Mac and Cheese Muffin
intro
Portable, crispy-edged, creamy-centered baked mac and cheese muffins are handheld, mess-free comfort food perfect for casual sharing and quick snacking.
Ingredients
Steps
Preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F), and generously spray a 12-cup standard muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Bring 2 liters of water mixed with ½ teaspoon of the kosher salt to a rolling boil over high heat, then add 200g dry elbow macaroni. Cook for 8 minutes until al dente, then drain fully and set aside—do not rinse the pasta, as its starchy coating helps the cheese sauce bind to the noodles.
While the pasta cooks, melt 30g unsalted butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Once fully melted, whisk in 2 tablespoons (16g) all-purpose flour to form a roux, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the roux is pale golden and smells faintly nutty. Do not let the roux turn dark brown, as this will create a bitter, burnt flavor.
Slowly pour 180ml whole milk into the roux, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, then increase heat to medium. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, and cook for 3 minutes until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove the pan from heat, then stir in 200g of the shredded sharp cheddar, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon smoked paprika, remaining ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, stirring until the cheese is fully melted and the sauce is smooth.
Let the cheese sauce cool for 2 minutes off the heat, then stir in the beaten large egg, mixing quickly and thoroughly to prevent the egg from curdling from excess heat. Add the fully drained cooked elbow macaroni to the sauce pot, and stir until every pasta piece is evenly coated in the creamy cheese mixture.
Scoop ¼ cup of the mac and cheese mixture into each prepared muffin tin cup, pressing down gently with the back of a spoon to pack the mixture tightly so it holds its shape after baking. Top each muffin evenly with the reserved 50g shredded sharp cheddar and 30g panko breadcrumbs to create a crispy, crunchy top layer.
Bake in the preheated 200°C (400°F) oven for 18-20 minutes, until the muffin edges are deep golden and crispy, and the cheese topping is fully melted and bubbling. Let the muffins rest in the tin for 5 minutes after removing from the oven, then run a small butter knife around the edge of each cup to lift the muffins out cleanly. Serve warm.
Tips
2.Stir the beaten egg into slightly cooled (not boiling hot) cheese sauce quickly to avoid curdling, which would create lumpy, uneven texture in the finished muffins.
3.Let muffins rest the full 5 minutes in the tin after baking: this allows the cheese and egg binder to set, so muffins lift out cleanly without breaking apart.
OMG these baked mac and cheese muffins are a total game changer for my weekly meal prep! I made a batch on Sunday, grabbed them for quick lunches all week, and even tossed a couple in my kid’s lunchbox. They’re so cheesy, hold their shape perfectly, and weren’t soggy at all even after reheating in the microwave for 30 seconds. 10/10 will be making these for our next neighborhood potluck too!
SO good! I’m a broke college student with basically zero cooking skills and this was so easy to pull off, which is perfect since the difficulty is listed as easy. Total cook time was right at 35 minutes, I used pre-shredded sharp cheddar because that’s all I had at the dorm, and they came out crispy on the edges and gooey in the middle. Perfect late night study snack, my roommates demolished half the batch in 10 minutes flat.
Made these for my kid’s soccer team snack last weekend and every single parent asked for the recipe! I added a little crumbled bacon on top before baking for extra savoriness, and the crispy panko topping was chef’s kiss. Way less messy than serving regular mac and cheese to a bunch of rowdy 8 year olds too, no spoons required. My kids loved them, obviously.
I swapped the regular elbow pasta for gluten-free brown rice pasta and used a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend for the roux, and these turned out amazing! I was worried the texture would be grainy or off, but no one even noticed they were gluten free at our extended family dinner last night. The cook time was totally spot on too, no burnt edges, no undercooked middles. Only tiny knock is I wish the recipe listed more substitution ideas upfront, but that’s such a minor thing!
These are so easy to throw together on a chaotic weeknight! My only silly mistake was using paper liners in my muffin tin — a bunch of the cheesy goodness stuck to the paper so I lost half of each muffin 😂 Next time I’ll just grease the tin really well like the recipe says, duh. Even with the slightly mangled muffins, my two toddlers gobbled them up, so that’s a total mom win.