Baked Buffalo Mac and Cheese
Comforting, creamy, and crunchy - this baked buffalo mac and cheese is just the thing for a stressful day.
Ingredients
Bread Crumbs
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- ½ cup shredded parmesan
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Mac and Cheese
- 1-2 lb pasta of choice Depending whether you want to make a double batch or save the extra sauce for later.
- 3 tablespoon butter
- 3 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup mild beer
- 2 cups 2% milk
- ¼ cup buffalo sauce see notes for recipe link
- 4 cups shredded cheese mix of choice cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan, asiago, pepper jack, etc.
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Bread Crumbs
- Mix all bread crumb ingredients in a small bowl.
Mac and Cheese
- Pre-heat oven to 400 °F and coat a 9 x 13" baking dish (or two if you are making a double batch) with cooking spray.
- Cook pasta according to box directions. Add 1-2 tablespoon of salt to the water before mixing in the pasta. After draining the pasta pour it directly into the baking dish(es).
- Meanwhile, start the roux. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low. Whisk flour into the butter and continue to whisk frequently for about 1 minute.
- While whisking, carefully pour in the beer and allow to heat for about 2 minutes. If the beer starts to foam too much, turn down heat and lightly mix. Then, mix in milk and buffalo sauce.
- Bring mixture to a simmer. Keep an eye on the sauce at this point because the beer may foam up. Mix gently to reduce any excess foam.
- Turn the heat down to medium-low again. Wait until the mixture stops simmering; you want the milk to cool slightly before the cheese is added. While mixing add in cheese 1 cup at a time. Allow the cheese to melt into the milk mixture before adding more.
- Season the cheese sauce with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Taste cheese sauce and adjust to taste. The cheese sauce should be a little salty because it will taste less salty after baking.
- Combine the pasta and sauce. Pour a little less than half of the cheese sauce over the pasta in the baking dish(es). Use a spatula to fold the sauce into the pasta. Add more sauce as desired. The pasta should be coated with a little excess sauce because it will bake down.
- Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture evenly over the top of the pasta. If you prefer a slightly moister bread crumb, you can add thin pats of butter over the top of the bread crumbs before baking or melt 1 tablespoon of butter and mix it in with the crumb before sprinkling.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top of pasta is lightly browned.
- If you made a single batch, freeze the extra sauce in a medium freezer-safe container. When you are ready to use the sauce, heat it slowly in the microwave, adding 1-2 tablespoon of milk as needed to thin it to the proper viscosity.
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