40 Ways to Say Yes Please to Mac n’ Cheese

Hello and welcome to this thing we’re doing where we help you figure out what you’re gonna put in your mouth this week. Some of these are recipes we’ve tried, some of these are recipes we’re looking forward to trying, all of them are fucking delicious. Tell us what you want to put in your piehole or suggest your own recipes, and we’ll talk about which things we made, which things we loved, and which things have changed us irreversibly as people. Last week, we ate mermaid rainbow food.

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Mac and cheese doesn’t really need any explanation. It can be made from a blue cardboard box or by a Cordon Bleu-trained chef with cheeses that cost more than your apartment, and it’s always just what you needed. No matter your school of thought on what mac and cheese should or shouldn’t be, you’re sure to find a recipe or ten in here that works for you.


1. Grilled Seitan Kimchi Vegan Mac and Cheese

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2. Extra Cheesy Pumpkin Jalapeño Macaroni and Cheese

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3. Slow Cooker Three Cheese Mac and Cheese

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4. Jalapeño and Chorizo Mac and Cheese

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5. Spicy Sausage Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

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6. Broccoli White Cheddar Shells

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7. Fried Jalapeño Mac and Cheese Bites

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8. Three Cheese Stovetop Mac and Cheese

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9. French Dip Mac and Cheese Smothered French Fries

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10. Green Chile Mac and Cheese

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I am gonna make a vegan version of this if it kills me.


11. Mac and Cheese with Penne Pasta, Cheddar Cheese, Avocado and Lime

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12. Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese

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13. Easiest Creamiest Mac and Cheese

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14. Mediterranean Mac and Cheese

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15. Baked Gnocchi Mac and Cheese

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This is such a good idea I’m so angry I didn’t think of it on my own. Someone figured out how to concentrate even more carbs into mac and cheese and they deserve a goddamn Nobel Prize.


16. Lobster Mac and Cheese

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17. Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

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18. Smoky Gouda Mac and Cheese

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19. Spinach Artichoke Mac and Cheese

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20. Alplermagronen: Swiss Alpine Macaroni

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21. Mac Attack Burger

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It’s your life, I guess.


22. Chipotle Salmon and Sweet Corn Baked Macaroni

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23. Macaroni and Cheese Pizza

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24. Bacon Pimento Mac and Cheese

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25. Vegan Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

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26. Macaroni and Cheese Soup with Roasted Tomatoes

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27. Mac and Cheese with Tortellini and Two Secret Ingredients

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28. Cajun Shrimp Macaroni and Cheese

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29. French Onion Soup Macaroni and Cheese

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30. Smoky Vegan Butternut Mac n Cheese

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31. Stovetop Goat Cheese Mac and Cheese

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32. Pepperoni Pizza Mac and Cheese

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33. Breakfast Mac and Cheese

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34. Macaroni and Cheese Pancakes Recipe

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I don’t know what happened to you in your childhood that made you think this was an okay thing to make, but I looked deep within myself and decided it wasn’t my place to keep this recipe from you even though it’s clearly an abomination. Please never tell me if you make this.


35. Curried Mac and Cheese

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36. Philly Mac and Cheesesteak

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37. Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Popper Mac

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38. Macho Mac and Cheese Vegan Nachos

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39. Martha’s Mac and Cheese

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40. One-Pot Chili Mac and Cheese

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29 Comments

  1. I sit at a reception desk and anyone who just walked by definitely thinks I’m looking at porn, if they’re going by expression alone.

  2. Deep-fried mac-and-cheese balls. Available at a tavern two blocks from home. Cannot recommend.

  3. it’s like you know me!!

    mac n cheese is my food mistress, but my girlfriend hates the boxed stuff so if I want it for dinner I have to make it from scratch…. now I have 40 more epic ways to put it in my mouth that my girlfriend will also deem acceptable. squeeee!!!

    how mad do you think she’ll be if I just make mac n cheese variations for a month…?

    • And now I have to comment on my comment. This distracted me so much that I almost burned the muffins I had baking in the oven.

  4. Can I add Macaroni pie to this list? Not really something you’d ever make, more a drunk 3 in the morning amazing/terrible decision…

  5. OMG I want all the mac and cheese so much that I might have to venture to all the supermarkets in search of suitable cheese to make it with tomorrow. Finding good proper cheese like cheddar in Spain is a struggle, but I will do it for macaroni cheese.

    • When I was in the UK/Ireland I noticed some produce important from Spain. I would think that some of the tasty Irish and English cheese I had would be imported to Spain in exchange? Maybe some fine Scottish cheddar like cheese I had, or the Blue Stilton and Gloucester Cheese that I fell in love with there.

  6. My lovely mother has been very accommodating of my new vegan-ish lifestyle(recently found out the guac at a certain fast-food Mexican restaurant has dairy it in :-{ wtf), has made Cauliflower Mac and Cheese. I can easily recommend it, and may or may not have eaten about 4 servings worth during dinner. She sometimes adds a little cashew cream and sirracha to it and it’s over I could eat that all day long if it wasn’t for all the carbs(even when using the quinoa pasta shells).

    • Also, those of you who have been fed by me will get it when I say that I now need to make mac and cheese for lunch… and that I might need some alone time with it.

  7. Yes Please Mac and Cheese!

    I will eat it from a box
    I will eat it wearing socks
    I will eat it as a bun
    I will eat it on the run
    I will eat it spiced with curry
    I will eat it in a hurry

    etc.

  8. 1) OMG #20! That looks like the most weirdly delicious sweet-and-savory combination I’ve ever seen.
    2) Pancakes?!
    3) I wonder how many of these can be converted into slow cooker recipes. A slow cooker is the best thing that has happened to my kitchen since moving into my apartment.
    4) I work at a pasta plant, get free pasta, and this post is very relevant to my life.

  9. This may be the most important article Autostraddle has ever written. This article makes me want to contribute all of my life savings to ensuring that this website continues to be able to create such masterpieces as this.

    This list of recipes is too much power for one person to possess.

    Seriously though I started hyperventilating at that Mac Attack Burger.

  10. Read this sitting at my desk, about to go on my lunch break, and now I know that whatever I eat will be completely unsatisfying because it will not me macaroni & cheese.

    WHY DO I HAVE TO BE LIVING IN A HOUSE WITH TWO VEGANS?!?! I can’t make most of these for house dinner. Ever. So sad.

    • Not BE* (I clearly can’t be trusted to type coherently while drooling over cheesy deliciousness)

Comments are closed.