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This easy homemade mac and cheese with gouda and cheddar is going to be your go-to recipe. Once you see how easy it is to make mac and cheese with a roux, you'll be obsessed with making this homemade mac and cheese on the stovetop.
How to make the best mac and cheese recipe? Ingredients.
It all starts with the quality of ingredients that you use to make this the best recipe. I love mac and cheese with gouda and white cheddar. I think the gouda and white cheddar combination makes for the most flavorful bowl of goodness to eat it with chili or to eat it alone.
So, cheese. Let's talk cheese. Aside from being absolutely delicious, did you know that the US dairy farmers are making tremendous strides to better the planet? The U.S. dairy community has committed to becoming carbon neutral or better by 2050. They also pledge to improve water use while maximizing recycling and improving water quality by optimizing the utilization of manure and nutrients.
Just for reference, the carbon footprint of a glass of milk is two-thirds less than it was 70 years ago. In just the last 10 years, producing a gallon of milk has 19% less greenhouse gas emissions. That’s equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere by half a million acres of U.S. forest every year.
What are the best cheeses for homemade mac and cheese?
Well, if you didn't know, my top two picks are obviously gouda and cheddar. They're flavorful, melt so nicely and it leaves you with the perfectly creamy mac and cheese sauce. With hundreds of varieties of cheese available—from creamy and melty to firm and chewy—there is an option for almost every palate and diet, even low-sodium. So you could truly make this mac and cheese your own. Here are some of my favorite options outside of gouda and cheddar.
- Gruyere
- Brie
- Colby
- Fontina
- Parmesan
How to make this homemade mac and cheese with a roux...
If you're wondering what a roux is, it is a mixture of flour and a fat, usually butter for the recipes I make, cooked together to thicken sauces. You use equal parts flour and fat. For example, this recipe calls for ¼ cup butter and ¼ cup flour for the roux. It gives you such a thick and creamy base to build your mac and cheese sauce off of, you can't go wrong.
Ingredients
- 8 oz dried pasta
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup sharp cheddar
- 1 cup gruyere
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Directions
- Cook your pasta for 7 minutes so it is al dente, or under done. It'll cook more in the cheese sauce.
- Drain your pasta and set aside. In the same large stock pot, melt ¼ cup butter. Once melted, whisk in ¼ cup of flour, about a tablespoon at a time. You want to ensure that your butter and flour are fully mixing together.
- Next, add in your mixture of 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of milk. I used 1% milk. Keep whisking and bring to a rolling boil.
- Reduce your heat to medium low and add in your shredded cheese. I did 1 cup gouda and 1 cup white cheddar. Whisk together until your cheese has melted and your sauce is smooth.
- Pour in your pasta noodles, carefully stir together, and let them sit over medium low heat to finish cooking.
- Scoop your mac and cheese over a nice bowl of chili and there you have it! A bowl of chili mac ready to go.
Turn this homemade mac and cheese into a chili mac recipe for the perfect cold weather comfort food.
Chili mac is one of my favorite fall meals to make. It reminds me of an annual fall family party at my grandma and grandpa's, my grandma would make chili and mac and cheese. Then, it was DIY chili mac, which is how I like to make mine.
Homemade Mac and Cheese with Gouda and Cheddar
Ingredients
- 8 oz dried pasta
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup sharp cheddar
- 1 cup gruyere
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Cook your pasta for 7 minutes so it is al dente, or under done. It'll cook more in the cheese sauce.
- Drain your pasta and set aside. In the same large stock pot, melt ¼ cup butter. Once melted, whisk in ¼ cup of flour, about a tablespoon at a time. You want to ensure that your butter and flour are fully mixing together.
- Next, add in your mixture of 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of milk. I used 1% milk. Keep whisking and bring to a rolling boil.
- Reduce your heat to medium low and add in your shredded cheese. I did 1 cup gouda and 1 cup white cheddar. Whisk together until your cheese has melted and your sauce is smooth.
- Pour in your pasta noodles, carefully stir together, and let them sit over medium low heat to finish cooking.
- Scoop your mac and cheese over a nice bowl of chili and there you have it! A bowl of chili mac ready to go.
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