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
Jump To (scroll for more)
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.
Save this recipe!
Enter your email address and we'll send the link straight to your inbox!
🍝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.
Angela says
I made this tonight. I doubled the recipe in my 3.5 quart Crock Pot. I used half Half&Half and half Whole Milk. I added onion powder, white and cayenne pepper. A bit of Worcestershire sauce. I also used 1/3 Sharp White Cheddar, 1/3 Baby Swiss and 1/3 Extra Sharp Cheddar cheeses. I did not need to drain the pasta after 2 hours. I added the cheeses and it was creamy and luscious. Plenty of leftovers for me. Makes me happy! Thanks so much for this recipe!
DrDan says
Thanks so much for the notes and modifications.
DrDan
T Hartwig says
I love it! Turned out perfectly; thank you very much, and Happy New Year to you.
DrDan says
Thanks for the note and rating.
DrDan
Tiff says
I made this today for our late Thanksgiving Dinner. My family loved it! My husband said and I quote 'This is the best mac & cheese I've ever put in my mouth!' And that's a pretty big deal considering that he's pretty picky.
I changed it up just a little. I doubled the recipe. However instead of doubling the milk, as I saw excess liquid was an issue, I only used about 2 3/4 cups of milk with double the pasta. Along with the garlic, salt, pepper, and dry mustard I also added onion powder. At about the one hour mark my pasta was already cooked. I still had some liquid left, but not as much. I drained off most of it and left a little to make it creamy. I added about 2 cups of Kraft Triple Cheddar Cheese and mixed it in well. Then I added a layer of cheese on top that I did not mix in. After about 15 minutes it was done. The top layer of cheese was perfectly melted and made it taste awesome! I would have taken a picture of it, but my family attacked it before I had a chance haha
Thanks for the recipe! I will definitely be making this again :)
DrDan says
I always say a recipe is like guidelines and not rules. Great modifications.
Thanks for sharing and the rating.
DrDan
Caroline says
I made this last night and it was AMAZING. I ended up using 2 cups milk, 2 cups pasta, and kept everything else the same. After an hour, just a tiny bit of milk was left, but as I stirred in the cheese and let it sit about a half an hour longer, it turned out to be the perfect texture and consistency. Thank you!
DrDan says
Great to hear. I so glad it worked well for you.
Thanks for the note and rating.
DrDan
Chrissy says
Awesome! I made a variation of this tonight. I used a whole 16oz package of macaroni, which measured out to 3.5 cups of pasta. I multiplied everything the recipe by 3.5. After 1 hour when I stirred the pasta, milk, and spices, I added some frozen broccoli florets and cubes of ham (refrigerated, not frozen). After 30 minutes more, I thought the pasta tasted done, and I poured out tons of extra liquid (from both too much milk and the frozen broccoli, I would guess). I left just a little liquid in. I shredded a 8oz block of sharp cheddar,and stirred that in along with the remainder of a package of shredded italian cheese we had in the fridge. After 20-30 minutes, it was warm, creamy, cheesy, and delicious! With leftovers for tomorrow. Thank you! And I love that it was all stuff we already had, no canned soups or heavy cream, etc.
DrDan says
The key is the liquid. Especially when increasing the recipe, it seems to be critical to get rid of most of it. Outside of that it seem that a lot of variations have been done.
That can of soup in the last version (and it seems mandatory in crock pot recipes of any type) just had to go.
Thanks for the note and rating.
DrDan
brandy says
I loved this recipe and it worked great! My son has a milk protein allergy. I used soy milk and DAIYA (dairy, lactose,casein, gluten and soy free cheese) I added half of the cheese with the pasta then added the rest at the end. I quadrupled the recipe and used have whole wheat macaroni and half whit rotini( cause that's what I had) . I had no extra liquid and everyone loved it.
Agos says
I made this last week to try out my new crockpot. Made 1.5 of the recipe in a 2-quart crockpot, and it fit perfectly. The times were as specified, but I did have quite a bit of leftover liquid. Anyway, it was so good! My only complains is that the servings (3) were a little small; I'm sure calorie-wise they're full meals, but they don't pack a lot of volume. We may or may not have had to order ice cream afterwards :P
Heather says
Excited to give this one a try! All the homemade mac and cheese recipes seem to use flour as a thickening base and I've only tried a couple before decided to give up on homemade mac and cheese forever. They always turn out gritty and without a very strong cheese flavor. Was happy to see this one didn't have any flour, and it looks great!
Pat says
Great recipe. Tried it yesterday and will definitely make again. Easy. Love your site and looking at your recipes. Thanks
Stephanie says
This actually worked quite well using a corn-based gluten-free orzo with pepper jack and seriously sharp cabot (probably more than 1 c total). Also cooked diced zucchini and broccoli, cooked separately. I heated the milk (2 c), added pasta after it was steaming (1 cup, probably about 7 or 8 oz) and some marjoram, then stirred every 15 minutes or so. The pasta cooked for about an hour, then I added cheese, and turned off the heat; cooked veg and mixed together. No butter, just because I didn't get it out.
I find that corn based pastas are tolerate more than rice-based pastas, so that may be why it worked despite being GF.
DrDan says
Thanks for the comments Stephanie. Nice discussion of possible modifications.
DrDan
Note to readers: Check out Stephanie's blog Sustainable Cooking for One. I highly recommend her take on the SNAP program - the second article on the home page.
Andrea says
With a few easy changes this is a great baby food recipe! I used orzo and added an extra 1/2 cup of milk to make more sauce. Did not add dry mustard (didn't have any) or paprika but it was still tasty. My 13 month old son inhaled it! Orzo was just a little overlooked after one hour (perfect for baby food). I cooked this in my rice cooker which also has slow cooker function. But it heats up much faster and retains more steam than a crock pot, which might explain the fast cooking time along with the tiny pasta. This will be a regular for sure! And so easy to add some diced or puréed veggies, shredded meat...now the wheels are turning! Thanks for sharing!
DrDan says
Quite some modifications... I don't know a rice cooker could do that. The crock pot is very slow getting up to temp and of course the small pasta would cook faster. With the additions you are suggesting, you could have endless variety for the little dude...
Thanks for the ideas.
DrDan
Joyce Berry says
Sounds good..Can I use Cracker Barrel chunk cheese cut into pieces since I do not have a shredder.. Thanks
Joyce Berry says
waiting anxiously for reply
DrDan says
I would think so... I have never had/used Cracker Barrel cheese. As long as it melts reasonable well I would use it. The chunks should melt and may take a little more mixing...
Let us know how it worked.
DrDan
Bonny Lee says
My understanding, and I don't remember where I read, or heard, it, is that pre-shredded cheese is coated with something - I guess to keep the shreds from sticking together. This is the reason, supposedly, that it doesn't melt as well as freshly shredded cheese.
I'm going to try your recipe since my son loves Mac and Cheese. I may have to try out my old Amish Mac 'n Cheese recipe, in the Crock Pot. It is made with uncooked pasts and is slow baked in the oven. It has only 4 ingredients - butter, uncooked macaroni, shredded cheese, and milk. I add sauteed garlic and some salt to it, also.
Thanks for the inspiration. Your recipe may become my go to.
DrDan says
I think it is just more waxy to begin with but with this recipe, any hard cheese should work since you just basically melt it in at the end so you can't damage it. It is long cooking of cheese that sames to make it separate.
Thanks for the note.
DrDan
merigen says
this was delicious! thanks for sharing this :)
DrDan says
Glad it worked for you
Thanks for the comment
DrDan
Diane Manuel says
I liked the sound of this recipe from the start and plan to try it soon. As I am also lactose intolerant, I plan to use lactose free milk and a lactose free cheese such as Go-Veggie. I (and I am sure many others) would love to see a Lactose Free category on your website.
DrDan says
Your adjustments seem fine. Lactose free is not that hard usually but of course you know that. I haven't done much lactose free other than some dairy free due to my son's milk allergy. Most of those would be lactose free since I usually do soy as the substitute.
Thanks for the note
DrDan
Meshya says
I would love to make this for my husband who is lactose intolerant. I would use lactose-free milk and Cabot cheese since it is 100% lactose free. I'm just wondering if you had a recommendation on using a block of Cabot cheese. Could I cube it put it in from the start, or shred it still add it at the end? You mentioned Cabot in your post so I thought you might have a better idea then me. Thanks.
DrDan says
A lact-aid (lactose free) milk should be fine. I mentioned Cabot just as an example of a high quality cheese (I do love Cabot's though) I was implying that a good quality cheese might tolerate the abuse of prolonged crock pot cooking better than the cheaper mass market cheese you usually see me and others use.
I have never tried it and would not abuse my Cabot cheese that way. Most "eating" cheeses should not have prolonged crock pot cooking but mozzarella and a few others tolerate heat. Also as a doctor with lots of lactose intolerant patients, I tell patients the harder the cheese, the less lactose. I'm not sure if Cabot is 100% lactose free but it may be close. But I'm a little off topic here. I definitely would still add the cheese at the end.
I may sacrifice some Cabot's just to try it...naw... I will just eat the Cabot's.
DrDan
Meshya says
Thanks! Cabot's website claims they are 100% lactose free.... but who knows! All I know is that my husband loves it and it doesn't destroy his digestive tract :)
DrDan says
I would believe Cabot's about the lactose. But some other hard cheeses are probably very close to 100% lactose free.
DrDan