Extra Cheesy Gluten-Free Macaroni and Cheese

Have you had good gluten-free Macaroni and Cheese since going GF? Today, I’m here to help with an easy and wonderful recipe for Mac and Cheese. Extra Cheesy Gluten-Free Macaroni and Cheese.

My mom has traditionally been the one who makes Macaroni and Cheese for all our family gatherings. She started making gluten-free Macaroni and Cheese during the holidays several years ago so that I could enjoy it with everyone else. I was so grateful, especially because I know my mom can make it truly safe for me. (As we know, not everybody understands how to do that.)

This year at Thanksgiving, Mom wasn’t planning to make Macaroni and Cheese. She told us that her contributions to Thanksgiving for our driveway sharing of menu items before eating safely on our own would be mashed potatoes and deviled eggs.

And we were quite happy that she chose to make those two dishes as both are much-loved recipes of hers. As an added bonus, she’s been making her mashed potatoes without dairy whenever Son will join us at the table and they’re always as delicious as ever.

However, Mom has not ventured into making her Macaroni and Cheese dairy free. I get that. Using dairy-free “cheese” successfully in recipes can be more complicated—sometimes a lot more complicated—and dairy-free cheese is not always readily available in our area.

Son requested gluten-free, dairy-free Mac and Cheese this year so I decided to break my personal hiatus from making Macaroni and Cheese and make a version that he could enjoy. Because my mom always delights us with her recipe, I’ve only made the classic dish myself a handful of times.

Yes, I may have gone overboard with the paprika, which results in this photo making the mac and cheese look burned but it’s not!

Surprisingly, the last time I remember making it, I actually made it in the microwave. It was my same basic recipe, with an attempt to expedite its completion by using the microwave. It worked but quite unsurprisingly, it didn’t have that same baked goodness without actually being baked in the oven. 

So, I planned to skip the microwave this time and make a gluten-free Macaroni and Cheese dish that would taste wonderful whether it was made with “regular”—aka dairy-full cheese—or dairy-free cheese.

I also have strong opinions on Macaroni and Cheese recipes and which ingredients should be included—or which ingredients should be left out. I’m a big fan of recipes that focus on the macaroni, and the cheese. I’m not as keen on recipes that have a bunch of other add-ins.

I’m not saying that Macaroni and Cheese recipes that include other ingredients like eggs and gluten-free flour can’t be delicious. I’m sure there are many such recipes that are special but as always on gfe, I like to keep things as simple as possible.

But because I was making a dairy-free version for us, I wanted to be sure that the cheese factor lived up to our expectations. At the last minute, that meant adding three different kinds of cheese—ones that I had on hand—and the combination of those cheeses with the usual basic ingredients in my Macaroni and Cheese worked. They worked so very well!

At the last minute, Mom actually did make her gluten-free Macaroni and Cheese this year and gave us a small container to take home. Son, J, and I ate the Mac and Cheese recipe that I’d made for our Thanksgiving meal but later when the leftovers came out, J (who does not need to eat either gluten free or dairy free) ended up eating Mom’s Mac and Cheese.

She loved it—as she has always loved all of Mom’s cooking—but she reported that it was not quite as good as my Extra Cheesy Gluten-Free Macaroni and Cheese. Wow.

Hearing her review, I beamed of course. Admittedly, I think the fact that three different types of cheese are used in this recipe definitely takes it up a notch.

Oh, and we all agreed that we would never share the “even-better-than-Grandma’s” assessment with Mom. Never ever. So, keep that tidbit quiet! Please.

You’ll definitely want to make this recipe soon! It should not be reserved just for holidays and other special occasions either because it is certain to make any meal special. And that’s always a good thing in my opinion.

Plus, we officially head into Winter next week and winter is the ultimate season for enjoying comfort food. This Extra Cheesy Macaroni and Cheese is Comfort Food with a capital “C” and a capital “F.” Enjoy!

Oh, and try to stay warm and cozy like my grand dog, Mochi, clearly was at the moment I took this photo. As you can see, as soon as Mochi left the spot but only after I turned the heater off, Dozer took her place. With his size and all his magical fibers of joy and love flying around, I’m really glad he waited until the heater was turned off!

More Gluten-Free Comfort Food Dishes

A Few of the Comfort Food Dishes on gfe

~ Chicken and Rice Casserole

~ Creamy Slow Cooker Swiss Steak

~ Easy Mexican Casserole

~ Pot Pie

Some Gluten-Free Comfort Food Dishes from Friends

~ Brisket and Cornbread Casserole

~ Cheeseburger Fries

~ Potato-Vegetable Chowder (Instant Pot or Slow Cooker)

~ Waffled Tater-Tot Tostada

Extra Cheesy Gluten-Free Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

Yield: 8 servings

Extra Cheesy Gluten-Free Macaroni and Cheese (Dairy-Free Option)

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If you're looking for an easy and wonderful Macaroni and Cheese recipe, this is the one for you. In fact, it's extra cheesy and tastes just as delicious when you make it dairy free (if you ever need that option).

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 12 ounces uncooked gluten-free pasta (elbows, penne, spirals, etc.)
• 4 tbsp butter (or dairy-free equivalent)
• ½ cup milk, whole, 2%, or full-fat canned coconut milk
• 7 ounces American cheese slices, chopped into small squares
• 8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 to 3 tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded/grated
• ½ tsp salt (more or less to taste)
• ½ tsp black pepper (more or less to taste)
• ½ tsp paprika (more or less to taste; I used smoked paprika)

Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. (I like to add a little extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt after the pasta comes to a boil.) Drain pasta using a colander running a little cold water over the pasta to stop it from cooking further.
2. Do a quick hot water scrub, rinse, and wipe of pot in which you cooked the pasta to remove the sticky residue that results from cooking the pasta.
3. Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease 2-quart baking dish and set aside.
4. While pasta continues to drain, add butter and milk to the now clean pot that you cooked the pasta in. Over medium-low heat on your stove top, keep stirring until the butter is melted. Add in drained noodles, American cheese, and cheddar cheese. Stir vigorously a minute or two until most of the cheese melts.
5. Pour mixture into greased casserole dish.
6. Bake 15 minutes.
7. Sprinkle Parmesan evenly over the top of the pasta mixture and sprinkle paprika over all. Turn on broiler, place casserole on second rack down from broiler and broil for a couple of minutes until the cheese on top of the casserole is melted. Watch carefully to ensure the cheese topping does not burn.

Notes

With the American cheese slices stacked on top of each other, I use a knife to make a grid and cut all the way through the slices to get small squares of cheese to ensure better melting when the squares are stirred in with other ingredients.

To make this recipe dairy free as shown in the photos, I use soy-free Earth Balance (pink tub), canned full-fat coconut milk, Follow Your Heart dairy-free American slices, Follow Your Heart dairy-free medium cheddar shreds, and Follow Your Heart dairy-free shredded Parmesan. Another favorite brand of dairy-free "cheese" products for us is Violife. Note that Daiya brand dairy-free cheese products are adding more and more oat ingredients to their products. These products are labeled gluten free but it seems unlikely that they are using certified gluten-free purity protocol oats and even some products including those have tested gluten full in the last year or so.

Did you make this recipe?

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