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Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese

By Adrianna Adarme

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10

Mar 27, 2017, Updated Apr 25, 2024

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Spring time!! YASS! I feel like the season is in full effect.

I was gone for a week last week so I spent the weekend catching up on work and going to brunch and trying to (unsuccessfully) convince Josh that we needed to go see the new Beauty and the Beast. No dice.

I can’t really blame him; he’s usually such a good sport about seeing all sorts of movies with me so I figured I should let that one slide JUST THIS ONCE.

I love me some stovetop mac and cheese but I don’t believe there’s one single recipe on this lil’ blog!

I needed to fix that so I figured I’d make a very spring-forward version that I pumped up with kale, leeks and peas…all sautéed in a liberal amount of ghee (my continued obsession). Of course you can use plain ol’ butter or olive oil, too.

This mac and cheese is one hundred percent vegetarian but it kinda tastes meaty because of the smoked gouda.

It is maybe my favorite type of cheese to use in a mac and cheese EVRRR. And you don’t need a ton either. I used half smoked gouda and half fontina. The cheese could really vary depending on what you’re feeling. I think gruyere would work well and even half mozzarella would be tasty.

I’m spending the next few days trying to perfect my piped rose and getting through a bunch of boring admin work. I’m excited for the piping rose part…admin part…eh not so much.

Wishing you a cute week!

xo
Adrianna

Ingredients You’ll Need for Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese

1. Pasta – 1lb of the pasta of your choice. I used pasta shells because they are fun but regular macaroni noodles works fine too!
2. Spring vegetables – This mac and cheese is spring forward so tons of chopped leek, kale and peas are mixed right into the cheese sauce.
3. Cheese – I used a mix of smoked gouda and fontina. Smoked gouda gives the mac and cheese a rich and smoky almost meaty flavor and fontina is just amazing. Feel free to swap these cheeses out with gruyere, provolone, mozzarella, or sharp cheddar.
4. All-purpose flour- This is what’s going to give you a rich and creamy cheese sauce. The flour is cooked with ghee or olive oil then the milk and cheese is added to make the creamy sauce.

For the rest of the ingredients, please refer to the recipe index card below!

How To Make Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese

1. Boil the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the noodles until al dente, drain the water then drizzle with olive oil.
2. Cook the vegetables. In a medium skillet cook the chopped leek, kale and peas in melted butter until soft then set aside.
3. For the cheese sauce. Melt butter in a large saucepan set over medium heat. Stir in flour cooking it for 1 minute, pour in milk then bring to a simmer. Continue to cook until the mixture is thick and can coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the cheese then taste and adjust the salt if needed.
4. Serve. Stir in cooked pasta noodles and vegetables. Serve topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese and ground black pepper.

Recipe FAQs

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If you tried this Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!

5 from 1 vote

Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese

By Adrianna Adarme

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 35 minutes mins

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Ingredients 

• ▢ Salt
• ▢ 1 pound of shell pasta
• ▢ 2 tablespoons ghee or olive oil
• ▢ 1 leek, halved and sliced
• ▢ 3 large pieces of kale, leaves removed from stem and roughly chopped
• ▢ 2/3 cup peas
• ▢ 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ▢ 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ▢ 3 cups milk
• ▢ Freshly ground pepper
• ▢ 1/2 pound of smoked gouda, shredded
• ▢ 1/4 pound of fontina, shredded

Instructions 

• Bring a pot or Dutch oven of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente (my box of pasta said about 16 minutes—total lies! Mine took about 8 minutes). Drain and drizzle with a teeny bit of olive oil (this will prohibit them from sticking to each other).
• In a medium skillet, set over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks and a pinch of salt; cook for about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the kale and add a pinch of salt; cook for an additional 3 minutes, until the leeks and kale have softened. Lastly, add the peas and stir until the peas turn a bright green color, about a minute. Turn off the heat and set aside (to leave them in the pan is totally fine).
• In a medium saucepan (I used the same dutch oven I used to boil the pasta), set over medium heat, add the butter. When melted, add the flour and stir until combined. Cook for about 1 minute. Pour in the milk and bring to a simmer; cook until it’s thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes. It should coat the back of a spoon. Turn off the heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Stir in a few rounds of freshly ground pepper (I did about 5).
• Next, stir in the cheese and mix until melted. If needed, turn the heat to medium-low to completely melt the cheese. I found the smoked gouda needed some additional warmth to melt completely. (The fontina was perfect.) Give it a taste and add salt to taste.
• Stir in the shells and add the reserved kale and leek mixture. Toss until evenly coated. Divide amongst bowls and top with a bit of parmesan and black pepper.

Notes

Other spring-y things you could use:

Dandelion greens (in place of kale)
Swiss chard (in place of kale)
Green onions (in place of leeks)
Spring onions (in place of leeks)
Ramps (you fancy if you do this but they’d be bomb in place of leeks!)
Fava beans (in place of peas)

Nutrition

Serving: 6g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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