Gluten Free Mac & Cheese

[livinitup]

I am bringing a GF Mac & Cheese for Thanksgiving. Since GF pasta can be a little fussy, I figured I’d ask for helpful tips & tricks to make it tasty. This doesn’t usually come easily with a recipe search.

I usually use the chick pea pasta (shell shaped) and make the roux/white sauce with gluten free flour. Should I find another type and/or stick to elbow shaped? I’ve also skipped the white sauce and just used Velveeta.

I am also debating baking it. I could easy toss the pasta and cheese sauces together and serve it on the table hot. I am concerned that baking it will make it too mushy (and I would not use a breadcrumb topping anyway). Maybe not?

Any thoughts or recommendations welcome.

[laurental]

I'd use jovial brown rice pasta--- It is almost undetectable as being gluten free to my gluten loving family and holds up extremely well in all dishes. I'd use the macaroni or the penne shape. I don't love the bowtie shape.
I'd skip a roux with gluten free flour unless you have made it before with that and liked it. I haven't liked mine when I used the GF flour and it kind of creates more work. I just do a heavy cream and mix in the shredded cheese if I need it GF.

[lavenderblue]

I prefer Arrowroot Powder for thickening over GF flour. Also, for something like mac n cheese, I like the Barilla GF Pastas, I think that they hold up better than Chickpea which can get really gummy, really easily. Either the Penne or Elbows would be perfect, you want something that can "hold" the sauce inside to give more cheesy goodness per bit than a shape where the sauce is basically just sitting on top of the noodle.

[lucybrown]

Hi. This is a staple for our Thanksgivings and I've experimented over the years. Cooking the pasta al dente, the day before seems to work the best. It tends to get hard in the fridge overnight, which, in this case is a good thing. I like using elbows or rotini. The actual kind of GF pasta hasn't seemed to matter as much when I cook it the night before. I also rinse the pasta very well and add butter or oil after cooking it so that it is easier to handle without breaking it apart. Do not add any sauce if you leave it overnight. The noodles will suck it all up and turn to mush. I learned this the hard way.

I have made the baked recipe with a roux, etc.. It tends to become more solid with baking, which is fine if that's what you're going for. I have used Grandma Nugget's recipe from here in the past. It's foolproof.

However, the Velveeta version is easier and a huge hit in our family, so I've mostly done that for the past few years. Boil pasta the night before and store it in the fridge plain. The day of - add Velveeta and a bit of shredded cheese (usually use an Italian blend, Mexican blend, or something besides plain cheddar). Put it baking dish, add more shredded cheese on top. Cover in foil and bake at 350 until it's warm in the middle. I usually remove the foil toward the end to crisp the top a bit, like when cooking lasagna. The best is adding some GF French-Fried onions to the top just before serving. Aldi usually has them in stock this time of year, but when we checked last weekend, they didn't have them.  Only vegan ones that are NOT gluten free.

The super laziest version is just buying a bunch of boxes of gluten free macaroni and cheese. Cook according to instructions. Put in baking dish and add shredded cheese on top. Bake until warm. This also works well in a crock pot.

[lucybrown]

I'm going to drop Grandma Nugget's recipe here as well. I substituted GF flour and pasta 1:1 and it worked great.

Thanks Nugget T. Brain, The OG for sharing this with the boards!
-----------------------------------------------------

Grandma Nugget's Mac & Cheese recipe.

5 cups uncooked macaroni noodles

8 cups (2 pounds) shredded cheddar
(I default to mild because I don't like sharp cheese)
2.5 cups white sauce. You can use less or more if you want, apparently this is adjustable, but I wouldn't use less than 2 cups.



White Sauce:

Heat 5 tablespoons of butter or margarine in a pan until melted. Add 1/8th teaspoon pepper, 2.5 teaspoons of salt and 2.5 tablespoons of flour and stir. Then add 2.5 cups of milk, and heat to warm. Wisk briskly (to get rid of any lumps of flour mixture) and then continue heating until it begins to boil/froth. Sometimes the milk has to be a between warm and hot before you wisk. Even if its hot, you can still wisk it in the pan if you're careful.



Boil noodles and drain. Spread a layer of noodles on the bottom of the baking dish. Spread a layer of shredded cheddar cheese, and drizzle fairly heavily with white sauce. Repeat these layers (so at the end you will have noodles, cheese, white sauce, noodles, cheese, white sauce). Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Take the cover off, and cook for 15 minutes more.


Read more: pandce.proboards.com/thread/257195/gift-ml?page=1#ixzz3Gzn8p000

[joy]

The best gluten-free pasta we have found is Jovial.

Cooking it is tricky as it is “not done, not done, OVERCOOKED” in a matter of moments. Keep on top of it while boiling.

Best gluten free lasagna noodles - Barilla.

[leahcar]

We like Barilla GF elbows. Cook al dente. Cool it off and toss with butter or olive oil to prevent it from sticking to each other.

I like GF panko for the topping. Bob's Red Mill 1-1 GF Baking flour is truly a 1 to 1 replacement for flour. Do not use the same brand's all-purpose flour.

With the pasta and flour swap- you can use whatever recipe you like.

[ECB]

We use Barilla pasta all the time at our house. And we've gotten rave reviews of the GF mac& cheese my son makes for events, including Thanksgiving.

[mountaingirl]

Nov 11, 2024 10:02:51 GMT -5 laurental said:

I'd use jovial brown rice pasta--- It is almost undetectable as being gluten free to my gluten loving family and holds up extremely well in all dishes. I'd use the macaroni or the penne shape. I don't love the bowtie shape.
I'd skip a roux with gluten free flour unless you have made it before with that and liked it. I haven't liked mine when I used the GF flour and it kind of creates more work. I just do a heavy cream and mix in the shredded cheese if I need it GF.

What is macaroni shape? I’m going to guess elbow but I have never heard someone call it macaroni shape!

[livinitup]

lucybrown I am so honored. Thank you.

[mrsukyankee]

Honestly, I never make a roux. I just make my cheese sauce using cheese and milk - just tons of soft cheese to thicken it. I also don't bake mine, just stovetop. And alternative to white sauce is to soak cashews in water for an hour or more, blend and then add the cheese to that.

[NewGirlNic]

I have a good friend who is GF and we do monthly dinners with a group, so I always try and make my contribution GF (or at least a GF version) We are doing Friendsgiving next week and I'm making mac & cheese, so this post is timely. I just asked her what her preferred pasta is for baked dishes and she said the Barilla. I plan on making my regular mac and cheese, which typically uses a roux and doing a cornstarch slurry instead. 


www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a11497/macaroni-cheese/

[laurental]

Nov 11, 2024 17:53:10 GMT -5 mountaingirl said:

Nov 11, 2024 10:02:51 GMT -5 laurental said:

I'd use jovial brown rice pasta--- It is almost undetectable as being gluten free to my gluten loving family and holds up extremely well in all dishes. I'd use the macaroni or the penne shape. I don't love the bowtie shape.
I'd skip a roux with gluten free flour unless you have made it before with that and liked it. I haven't liked mine when I used the GF flour and it kind of creates more work. I just do a heavy cream and mix in the shredded cheese if I need it GF.

What is macaroni shape? I’m going to guess elbow but I have never heard someone call it macaroni shape!

Lol, yes, elbow.  I guess everyone in my family always shortens "elbow macaroni" to just macaroni and I have carried on that odd tradition. 

[livinitup]

Thanks again, lucybrown. I am testing it with friends tomorrow night at dinner. So, I just cooked the GF pasta and I have it resting in a small, flat, shallow pan. Do I cover it with plastic when I put it in the fridge overnight? If the goal is the dry it out, I figured not. But I am not sure.

As for recommending the Velveeta sauce, does Velveeta have its own recipe? Or is it just shredded Velveeta and warmed until smooth and creamy? My husband is a big Velveeta fan and is very excited we are experimenting.

[campermom]

I thought this was about the Kraft gluten free Mac and cheese drama on TikTok 😂

[livinitup]

Nov 23, 2024 8:56:10 GMT -5 campermom said:

I thought this was about the Kraft gluten free Mac and cheese drama on TikTok 😂

I know! It’s a more than a little wild that there is a lot of GF Mac& cheese talk. Kraft did NOT handle that well and TT is letting them
Know.

[lucybrown]

Nov 22, 2024 23:20:37 GMT -5 livinitup said:

Thanks again, lucybrown. I am testing it with friends tomorrow night at dinner. So, I just cooked the GF pasta and I have it resting in a small, flat, shallow pan. Do I cover it with plastic when I put it in the fridge overnight? If the goal is the dry it out, I figured not. But I am not sure.

As for recommending the Velveeta sauce, does Velveeta have its own recipe? Or is it just shredded Velveeta and warmed until smooth and creamy? My husband is a big Velveeta fan and is very excited we are experimenting.

I’m just seeing this. I cover my pasta overnight like leftovers. Gluten free pasta tends to be harder when cold. It doesn’t necessarily need to dry out. If yours is dry, you may need a bit more milk or liquid in the sauce.

I usually mix the Velveeta with whole milk to make the sauce. Some recipes also call for butter, which is fine too. If there’s a recipe on the box, I generally follow that. If you don’t add milk, the Velveeta tends to be too thick. It kind of turns back into the blob that it started as.