Butternut Mac & Cheese With Sage Recipe | Waitrose & Partners (2024)

FAQs

What does butternut mac and cheese taste like? ›

The squash makes it insanely creamy (even creamier than classic mac!) and adds a subtle sweetness to the rich, cheesy flavor. Bonus: it sneaks in some extra nutrients too! This butternut squash mac and cheese has been a huge hit in our house. It's comforting, delicious, and—thanks to the squash—just perfect for fall.

The #1 secret to creamy reheated mac and cheese

"Stir in about 2 Tbs. of milk per 1 cup of mac and cheese and reheat," he says. The milk loosens up the pasta and helps create the creamy sauce as it's reheating. Heavy cream works well in this case too and adds an extra touch of richness to the mac and cheese.

Sharp cheddar is the overwhelming popular choice, but for extra-creamy results, we think medium cheddar is even better. Other delicious options include Gruyère, smoked Gouda, and Monterey Jack.

Butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata), known in Australia and New Zealand as butternut pumpkin or gramma, is a type of winter squash that grows on a vine. It has a sweet, nutty taste similar to that of a pumpkin. It has tan-yellow skin and orange fleshy pulp with a compartment of seeds in the blossom end.

Great mac n' cheese needs one or more cheeses that melt well, and one or more cheeses that bring the flavor. The best melters include monterey jack, fontina, baby swiss, asiago, provolone, mozzarella, and alpine-style. Cheeses for flavor: cheddar, havarti, smoked gouda, gorgonzola, feta and any other of your favorites.

Instead of a rué, I make my cheese sauce with heavy cream and cheese, usually with some garlic granules and pepper, although sometimes I add basil or cilantro as well. For additional flavor, I like to add peppers of varying heat (usually just bell peppers, though) as well as onions, and chunks of sausage.

How to Make Boxed Mac and Cheese Taste Better. To improve the tang and overall cheesiness of your boxed mac, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt to the cooked and drained pasta while it's still warm. Toss to combine, then stir in the cheese powder until it's uniformly blended.

What keeps mac and cheese moist? ›

(You can thank whole milk, a pound of cheese, and an egg for that texture.) But the secret to baked mac and cheese is this crispy top, which hides a creamy, soft bottom. That extra layer of cheese helps hold in the moisture when it bakes in the oven. Just be sure not to bake it too long so the macaroni doesn't dry out!

Pro Tip: Don't use pre-shredded cheese. Many store-bought shredded cheese brands coat their cheese with an anti-caking agent than can make sauces grainy and less creamy. While it requires a bit of an arm workout, grating your own yields the best texture.

Add 1 tablespoon of milk per cup of mac and cheese and mix to incorprate as much as possible.

The sauce is very thick and cheesy, and the sweet flavor of butternut squash is particularly pronounced and made even more autumnal-tasting with the addition of thyme, sage, and nutmeg. Made with mezzi rigatoni, a smaller and shorter version of classic rigatoni, the pasta-to-sauce ratio is just right.

The creamiest and coziest soup you can make in fall is butternut squash soup! It's perfectly sweet, a bit nutty, just the right amount of spicy, and so so smooth. It's the perfect meal when served with some crispy bread or even a grilled cheese top dip with!

Butternuts are a little sweeter, dryer and can be turned into soups, roasted with cinnamon or put to use in most cooked pumpkin dishes. They're quite pale on the outside, but the flesh is often a deep orange and makes for a wonderful nutty flavour burst.