Looking for a fun and unique way to serve everyone's beloved macaroni and
cheese? Look no further than these Mac and Cheese Muffins!
Baked up into individual servings in muffin tin pans, they're all the
deliciousness of the mac and cheese you love in fun "muffin" form.
Perfect alongside a bowl of soup, as a holiday meal side dish, or as a hearty
gameday or party food treat.
Aren't these Macaroni & Cheese Muffins just adorable? We sure think so! And not to mention, they taste just amazing, too.
Macaroni and cheese baked in muffin tins is a fun and unique way to serve everyone's beloved macaroni and cheese. They've got all the deliciousness of the mac and cheese we love, baked up into a fun little "muffin" form. Which makes it totally acceptable to eat them with your hands, y'all! But hey, forks still work just fine, too.
Macaroni and cheese baked in muffin tins is a fun and unique way to serve everyone's beloved macaroni and cheese.
I came across this muffin tin macaroni and cheese idea on the back of an elbow macaroni box, and immediately thought it was a fun concept. So using that on-the-box recipe as a starting point, I combined it with my Mom's baked macaroni and cheese recipe to adapt Mom's deliciousness into mac and cheese muffins ... and voila! Here we go.
We think these are perfect to serve alongside a bowl of soup, as a fun holiday meal side dish, or as a hearty gameday or party food treat. They give a different little twist to one of everyone's favorite foods.
As an added bonus to their unique and fun form, Mac and Cheese Muffins can easily be prepared in advance. Either prepare them the day before up to the point of baking, refrigerate, and bake right before serving. Or, finish them all the way on one day and pop them in the oven to reheat the next.
Need to make them even farther in advance? No problem. -- Macaroni and cheese muffins freeze just fine, too.
Mac & Cheese Muffins Ingredients
To whip up a batch, you need the pretty standard baked mac and cheese stuff.
- Macaroni - Regular elbow macaroni are the noodles of choice for Mac and Cheese Muffins. Since the macaroni and cheese mixture is being baked in muffin cups, we don't recommend going with a larger-type noodle here.
- Cheese - Medium or sharp cheddar cheese forms the cheesy deliciousness in this recipe. That being said, change it up if you prefer your mac and cheese with a different cheese. Shred your own cheese from a block for the best and creamiest result.
- Basic White Sauce - White sauce creates the creamy base of many mac and cheese recipe's cheese sauce, and it's no different with these Mac and Cheese Muffins. To make the basic white sauce, you'll need butter, flour, milk, salt, and pepper.
- Bread Crumbs - A sprinkling of bread crumbs in the muffin tin cups keeps the mac and cheese from sticking, and a sprinkling on top of the muffins lends a small bit of textural crunch. Use either plain or Italian-style seasoned bread crumbs -- whichever suits your preference.
How to Make Mac & Cheese Muffins
Making a batch of muffin tin macaroni and cheese is done the same as baked macaroni and cheese, with just one notable exception -- the mac and cheese is baked in a muffin pan instead of a baking dish. Other than that? -- Same.
So to whip up Mac and Cheese Muffins, start by preparing the muffin pan. We take two steps here to help prevent sticking and make sure the muffins pretty easily pop out of the pan:
- Spray the muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray -- spray them really well, being sure to especially get along the edge of the bottom of each cup. Stuff loves to stick in that little bottom edge.
- Sprinkle the inside of each muffin cup with bread crumbs to form almost a little crust for the mac and cheese.
Then mix up a homemade macaroni and cheese mixture.
To do that, first make a basic white sauce with butter, flour as the thickener, and milk seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Then stir in shredded cheese, a little at a time, until it's melted into a deliciously creamy cheese sauce.
Add in cooked macaroni and stir everything together to coat the macaroni thoroughly.
This adds a little textural crunch to each muffin. The bread crumbs also brown just a bit when baked, giving a bit of color to each muffin, too.
Then bake the macaroni and cheese muffins for about 20 minutes until the tops are lightly golden browned.
Once out of the oven, let the mac and cheese muffins stand in the pan for 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge of each muffin to loosen the edges. Use a fork to lift the muffins out of the pan and onto a serving plate.
Letting the muffins stand in the pan for 10 minutes before removing is important. They need that 10 minutes to cool down a bit and meld together. If you try to remove them from the pan before that sitting time? -- They will fall apart on you. They're just not ready to be out and about yet.
Letting the muffins stand in the pan for 10 minutes before removing is important. They need that 10 minutes to cool down a bit and meld together.
Then you're good to go with serving up their adorable cheesy deliciousness!
Now if you're serving mac and cheese muffins as a main part of the meal (like alongside a bowl of soup), plan on 2 muffins per serving. When served as a side dish as part of a larger meal, plan on 1 or 2 muffins per serving -- depending on your eaters, of course!
So if you're looking for a fun, unique, and adorable way to serve everyone's beloved macaroni and cheese, give Mac and Cheese Muffins a try. Baked up into individual servings, they're all the deliciousness of the mac and cheese you love in fun little "muffin" form.
They're just perfect alongside a bowl of soup, as a holiday meal side dish, or as a hearty gameday or party food treat. Now whether you eat them with your fingers or your fork? -- Well, that's up to you!
Check out these other super tasty mac & cheese recipes:
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Yield: 12 muffins
Mac and Cheese Muffins
Looking for a fun and unique way to serve everyone's beloved macaroni and cheese? Look no further than these Mac and Cheese Muffins! Baked up into individual servings in muffin tin pans, they're all the deliciousness of the mac and cheese you love in fun "muffin" form. Perfect alongside a bowl of soup, as a holiday meal side dish, or as a hearty gameday or party food treat.
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 50 Min
Ingredients:
- 3 T. plain or Italian-style bread crumbs, divided
- 1 1/2 c. (8 oz.) uncooked elbow macaroni
- 2 c. milk
- 3 T. unsalted butter
- 4 T. all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 c. shredded medium or sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/16 tsp. pepper
Instructions:
- Spray a 12-cup muffin tin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of bread crumbs into each muffin cup; set remaining bread crumbs aside. Gently shake pan to distribute the crumbs over the entire bottom and partially up the sides of each muffin cup.
- Cook macaroni in salted water; drain.
- While macaroni cooks, prepare cheese sauce. -- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in flour. Return to heat and gradually whisk in milk. Add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring. Boil gently for about one minute, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened.
- Reduce heat to medium-low. Add shredded cheese 1/2 cup at a time, stirring after each addition until cheese is fully melted and incorporated.
- Add cooked macaroni to cheese sauce; stir to coat macaroni thoroughly.
- Spoon about 1/2 cup macaroni and cheese mixture into each muffin tin cup, filling the cups completely. Sprinkle about 1/8 teaspoon of remaining bread crumbs on the top of each mac & cheese muffin.
- Bake at 350℉ for 18-20 minutes until tops are lightly golden browned.
- Let stand in the pan for 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge of each muffin to loosen. Use a fork to lift muffins out of the pan and place on a serving plate.
TRACEY'S NOTES:
- Shred your own cheese from a block for the best and creamiest result.
- Muffin Tin Mac & Cheese can easily be prepared in advance, with a couple of options: 1) Fill muffin cups with mac & cheese mixture, cover and refrigerate overnight, and bake the next day when needed. Just increase the baking time by about 5-8 minutes to account for the muffins going into the oven cold. Or, 2) Finish the muffins through the final baking step, and then reheat. To reheat, pop the muffins back into a 350℉ for about 10 to 12 minutes.
- Or FREEZE the mac & cheese muffins to make them even more in advance. Fully bake the muffins and freeze them in an airtight container. At serving time, reheat frozen muffins at 350℉ for about 20 minutes or until heated through.
- Letting the muffins stand in the pan for 10 minutes before removing is important. They need that 10 minutes to cool down a bit and meld together. If you try to remove them from the pan before sitting, they will fall apart on you.
- When serving as a main part of the meal (like alongside a bowl of soup), plan on 2 mac & cheese muffins per serving. When served as a side dish as part of a larger meal, plan on 1 or 2 muffins per serving -- depending on your eaters, of course!
You might also like these other creamy, cheesy side dishes:
Just forwarded this to the moms of my grandchildren. Also to my son and his wife for lunches and party food! Looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteOk wow! I am saving this to my pinterest to make! I can not wait. It looks amazing. So happy to find your blog via the pit stop!
ReplyDeleteThese would be wonderful for game day. My favorite part of mac and cheese is the crusty cheese at the edges and these look like they would have an extra amount of that deliciousness. Thank you for bringing them to FF.
ReplyDeleteThis looks delicious. I am thinking it would be fun to serve at my daughter's baby shower coming up? Maybe serve them in little paper cups on a tray. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteCould you cook these in parchment paper cups?
ReplyDeleteI would recommend foil liners but I think the parchment will work. Enjoy them!
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