Alton's Stovetop Mac-n-Cheese

By Addie

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Show: Good Eats
Episode: For Whom the Cheese Melts 2

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 6 ounces evaporated milk
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

Details

Adapted from keyingredient.com

Preparation

Step 1

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain.
Return to the pot and melt in the butter.
Toss to coat.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard.
Stir into the pasta and add the cheese.
Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until creamy.
.......................

REVIEWS: (667)

I've been making my version for 40 years and never had a complaint.
Mine is 1/2 pound of cooked mac. Then half pound of velveeta cubed in a microwave bowl ( I use a 2 c. glass measuring cup then cover cubes with milk of your choice .... nuke to melt cheese, stir into mac .... heat to serve. No mustard or Tabasco. Any leftovers will require more milk when reheated ... just as good the second time. Some times I put froz. peas in it for myself and lots of black pepper. The later a personal preference.... but ALWAYS good !

This is great. I make it with whatever cheese we have in the house. If you follow the directions exactly you will come out with a fantastic and easy dish.

Sorry, but I followed the directions and this was blah. It looked and tasted like boxed mac and cheese. Not a keeper at all.

This macaroni and cheese was the best i have ever had. I made it a few years ago and got rave reviews from family and friends then... but I think I out did myself with this one. I will never use boxed mac and cheese again. I did tweek it a bit by lowering the mustard seed by about half(because I am not a big fan of mustard and did not include the hot sauce because I figure hot sauce can be added as a personal preference, other then that, I followed the recipe to a tee and it came out perfect. Cream Cheesey and delicious. I did use a little Colby Jack mixed in with 8-oz of extra sharp Cheddar because that was all the Cheddar I had on hand. I would recommend this recipe to anyone who loves mac and cheese. You won't go wrong with this one.

My family absolutely loves this creamy macaroni and cheese recipe! I love it too. In the time it takes to boil pasta, plus about 5 minutes, I have a simple main dish ready to go. The recipe is very forgiving too. I've used a blend of cheeses, a dollop of mustard, different pastas...no matter what I do it turns out delicious! I also suggest adjusting the hot sauce to your taste...especially if feeding this to children, but the sauce method is perfect. No need to mess with that. And please, please, please do not think of adding American cheese or Velveeta...it will ruin the creamy cheesy goodness of this sauce!

I have cooked mac & cheese somewhat like this for years. Al dente macaroni drained well, put it back in pan with 2 Tbs of butter; stir to coat macaroni, add 3-4 Tbs flour & stir (depending on how thick you like it, 2 cups of milk and and then I cut up about a 3/4 to 1 pound of Velveeta in chunks, cook it all in the pot stir constantly or it will stick & burn. When it is at the thickness you like take it off, it will thicken more as it cools. You can add any spices you like, but go light on the salt since the cheese contains a lot of salt. So it's season to taste & enjoy. Kids generally like this better than baked macaroni & cheese.

I should have used my better judgement and cut back on the dry mustard, but I wanted to make this recipe exactly as written. Big mistake, the mustard overpowered everything and I could feel it in my sinuses. Back to the Blue Box for us. Sorry Alton, I wanted to love this recipe.

I have used this recipe for at least a year now! My family and friends love it and it's so easy and quick to make! Thank you Alton for a wonderful stove top recipe!

This was GREAT! My grandchildren love mac 'n cheese....who doesn't....and this was easy, simple, inexpensive and soooooo tasty. Thank you.

This was the first thing that I ever really cooked for myself. It was easy and delicious. Would reccomend to anyone. When I made it I put some broccoli and ham in it, although you can put whatever yo want in it, I found mine to be out of this world.

This is easy and delicious. The sauce-to-pasta ratio for this recipe is quite high, so you may want to up the macaroni content if that's not how you like it.

The flavor in this is great- I loved the addition of just a dash of hot sauce. But the sauce was just a bit too rich. I ended up boiling another cup or two of pasta and adding it to what I had already made to cut the sauce a bit. With the extra noodles, it was perfect. Creamy, cheesy, delicious. Easy to make too! I'll definitely be making it again.

This isn't what I would call a gourmet, adult mac and cheese. Rather, it's a delicious version of basic mac and cheese that kids love. I've made it several times now and my family loves it. It's just quality, easy, creamy, macaroni and cheese. Love it!

This is very good, and extremely creamy! The hot sauce gives it an extra flavor as well. I make macaroni and cheese no other way now!

Holy cow! This was fantastic! I had no issues with soupy-ness, nor did I find it was poor for leftovers. It creamed up perfectly and had a delicious sharp cheddar flavor that wasn't overwhelming. Couldn't taste the Tabasco, though, so not sure if it's necessary or if I just need t be more forward with it in my measurements. The only difference is that evaporated milk nowadays comes in 5oz. cans, so perhaps that kept it thicker? Can't imagine 1oz. making it soupy - was thick like a good baked version. Rave reviews by those who I fed t to. Seriously. I've never made stovetop mac and cheese (apart from what you do pre-baking. This was so easy, I think I can remember it for quick fixes in the future.

Excellent! I've made lots of macaroni and cheese. To "tighten" it up, I baked it with cheese and panko on the top.

I followed the measurements exactly and it was way too soupy. Had to serve it with a slotted spoon. If I were to make it again I'd either double the pasta or halve the milk. Good flavor though; the hot sauce is a nice touch.

I have tried many mac-n-cheese variations over the years and this one simply rocked. Maybe it was dumb luck, or the condensed milk, or the altitude. Whatever, this dish was a huge hit with my family. I didn't add the hot sauce for reasons of homespace security, but with my own second serving I not only added hot sauce but crumbled bacon as well. I am seriously considering adding kielbasa slices to this. Just for fun.



I did not like this. I was going for something more mild flavored like Noodles & Company, since my kids will scarf that stuff down. I used "extra sharp" cheddar, but it was too sharp. Perhaps I would have preferred the "medium" that we typically use for shredded cheese. But the kids couldn't get enough of the cheese while I was shredding it! Also, the hot sauce was a little too much, in my opinion. However, the recipe went together very well. After boiling the noodles, I put them back in the pot, off the heat, and stirred in the butter. Then I added the milk/egg mixture and stirred that into the noodles. I added the cheese, and then put it back on the low heat until the cheese was melted. It worked perfectly. The cheese sauce was very liquidy when fresh off the stove, but sitting a few minutes let it thicken up.

This was very yummy! The dish was very creamy and very easy to make. I followed others' advice; tempered the eggs in the milk and shredded the block of cheese. Not being a salt fan, I waited until done before I added salt to taste; probably only 1/2 teaspoon. I also like just a tiny pinch of nutmeg in my pasta. I didn't have any elbow macaroni on hand so I used penne pasta. It was just as tasty! It will be interesting to try it with a blend of cheeses, too. Beats the heck out of that boxed stuff! Thanks, Alton.