Loaded Baked Macaroni and Cheese
A hearty, cheesy, one pot adult mac & cheese that feels like home.
Equipment
- oven
- deep pan
- tin foil
Ingredients
Pasta
- 4 tbsp vegan butter
- 6 tbsp flour
- 3 cups oat milk or another dairy alternative
- 2 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 box macaroni rotini, fusilli, or penne, for example
- 2 cups shredded smoked gouda or sharp cheddar
- 1 cup shredded mozzerella or another mild melting cheese
Pasta Add-ins
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 handful mushrooms chopped
- 1/2 yellow onion chopped
- 2 beyond meat italian sausage or tofurkey
- 1/2 head of broccoli broken up into bite size florets
- 1/2 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 carrot sliced into rounds
Topping
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup grated smoked gouda
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a deep pan on medium heat, add olive oil to start the pasta add-ins. Start with onions, mushrooms and sausage. Rotate the sausages as they cook, until browned all around, ~5-10 minutes.
- When sausages are brown all around, remove from pan, cut into 1/2" rounds on a cutting board. Add the rest of the add-ins before starting to cut up the sausage, give them some time to sautee. Re-introduce the sausage, and mix everything up for a few more minutes.
- Add butter, mix it up, until melted. Add flour to create a roux, stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes until it becomes a thick paste.
- Add half the milk, and stir to dissolve the roux into the milk, it will thicken. When thick, stir in the rest of the milk.
- Add in water, salt, and pepper. Turn the heat up to medium-high. Continue stirring until the sauce begins to steam and thicken, sticking to the edges of the pan, ~2-3 minutes.
- Lower heat to medium, and gently stir in dried macaroni, getting it covered in sauce ~1 minute.
- Cover the pan with tinfoil, then immediately transfer it to the oven on the middle rack.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven. Change the oven to broil.
- Remove tinfoil, stir in the shredded cheese, just enough to spread the cheese throughout the macaroni. Don't over-stir.
- Sprinkle breadcrumbs, shredded cheese, then place under the broiler for a few minutes until it starts to brown.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle on smoked paprika, and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.