Joanna Gaines Makes a Super Easy Cheese Sauce for Her Mac & Cheese

Macaroni and cheese — specifically, homemade macaroni and cheese — is one of those feel-good comfort foods that can really make your entire week. But, for those of you who have tried from scratch recipes, you know that a good mac and cheese can take a lot of time and effort. However, Joanna Gaines is swooping into the rescue because she has a mac and cheese recipe that takes about 20 minutes to pull together and under an hour to make, bake, and cool, so you can get to eating that warm and comforting cheesy mac way faster.

The best thing the cheese sauce Gaines makes for this recipe, which comes courtesy of her friend Becki, is that it doesn’t require that you make a roux first. While your macaroni noodles are boiling, start the sauce by melting a stick of butter in a saucepan and then add heavy cream and whole milk, bringing everything up to heat. Next, add a block of cream cheese or Velveeta (cut into small cubes for easy melting), as well as a cup of shredded cheddar, two cups of shredded Gruyère, as well as some seasonings like nutmeg, mustard, salt and pepper. Related story Every Mama Will Understand Joanna Gaines' Bittersweet Sentiment About Her Third Kid Turning 16

Once the noodles have cooked to your liking, drain them and toss them right into the cheese pot, making sure that sauce gets into all the nooks and crannies. Finally, dish the noodles into a baking pan and let everything get all toasty in the oven for about 20 minutes. Cool and then you’re ready to serve!

“The cheese pull…” one person commented on the above post from Food Network. Someone else added, “Love the recipe and the casserole pan!”

Because this dish is so simple, you can customize it to your liking. Add Cheddar Jack to kick it up a notch, or smoked gouda to give it a smokey, earthy flavor. You can even add veggies like mushrooms or spinach to this dish (just make sure to cook them ahead of time to reduce the amount of water they expel during the baking process).

Grab the full recipe over on the Magnolia website and add this easy mac and cheese to your weekly dinner menu. Related story Every Mama Will Understand Joanna Gaines' Bittersweet Sentiment About Her Third Kid Turning 16

Before you go, check out Garten’s best dinner recipes below:

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