tropit

Well, the Millennials have discovered Mac and Cheese and now I'm reading all of their takes on this classic dish. There's tons of recipes online claiming to be the "BEST." Sigh...it's overwhelming! I just made a batch with my own recipe and it's in the oven baking right now. I thought I'd ask everyone what their "secret ingredient" is for their family recipe. Here are a couple of mine:

Use Extra sharp cheddar cheese.
Swap out half the regular milk for buttermilk
Make the dish very saucy, so that the pasta doesn't get dry after baking.
Add a dash of hot sauce to the white sauce.
Make a crunchy topping with Panko dotted with butter.

tropit

BTW...in my family it's called "Matchy Cheese" because that's how my 3 year old said it. At 42, he still says it that way.

Iceblossom

We were not really a Mac & Cheese family -- in general, most homemade mac & cheese has been sadly lacking for me, a pasty mess and not much cheese. But I still groove on artificially orange Kraft. My secret is if I have some cream cheese left over in the fridge, I'll throw some of that into the Kraft. And peas... I like frozen (yeah, I cook them in the boiling water) green peas in my mac.

I have started getting mac & cheese as sides at BBQ restaurants but am more often going to go for cornbread and coleslaw as sides.

GingerK

I have to agree with Iceblossom. I too, am a fan of the original Kraft mac and cheese in the box. It was something that I never had growing up, in fact any noodles we had were either in soup or served with a cream gravy (which is absolutely delicious if one starts with the fat left from cooking sausages). As a Mom, I made a lot of pasta with various sauces but never mac and cheese. Just seemed like way more trouble than opening one (or two) of those blue boxes.

Secrets--add halved cherry tomatoes, or a dash of hot sauce, and ketchup is always a necessity of course!

ptquilts

Just made some yesterday. I heard to add some sour cream, so I tried that. I always add a green vegetable and extra "real" cheese to the box mix. I don't buy them but I take them home from the food shelf where I volunteer, when they are a little past the date we can hand them out. I also added some ham, and some sauteed onions/garlic.

My stepmother used to make the best baked mac & cheese, she would put in a whole stick of Cracker Barrel cheese, grated. It's so easy to make from scratch.

Stitchnripper

Daughter in law makes it in the Instant Pot. I don't know what recipe she uses but I think there are several kinds of cheese. It is creamy rich and reheats beautifully

b.zang

I think it's the quality of the cheese that makes the difference. I make a roux then add shredded cheeses, always including a sharp cheddar. A variety adds more depth of flavour. Baking with a buttered crumb top makes an extra layer of deliciousness, too.

Onebyone

A good melting cheese is key for the base and then a sharp cheddar cheese to add the cheese flavor along with half and half. I've made the box kind, all different brands of it, but kids could tell the difference and didn't eat much of it. I have more cheese than macaroni. Costco has a very good already made mac and cheese that I buy for potlucks. It has several different cheeses in it.

WMUTeach

Ha-Ha-Ha, Matchy cheese. In my family it's "Macky Cheese". Coined by a grandchild of course. No special ingredients. Plain and simple, straight up with a BIG spoon. Homemade is the best, not the blue box stuff.

Onebyone

Most of my kids friends never had homemade mac and cheese. Always the box kind. I remember my daughter at age nine asked if I could make my mac and cheese more orange color so her friend would know what it was. LOL One friend told me that he didn't know mac and cheese could be made with real cheese and would I tell his mom that.