White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese (Panera Copycat)
"From The Sophisticate's Guide"
- Ready In:
- 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 7
- Serves:
-
6-8
ingredients
- 12 ounces pasta shells
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 8 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- 6 -8 ounces grated vermont white cheddar cheese
- 1 ounce grated American cheese (optional)
- 1 egg (optional)
directions
- Boil 2 oz of pasta shells. Slightly undercook the pasta. Set aside.
- Microwave 4 tbs of butter with 8 tbs of flour for two minutes, stirring with a whisk after each minute.
- Then slowly add 2 cups of milk, stirring with the whisk constantly.
- Microwave the entire mixture for several minutes, stirring after each minute, until sauce thickens and takes on a matte finish. How many minutes will depend on the power of your microwave. (Mine took about 6 minutes).
- Add grated Vermont white cheddar to sauce. The sauce should be hot enough that the cheese will melt as you stir. If not, you may add the cheese then microwave a little more.
- For an extra creamy sauce, pour a small amount of the pre-cheese sauce into a separate bowl, add one egg and beat vigorously, then return the reserved sauce to the original sauce.
- Add cheese to taste. I used an entire 8oz block.
- Add a dash of grated American cheese (optional).
- Combine pasta and sauce, then pour into a well-greased baking pan. The pasta will absorb some of the liquid, so don't worry if the mixture seems more liquid-y than the way you would normally serve pasta. I used a 9 by 9 inches pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees covered for about 25 minutes or until bubbling and starting to become golden.
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Reviews
-
Whenever you mac a roux (fat and flour to thicken a sauce) you should have equal parts of fat and flour. Therefore, this recipe has double the amount of flour that should be used. Also, I would make this recipe on the stove by melting the butter in a sauce pot and adding in the flour, whisking constantly until the flour is cooked (3-4min) slowly add the milk, whisking constantly and bring to a simmer. Add salt and pepper (white pepper if you don't want black flecks in your sauce) and I like to add a dash or Worchestershire sauce and dijon mustard as well. Then, turn off the heat and add the scheese in small handfuls, stirring until melted before adding more. Another great addition is to mince up a small onion and saute it in the butter before adding the flour, and add a bit of white wine before you add milk. -
This was disgusting! I did everything as described int he recipe and substituted nothing. What came out of my microwave was more of a dried crumble than a sauce. there is WAY too much flour in this recipe or something. I had to add another 1/3 cup of milk and 2 tbsp of butter to make a sort of paste that would at least mix with the pasta. I thought maybe when it heated up in the over the sauce would get creamy but I was WRONG. I got dry nasty noodles and the sauce/paste didn't even TASTE good. I got this recipe off my iphone while IN panera bread talking about how great their $8 bowl of mac and cheese was... we couldn't even eat this. I will be trying again with another recipe. -
I made this for dinner the other night and as it was very good I didn't think it taseted like Panera's White cheddar mac and cheese. Kids ate it all up though! -
This is a great Mac and Cheese recipe. I used provolone and monterey jack cheeses. I also sprinkled in some onion powder and freshly grated nutmeg for added complexity. I used pipette pasta, so it looked identical to Panera's...but tasted much better, I think!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
SashasMommy
United States