The Best Mac and Cheese 3 Ways

There are very few things that humankind has made that I think is truly perfect in every single aspect .

This is one of those things .

So today we're making mac and cheese but not just any sort of like mac and cheese and we're making it three ways .

One that's macaroni in the pot .

Shout out to Megan Stallion and uh Cardi B .

The second being an oven version and then the third being a healthy version , which brings me to my next point .

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So anyway , with all that said , let's make this shall we ?

All right , tidy .

So let's make our first mac and cheese of the day .

Make sure to season your water very generously with salt .

The Italians will be angry if you don't .

And well , so will I first start by boiling half a pound of macaroni or past of choice ?

Now , cook that bad boy just until al dente drain it and hold it on the side to make the sauce .

Simply melt two tablespoons or 28 g of unsalted butter over medium heat .

Then add two tablespoons or 18 g of all purpose flour mix that together and let that cook for about 45 seconds .

Now , from there , you're gonna slowly add one cup or 204 milliliters of whole milk keep whisking over medium heat until that thickens nicely like .

So now shut the heat off and add two cups or 100 and 80 g of grated cheese .

This is half rale and half cheddar .

You know , a little bit classy whisk that all together until completely melted and smooth like this .

I mean , come on .

It's just a velvet gorgeousness .

I mean , come on .

It looks like velvet .

I guess that's where the term Velveeta comes from because it's like velvety .

But you know that , that mash up of words didn't work so well .

Anyway , it's velvety liquid smooth .

Then finish it off by whisking in 3.5 tablespoons of 55 g of creme fresh for a little bit of a chef's kiss .

Season it to taste with salt and stir your macaroni back in for symphony both in flavor and sound .

Now that's macaroni in the pot .

Now , for the next one , we're gonna make a family style oven version for the breadcrumb topping , mixed together three quarters of a cup or 58 g of PICO bread crumbs .

Why did I say that ?

Like the foot lettuce guy , one tablespoon or 9 g of Zarr two teaspoons or 3 g of fresh chopped thyme , mix all that together till combined , then mix in four tablespoons or 56 g of melted on salt , butter .

You know , feel free to add some flaky salt or black pepper .

If you have that .

Now , for the pasta portion , it's the same procedure as before , but with different proportions first , mixed together , three cups are 250 g of cheddar and three cups are 250 g of year .

Then in a large pot , boil £1 of macaroni this time using a con shape .

That's what I like boil just before it's al dente and slightly under done .

Drain it again .

Then in the empty pot , add a third cup or 73 g of unsalted butter melt over medium heat .

Sounding familiar whisk in a third cup or 50 g of all purpose flour cook for 45 seconds .

Then this time add in three cups or 720 mL of whole milk whisk it till it begins to thicken .

Then add four cups of that cheese mix that you made earlier whisk until completely smooth .

Add your pasta back in mix .

00 , it doesn't usually happen .

Um Then from there you're gonna pour half of that into a 4 to 5 quart baking dish , Sprinkle on the remaining cheese mixture .

Then pour the other half on top , top it off with all of your breadcrumb topping and place it in an oven that's been set to 350 °F or 100 and 75 °C for 25 to 30 minutes or so bubbly .

And the topping is lightly golden like .

So then let's taste test these two .

First up , we have the regular mac and cheese .

This is a simple one , right ?

We're talking a true mona sauce .

It's a root , it's milk , it's cheese and you put macaroni .

That is true .

Simple macaroni in the pot .

This is for Cardi B and Megan .

Thank you so much .

So , this has like that classic sort of like buffet style macaroni and cheese .

You go to a hotel and you're like , oh my gosh , you can't wait to go on this woman's life but it's , and it ends up not being that fun .

But you have this macaroni a waiting in a big hotel pan and all the people are yelling and screaming anyway .

So second .

Hm .

Oh , this is a truly simple common oven , mac and cheese .

You put PICO bread crumbs on top .

We've got a sauce but you see you flavor the PICO bread crumbs and it permeates through the whole dish .

One is ultra ultra cheesy like , oh yeah , that's the one .

This is the one , it's like a big mouth singing to me like this is way better flavor texturally you get more volume , you can cook a lot all at once .

This is all you get for this recipe .

Granted you can scale it up but a little extra time .

Anyway , the point is you have two easy mac and cheese recipes .

You can either go the one step version or you can go the two step version .

But if you just take that extra effort , I promise you it will be worth it .

Ok .

Last but not least is the healthier low calorie mac and cheese from our homies at thrive market .

Same as before .

You're gonna go ahead and boil yourself £1 of nice shell pasta .

Here we've got some brown rice pasta , low G I gang you heard boil that according to the directions .

Separately , we're gonna make a low calorie cheese sauce , which I didn't think was possible until I figured this one out .

So , get yourself a head of cauliflower .

Remove the florets , place those bulbus veggie clouds into a pot filled with water .

Bring to a boil and boil those puppies and until they're well about as soft as they can get around 8 to 10 minutes .

I want them to be mushy .

Go ahead and fish .

Those brothers out of the water , pop them into a blender .

Start off with about a cup of your water that you used to boil .

Begin blending , adding a water if needed .

And once that's nice and smooth and vortex , add in one cup or 90 g of grated cheddar , one tablespoon or 14 g of nutritional yeast , two teaspoons or 6 g of turmeric powder in salt and pepper to taste .

I'm using truffle salt because you know , well , why not blend till beautifully incorporated and tastes salty to your liking .

Now , just mix that together with your pasta .

I'm always amazed by this .

Although it's tasty , you don't need to of cream and cheese to make something taste great .

It's all about good technique .

But let us compare our flavors , right .

So the sun went away .

Bummer .

So the color might look a little weird .

We've got essentially it's not vegan , but I think it's vegetarian .

You use a vegetarian chowder .

Nonetheless , this is a healthier version of a mac and cheese .

It's low calorie so you can eat a bunch of it if you're watching your macros and your , those are my guns .

Low calorie .

Here you go .

You know , you watch me eat all these different things and it's about making things as great as possible .

But it's almost like people think I don't ever eat healthy food and two things , food can be perfectly low calorie or healthy or whatever and still be perfectly delicious .

It just takes a little bit of finesse .

Now , look , I'm not gonna lie .

Is the texture of this .

Exactly the same as me , mac and cheese , of course not .

But the flavor itself is amazing .

Very , very , very nice .

That truffle salt really helps .

And the cheese that nutritional yeast really helps lip the cheese flavor .

If you're on a diet and you're craving mac and cheese and you have a bite of this , you may never go back .

Do you wanna know what else is saucy and full of cheese ?

B ?

All right guys .

And that is it .

So we made mac and cheese .

Honestly , all of these options were fantastic .

I've always been more sort of a macaroni in the pot guy .

Cardi B Megan .

How are you doing ?

But the oven version kind of surprised me considering I don't make it that often and it's really a solution to a lot of problems when making mac and cheese .

You can make more it's easier to serve and all those things .

So , and it's a different eating experience .

And then the third one , of course , especially has surprised me being a healthy version .

It's like healthy mac and cheese .

Come on .

It's not supposed to be low calorie , but it's a great alternative .

It still has that rich , anxious , sort of cheesy quality to it .

And also it , it , it had the nice macaroni texture .

It really wasn't that different at all .

Um You know , and I think that if you're trying to drop your calories , you're trying to eat something healthier .

That's a great way to go .

Thank you to our friends at thrive market for sponsoring this video .

Don't forget to head to the link in the description to get yourself a membership and try it out .

But anyway , if you enjoyed this video or you learned something , leave a like , subscribe and I will see you next time .