Recipe

This 5-Ingredient Mac and Cheese Feeds a Small Army

By Marisa Williams at University of Texas at Dallas  

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

  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins
  • Servings: 8
Ingredients
  • 4 cups elbow noodles
  • 2 white onions finely chopped
  • 4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1.5-2 sleeves regular Ritz crackers
  • 2 cups 2% Milk

Grace Nguyen

Step 1

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.

Step 2

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.

Step 3

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.

Step 4

Repeat step 4 until the majority of the casserole dish is full, with your last layer being cheese.

Step 5

Crumble Ritz crackers on top of the casserole, making sure not to leave any cheese exposed and to cover all the edges.

Step 6

Pour the required amount of milk evenly over the entirety of the casserole to keep it moist while it bakes.

Grace Nguyen

Step 7

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!

Grace Nguyen

#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.