As a mac and cheese lover, you can’t resist gooey, melty cheese and your favorite noodles. Maybe you’ve tried lots of recipes or have an old standby you bring out whenever you’re craving this comfort dish.
With help from this guide, you may discover new favorites and the best cheese for mac and cheese. Get ready to make mac and cheese with velvety cheeses that make your mouth water!
Table of Contents
- 8 Best Cheeses for Macaroni and Cheese
- Mac and Cheese Recipes
- Enhance Your Mac and Cheese Recipes With Premio Foods
8 Best Cheeses for Macaroni and Cheese
While traditional recipes often stick to one or two varieties, combining different cheeses is the secret to creating the best mac and cheese. Each type brings unique properties to the dish, from sharp and tangy flavors to smooth, creamy textures. Explore the best cheese when making mac and cheese!
1. Cheddar
The undisputed king of mac and cheese, cheddar brings more than familiarity to your dish. Its versatility and diverse aging profiles make it an essential component in any cheese sauce. The different cheddar varieties include:
- Sharp: Sharp cheddar’s bold, complex flavors develop during its extended aging process. While it requires more heat to achieve the perfect melt, its robust taste creates a deeply satisfying sauce base.
- Mild: Mild cheddar melts beautifully and provides a gentle, buttery flavor that appeals to most palates. It’s perfect for creating that classic, creamy mac and cheese. Its higher moisture content makes it ideal for achieving that perfect stringy pull.
- Medium: Medium-aged varieties offer the best of both worlds. They provide enough flavor complexity to keep things interesting while maintaining excellent melting properties. It can be used alone or as part of a cheese blend.
We don’t recommend using extra-sharp cheddar — it may offer a robust flavor, but it doesn’t melt well due to its low moisture content. Additionally, freshly grated cheese will melt more smoothly than pre-shredded options, which often contain anti-caking agents that can affect texture.
2. Parmesan
Parmesan, or Parmigiano Reggiano, brings a salty depth that can transform your mac and cheese from comfort food to culinary excellence. While many recipes use it as a topping, incorporating it into your cheese sauce can add complexity.
Use it as part of your base sauce to add nutty notes. Mix it with younger cheeses to balance their milder flavors, or add it to your breadcrumb topping with fresh herbs for extra flavor.
When selecting Parmesan, look for chunks with a slightly crumbly texture and tiny white crystals throughout — these tyrosine crystals indicate proper aging and contribute to the cheese’s complex flavor profile.
3. Gruyere
This Swiss marvel deserves a special place in the mac and cheese hall of fame. While it’s famous for fondue, Gruyère’s exceptional melting properties and sophisticated flavor profile make it a game-changing addition to mac and cheese.
The aging process develops sweet, nutty, earthy notes. When heated, it becomes remarkably creamy without becoming greasy. For the ultimate Gruyère mac and cheese experience, combine it with white cheddar, a pinch of nutmeg and a touch of Dijon mustard to amplify its natural flavors.
4. Brie
This luxurious cheese brings an unmatched creaminess to mac and cheese, transforming it into an indulgent dish. Brie’s high fat content creates an incredibly silky sauce. The subtle mushroom and butter notes add complexity.
The rind can be included for extra flavor, but remove it if you prefer a smoother texture. Mix brie with sharper cheese, such as aged cheddar, to create a balanced flavor profile. Add the brie in small pieces near the end of cooking to prevent it from separating.
5. Smoked Gouda
For a more complex profile, aged smoked Gouda offers intense flavor with hints of butterscotch and bacon-like saltiness. However, aged smoked Gouda should be blended with creamier cheeses for optimal texture. Combine young smoked Gouda with regular Gouda in a 1-to-2 ratio for perfect balance.
6. Monterey Jack
While its mild flavor might seem simple, Monterey Jack’s exceptional melting properties and subtle buttery sweetness make it an essential part of mac and cheese. Regular Monterey Jack offers smooth, creamy results, while aged varieties — known as Dry Jack — develop a firm texture and nutty profile similar to Parmesan.
For the ultimate cheese sauce, combine equal parts Monterey Jack, medium cheddar and colby cheese. This trinity creates a perfectly balanced blend of flavor and texture that appeals to casual and gourmet dinners.
7. Fontina
Fontina brings centuries of Italian cheese-making tradition to your mac and cheese. This cheese has complex notes of nuts, herbs and butter that develop into earthy mushroom flavors as it ages.
Traditional fontina provides intense flavor, but modern varieties offer milder profiles that work well in cheese blends. For best results, grate while cold and let fontina make about half of your sauce mixture.
8. Cream Cheese
While not traditionally associated with mac and cheese, cream cheese can help you achieve ultimate creaminess. It adds body, silkiness and protein to the sauce, creating a stable emulsion that reheats beautifully. That is, if you have leftovers!
3 Tasty Mac and Cheese Recipes
Now that you’ve discovered some of the best cheeses for mac and cheese, are you ready to incorporate the best cheeses into mouthwatering mac and cheese recipes? Get inspiration with these flavorful ideas.
Sausage Mac and Cheese
Take a basic mac and cheese recipe and kick it up a notch with the addition of Premio Sweet Italian Sausage. This sausage mac and cheese recipe gets its creamy texture from shredded cheddar and Parmesan cheese. A combination of flour, butter and milk creates a thick base for the sauce, which you can pour over your favorite type of pasta.
For this simple recipe, cook and crumble the sausage, then combine it with the prepared sauce and cooked pasta. Transfer everything to a baking dish and grate on more Parmesan cheese, which will become golden brown and bubbly in the oven. The creamy, flavorful cheeses combine with the delicious and authentic taste of sweet Italian sausage for a meal everyone will enjoy.
Bacon and Sausage Mac and Cheese
This flavorful bacon and sausage mac and cheese recipe combines different varieties of cheddar. Cook a few slices of bacon and half a package of Premio Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage to combine with shredded sharp and white cheddar. Depending on your preference, you can cut the sausage into bite-sized rounds or crumble it up. Thicken the cheesy sauce mixture with a blend of butter, flour and chicken broth for added richness and flavor.
No matter how you prep the ingredients, you’ll get a mouthwatering comfort meal full of protein and flavor. Adding Premio Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage reduces fat without compromising taste.
Comfort Mac and Sausage Bake
Create this mac and sausage dish with a combination of Romano, Mexican blend and feta — a few more of the best cheeses for mac and cheese. This comfort mac and sausage bake recipe gets an infusion of flavor from Premio Hot Italian Sausage and our sweet variety. That balance, combined with stewed tomatoes, spinach, basil, oregano and garlic, creates the most flavorful mac and cheese you’ve ever had.
These cheeses melt better than you expect to create a luscious, flavor-packed macaroni dish. Feta has a high moisture content despite its crumbly appearance. The tangy, salty flavor plays well with Romano’s saltiness, and adding Mexican blend cheese helps create a gooey, melty meal.
Enhance Your Mac and Cheese Recipes With Premio Foods
Combine the best cheeses for mac and cheese with another delicious addition — high-quality sausage! Premio Foods offers premium sausage to complement these carefully selected cheeses. With no fillers or preservatives, Premio Sausage gives your recipes authentic, fresh flavors. And with so much variety, our range of products lets you find something your family will enjoy for any meal of the day.
Shop Premio Sausage online today or find us in a store near you!