To be honest, I don't think I've eaten mac and cheese from a box since I was in college. But what if you suggested an ingenious approach to making it better?
Everything is focused on you. So, I paid close attention when I saw that some people were talking on TikTok about how to make a creamier and cheesier pot of mac and cheese by making a small adjustment to the recipe. Let me show you how to do it.
Most boxed mac and cheese recipes ask for boiling the pasta, draining it, and then heating the milk and cheese powder in the same saucepan. Toss the cooked pasta with the cheese sauce to finish.
As an alternative to mixing the cheese powder with milk to create a sauce, this approach involves adding the powder to the pasta water directly, allowing it to soak into the pasta.
Pasta cooked in a mixture of milk and water never needs to be drained when using this method. In an additional video, the maker explains that she uses 1.5 cups of water and 1.5 cups of milk to avoid straining.
However, if you find that the noodles require extra liquid, you can add it gradually until they are cooked. For the "ideal pot of mac and cheese from a box," she cooks the noodles according to package directions and then stirs in one cup of shredded cheese.
Make sure you use the correct amount of liquid when cooking pasta; I used three cups, consisting of 1.5 cups of milk and 1.5 cups of water. After the pasta has cooked through and most of the liquid has evaporated, you may add a little more.
One cup of shredded cheese is an absolute must-have. To increase the cheesiness, this was a quick and easy solution.