8 Ways to Upgrade Boxed Mac & Cheese

These boxed mac and cheeses are about to transform

into elevated, delicious recipes.

My name's Chef David Rose,

and today, I'm gonna elevate these boxed mac and cheeses.

[smooth upbeat music]

Last year, I did the Epicurious Taste Panel

with mac and cheese and tasted

over 17 boxed mac and cheeses.

Really got the wheels spinning as far as utilization

through seasonings, flavors, and even emulsifying sauces.

We're gonna enhance these boxed mac and cheeses,

transform them into completely new, different dishes.

[upbeat jazzy music]

Mac and cheese waffle. It's gooey, it's cheesy.

And with this waffle, every part has a crispy edge.

You gotta have a sauce

so we're making a beautiful cheese sauce.

[smooth jazzy music]

First things first, whole milk. Cheese pack in.

And we're gonna use just about a tablespoon of this,

not a lot more, so for the thickening.

Gonna take the place of a traditional roux

with your butter and your flour.

Kosher salt, garlic powder,

onion powder, a little bit of white pepper,

a little bit of paprika.

Great for color and flavor.

It's time to add our cheeses.

American cheese is the way to go.

It's a really great melting cheese. Doing about five slices.

So with the Kraft powder,

it has those emulsifying sauce in there.

Without those ingredients,

it'll break apart, it could get oily.

The oil can separate from the cheese sauce.

It can get grainy. It could get clumpy.

Okay, to this we're going to add

a little bit of Parmesan cheese.

Nice contrast, so it's all about balance.

Sweet, creamy, salty, nutty, tangy.

Keep whisking this right here until it forms into a bechamel

fondue cheese kind of consistency.

Let's make the waffles.

There's a lot of cheese, a lot of fat,

and it can burn very easily,

so medium temperature, that's the move.

Heavily spray [oil spraying]

on the inside of the waffle

to release easily when you open it up.

This is beautiful mac and cheese left over from last night,

and it's cold, which is gonna make for a great waffle.

And then we close that up.

See you in about three to five minutes.

[oil sizzling] And you press that down.

You want the griddle to make contact

with the mac and cheese all over

so it compresses it and forms that waffle

and gives you those beautiful browned exterior and edges.

One, two, three. Onto the plates we go.

Mm-hmm!

You have that creamy cheese sauce.

Just a little kinda drizzle.

You can get creative, get funky.

Little bit of bacon. You get that salty, meaty note.

Let's lighten it up with a nice herbaceous note.

Fresh chives.

The leftover mac and cheese waffle. Crispy, cheesy, bacony.

10 out of 10.

[lively jazzy music]

Flamin' Hot mac and cheese balls.

Bold, spicy, crispy exterior

with creamy mac and cheese center.

Start with whole milk.

Then from there, let's use our packet.

What makes it so craveable? MSG.

The MSG in there gives it salt, it gives it umami,

and it intensifies the flavor of the cheese.

Xanthan gum is gonna add as a thickener and an emulsifier

by stabilizing the sauce as well.

The powder is helping emulsifying

and tightening up the cheese sauce.

As we add pepper jack cheese, we want to keep whisking.

So I love using pepper jack cheese in a lot of cheese sauces

because of the melt factor in there.

This is the pasta from the box already precooked.

I didn't rinse it 'cause I want to use that pasta water

as another thickening agent.

All the cheese wrapped around the pasta.

You want to get a sheet pan,

spread that out, and let it cool.

We have removed our chilled mac and cheese from the fridge,

and a couple things happening during that process.

One, the cheese congealed.

Two, there's a lot of starch retrogradation

going on right now.

As it cools, the starches thicken

and actually get even more emulsified as it just hangs.

It's gonna keep that ball form and not fall apart.

We wanna roll it into about a two-inch diameter,

about the size of a golf ball.

From there, a three-stage breading process.

We have our seasoned flour,

just a little bit of AP flour, salt, and pepper.

We have our egg wash.

And then the last part right here,

I literally pulverize the Flamin' Hot Cheetos

and combine that with panko in a food processor,

so that way I'm getting the nice flavors

from the Flamin' Hot Cheetos

and also giving it a nice crunch.

We have our frying oil here at about 360, 370 Fahrenheit.

Don't want it too hot, to go too fast

because even though the mac and cheese is cooked,

we wanna allow it to reheat.

[lively jazzy music]

Super hot, fresh out the oil.

Adding a little bit of Flamin' Hot crumbles

on there as well.

It's actually a chili concentrate.

More you eat, the more that heat develops in your mouth,

and that's purposely done to have that craveable flavor

when it's combined with that MSG.

And then from there, we dust the cheese powder

on there of the Cheetos, just a little bit.

Flamin' Hot mac and cheese balls coming at you.

That's a thing of beauty. Kind of brings a tear to my eye.

Nashville hot cheesy fried chicken with Goodles cheddar mac.

We're gonna fry our chicken

and give it a little dust at the end.

It's gonna be good.

We have some unseasoned wings.

The breading is where all the flavor is gonna rely

and give it a nice crispiness.

Into the AP flour, added some corn starch in there,

and corn starch is gonna help

with getting rid of a lot of that moisture.

The less moisture you have,

the crispier the fried chicken's gonna be.

To that, I'm gonna add Cajun seasoning,

buttermilk ranch dry dressing,

nice blend of herb, dill, oregano, onion powder,

garlic powder, white pepper, and black pepper

and onion powder, garlic powder.

Next we are going to add our Goodles cheddar mac and cheese.

It is a great addition to this dry seasoning

with the dried cheese that's in there and the maitakes,

concentrated, deep umami flavors.

That's gonna make this chicken really pop.

I like a nice, crispy chicken wing

so I'm gonna do a double breading.

Over here, I have hot sauce and I have buttermilk.

The buttermilk is gonna help tenderize,

also give it a nice tang in the hot sauce.

We are making Nashville hot,

so a little bit of heat goes a long way.

And then right back into that seasoned breading.

All right, double breading it like that

is gonna get these wings nice and dry, remove that moisture

and also get a nice crispy exterior.

We have our Dutch oven right here.

It's very important to have the appropriate oil.

Canola, peanut oil, something with a high smoke point.

You don't wanna overcrowd the Dutch oven or the cast iron.

The more meat you put in there,

that's gonna bring down the temperature,

and we need that hot temperature

to get a nice golden brown crust.

Flip that. You see that right there?

Oh! Golden brown deliciousness.

You get a lot of that color as well from the seasonings,

but the Goodles, you got that cheese powder in there,

you got the paprika.

All these things kind of bring together

that nice golden brown hue.

When that chicken is piping hot,

you salt it and finish that.

But we're gonna get a lot of that salt

from dehydrated buttermilk ranch dressing.

All those flavors are super concentrated

and super fortified when it's dried.

Same thing with the cheese powder.

There's a little bit of buttermilk in there as well.

It has actual cheddar cheese in there.

Salt and a little bit of dried maple syrup

for a hint of sweetness.

So what we have here is our hot oil.

Brush that, just really adheres

and just soaks up all that deliciousness.

The bread is gonna act as a vessel,

and the pickles add a real nice brininess, a nice tang,

and a little bit of acidity to kind of cut

through the fattiness of the chicken.

And there you have it.

Beautiful Nashville hot cheesy fried chicken

coming at you hot!

[smooth jazzy music]

Grilled cheese and mac and cheese,

bringing both worlds together.

It has that beautiful melt factor

and that vibrant orange color.

Just kind of brings you back with nostalgia.

It's gonna be good!

First things first, make our cheese sauce.

Whole milk because fat is flavor.

Of course, the OG mac and cheese, one of my favorites.

Put the cheese powder into the milk firstly.

It has stabilizing salt,

so that's gonna help emulsify, give great mouthfeel,

and also really bring all those cheeses together

where it doesn't break.

So we put that all into there.

Just kind of sprinkle all the proteins, all the starches,

the tapioca flour that's taking the place

of a traditional roux, which you have butter and flour.

That's gonna help thicken

and give us a nice, rich mouthfeel and texture.

Once that starts to bubble up,

we're gonna add the rest of our cheeses in there.

American cheese, one of my favorites.

It has whey, which thickens it up. Creamy texture.

You want all that beautiful cheese sauce

to stay inside of the bread where you want.

If it's too loose, not enough cheese, kinda liquidy,

kinda watery, it'll run out and that's no bueno.

Add some contrasting flavors and texture

with a dry, nutty Gruyère.

Add a little salt, a little pepper.

You see that nappe-like consistency?

Nappe, another fancy French word for the thickness.

When you run your finger through something,

you see the streak and the sauce adheres

and sticks to that beautiful spoon, you see that?

For this grilled mac and cheese, we're using the entire box,

the pasta, the packet,

literally want all that beautiful cheese sauce.

Get it nice and al dente. Not too soft.

So what I have here,

one of my favorite breads, sourdough.

Mayonnaise is great for getting that beautiful GBD

on the outside of the bread.

What is GBD, you ask? Golden brown delicious.

Okay, after about a minute,

the mac and cheese has thickened up a little bit,

but it's not cold.

You don't wanna put too much in there where it overflows,

it makes it hard to flip, but just enough edge to edge

and also be a really good mac and cheese to bread ratio.

So about three to five minutes on each side,

a nice medium heat,

developing those beautiful golden brown exterior,

that nice crispy edge on both sides.

Mac and cheese and grilled cheese in one.

I present to you the grilled mac and cheese sandwich.

Isn't she beautiful?

[smooth jazzy music]

Cheeseburger helper tortellini. Pasta, tomatoes, and cheese.

Buttery. It's creamy, it's cheesy.

Paired with the Annie's Shells & White Cheddar.

I actually like this one a lot

because it doesn't have any artificial flavors in there

so it tastes like real cheese

'cause there's real cheese in it.

Browned ground beef.

We have a little bit of salt, pepper,

paprika, tomato paste, Worcestershire.

We're gonna add a little bit of the Annie's White Cheddar

Now, even though this is gonna be the filling,

we want to add that cheese flavor in every single bite,

every single step along the way.

With the real cheese that's in here, the lactic acid,

you get a nice mouthfeel,

and the corn starch is gonna help thicken.

Splash of heavy cream.

It's gonna allow the filling to be tight and firm,

but that looks pretty good to me, would you say?

So let's make our cheesy tomato sauce.

Really simple. We're gonna add our whole milk.

Not stress the importance of making sure

that this milk and this heavy cream is hot.

The better you do that, the cheese will melt properly.

It won't clump or fall apart.

Hot liquid, perfectly cheesy sauce.

We are going to whisk in the cheese packet.

There is a heavy presence of whey.

Whey is a byproduct of curd,

so it adds salty dairy flavor to it,

which also helps thicken.

Some more white cheddar and Parmesan.

A little sweeter, little nuttier, really good flavor.

Add marinara sauce in there

'cause it echoes those flavors of the Hamburger Helper.

And then there I'm gonna season it a little bit

with salt and pepper, just a pinch'll do.

Whisk that and just let it reduce.

What you're looking for, that beautiful nappe consistency

like so, boom.

Okay, now I am a sucker when it comes to contrast

and texture, and a nice breadcrumb on there

just really ties this all together.

A little bit of butter. Olive oil, so equal parts.

And you let that melt.

Japanese breadcrumbs or panko, but super crispy,

adds for a really nice crunchy bite.

As that's browning,

I'm gonna add that Annie's pack in there again.

It has the real white cheddar.

Using the cheese powder in various applications

as a great umami and flavor bomb.

A pinch of salt and pepper. Fresh parsley.

That's gonna make for an amazing crunchy topping

to our cheeseburger tortellini.

Now ideally, you will make tortellini with fresh pasta,

but sometimes you just wanna get right down to it

so I am using wonton wrappers, but to my purists,

they are only tortellinis in shape and size.

That's it. But the flavor, the flavor is there.

We want to do about a teaspoon of the filling.

Brush to edges like so.

Roll it up and then you tuck that filling in there.

Make sure all those sides are sealed.

Flatten out the filling, tap, tap, tap.

You don't wanna press too hard

'cause you don't want to break the wrapper.

Fold it up halfway like so

and then connect the two like that.

That's what we're looking for.

Cute little tortellini in shape,

in size and beautiful.

If you had too much cheese, too much dairy, too much milk

or heavy cream, it'll be very loose

and it would not be very tight for a filling into these.

Wanna have tight filling, and that works really well

with the thickening agents in the cheese packet.

What we're gonna do now is make a browned butter.

Allowing those milk solids to have that Maillard reaction

where it's browning and caramelizing and intensifying.

Goes from a golden yellow hue

to a nice brown peanut butter type color.

Our tortellini has been boiled in heavily salted water

for about three to four minutes until they're plump

and they start to float.

Super important, you don't want these to fry.

You wanna get a nice mellow browning on there.

And then we start to play. Cheese sauce right here.

A nice little base of that right in the middle.

And then from there,

you get that beautiful crunch from the breadcrumb.

This right here showcases and shines a light on,

mac and cheese is one thing,

but this is taking those similar flavors of mac and cheese,

those similar flavors of cheeseburger helper,

but elevating them and for a dish

that you'd gladly pay top dollar at any restaurant.

[smooth jazzy music]

Mac and cheese bites.

All those great creamy, nutty, cheesy flavors

of mac and cheese into a handheld form.

We want the mac and cheese to hold that shape

so the roux is gonna be very important

in this particular recipe.

A roux is equal parts fat, equal parts flour.

So we're gonna have starch gelatinization.

Those starch molecules in the flour are gonna expand

and make a thick, viscous creamy sauce.

So once we have that, add our heavy cream.

It's gonna start to get thickened.

Those starch molecules will expand

and it'll give us our bechamel.

The bechamel is the base for any cheese sauce.

We're gonna temper eggs into the bechamel.

You want it to emulsify and be that thickening agent.

From there, you want to have a slow drizzle of our bechamel

'cause you want to slowly bring up

the temperature of the eggs.

If you do it too fast, it'll break and start scrambling.

Incorporate that tempered egg bechamel mixture back in here.

So this one, I'm using a little bit more starch than usual.

We're using our fingers to eat these.

You want every possible opportunity to thicken this up

and tighten the sauce.

Paprika gives a nice color and hue and great flavor,

a nice little smoky note.

Garlic powder, black pepper.

And then we whisk till all that is together right there.

Then we add Annie's Shells & White Cheddar.

Again, the corn starch in there

and that real dried cheese flavor is gonna bump up

and bolster the cheese that we add to here.

Using white cheddar powder, so let's use cheddar cheese.

Gouda, I love Gouda.

Parmesan cheese, allowing all of those cheeses to melt.

We have fully-cooked noodles right here.

You can use the shells that are in here,

but we've been literally making pasta the entire day

and we got plenty of elbows.

You want to make sure every noodle is coated.

This is gonna be the binder for the mac and cheese bites

inside the muffin tins.

What I'm using right here, non-stick muffin tins.

A really great way to elevate and add texture

is actually putting this breading on top of it,

but I think on the bottom,

it kind of mimics that contrast and texture

and flavor of putting on the top.

I'm gonna add a little bit of Parmesan cheese

on the bottom as well.

Add for a nice caramelization on the bottom.

You don't want to fill these inserts up too much

because it'll overflow and be very messy

so have them level with the top of the muffin tin.

Parmesan cheese is great for getting

that nice bruleed kind of effect on anything.

Bump it up again with what more

than the Annie's White Cheddar.

Cheesy salt bite on there.

With the dried cheddar cheese and the lactic acid,

it's gonna really give it a nice saltiness

and kind of help with the crunch of the top.

Put this into the oven until it browns up.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have liftoff.

So you see here, when I cut right into the middle of this,

it keeps its shape, it keeps its consistency

and that's a result of one,

using that Annie's cheddar packet

and tempering of the eggs and also that roux.

That is beautiful.

[lively jazzy music]

Smashed cheesy potatoes.

Crispy, buttery, sharp, nutty.

A really great application

using Cabot Creamery Seriously Sharp Shells and Cheddar.

All the things you want in a potato and more.

These have already been boiled,

so what we're gonna do next is smash them.

Don't wanna push it too hard,

but about a half an inch in thickness.

A really great thing with smashing the potatoes

is more crispy edges.

And by smashing them, you're allowing a lot of that moisture

to escape from the potato,

which will give you more browning,

more of that Maillard reaction.

I like to melt some whole unsalted butter.

It helps with the caramelization and the nice crispiness.

Add a little bit of olive oil.

Seasonings after you have the melted butter

and the olive oil because it serves as a glue.

Into the oven we go. 15, 20 minutes at 350.

I'm gonna add Parmesan cheese.

And this is where we apply the cheese powder.

It actually uses real cheese.

It has dried Vermont cheese by dehydrating.

It adds really, really good intense flavor

and no moisture, which gives you crispy potatoes.

It has dried buttermilk, which gives tang

and really amplifies the butter

that we have in our potatoes.

Because these potatoes are hot,

it's gonna absorb and soak in all that flavor.

We take this. We raise the temp about 350 to 400.

Another 15 minutes until it's golden, it's brown.

They're beautiful, super crispy.

Add a little bit of Maldon Salt flakes.

Chives are always a best friend to baked potatoes

or any type of potato.

And there we have it.

Beautiful, super delicious, crispy smashed cheese potatoes.

My plate to you.

[lively jazzy music]

Cacio e pepe pasta the mac and cheese way

with Sabatino Truffle Mac & Cheese.

Super delicious, super flavorful.

Traditional cacio e pepe, you have four ingredients,

pasta, pasta water, pecorino cheese, and black pepper.

That's it.

From Rome, Italy, so do not attempt to make

or recreate this in Rome.

They might kick you out of the country.

To our pan, we are going to add butter and olive oil

to toast black pepper.

You bloom all those spices, all those flavors

that are in there and you revive them and reawaken them.

The pasta water is gonna act as a thickening agent

'cause of all that starch from the cooked pasta.

Open up our Sabatino's Truffle Mac & Cheese

made with actual real dehydrated black truffles.

And that's the very first thing I even smelled

before I tasted it.

It gives you a chance to add truffle flavor

with a fraction of the price.

The beautiful thing about this packet is it has whey

and potato starch, both of which are gonna help

with the emulsifying of it

and give us a nice, great pan sauce.

Even though traditional cacio e pepe is a relatively basic

and simple recipe, it takes a little bit of skill,

a little bit of timing to correctly do it.

So this kind of, you know, flattens out that learning curve,

makes it a lot easier.

A little bit of heavy cream.

Again, this is not your traditional nonna's recipe

from the old country.

You let that heavy cream kind of thicken out

and get nappe consistency.

Cooked pasta.

You can use the noodles in there already,

but I think for a cacio e pepe, you gotta go with spaghetti

and you want to finish it with the pecorino cheese

to give it that nice, salty note.

I love a good pecorino.

Pecorino is a hard, salty sheep's milk cheese.

You see that? Beautiful.

We wanna go ahead and plate.

That right there is a beautiful plate of cacio e pepe

made our way with Sabatino Truffle Mac & Cheese.

Now, I wouldn't serve this in Rome, Italy,

but here today, I'd eat that.

[upbeat jazzy music]

When it comes to boxed mac and cheese,

you can very easily look on the box

and follow the instructions step-by-step.

But if you want variety, you wanna get fun,

you wanna get experimental,

the options and variety are endless.

So have fun. Get out there, explore.

Make your mac and cheese yours.