Grilled to tenderness and deliciousness, these hot wings are smoked! Blue cheese dressing with celery sticks are a good combination.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 55 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni
- 1 (28 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
- 6 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 quart half-and-half
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups shredded mild Cheddar cheese
- 2 cups shredded sharp white Cheddar cheese
- fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 1 sleeve buttery round crackers (such as Ritz®), crushed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a baking dish.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook elbow macaroni in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, 8 minutes; drain, return macaroni to pot, and stir tomatoes into the macaroni. Cook over medium heat until the macaroni absorbs some of the liquid from the tomatoes, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir flour into melted butter and cook until bubbly, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly stream half-and-half and chicken broth into the butter mixture while stirring. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue to cook while stirring continually until thickened and bubbly, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Remove saucepan from heat. Melt mild Cheddar cheese and sharp Cheddar cheese into the butter mixture one handful at a time, stirring to incorporate each addition before adding the next. Season the cheese mixture with pepper and pour over the macaroni; stir to coat pasta evenly. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and top with crushed crackers.
- Bake in preheated oven until crust is golden brown and the liquid is bubbling, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
- You can also try adding 1 1/2 pounds ground beef to the casserole. Brown ground beef and drain fat. Add ground beef to noodle and tomato mixture before stirring in cheese. Continue following recipe.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 889 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 63 g |
| Cholesterol | 156 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 34 g |
| Saturated Fat | 33 g |
| Sodium | 922 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 55 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I adore baked mac and cheese, and since I have never kept a recipe box, each time I make it is a little different. This is hands down the best one I have ever made.
First, I’d like to apologize for Goodfella for selecting her recipe so I could use up some leftovers. I appreciate everyone who is kind enough to share their recipes, truly. But I had half a box of macaroni and a ton of different cheeses in the refrigerator that I wanted to use. Goodfella’s recipe appealed to me because of the addition of tomatoes and chicken broth. I recommend reading her review. I followed the amounts pretty much, but the cheeses were an amalgamation of different cheeses which I guarantee ended up as stringy, gooey, wonderfulness. I made half the recipe and put them in individual serving bowls. This is without a doubt one of the best mac and cheeses I’ve made. Thanks for sharing!
I happened to see the recipe submitter’s review on using four cups of shredded cheese instead of two. To the sauce, I did add a little hot sauce and a teaspoon each of garlic/onion powder. I happened to be out of Ritz crackers but I did have seasoned croutons–I ran them through the food processor for a rough chop and used them instead. I did not try this myself but the husband and kids liked it, NO leftovers. I would make this again– this was a cheap, filling meal.
I was happy that AR published this recipe, but they changed something kind of important, which is the amount of cheese. Original recipe requires 4 cups of shredded sharp white cheddar and 2 cups shredded mild cheddar. I know that’s a lot of cheese, but this is mac n cheese. There would be too much liquid if you didn’t add the cheese they left out of the recipe or cut down on the liquid to accommodate for the reduced amount of cheese. Granted, this is not the healthiest dish in the world, but we can enjoy something like this from time to time. Try this dish with the full 6 cups cheese and I promise you wont be disappointed.