All you need is 3 ingredients and 1 pot to make this decadent and creamy stovetop mac ‘n’ cheese. The extra protein in evaporated milk is the key to getting a classic creamy texture and rich flavor.
This is an amazing recipe to have in your back pocket. Keep a can of evaporated milk in your pantry, and then as long as you have cheese and macaroni noodles, you can whip this up quickly.
Instead of the usual flour or cornstarch used to make a macaroni and cheese sauce, this recipe uses the starchy pasta water and the high-protein of the evaporated milk to form an emulsified sauce. The recipe is also a very convenient ratio that can easily be scaled up and down depending on your needs.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Why Does This Recipe Work?
For this mac and cheese recipe, you don’t have to make a separate sauce that is then mixed with the cooked pasta. Instead, the sauce is made right in there with the cooked pasta, so you only dirty one pot.
And, amazingly, this recipe’s only ingredients are macaroni, evaporated milk, and cheese (plus water and salt, of course). But it’s the way the pasta is cooked, and the very particular properties of the evaporated milk that emulsify to create the sauce.
What Is An Emulsion?
This recipe is all about maintaining an emulsion. In cooking, that means a mixture of two liquids that wouldn’t usually smoothly mix together. Some emulsions are temporary, like oil and vinegar in a salad dressing. Others are more permanent, like egg yolks and oil combining into mayonnaise.
For this macaroni recipe, it’s the cheese sauce that is the emulsion. Many cheese sauces use flour and butter to make a roux or add cornstarch, which is the base for the emulsion which keeps the sauce smooth and held together. Here, it’s instead the starch contained in the pasta water and the specific kind of milk we’re using that play that role.
Use Very Little Water When Cooking The Pasta
We’re cooking the pasta in very little water, to concentrate that starch as the pasta cooks. Then the starchy water is part of the sauce, and part of what helps with the emulsion.
We also use starchy pasta water for my Velveeta Macaroni and Cheese where the water emulsifies with the processed cheese for an easy, creamy sauce.
What Kind Of Milk?
For this recipe you need to use evaporated milk. It has a large proportion of milk proteins, which also helps a lot here to create the rich, creamy sauce.
Don’t substitute other kinds of milk here or the recipe won’t have the desired result. If you don’t have evaporated milk, try one of the other great mac and cheese recipes below.
The Ratio To Double or Quadruple and Beyond
This recipe uses one full can of evaporated milk to avoid waste. But, you can easily halve the recipe. Actually, the recipe is very easy to scale up or down because it works as a nice ratio.
Ratio: For every ounce (by weight) of uncooked macaroni, use 1 fluid ounce of evaporated milk and 1 ounce (by weight) of shredded Cheddar cheese (4 ounces of shredded Cheddar equals 1 cup). Adjust salt to taste.
It’s actually even easier than that. To put it another way, for every cup of uncooked macaroni, use 1/2 cup evaporated milk and 1 cup shredded cheese.
More Macaroni And Cheese Recipes
Need more cheesy recipes? Make sure to check out these favorites next.
- The Creamiest Mac and Cheese Recipe
- Taco Mac and Cheese
- Best Baked Macaroni n’ Cheese
- No-Boil Macaroni and Cheese
Podcast Episode: Making The Creamiest Mac And Cheese
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Creamy Evaporated Milk Mac n’ Cheese Recipe
All you need is 3 ingredients to make this decadent and creamy stovetop mac n cheese.
- Prep Time: 0 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Total Time: 18 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 12 oz. elbow macaroni (about 3 cups)
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
- 3 cups (12 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Measure the macaroni and the salt into a 12 to 14 inch skillet or medium saucepan. Add enough water to just barely cover the pasta. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring often.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer until a lot of the water is gone and the macaroni is al dente and just a tiny bit firmer than you’d like for the finished dish, 7-9 minutes. DO NOT drain the water away. Instead, add the evaporated milk directly to the pan containing the remaining water and nearly cooked pasta. Increase heat to high and, while stirring continuously, bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and stir in the cheese. Stir continuously until cheese has melted and the sauce has thickened, about 1-2 more minutes.
- Taste and add salt and/or pepper to taste.
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Will try the recipe soon !
Wonderful! I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Freezable?
I actually haven’t tried it. But dairy isn’t always the best when frozen since it can separate. Given the high protein of the evaporated milk though, it might be ok. I’d say let it thaw in the fridge and then while heating it up, stir it a lot to keep the sauce together. And you will likely need to add extra evaporated milk or water because the pasta will have soaked up a lot of the liquid. You want to make it creamy again.