As a kid, one of my favorite dishes my mom would make was a family recipe for mac and cheese casserole. Thankfully, this recipe is incredibly simple and cheap. I spent a total of $14 on the ingredients at Target, making it very much within a college student’s budget. If you have a pot luck to go to, this casserole is for you. As it gets colder, this dish is perfectly toasty and makes enough to last you a few days. Best of all, it’s super cheesy.
Mac and Cheese Casserole
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Then, let a large pot of water come to a boil at high heat. Then add elbow noodles to the water, allowing them to cook for 7 minutes at high heat. Add salt to taste.
When they’re finished cooking, drain the noodles and put them back in the pot with cold water. Allow them to soak for 5 minutes and then drain them again. Place the noodles back in the pot afterwards. Stir in the finely chopped onions.
After spraying the casserole dish with cooking spray, add a layer of your onion and noodle mix to the dish (about an inch thick). Add enough sharp cheddar cheese so none of the noodles/onions are left exposed.
Repeat step 4 until the majority of the casserole dish is full, with your last layer being cheese.
Crumble Ritz crackers on top of the casserole, making sure not to leave any cheese exposed and to cover all the edges.
Pour the required amount of milk evenly over the entirety of the casserole to keep it moist while it bakes.
Place the casserole on the top rack of the oven at 350°F. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the top of the casserole appears to be a light to medium brown. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes and enjoy!
#SpoonTip: For every 2 cups of noodles, use 1 onion. 4 cups of noodles, with all the included ingredients, fills a 2.5 quart casserole dish to the brim with a little bit of noodles/onions left over. I made this casserole in a 4-quart casserole dish over Thanksgiving and it cooked for the same amount of time and at the same temperature. Therefore, this recipe can easily be doubled for large get-togethers or if you just really love this casserole.
