8 Mac & Cheese combos to spice up your gloomy days 🧀
If mac and cheese isn’t the ultimate comfort food for a gloomy day, I don’t know what is. Although it’s already amazing in its original form, there are a number of ways you can kick things up a notch for an extra boost of flavour or an extra bite into your dish. 😋
You can make mac and cheese super easily with just 3 ingredients, elbow pasta, a melty cheese and whole milk… but you if you’re after a little bit more than a beige bowl of goodness, these additions will kick that flavour profile up a peg or two:
Guanciale
This is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of ways to improve mac and cheese. Crisp up the guanciale by frying it before adding it to the mixture. The crisp and the saltiness of the guanciale go perfectly well with this dish. You can also add bacon or pancetta instead. 🥓
Pesto
This may seem like a weird addition, but pesto goes really well with mac and cheese. Just add a good dollop of pesto to the pasta before adding in the cheese mixture. For a fresher taste, make the pesto at home using some fresh basil, pine nuts, and olive oil. 🌿
Meat or poultry
Minced meat, chopped meat, pulled meat, fried chicken, shredded duck - anything meaty that tickles your taste buds will be a great addition to mac and cheese. Even if you have leftover ribs - just remove the bones, shred them up and add them to the mixture! 🥩
And if you’re feeling super chill on that sofa, order up from Bianca’s, try out their newest addition Chilli Con Carne Mac & Cheese.
Veggies
Well, if you can add meat, you can add vegetables too. Whether you want to just chop up your favourite veggies and throw them in, or make a small amount of veggie puree and add it to the mixture is up to you. Just a bit of pureed pumpkins or sweet potatoes would add a great sweet kick to your mac and cheese! 🍠
Chorizo
If you’re more of a sausage fan, you can also add chorizo to the mix for a bit of flavour complexity. Any kind of sausage will do (maybe pepperoni, chicken sausage, turkey sausage, Maltese sausage, or even the famous (or is it infamous) zalzett roza), but chorizo has that gorgeous, fatty texture and meaty taste that beats any other sausage. 🐖
Spicy element
I love spicy food! I add hot sauce to almost everything. So if you’re like me and you’re making mac and cheese, add your favourite spicy element to the dish for that extra kick. Chopped chillies, chilli flakes, a dash of hot sauce, sliced jalapenos - whatever you fancy! 🌶️
Beer
If you want to make an adult-friendly version, try this recipe for beer-infused mac and cheese. Let the beer simmer for a couple of minutes before you add the pasta and milk, then stir in the cheese, mix, and bake in the oven! 🍺
ALL THE CHEESE!
If you’re making mac and cheese, that already means that you love cheese. So why not delve deeper into your desires and add more than just one type of cheese? Add a bit of parmesan, gouda, mozzarella, Monterey Jack, goat cheese, feta crumbles, spicy cheese, or even gbejniet! 🧀
Do you have any other ingredients that you like to add in your mac and cheese? Let us know in the comments or share your photos on Instagram and tag us using @foodblog.mt for a chance to get featured in our stories!
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