Crock Pot Mac and Cheese with Uncooked Pasta has excellent taste, creamy texture, and tender pasta in one of the easiest recipes you can make for dinner tonight—no boiling for you.
🧀Ingredients
Elbow macaroni
Milk
Butter
Cheese
Pantry ingredients—dry mustard, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper
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Featured Comment from John:
"5 stars—Great recipe, fantastic flavor. I doubled it and followed your advice and really kept an eye on the dish at the end."
This Mac and Cheese has a wonderfully creamy, cheesy taste and tender pasta that the whole family will love, even picky kids. Free up the oven and stovetop space using your crock pot during holiday cooking, like Thanksgiving or Christmas.
No need to boil—add the dry pasta uncooked. You cook the pasta in spicy milk in the crock pot until nearly done, drain any fluid, add cheese, and let it melt to creamy goodness.
There is no can of soup, it has easy clean up, and you can use any size crock pot, even as small as 2 quarts.
👨‍🍳How to make Crock Pot Mac and Cheese with Uncooked Pasta
This recipe will fit in a 2-quart or larger crock pot.
Add 2 cups milk, 1 cup standard macaroni, ½ teaspoon dry mustard, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon each of pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and 1 tablespoon of butter to the crock pot.
Cook on low until the pasta reaches al dente. Stir well one hour into the cooking and check the texture, then recheck every 30 minutes or more frequently until done—about 2 hours for most crock pots and pasta. But crock pots and pasta vary, and your time may vary. DO NOT COOK BY TIME.
Drain any free fluid when the pasta is al dente, and mix in 1 cup of shredded cheese—sharp cheddar is recommended.
Continue on low until cooked the pasta is tender—about 5-15 minutes.
This is the crock pot after the meal. My wife scooped it into bowls within 30 seconds of her first bite. I think she liked it.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
✔️Tips to make it right every time
♨️The Crock Pot
- This fits well in most crock pots 2 quarts or above. Even a double recipe will fit in a 3.5 qt crock pot. You can use bigger as long as the milk completely covers the pasta in the first part of the recipe.
- Large crock pots with small amounts of ingredients may cook faster, so be careful.
- This should usually be done on low. This is NOT a recipe you should cook on high, cut the time in half, and ignore. The endpoint is the pasta becoming al dente, not an amount of time.
🍝The Pasta
- My instructions are to use standard dry pasta.
- If you want whole wheat or gluten-free pasta, you MUST pay attention to the pasta's endpoint, which is just al dente. More than that will make mush. The time of cooking WILL be different.
- If using non-standard pasta, you should usually be OK if you check the pasta more frequently, stop at al dente, and discard the excess fluid.
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🍝The Cheese
- Many kinds of cheese should not be cooked for long periods. But by adding the cheese near the end, it will deliver its creamy goodness.
- American-made pre-shredded cheese that we all buy does not like long or high heat. It is waxier than block cheese, and it just won't take it and will separate some.
- I'm stuck on sharp cheddar cheese. Almost any cheese, like Velveeta, American, Colby jack, gouda, and gruyere, can work.
- I'm sure a better cheese like a block of Cabot would do better, but are you going for a $10 cheese for this?
- Feel free to vary the cheese type.
Serving
Kids love mac and cheese, so combine it with Oven Baked Chicken Legs, Grilled Chicken Legs, Baked Chicken Tenders, Grilled Chicken Tenders, or Burgers on the Grill.
Mac and Cheese Recipes
Check out some other mac and cheese recipes. Start with my Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese, One-Pot Mac and Cheese, Baked Mac and Cheese, and Roadhouse Mac and Cheese.
Storage of leftovers
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 days or freeze for 2-3 months.
❓FAQs—Trouble Shooting
There are hundreds of different pasta, some requiring more or less fluid. The amount of fluid is for standard elbow macaroni and is usually correct for most standard pasta.
Once your pasta is al dente, you are done with the free liquid. So, you MUST drain any excess fluid. Don't worry about getting every drop of the liquid out. Just use a cup and remove the liquid you can easily remove before adding the cheese.
Your pasta is mushy from cooking too fast, or you cooked too long. You need to look for al dente and stop cooking.
If using non-standard pasta, you should usually be OK if you check the pasta more frequently, stop at al dente, and discard the excess fluid.
Some cheap cheese will separate quickly. Get better cheese, and do not cook it too long.
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
đź“–The Recipe Card
Crock Pot Mac and Cheese with Uncooked Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 cup Elbow Macaroni
- 2 cups milk
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ÂĽ teaspoon black pepper
- ÂĽ teaspoon garlic powder
- ÂĽ teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup cheese of your choice - I used sharp cheddar
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Add 2 cups milk, 1 cup standard macaroni, ½ teaspoon dry mustard, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon each of pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and 1 tablespoon of butter to the crock pot. You can use a crock pot as small as 2 quarts, but be sure the pasta is covered with milk. Larger crock pots cook smaller recipes faster.
- Cook on low until the pasta reaches al dente. Stir well one hour into the cooking and check the texture, then recheck every 30 minutes or more frequently until done—about 2 hours for most crock pots and pasta. But crock pots and pasta vary and your time may vary. DO NOT COOK BY TIME.
- Drain any free fluid when the pasta is al dente, and mix in 1 cup of shredded cheese—sharp cheddar is recommended.
- Continue on low until cooked the pasta is tender—about 5-15 minutes.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- This is not a dump-it-in-and-go shopping recipe.
- I suggest a standard dry pasta. If you use whole wheat, gluten-free, or other standard pasta, you must be aware of the endpoint being the pasta cooked to al dente and not longer.
- You may have some free liquid when the pasta reaches the al dente stage. You need to remove the extra fluid. Do not try to cook the extra fluid off. Get most of it spooned out, you don't need to get every drop,.
- Use the cheese of your choice. I always like some sharp cheddar here. Add the cheese at the end of cooking so you don't adversely affect the texture of the cheese.
- This will fit in a 2 qt. crock pot as written. A double batch will fit in a 3.5 qt or bigger.
- You can use bigger crock pots, but the pasta needs to be covered by the fluid, and remember that small recipes in large crock pots will cook faster.
- The bigger batch you have, the more extra liquid you will have. That is fine since we are cooking to the pasta al dente point. Just drain the extra fluid.
- I have closed the comment so this recipe. There were so many comments, and I felt everything was covered. I have modified the recipe some with that input over the years.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You can adjust the number of servings above; however, only the amount in the ingredient list is adjusted, not the instructions.
Nutrition Estimate (may vary)
Originally published January 13, 2013. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
WaltersJ says
I tried this today and the cheese clumped and never melted nice. I used the same brand shown in the picture. I wonder if it is because I quadrupled the recipe and had too much milk? It seems like it is too milky. Taste was excellent and luckily my diners ranged in ages from 1-5 and they loved it!!
Dr Dan says
t7135jt - My bad and fixed.
V Joanne Heyob - Yes, my One Pot Stove Top Mac and Cheese on Dec 20 2012. It actually inspired the crock pot recipe. If that doesn't do it for you try Plain Chicken blog. See the blog roll. It is the go to blog for Mac and Cheese.
V Joanne Heyob says
Do you have a rendition of this for just the stove top and not a crockpot? Could you email me if you do?
Dr Dan says
B KF- you are correct in many ways but this is another way and a bit simpler. It has great taste and texture if done correctly.
silverfox2951 - Thanks for the defense.
Lorraine - I believe it would be fine in 1.5 quart. A crock pot should not be more than 75% full. There is about 3 cups total material and the 1.5 quart is 6 cups.
Lorraine says
is a 1.5 qt crockpot too small for your recipes? I'm so happy to have found your site!
silverfox2951 says
This is an excellent recipe for the crock pot. It saves me from having to clean two saucepans plus cleaning my cooktop if I had to boil the macaroni! Even better yet I used a liner in my crock pot so I only had to wash the lid. How much easier can you get!! Ya can't please everyone and it's not worth trying. Thank you for a delicious well tested recipe!!!!
btmaxwell says
Totally agree. The primary reason I am trying this right now (its cooking as I type) is the fact that it sounds SO easy. Love love love that I don't have to cook the pasta separately.
B KP says
Why not just partially boil the pasta in water as normal, drain and add a lesser amount of milk and cheese at the end. I don't see the need for a crockpot with this type of recipe. I don't think it saves time as a crockpot is normally used for a meal to be ready when you come home from work. I very much dislike mushy pasta and I think this would be a hard one to get right since crockpots are so different, but boiling water is the same everywhere.
Dr Dan says
Sorry it didn't work but not too surprising... To me whole wheat pastas are somewhat "a different animal". A lot of my cooking failure have been whole wheat pastas. I don't think I would even try my other crock pot mac and cheese with whole wheat. Not enough gluten in whole wheat to withstand this abuse
Leathersoup says
Another way to deal with the extra milk is to sprinkle some flour over the mixture and stir it in. Sort of a backwards roux. It thickens the milk up and when you add the cheese and mix everything up it will become a nice cheesy sauce. Of course the amount of flour is going to depend on how much milk is still left. It works though.
DrDan says
Thanks for the suggestions. I have never had good luck thickening in a slow cooker with flour. To the point of just removing the liquid to the stove top in all my recipes. I think my cookers is a little bit lower temp and it just has not worked for me.
Thanks for the comment
DrDan
Alyson Ballew says
Tried this with whole wheat macaroni as it's what we eat, and it didn't work. The elbows became mushy before the milk was absorbed.
Dr Dan says
I never cook that big but I believe it should be approximately the same. As I have said, slow cookers vary so the time is not exact. Check for an ah dente texture then add the cheese.
ln14k says
Would the times be the same if I doubled or tripled the recipe in a larger crock pot?
Dr Dan says
More cheese should be fine... I'm sure 1 1/2 should be fine. I'm not sure about 2 cups.
Sarah says
Going to try this tonight! I ill probably have to hold myself back from adding more cheese though. 1 cup isn't a lot compared to my standard recipe.
Dr Dan says
I hope this works well for both of you. I love to simplify a recipe.
Chris says
Yeah, I have to give this one a try! Going to pin this.
Stephanie Parker says
going to give this a try tonight - looks delicious and EASY
Gail says
I made this today, added cooked, chopped bacon and a little bread crumbs (Italian), and it was soooo good! Doubling up this recipe for next time. TY
DrDan says
I love the additions. Everything is better with bacon and bread crumbs...
Thanks for the note
DrDan