Recipe 48: Gluten-Free One Pot, No Drain Mac ‘N’ Cheese

I think you all know me well enough by now to know that I like when recipes are EASY.  Any exotic ingredients or unusual steps?  Kind of a hassle.  I have a whole set of recipes tagged “easy mac” because if it just involves stovetop cooking, it deserves some special recognition.

I’ve seen recipes before claiming to be one pot, no-drain recipes, ones where you make the sauce while cooking the pasta, but they were all “normal pastas,” i.e. not gluten-free.  This sounded like a great idea, but I had no idea if this concept would work with GF pastas.  Then I found this website: All gluten-free.  I think we all know I had to try this just about right away.

Gluten-Free One Pot, No Drain Mac ‘N’ Cheese (from Flippin’ Delicious)

Ingredients

• 3 c. gluten-free elbow pasta (or penne or other short pasta) – I used corn elbows
• 2 1/4 c. milk – I used skim, though the original recipe discourages this
• 2 1/4 c. water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2-2 c. grated cheddar cheese
• Pepper, to taste

Directions

Dump all ingredients, except the cheese, into a large saucepan.  Stir, cover, and heat over med-high heat until it comes to a boil (admittedly, with the milk this smells a little weird.  Trust the process).  Remove the lid and continue to simmer until the pasta is cooked al-dente. The liquid will thicken as it cooks creating the sauce.  Once the pasta is cooked stir in the cheese and season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve while hot.

Verdict: 4.5/5

This might be the easiest recipe of all my easy recipes.  This is a very simple flavor, so this could easily be the base for any of the mac hacks listed, or any other you might come up with.  Don’t have a blue box on hand, but have some cheese?  MAKE THIS.

Not to give too much away, but there is totally another mac coming soon that I’m excited about.  Hopefully the flavor pleases me as well as the idea.  Have any macs you’re excited about?  Let me know!

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