Garlic Parmesan Mac and Cheese
This will be the best mac and cheese you will ever have! With 3 different types of cheeses and the creamiest sauce EVER!!!
So much for getting back on track with meal prep, right?
I mean.
I totally broke and cheated on meal prep with this mac and cheese.
And guess what.
It was well worth it.
With that cream mixture and that hidden gem of added gorgonzola cheese (a Stilton would also work!), I’d cheat on meal prep again and again.
Tell me you guys wouldn’t do the same.
Right?
And feel free to add in some grilled chicken or your desired protein to this mac and cheese.
Maybe some veggies.
But they’d really just get in the way of all that cream sauce.
Truth, guys.
Garlic Parmesan Mac and Cheese
This will be the best mac and cheese you will ever have! With 3 different types of cheeses and the creamiest sauce EVER!!!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cavatappi pasta
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups milk, or more, as needed
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 ¼ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Gradually whisk in milk, heavy cream, Dijon and thyme. Cook, whisking constantly, until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in cheeses until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk as needed; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in pasta and gently toss to combine.
- Serve immediately, garnished with chives, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Nice and easy recipe, but I would suggest cooking the bechamel sauce for about 10-15 minutes to get rid of flour’s taste before adding the cheeses.
Looks and tastes like the garlic parmesean chicken Mac n cheese at the 99 restaurants
Okay, You got me babe!!!HaHa
This was quick, easy and delicious! I used pecorino and cheddar because it was what I had on hand, and it turned out great. This is one of those recipes that you can whip up with staples.
Hi Chungah!
I love this dish…the gorgonzola is perfect. I have made this so many times. Am I able to make this in a crockpot? How would I alter the recipe to do so? I would love to have this flavor be recreated in a crockpot form. 🙂
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Hi Chungah!
This recipe looks amazing. I’d love to make it for a Labor Day side dish. Do you think I could make it Saturday night and serve it on Sunday? In my past experience, sometimes homemade mac and cheese recipes act funny the next day because of the butter separating and all. Thanks so much for your feedback!
Ariel
Yes, of course! The leftovers taste even better!
Is there a way to make this without using heavy cream? I was planning on using soy/almond milk.
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
We loved this recipe so much: my husband eated it twice. And I kept a little bowl of sauce to finish with some other pastas. It’s also very good with bites of chicken added to this dish. Many thanks.
My daughter made this over the weekend. Yum. We did use only half the cheese sauce and have stored the other half. Very alfredo-ish!
Hi Chungah! I’m a huge fan and I want to try this recipe. However, I’m really not a fan of mustard. Does the mustard flavor really show through, or is it blocked out by the flavor of the cheeses?
It’s actually a bit mild when combined with the cheese.
Big fan of Damn Delicious Recipes. Just made this mac and cheese last night. Normally when trying a new recipe, we try to follow listed recipe the first time before making any changes. Going in, we were concerned about amount of Gorgonzola cheese because it can be a very overpowering flavor, but decided to stick with 1/2 cup amount listed in recipe. As suspected, the Gorgonzola flavor dominated the mac and cheese flavor. It wasn’t terrible, but we would definitely recommend cutting it down to 1/4 cup or less, which should allow it to contribute to, but not dominate overall flavor of the dish. Thanks and keep up the great work with your recipes. Love them!
Lol. I made it the other night too and was totally wishing I had MORE than 1/2 cup to add!! If you don’t love gorgonazola maybe add less but I didn’t find the flavor overpowering in the least. Just the twange of Gorgonzola in the background. Since my kids were eating it and can be “cautious” with new flavors I was glad I didn’t have more on hand to add. If I make it for just the grownups in my house I’d so increase it by 1/4 cup!!
This was so yummy!!! We had just the right amount of all the cheeses on hand to increase the sauce by a bit and add some sautéed cauliflower, spinach and chicken sausage at the end. Although pancetta and bacon would have been awesome in it too. The recipe as is would be delicious but since I have kids I had to sneak some protein and veggies in there. And yeah cauliflower and spinach is awesome with this sauce. Thanks!!!
This looks fabulous! I’m currently perfecting a cheddar cheese-based mac and cheese for my website, but will have to give this a try in addition. My husband loves garlic (though it’s not my favorite flavor in the world…haha).
It’s been pouring rain here for days and I’m not gonna lie, I want to eat my feelings. This looks like the perfect recipe to do just that!
yummy! mouthwatering recipe!!
Looks great! What is ‘cavatappi’ pasta?
Cavatappi is a type of macaroni pasta formed in a helical tube shape.
Chungha is, of course, correct in her description of the cavatappi macaroni. The shape is as she describes. The word, in Italian, for corkscrew, is cavatappi… which this macaroni is meant to resemble..
Yes, Chungah – the star may be the Gorgonzola… But, let’s face it – YOU ARE THE REAL STAR HERE!
You are too sweet! 🙂
I’ve been pondering creating a recipe like this for a while. Thanks for saving me the time! This looks amazing and I never would have thought of the Gorgonzola myself.
Is there something that can be substituted for the heavy cream? I can’t have heavy cream but this looks amazing and I’d love to try it!
Can you have half and half?
That should work!! The fat content in heavy cream is too much for my stomach. I’ll give it a try, thanks!!
Is there any 3rd cheese you might suggest switching the gorgonzola for? Or could I replace it with extra of the other 2 cheeses?
You can definitely replace it by adding more mozzarella and/or Parmesan, but the star here is the gorgonzola! 🙂
I just made this using Gouda cheese instead of gorgonzola ( forgot to get it) and it was still very good!!!
Great substitution!