Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese
Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese – 🧀🎉🙌🏻 The EASIEST mac and cheese you’ll ever make! Add everything to your slow cooker and let it do the work for you in just a couple hours. A simple recipe that uses real cheddar cheese and cream without any condensed soup in sight. PERFECT creamy texture, RICH cheesy taste, and an absolute family FAVORITE! Make it during the week or as a holiday side dish that frees up your stove and oven.
Easy Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese Recipe
You’re going to adore this easy slow cooker mac and cheese. It’s creamy, ultra cheesy, and has the perfect texture and taste. Better than anything you’ll find at your local supermarket deli counter!
Whether you want to serve it as a holiday side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas celebrations, at potlucks, at your next game day party, as a side dish to your meal, or if you want to make it as a meal in itself – no matter when you serve it, it’s such a comfort food family favorite amongst kids and adults alike.
Here are some other noteworthy points about Crockpot mac and cheese:
- It’s not necessary to pre-boil the elbow macaroni. Just add the dry, uncooked pasta straight into your slow cooker. With nothing to boil and then drain, it keeps the recipe even simpler!
- No condensed soups or canned soups.
- No cream cheese required yet the finished mac and cheese has such a creamy texture.
- Uses real milk and heavy cream rather than evaporated milk.
- Uses real cheddar and Colby cheese rather than processed cheese (aka Velveeta).
- Great holiday side dish option that does not take up any stovetop or oven space!
More easy mac & Cheese recipes
Ingredients in Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese
- Elbow macaroni – You can’t have Crock Pot mac and cheese with macaroni shaped pasta! Wondering about using other shapes? See the FAQs below
- Milk and heavy cream – I recommend 2% or whole milk, and then heavy cream, for the creamiest results. You can experiment with half-and-half rather than heavy cream and see if it’s creamy enough for you. It will ‘work’ but the resulting mac & cheese won’t be quite as rich
- Cheese – I use a combo of shredded cheddar cheese (like like sharp cheddar cheese but it’s your choice) and colby cheese. You can use solely cheddar if desired and I discuss other cheeses and options in the FAQs and in the Tips below
- Butter – Salted or unsalted is fine
- Seasonings and spices – Salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dry mustard powder
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Mac and Cheese in a Crockpot
- To a 6-quart slow cooker, dd the pasta, milk, cream, stir to combine to coat the macaroni.
- Add the shredded cheese, butter, salt, pepper, seasonings, and stir.
- Cover with the lid and cook on LOW for 1 hour, stir the cheese sauce and macaroni well.
- Place the lid on top again and continue to cook (for up to ~1 hour) until desired consistency is reached, stirring every 30 minutes. Note – The longer you cook it, the thicker it will become. Cooking time will depend on how hot (or not) your slow cooker runs.
- Taste, and make and desired seasoning tweaks, (another half teaspoon salt, more pepper, etc.) serve, and enjoy!
what to serve with the best macaroni and cheese
Storage
In the Refrigerator: This recipe will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. I have never tried freezing it because I don’t think it would fare well.
To Reheat: I use my microwave for quickness and ease and reheat my leftovers for about 30 seconds on high, or as needed.
Recipe FAQs
No, cooking it solely in your slow cooker prevents the pasta from overcooking and becoming mushy, and it also decreases the amount of ‘active time’ it takes to make this recipe. So for both ease as well as best results, don’t pre-cook the pasta on the stove.
I recommend sticking with the mac & cheese pasta classics including small elbow macaroni (which is what I used here) or small smalls like I use in my 30-Minute Stovetop Mac & Cheese. You could also use wheels or cavatappi, which is corkscrew shaped.
Absolutely you can use solely grated cheddar cheese.
You could also sub out the colby cheese for mozzarella with great results.
Other types of cheese such as gruyere, pepper Jack, gouda, white cheddar (which I use in my 20-Minute Stovetop White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese), or provolone also melt very well and will give a sharper flavor to the mac and cheese and create the appearance of a whiter macaroni and cheese. I would use 8 ounces of this type of cheese and then 16 ounces of cheddar.
Because this is a slow cooker macaroni and cheese, you’re never going to get a crispy and lightly crunchy breadcrumb topping like you would with a baked mac and cheese. Therefore, I would suggest skipping it. If you’re really craving those breadcrumbs, you can mix together about 2 tbsp of melted butter with about 4-6 tbsp panko breadcrumbs and sprinkle that onto each portion before serving, but if you add it to the slow cooker, it will just absorb into the soft cheesy noodles.
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- 4 cups elbow macaroni, (use dry uncooked pasta; small shells, capavatti, or wheels may be substituted)
- 3 cups milk, (whole milk recommended, or 2%)
- 1 cup heavy cream, (half-and-half may be substituted but mac and cheese will be thinner and not as rich)
- 16 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated (highly recommend to grate your own cheese using a box grater from a 1 pound block of cheddar rather than buying bags of pre-shredded cheese; read FAQs for more cheese details and substitutions)
- 8 ounces colby cheese, grated (grate your own as recommended above)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons butter, (salted or unsalted is fine, depending on your preference for salt)
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard powder, ground mustard, optional but recommended
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- If desired, spray the slow cooker liner with cooking spray. Then add dry uncooked pasta, milk, heavy cream, stir, and make sure all the pasta is submerged under the dairy.
- Add all remaining ingredients, gently stir again, making sure the pasta remains covered.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on LOW for about 1 hour.
- Quickly open the lid and stir the mixture, then cover and continue cooking for another hour (approximately), stirring every half hour until it gets to your desired consistency. Tips – Cook time will depend a lot on the heat output of your slow cooker, some are very powerful and run hot, others don’t. Cook as long as necessary for the pasta to have softened and the cheese sauce mixture to thicken as desired. The longer you cook it, the thicker it will get. Resist the urge to take the lid off and “check on” the progress because every time you do so, it unnecessarily lengthens the cooking time.
- Taste for seasoning balance, and if desired, add additional salt, pepper, or other spices and serve.
Storage: Leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. Reheat gently in the microwave. You may want to add a splash of milk when reheating to prevent it from getting dried out. While I have never frozen this, you probably could for up to 3 months.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 786kcal, Carbohydrates: 60g, Protein: 33g, Fat: 46g, Saturated Fat: 27g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 11g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 136mg, Sodium: 903mg, Potassium: 410mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 1524IU, Vitamin C: 0.2mg, Calcium: 745mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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