You are going to love Easy Macaroni and Cheese Cups that make this comfort food favorite into a delicious snack or side dish.
These easy Macaroni and Cheese Cups are a great handheld snack or appetizer. So cute, so tasty, and quite easy to make as well. My recipe doesn’t require you to make a batch of mac and cheese first, or put together a special cheese sauce. It does use cooked pasta, but you can use plain leftover pasta or get that water boiling to cook some shortly before making this easy cheesy recipe.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
What Are Mac and Cheese Cups?
This delicious recipe brings you this favorite comfort food in adorable muffin pan macaroni and cheese bites. It’s great to make for a party because they are easy to grab and eat, but it’s also a very kid-pleasing after-school snack.
Ingredients
Pasta: The pasta should be cooked prior to assembling your macaroni cups. Of course, elbow macaroni noodles are the classic choice here, but shells or other small shapes are also good options. Medium shapes like rigatoni and penne work well, just make sure to press them down into the muffin tin cups well. Strand pasta like spaghetti or linguine need to be cut up into more bite-sized pieces, so they are less ideal.
Cheese: I like using sharp Cheddar cheese for my main cheese here, as well as using some Parmesan in the sauce. If you want to replace all or part of the Cheddar cheese, make sure it’s another cheese that melts well. The Parmesan cheese is optional, but I really love the added flavor.
The Sauce: While we aren’t making an actual cheese sauce, we will mix together eggs, milk, and seasonings to pour over the pasta and cheese. As it bakes, this will combine with the melting cheese and hold everything together.
Seasonings: For my recipe, I use salt, paprika, and black pepper. If you’d like to add some garlic powder, ground mustard, or other seasoning, go right ahead.
Breadcrumbs: For an extra crunch on top, I use panko breadcrumbs. I would not recommend using regular breadcrumbs here, panko has bigger crumbs and provides that crispy topping we want.
How To Make Macaroni And Cheese Cups
The goal for this recipe was to be able to make a batch of mac n cheese cups using leftover cooked pasta, without having to actually make an entire batch of macaroni and cheese first.
Most recipes that I’ve seen for mac n’ cheese cups have you make a stovetop cheese sauce and mix it with the pasta, and then you put that into a muffin tin and bake it. A lot of those recipes have you make an extra-thick cheese sauce so that the cups hold together, meaning that you can’t even just use regular leftover macaroni and cheese.
I wanted to skip having to make a special stovetop cheese sauce, and instead just put some ingredients into a standard muffin tin with the pasta and have it turn into macaroni and cheese cups.
To do this, you’ll whisk together the eggs, optional Parmesan, milk, and seasonings. In a non-stick muffin tin, sprinkle half of the shredded cheese among the cups. Top with the cooked pasta, and then distribute the remaining cheese on top.
Next, pour 1 tablespoon of the egg mixture over the pasta and cheese in each muffin cup. Top each with a teaspoon of panko breadcrumbs.
Bake at 425°F until the egg is set and tops are browned, about 15 minutes.
The result is a really really easy to make batch of macaroni and cheese cups that you can assemble in just a few minutes, and then bake up to have a great snack on hand.
How To Reheat
These macaroni and cheese cups keep in the fridge for 4 days. Store leftovers in an airtight container.
To reheat them, microwave for 30 seconds and then check if they are warmed through. You can also use the air fryer at 350°F for 6-8 minutes, until heated through.
Can I Freeze Mac N’ Cheese Cups?
Yes, you can freeze these! This is especially great if you want to make a double batch and save some for later.
Freeze the cups, not-touching each other, in a zip-top freezer bag or container. Once frozen, you can jumble them up for easier storage.
Thaw in the fridge first and use the reheating instructions above or reheat directly from the freezer. Heat from frozen in microwave for 1 minute at power level 50%. Air fry at 300°F for 10-12 minutes, until heated through.
More Great Cheesy Recipes
Browse our full collection of mac and cheese recipes or try one of these cheesy favorites next.
Easy Macaroni and Cheese Cups Recipe
You are going to love Easy Macaroni and Cheese Cups that make this comfort food favorite into a delicious snack or side dish.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. paprika (or smoked paprika)
- 1/8 tsp. black pepper
- 1 and 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
- 3 cups cooked pasta*
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, Parmesan (if using), milk, salt, paprika, and pepper. Set aside.
- Distribute 3/4 cup of the Cheddar cheese among the 12 cups of a standard size non-stick muffin tin, which will be about 1 tablespoon of cheese in each one. Divide all of the pasta among the 12 cups and then top with the remaining 3/4 cups of cheese.
- Pour 1 tablespoon of the egg mixture over the pasta and cheese in each cup. Top with the panko breadcrumbs, which will be about 1 teaspoon breadcrumbs on each.
- Bake until egg is set and tops are browned, about 15 minutes.
- Use a plastic knife or spatula to loosen around the edges of the cups and then pop out the mac n’ cheese cups.
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Notes
*Small pasta shapes like macaroni and small shells work best. Medium shapes like rigatoni and penne work, just make sure to press them down into the muffin tin cups well.
**If your muffin tin is not non-stick, grease the bottoms and sides of all of the muffin tin cups. Note that cupcake liners is not recommended as the filling tends to stick.
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