Check out the serious eats article on Mac and cheese for more details. Don’t know if I’m allowed to link it here
This is almost exactly like Alton Brown’s Stovetop Mac and Cheese. But he adds eggs with the evaporated milk mixture! It adds such a rich creaminess to the sauce; his recipe calls for 3 eggs but sometimes I do 2 or even just 1. I’d definitely suggest throwing an egg in there next time you try it. I might make it for dinner tonight now that I’m thinking of it… :)
I also was kind of turned off by this seeming to be a ripoff of Alton Brown. Is just leaving out eggs really enough of a departure to make it a unique recipe?
Looking forward to getting the cookbook – I’m a fan of Dan’s writing and he used to be my “fruit guy” at the Green City Market in Chicago
Oh cool!! :D
The basic recipe is not unique to Alton Brown. I’ve been making a very similar “one pot stovetop mac and cheese” dish made with evaporated milk instead of a white sauce since the 1970s that is based on a recipe from one of those ubiquitous local church fundraiser cookbooks that my mom had from the 60s… and who knows where the woman who submitted the recipe first found the idea. I’m also looking forward to trying the version here (I don’t think I’ve ever used dijon in it before… and not having to have eggs on hand every time one has a craving for mac and cheese and don’t want the trouble of making a traditional white sauce is convenient… should be an interesting variation).
I wasn’t familiar with Alton Brown so did a quick internet search before replying here to find out more about him (and confirm that he definitely isn’t old enough to have come up with the recipe that inspired church lady) and his stove top mac-n-cheese recipe. The eggs aren’t the only difference… there are also quantity differences (for example Alton Brown uses more butter and salt) and subtle spicing differences (cayenne powder vs hot sauce, prepared dijon mustard vs dry mustard, no black pepper vs black pepper). If anything, I’d say that Alton Brown is closer to church lady’s recipe than Daniel Shumski is but, despite Alton Brown’s comment re: mac and cheese at church socials in the video instructions accompanying his recipe, I’m not going to even try to guess where either found their inspiration other than pointing out that mac and cheese… and specifically mac and cheese made with evaporated milk both in stovetop and baked variations.. has been around as long as (probably much longer than) either of these men have been alive and I wouldn’t accuse either of publishing a “ripoff” just because their recipes are similar to some that have been around for decades.