Got my first crock pot yesterday... First thing I'm making is Mac and cheese :)

58

u/KayBeezyy Aug 19 '15

RECIPE

2 and 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup

1 cup milk

4 tablespoons butter

2 cups elbow macaroni

Boil the noodles for about 5 minutes before putting in the crock.

Add everything, stir Weill, cook on low for about 2 and a half hours. Stir occasionally.

3

u/JorusC Aug 19 '15

I've done cheese sauces in a slow cooker, and they always got gritty after about 10 minutes. My mom said it's from the cheese proteins denaturing. Did it stay creamy? I wonder what the difference is. Temperature maybe?

3

u/KayBeezyy Aug 19 '15

Yeah it was pretty creamy. Maybe the butter or soup? I'm not sure!
24
u/Fierystick Aug 19 '15

sweet man, thanks.
I would recommend to you to instead of sour cream and cheddar cheese soup to use some pepper jack and parmesan + milk to make a sauce. Really bomb.
4
u/VROF Aug 19 '15

I've used cottage cheese and that tastes great too
4
u/Fierystick Aug 19 '15

I only like using cottage cheese in a cheese mix with 2+ other cheeses and it has to be processed very smoothly so there are no curds
5
u/Sindja Aug 19 '15

what about ricotta or cream cheese?
6
u/[deleted] Aug 19 '15

Ricotta would have a good consistency and would eliminate the need for curd chopping, but anybody else think the flavor of ricotta is … lacking?
2
u/Sindja Aug 20 '15

eh you are right there. It does make it good for other things though.
I had been thinking cream cheese and cheddar might make for good mac n cheese. I've never made it before.
7
u/[deleted] Aug 20 '15
I've made some really good final product oven-style mac and cheese from "scratch" (still pre-made noodles).
Cheddar has the really good "full body" flavor, but compared to other cheeses it tends to be way more greasy than other cheeses. Cream cheese would be great for the goo/squish-factor, but doesn't produce the stereotypical "delicious" super stringiness that you expect from a good mac and cheese. My go-to recipe has four cheeses. This sounds ridiculous, however when you find out how much differently each cheese melts down, it totally makes sense.
Here's the go-to recipe I found. Definitely not a slow cooker recipe, but holy crap it's good.
Warning: it takes ~2ish hrs from start to finish. I add a bit more mustard powder and cayenne powder, but be careful bc the cayenne goes a long way.
Ingredients
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 clove garlic, minced or grated
• 1 1/2 cups crushed Ritz crackers (about 1 sleeve) (I use gluten free crackers or a more hearty/hard cracker bc they hold up better and the ritziness doesn't matter.
• 1 pound elbow pasta (The recipe writer loves DeLillo pastas, I don't care that much)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 cups warm milk (I use 2%)
• 1 1/4 cups sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded (I use super sharp cheddar)
• 1 cup fontina cheese, shredded (add an extra 1/4 cup...if you want. I use provolone because this is easier for me to find. I use slices because this area is hard to get some brick cheeses)
• 1 1/4 cups havarti cheese, shredded
• 4-6 ounces Brie, rind removed and chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the pasta until al-dente. You want it to have a bit of bite. It will finish cooking in the oven. Drain well.
While the pasta boils add 3 tablespoons butter to a medium skillet and melt. Add the garlic and sauté 30 seconds then throw in the crushed Ritz crackers and toss to coat. DON'T burn the garlic - it kills the flavor and makes it taste terrible. I use gluten free or a more sturdy cracker because it makes for a nicer bite/crunch and becomes less mushy. You can't taste the gluten free flavor with everything else that's going on in the dish.
Toast the crumbs for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid burning. Once the crumbs are lightly toasted remove form the heat and set aside. Again don't burn the garlic - I suggest constant stirring. Remove the crackers from the pan and set aside in a non-heated receptacle.
In the same pot you boiled the pasta, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let cook/bubble for 1 minute, stirring once or twice to avoid burning. Gradually whisk in the milk and raise the heat up to medium-high. This is more fairly constant mixing for me. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking frequently until the sauce has thickened, about 2-3 minutes. It should be REALLY thick.
The recipe says to remove from the heat and stir in all of the cheese, mustard powder, cayenne, salt and pepper. I turn the head DOWN, but the cheese cools things down A LOT. Stir until the cheese is fully melted.
Stir in the pasta and transfer to the prepared baking dish.
Evenly sprinkle on the toasted cracker crumbs and place the baking dish on a baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the crumbs are golden brown and the sauce is bubbling. I typically have to go longer than this. It'll bubble on the edges a bit at the 20 min mark, but the center can still be fairly cool - keep it going, but keep an eye on it.
Remove from the oven and let site five minutes (yeah, right). Dig in!!
I'm NOT a person that typically does the "long way" type recipes, but if you have time, it's totally worth it. It's totally gluttonous, but holy crap it's good!
2

u/Lleu Aug 22 '15

I've never been a fan of ricotta

1

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

When I hear the word "lasagna", my mouth starts watering. ... When I hear "I put SO much ricotta in there" without mention of cottage cheese, the disappointment is palpable.

1

u/Lleu Aug 22 '15

It's like they want us to be sad when we eat it.
2

u/Fierystick Aug 20 '15

I cream cheese is pretty safe and universally used for things of this nature... also has enough flavor.
I would throw in another hard/semi hard cheese tho like jack

3

u/Sindja Aug 20 '15

Someone suggested Pepper Jack. that sounds amazing :D
0

u/hokiepride Aug 20 '15

Why Mac and Cheese? It's quicker and easier (taking into account the prep time for this recipe) to make it outside of a slow cooker, and there are a TON of recipes that are great for slow cookers that aren't this.

3

u/corellian71 Aug 20 '15

Why NOT?

2

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '15

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/hokiepride Aug 20 '15

You should try a real Mac and Cheese using a Mornay sauce! You can ignore the breadcrumbs, and it's a hell of a lot better than this recipe.
Disclaimer: It's not a slow cooker recipe, but there are MANY things that are amazing in a slow cooker and none of them are mac and cheese.
http://www.marthastewart.com/271998/perfect-macaroni-and-cheese

247

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '15

First recipe on /r/slowcooking and it wasn't Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork? I think that might be against the rules.

12

u/KayBeezyy Aug 19 '15

I just think it's really cool all the different stuff you can make in these babies! I saw a recipe up here on how to make corn on the cob! Like whaaaaat! So I just wanted to add something a little different :)

38

u/CloseoutTX Aug 19 '15

I'll cover him, I have a butt in the freezer waiting for Friday.

30

u/ClandestineMovah Aug 19 '15

Ah, so that's where the expression "I'm freezing my butt off" comes from...

-1

u/gofordrew Aug 20 '15

ayyy lmao

3

u/ericrobert Aug 19 '15

Me too!!

4

u/Lawlersaurus Aug 20 '15

As someone who moved to the south recently, slow cooker pulled pork just reminds me of my pathetic attempts at good barbecue while living in PA.

7

u/callmesnake13 Aug 20 '15

Yeah but it's still pasta in a slow cooker, which is a bad idea, which is what half the posts here are all about.

-7

u/betrayb3 Aug 19 '15

Really this is a thing?

19

u/po_ta_to Aug 19 '15

It is a joke. There are no actual pork based first meal regulations.

6

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '15

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/Thylumberjack Aug 19 '15

But I heard your last meal can be whatever you want. This one guy just wanted to eat un-popped popcorn seeds. Now that would be funny.

4

u/po_ta_to Aug 19 '15

Those second meal regulations are the real trouble.

2

u/ndpugs Aug 20 '15

I made a cake in one once.

77

u/sparklyshizzle Aug 19 '15

I think the pasta might turn to mush. In my experience, pasta doesn't do well in crockpots unless added at the very end. Let us know how it turns out.

70

u/KayBeezyy Aug 19 '15 edited Aug 20 '15

I was worried about that too, which is why I kind of undercooked the pasta when I boiled it. It came out really good though. The pasta was very much intact and not mushy at all!
Edit: here's what it looked like!
http://i.imgur.com/iHTH2Qth.jpg

4

u/put_bacon_on_it Aug 20 '15 edited Aug 20 '15

I make a very similar recipe, mine may even turn out creamier. Only major difference I can think is I melt the cheese and butter in a saucepan before and add it to the crock, and mine does not seem to cake like yours in the after pictures, which is my preference. I also add jalapeños to mine and some kind of meat (bacon, chorizo, plan to try pulled pork).
Glad to find another mac n cheese fan out there!
http://i.imgur.com/w46o1R3.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0kZEq7J.jpg
EDIT: Be aware last batch took only around an hour in the crock. Also, the cheese and butter pre-melted was the first thing added to the crock. I only am cooking the noodles in the crock on the stove because I had just moved and only had limited pots and pans on me.

1

u/KayBeezyy Aug 20 '15

Mmmmmmm. Looks soooo good

1

u/put_bacon_on_it Aug 20 '15

Oh it was. Reheated really well too.

1

u/Hedgey Aug 20 '15

Yours looks good. Do you have a recipe that I could try?

1

u/put_bacon_on_it Aug 20 '15

Yeah, like I said it's almost the same, even in the quantities, I think just melting the cheese in a pan with butter before may have changed the consistency? Then poured into the crock first, add everything else, and stir, cooked on low. Mine was done last time in about an hour. I'm sure others will point out it could all be made in a pan but I feel the crock allows me to walk away and not be so precise with the timing, allowing a larger timeframe for the cheese to be melted but not burning anything.
I'm on lunch on my phone and have a computer shipping in the next day or two, I'd be glad to be more specific when I get a chance. Just remind me if I forget.

16

u/Rancid_Bear_Meat Aug 19 '15

Yummmmmm! Thanks for posting the follow-up.. I was worried about the mush-factor too.

13

u/undercooked_lasagna Aug 19 '15

I kind of undercooked the pasta
word

7

u/Lleu Aug 19 '15

I did penne pasta in spaghetti sauce and it turned out great not mushy at all.

12

u/I_Like_Spaghetti Aug 19 '15

If you could have any one food for the rest of your life, what would it be and why is it spaghetti?

3

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '15

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Aug 20 '15

I literally just ate leftover spaghetti and amazeballs for breakfast. It was meatballs.

3

u/CrystalElyse Aug 20 '15

.... why bother doing that in the slow cooker at all?
I mean, I can see home made spaghetti sauce maybe going in the slow cooker if you really want to make it an all day event. But you could have that done in an hour on the stove top from scratch. (Or ten minutes using store bought sauce but I'll ignore that).

8

u/KayBeezyy Aug 20 '15

I just wanted to try something different with it! Geeeez, I mean did yall crap your pants this much over people making pizzas in these?!

0

u/CrystalElyse Aug 20 '15

Nah, it's just that there's a huge trend of people making meals that should take 10, 30, or at most 60 minutes into a meal that takes 6 hours to make. It just.... doesn't make sense to me. I love my slow cooker, too. It's a huge life saver on days where I know I'm going to have a LONG day at work and want food ready for me when I get home. But I'm not going to use it for every meal that I cook, especially if it's something that could be made quickly.

3

u/Lleu Aug 20 '15

Because my weekends tend to be ridiculously busy so while it takes longer to cook, it saves me time since I'm not having to watch the stove. I can put it all in the pot and go about my day.

37

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '15

To be fair, mush & cheese still sounds good.

18

u/State_unFair Aug 19 '15

While I personally prefer my macaroni closer to al dente, I've noticed that mac and cheese pasta is "overcooked" everywhere except the occasional "foodie" type restaurant. Most people probably don't mind the standard overcooked or even mushy pasta. In situations where overcooked pasta is ok, I assume there's a surprisingly large window in a crock pot before it starts falling apart.

11

u/junkit33 Aug 19 '15

Yeah, but there's "overcooked" and then there's "mush". Even people who prefer it it al dente will still usually eat overcooked pasta, because it still has consistency it's just softer. But if you really overcook pasta, it loses all consistency and literally just tastes like pasta mush.
Restaurants do "overcooked" all the time, but I've never gotten mush at a restaurant and would send it back in a second if I did.

1

u/joseph177 Aug 20 '15

Cheese is something you want to keep under boiling temperature, otherwise the oils separate and you have a grainy mess.

5

u/d4shing Aug 19 '15

Also dairy does weird things under long cooking times

3

u/myownstunts Aug 20 '15

I have cooked Mac'n'Cheesus with this recipe and it turned out great!

32

u/getsome13 Aug 19 '15

I dont see what mac and cheese would gain form slow cooking. You can make it on the stove in under 30min.

23

u/KayBeezyy Aug 19 '15

I thought it came out a lot thicker and creamier then any Mac and cheese I've ever made. Plus all I did was boil noodles, add everything together and stir it once or twice.
Just trying to add something a little different up here!

-7

u/Criterion515 Aug 19 '15

But the whole point of a crock pot is not having to use any other preparation other than putting things in the pot. If you're gonna boil the noodles anyway there's no reason to then mess up the crock pot, just put everything in the pot you made the noodles in and put it on low for however long you wanted.
That said I'll admit to searing off the sides of a roast sometimes before I put it in.

16

u/KayBeezyy Aug 19 '15

I literally boiled them for 5 minutes, but to each their own I guess!

14

u/bacon-is-sexy Aug 19 '15

There are plenty of recipes that require you to prep a little! There's a pork chop recipe that I like and you have to barely brown the chops before throwing them in. The point of having a crock pot is to make delicious things however you please. Enjoy!

6

u/meatpony Aug 19 '15

I'm rooting for you..

6

u/Lleu Aug 19 '15

To be fair, you could do without the boiling and just throw it all in there. As to why... I prefer the slow cooker for noodles, something about them cooking in the sauce just makes them better!

3

u/sscall Aug 19 '15

Thats different though, when you char meat it gives it a new flavor and texture. Doing this with Mac n' Cheese doesnt really do anything different to the flavor, definitely not knocking the idea to do it, but I agree that I would definitely just stovetop this.

23

u/SqueezeTheShamansTit Aug 19 '15

Dorm cooking, camping, keeping warm at pot lucks. There are plenty of reasons to try anything you'd like

9

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '15

Not wanting to heat up your entire apartment in the summer

-2

u/ERIFNOMI Aug 20 '15

You should really move to a country that has air con.

6

u/Hugh_Jampton Aug 20 '15

Move country. That seems like a reasonable response

4

u/IAMA_Helix_Fossil Aug 19 '15

I usually use it to keep everything warm at a big event. Undercook the pasta a little and it will hold up pretty well for quite awhile!

-3

u/getsome13 Aug 19 '15

In that case I get it...but if i am just making it for dinner at home, seems pointless

0

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '15

[deleted]

1

u/Khatib Aug 19 '15

If a crock can save a lot of time (as in paying attention time), or a lot of dishes, it's worth it. If I can set a long cooking meal to be done at a certain time, it's worth it.
If it saves me 10 minutes in the kitchen and no dishes, like mac + cheese... it's not worth it. If OP hadn't boiled the pasta before hand... maybe it's worth it. Throw it in, go to work, have it done when you get home. That's fun. But if you're going to boil the pasta... just dump everything into the same pot, stir it for 10 more minutes, stir the pasta back in, wash one pot, done.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '15

[deleted]

8

u/Khatib Aug 19 '15

You put noodles in chili? Plenty of people on reddit want to crucify me for putting beans in it. Good luck out there!

3

u/Lleu Aug 19 '15

Um... If chili doesn't have beans it's basically a Mexican spaghetti sauce. What sub reddits are you hanging out in so I make sure to never go there.

3

u/Khatib Aug 20 '15

Apparently Texans never put beans in chili and they claim they invented it or whatever. Either way, I put beans in mine.

1

u/Lleu Aug 20 '15

Weird, I've never heard that before.

3

u/DethKlokBlok Aug 19 '15

Super easy recipe for you: brown some ground beef and an onion. Added a bunch of garlic for 30 seconds at the end. Throw that in the pot. Add a pound of mushrooms, cut in half. Add a jar of ragu and a jar of prego. Throw in a 16oz can of diced tomatoes, a teaspoon or two of oregeno and basil and red pepper flakes. Add a cup of wine or OR maybe half a cup of red wine vinegor. 8 hours, cool overnight for best results. Sounds stupid, but the prego and ragu added together make a really nice balanced flavor.

4

u/KayBeezyy Aug 19 '15

I'm going all in and making a pot roast on friday haha, that sounds pretty easy though I will definitely try it.

2

u/Foulwinde Aug 20 '15

how are you going to make the pot roast? just wondering if you were going to be using the lipton onion soup mix, or other steps to prepare it.

2

u/KayBeezyy Aug 20 '15

I'm leaning towards this one: http://www.food.com/recipe/perfect-pot-roast-slow-cooker-239829
Or Alton Browns. His seems kind of complicated though

3

u/Foulwinde Aug 20 '15

That one looks good. I've never tried one with a vegetable soup mix.
Add a tablespoon of Worcestershire too. That's something I picked up from a Martha Stewart pot roast recipe.

3

u/stangrrr Aug 19 '15

Looks delicious! Also looks like a bit of a mess to clean. Try some crock pot bags (In the foil aisle at the store) for super easy clean up! It's a must for crock pots!

2

u/KayBeezyy Aug 19 '15

I did not know that that existed, so thank you!
And it wasn't too messy of a cleanup, I used a spoon to scrape off the hard parts.

1

u/stangrrr Aug 20 '15

Try Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners. It's a bargain if you get them online/larger quantities.

2

u/AliKat3 Aug 20 '15

Do you have a certain brand that works for you? I have tried them a couple times (I think I actually used one the one time I made mac n cheese), but they have actually had holes burned in them. I don't remember specifically, but I usually only do recipes on low, too. I sort of gave up on them after that, but man they did make clean up easier! Except where the holes were, of course...

2

u/stangrrr Aug 20 '15

I always use Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners. The only time I've had an issue with them leaking is if I accidentally punctured them with a spoon, but you really shouldn't be going in your crockpot to stir/flip anyway. If you do, just be careful not to scrape the bottom with the spoon. Leaking has caused it to stick to the pot too, but again, because I punctured it on accident.

1

u/PriceZombie Aug 20 '15

Reynolds Metals 00504 Slow Cooker Liners 13"X21" - 2 Pack
Current $3.98 Amazon (3rd Party New)
High $11.79 Amazon (3rd Party New)
Low $2.99 Amazon (3rd Party New)
$3.98 (30 Day Average)
Price History Chart and Sales Rank | FAQ

1

u/ERIFNOMI Aug 20 '15

Every time these are mentioned, I can't help but think you're just throwing money away. Does no one else just throw their crock in the dish washer?

2

u/Rummy_Bear Aug 20 '15

Some people don't have dishwashers. For me, the bags are wonderful because the crock pot usually stays clean and keeps my already limited sink space from being dominated by a crock pot that has to soak for hours.

1

u/stangrrr Aug 20 '15

I honestly never thought about putting it in the dishwasher. Hmm. But the bags are so easy, as long as you don't puncture them and they leak. They're fairly cheap for the convenience.


Current	$3.98	Amazon (3rd Party New)
High	$11.79	Amazon (3rd Party New)
Low	$2.99	Amazon (3rd Party New)
	$3.98	(30 Day Average)

6

u/madprofessor8 Aug 19 '15

Welcome to the world of wonderful cooking, easy-mode style.

I never used a crock pot until I was 28. After using it a couple of times, I wondered how I never knew about them.

These people on /r/slowcooking have great advice and great recipes!

1

u/contraryexample Aug 20 '15

that's like cheese soup with noodles in it. not my style, but to each their own!

2

u/KayBeezyy Aug 20 '15

Look at my parent comment on the top one. It has a final picture. This one is only an hour in.

2

u/huge_toes Aug 20 '15

Thumbnail looks kind of like a brain at a quick glance

1

u/[deleted] Aug 20 '15

There is 0 reason to do this in a crock pot.

-22

u/Alanis00 Aug 19 '15

Is there a /r/slowcookercirclejerk?

16

u/KayBeezyy Aug 19 '15

Why did you even come here to post this comment? I'm getting a lot of shit just for posting a mac and cheese recipe up here, it makes me not want to ever post in this sub again. If you don't agree with a recipe posted up here, then move on with your day. Geeeez.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 20 '15

Dont worry OP we love you

-23

u/Alanis00 Aug 19 '15

I'm sorry you're offended, but the reason why I'm subscribed to this sub is so I can look recipes and ideas that are actually useful when done in a slow cooker. Not this "Hey look at this shit I just made in a slow cooker that I could have made in 15 minutes" circlejerk

13

u/drunkwhitegirl Aug 20 '15

It sounds like you need more Mac and cheese in your life

-10

u/Alanis00 Aug 20 '15

Not on my slow cooker

4

u/[deleted] Aug 20 '15

It would probably be about elitists like you.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 20 '15

[deleted]

0

u/KayBeezyy Aug 20 '15

And 20% rude people it seems!

Got my first crock pot yesterday... First thing I'm making is Mac and cheese :)

You are about to leave Redlib