Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese
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Feeding a crowd is where the oven turns against you, with every rack spoken for and the mac and cheese still waiting its turn. This Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese cooks the pasta right in the pot with cheddar, mozzarella, and two kinds of milk, so it frees the oven completely and looks after itself while you deal with everything else.
The part that took me a while to trust is that you don’t boil the pasta first. It goes in dry, drinks up the milk as it cooks, and comes out creamy without a pan of drained water in the sink.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The pasta cooks straight in the sauce, so there’s no boiling, no draining, and there’s only one pot to wash instead of two.
- It’s about as hands-off as dinner gets. A stir once or twice is the whole job, so it works when the oven and the stovetop are already full.
- Cheddar brings the sharp, familiar flavor, and the mozzarella is what makes it pull into those long strands off the spoon.
- It holds on the Warm setting for a couple of hours, so it’s ready when people are rather than the other way round.
- Leftovers reheat well with a splash of milk, so a big batch on Sunday is lunch for days.
Ingredients You’ll Need
You’ll need all the ingredients shown in the photograph below.
- Macaroni. Use it dry and uncooked. Elbow macaroni is the classic shape here because the hollows and bends hold the sauce, and it goes in straight from the box.
- Cheddar. This is the main flavor, so pick a sharp one if you want the tang to come through. Four cups sounds like a lot until you remember it’s melting into a pound of pasta and four cups of liquid.
- Mozzarella. This is the stretch. Cheddar on its own sets a little firm, and the mozzarella keeps the sauce pulling and stringy rather than tight. If you avoid animal rennet, check the label and pick a cheese made with microbial or vegetable rennet, since both cheddar and mozzarella can go either way.
- Whole milk and evaporated milk: The evaporated milk is doing quiet work. It’s milk with a lot of the water already cooked out, so it adds richness and helps the sauce stay smooth over a long, gentle cook instead of turning thin or grainy. I wouldn’t swap it for more regular milk and expect the same body.
- Butter: Melt it before it goes in so it coats everything evenly from the start rather than sitting in a lump on top.
- Paprika and mustard: Both are seasoning, not the main event. The quarter teaspoon of paprika is there for a little warmth and color, and the optional half teaspoon of mustard sharpens the cheese from the background. You won’t taste it as mustard.
How to Make Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese
A complete printable recipe and the measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the recipe card below.
Grease the pot, then add everything
Grease the slow cooker with butter or a little nonstick spray first. Skip it, and the noodles at the edges will weld to the sides and turn into cleanup you’ll regret.
Tip in the dry macaroni, both cheeses, the whole milk, evaporated milk, melted butter, paprika, salt, pepper, and the mustard if you’re using it, and stir until the pasta is coated and the cheese is spread through.
It looks alarmingly soupy at this stage. That’s meant to happen, and the pasta drinks it up as it cooks.
Cook low and stir
Cover and cook on Low for 2 and a half to 3 hours. The stirring matters more than the exact clock time: fold it through once after the first hour and again around halfway, especially once the butter has melted, so the cheese melts evenly and the sauce stays smooth instead of clumping at the bottom.
It’s ready when the sides are set, the center is smooth and creamy, and the pasta is tender without being mushy. If it looks thicker than you want, stir in a splash of milk to loosen it.
Recipe Notes and Expert Tips
- Start checking early. Slow cookers vary more than any other appliance, so take a look well before the timer is up. The window between tender and mushy is short once the liquid is gone.
- Switch to Warm the moment it’s done. Leaving it on Low past the finish line is what dries the edges and overcooks the pasta.
- Pre-shredded cheese is fine here. The anti-caking coating on bagged cheese can make a stovetop sauce grainy, but the long, gentle slow-cooker cook and the evaporated milk carry it, so bagged cheese saves you the grating with no real cost.
- Milk brings a tight sauce back. If it firms up as it sits, a splash stirred in loosens it without watering down the flavor. True at serving and again with leftovers.
Recipe Variations
- For the deli-style, ultra-creamy version people mean when they say Velveeta mac, swap half the cheddar for 8 ounces of cubed Velveeta. I’ve tested it this way, and it melts smoother than aged cheese, so it’s the one I make when I want that particular soft, glossy texture.
- A sharp or extra-mature cheddar in place of a mild one pushes the tang forward without changing anything about the method. It’s a swap I fall back on regularly, tested many times over in my own kitchen.
- Folding a couple of handfuls of baby spinach through in the last half hour adds color and greens, though it’s untested in this exact pot, so wilt it briefly first and expect the sauce to loosen a little from the water it gives off.
How to Store Leftovers
Cool it to room temperature reasonably quickly, then move it to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Don’t leave it sitting out for hours to cool, since cooked pasta and dairy shouldn’t stay in the room-temperature range for more than 2 hours.
Reheat single portions in the microwave with a tablespoon of milk stirred in, or warm the whole batch on the stovetop over low heat with a splash of milk. The sauce firms up cold and comes back smooth as it warms, so keep the heat gentle and stir as you go.
What to Serve With Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese
Mac and cheese is rich, so I build the rest of the plate around something fresh and sharp to cut it. A crunchy green goddess salad is my usual move, since the herby, lemony dressing does exactly the job the mac doesn’t. If I’m making it a bigger spread, I’ll set out cornbread and a slaw and let the mac and cheese be the thing everyone goes quiet over.
For a full comfort-food dinner rather than a side, a hearty vegetable pasta bake alongside it covers the table when the crowd is bigger than one dish can handle, and a creamy Boursin cheese pasta is the one I turn to when I want a second pasta that’s still hands-off but tastes nothing like the first.
FAQs
Yes, and that’s the whole point of this method. The dry macaroni cooks directly in the milk and cheese over 2 and a half to 3 hours on Low, absorbing the liquid as it goes, so there’s no separate pot to boil or drain.
Keep it in the slow cooker set to Warm, which holds it above the safe hot-holding temperature of 140°F (60°C) as long as the cooker stays plugged in. What to remember is that cooked food shouldn’t sit below that temperature for more than 2 hours, so plug the cooker in at the venue rather than carrying it hot and unplugged and hoping it holds.
Usually it’s heat and time. Left on Low too long, or left unstirred, the cheese can tighten and separate. Stirring once or twice during the cook and switching to Warm as soon as it’s done are the two things that keep it smooth, and a splash of milk stirred in will loosen a sauce that has gone thick.
It’s meat-free as written, with no meat, poultry, or fish anywhere in it. If you keep a strict vegetarian kitchen, the only variable is the rennet in your cheese, which the Ingredients note above covers, so a quick label check is all it takes.
More Easy Pasta Recipes to Make Next
If this one earns a spot in the rotation, these are the pasta recipes I’d point you to next.
- Penne alla Vodka. For the night you want a creamy, saucy pasta with a bit of an occasion to it rather than plain comfort.
- Morel Mushroom Pasta. When you’re after something earthier and a little special, the kind of thing that feels grown-up next to a pot of mac.
- Roasted Vegetable Pasta. What you can make for a lighter, fresher plate when the mac and cheese was last night, and you want the opposite tonight.
- Macaroni Salad. For the cold, creamy, make-ahead side that uses the same box of elbow pasta from the other direction.
Ingredients
- 16 ounces uncooked macaroni
- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon mustard optional
Video
Instructions
- Grease the slow cooker with butter or nonstick spray.
- Add the uncooked macaroni, cheddar, mozzarella, whole milk, evaporated milk, melted butter, paprika, salt, pepper, and mustard (if using). Stir everything together.16 ounces uncooked macaroni, 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, 3 cups whole milk, 1 cup evaporated milk, ½ cup unsalted butter, ¼ teaspoon paprika, salt, black pepper, ½ teaspoon mustard
- Cover and cook on Low for 2½–3 hours, stirring a couple of times—especially once it gets warm and the butter melts—to keep it creamy.
- It’s ready when the sides are set and the center is smooth and creamy.
- Switch to Warm to prevent overcooking.
Notes
Nutrition
