One Pot Mac & Cheese with bowtie pasta! An easy creamy pasta that only has a few simple ingredients and only takes one pot to make! It is one of the best pastas for those busy week nights. 
First, I have to put a little disclaimer in that these are bowtie pasta, not macaroni, but I wasn’t feeling creative enough to come up with a different name so One Pot Mac &. Cheese it is! Either way it tasted good, the kids ate it, and it was only one dirty pot, so I was thrilled.
Please tell me I am not the only who has a crazy family life and schedule? I swear I have point one second every night to make dinner, so dinners like this are my favorite.
Isn’t it fun that you can throw some noodles and milk in a pot and just let One Pot Mac & Cheese cook?! And did I mention it is easy enough for my kids to make? One of my goals as a mom is to have my boys know how to cook by the time they move out of the house. I want them to be able to feed themselves, and hopefully their future families. While I would love to have them making some really fancy pants stuff, I figure we can start with baby steps.
And when it comes to baby steps, it doesn’t get any easier than this One Pot Mac and Cheese!
Making One Pot Mac and Cheese:
- Put your noodles and milk in a large saucepan. I love using this Nonstick 5-Quart Saucepan
but mine was dirty, so I grabbed another one because I was feeling lazy and didn’t really want to do dishes. Hence the reason for the ONE POT MEAL. - Then I added in my cheese, stirred it all up, and salted and peppered it. I love pepper, but went light on the salt.
- I kept stirring while the cheese melted and the noodles cooked. Then put my lid on, turned it WAY down let the noodles cook until done. These particular noodles felt like they took forever, so how long this takes really depends on the kind of noodles you choose. I just so happened to have a half a bag open in my pantry, so bowtie won out tonight.
- Then serve One Pot Mac & Cheese and enjoy! It really is that easy. Of course, in my attempts at better parenting I served this with a side of vegetables, which my children also happily ate. Thank goodness!
- One side note: This recipe also works well in a crockpot, on low, but be sure to check and stir regularly, depending on how hot your crock pot gets.
but mine was dirty, so I grabbed another one because I was feeling lazy and didn’t really want to do dishes. Hence the reason for the ONE POT MEAL.
Other one pot recipes you might enjoy:
- One Pot Beefy Tomato Tortellini Soup
- One Pot Veggie Packed Past Primavera
- One Pot Sausage, Chard, and Pine Nut Orecchiette Pasta
One Pot Mac & Cheese
Print Pin RateIngredients
- 3 1/2 cups uncooked pasta bowtie
- 3 3/4 cups milk
- 1 cup grated cheese mix a blend of cheeses is best, such as mozzarella, mild cheddar and provolone
- 1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pan.
- Heat on medium heat, stirring regularly (5-10 minutes)
- Once cheese is melted and noodles are starting to cook, turn down, cover, and let simmer until noodles are cooked through (7-10 minutes), stirring once or twice to keep from sticking to bottom of pan.
Notes
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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