You are going to love how quickly and easily this Macaroni and Cheese Cups recipe turns leftover pasta into a delicious snack or side dish. It’s a perfect comfort food! Instructions for freezing and reheating included.
These easy Macaroni and Cheese Cups are a great handheld snack or appetizer. So cute, so tasty, and quick and easy to make as well. My recipe doesn’t require you to make a batch of mac and cheese first, nor do you have to cook up a cheese sauce. And, it uses any kind of cooked pasta – use plain leftover pasta or get some 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?
Often, mac and cheese cups are made with a macaroni and cheese sauce recipe that is extra thick. That is mixed with cooked pasta and then spooned into muffin tin cups and baked. There is often egg added to help hold it all together. They make for great little bite-sized snacks. They’re also great to serve at a party because they’re suck wonderful finger food. But they’re not the quickest things to make. At least, until this recipe they weren’t.
The reason I created this recipe was that I wanted to make macaroni cups for my kids using leftover cooked pasta. I always have leftover pasta and I figured this would be a great use for it. I did some searching all over the internet and was dismayed to find out that most recipes have you make an extra-thick cheese sauce on the stove, mix it with the cooked pasta, then spoon that into the muffin tin, and then bake it. I didn’t want to actually have to make mac n cheese to make the cups though.
What I wanted was to somehow just mix together sauce ingredients in a bowl and then pour it over cooked pasta in the muffin tin and bake it. I didn’t want to make a whole cheese sauce. I mean, if I’m making cheese sauce, I might as well just make a batch of creamy mac n cheese like this, or this Velveeta macaroni and cheese, you know?
So, I did a lot of testing and came up with this recipe. It’s literally perfect. You’ll be putting shredded cheese and pasta into the muffin tin, and then you pour over top of that what is essentially an uncooked custard of egg, milk, and seasonings (and a bit more cheese, if you’d like). Then you top it with some breadcrumbs and bake it. The whole thing is prepped and assembled in under 10 minutes. Then, 15 minutes later you have decadently, cheesily, delicious mac n cheese cups. Yay!
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. Any pasta that is poking out above the sauce tends to dry out too much. Strand pasta like spaghetti or linguine need to be cut up into more bite-sized pieces, but other than that, they work great too.
Cheese: I like using sharp Cheddar cheese for my main cheese here, as well as using some finely shredded 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 you aren’t making an actual cheese sauce, and you certainly won’t be cooking one, you 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 because panko has bigger crumbs and provides the crispy topping that you and I definitely 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.
Remember, my goal for this recipe was to skip having to make a stovetop cheese sauce before assembling the cups. I wanted to 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 some 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 2 tablespoons 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 this 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.
Type Of Muffin Tin Needed
The recipe below says to use a non-stick muffin tin because that is what I’ve found works best. The macaroni cups brown on the outside but don’t stick and then pop right out afterwards. You will sometimes have a tiny bit of cheese stuck on the side, but just use a plastic knife or rubber spatula to loosen it.
My second choice is to use a regular metal muffin tin. You just need to grease the cups, especially the bottoms. If you do that, you’ll also need to run a knife around the the sides after they’re baked, and then they will pop out.
My third choice is to use a disposable metal muffin tin. These work but because of the little bends and folds in them, there can be some stickage, and the sides and bottoms of the cups don’t brown as well.
Finally, I will say do not use cupcake liners. The cheese and filling stick quite badly and it is really hard to get the macaroni cups out of the liners. I pretty much had to break the cup up to get it out. I’ve heard that there are cupcake liners made out of parchment paper that don’t stick to cheese and custard sauces, but I haven’t tried those.
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. The microwave makes them warm but a bit soft whereas the air fryer gives them some crunch.
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, especially these tasty toppings for mac and cheese, or try one of these cheesy favorites next:
- Evaporated Milk Mac and Cheese
- Lobster Mac and Cheese
- Cheese Blintzes
- Grilled Cheese Burrito Recipe
- Macaroni and Cheese Stuffed Peppers
- The Best Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Podcast Episode: Making Macaroni and Cheese Cups
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
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.
- Divide 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 2 tablespoons 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 are not recommended as the filling tends to stick to them and your macaroni and cheese cups get torn apart trying to get the paper off of them.
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