This mac and cheese is rich, silky smooth, loaded with flavour AND it’s all made in one pot. Follow me…
Caramelized Onions
The key component of a French onion soup is the caramelized onions. Unfortunately cooking down the onions does take a little time, but fortunately, it’s so darn worth it. The aim of the game when caramelizing onions is to slowly cook them down for them to release their natural sugars. From there, the natural sugars on the surface begin to caramelize and turn the onions gorgeously sweet. Cooking down the onions slowly also leaves them ultra-soft and sticky, with a jam-like texture. The difference between caramelized onions for French onion soup and Classic Caramelized Onions is that you increase the heat towards the end for the French onions. By doing this you get brown bits/char on the base of your pan (as you can see below), which adds a ton of flavour.
French Mac and Cheese
For the mac and cheese itself, you actually don’t need a whole load of ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need:
Caramelized Onions – As discussed above. These will be fried in butter and oil. Macaroni – Dried macaroni, no need to cook it (more on this in a sec). Beef Stock – This is classically used in French onion soup and offers a gorgeous deep flavour to the mac and cheese. Milk – This helps create the sauce and cooks the pasta. Worcestershire Sauce – This deepens the flavour of the stock and onions. Cheese – Gruyere is a must! I also add cheddar and mozzarella too.
One Pot Mac and Cheese
The beauty of this recipe is that it’s all made in one pot. Cooking the pasta in with the sauce is an awesome technique for a few different reasons:
No need to make a roux to thicken the sauce, the starch will do it for you. The excess starch helps create a glossy/velvety sauce which coats the pasta much better. The pasta soaks in all those gorgeous flavours from the stock and caramelized onions. Less washing up!
Process shots: add stock to onions (photo 1), add milk and Worcestershire sauce (photo 2), add macaroni (photo 3), simmer to cook (photo 4), add cheese (photo 5), stir until melted (photo 6).
Serving French Onion Mac & Cheese
Once the cheese has melted, serve it right up! You’ll notice the sauce thickens more as it rests, but if you need to loosen up the sauce at all just stir in milk a splash at a time. If you wanted to go full French onion soup you could also serve with a pinch of fresh thyme and thinly sliced toasted baguette! For more French onion inspired recipes check out my French Onion Boulangere Potatoes and French Onion Pork Chops! Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this French onion mac and cheese shall we?!
How to make French Onion Mac and Cheese (Full Recipe & Video)
For another stove top mac and cheese recipe check out my Ultra Creamy One Pot Mac and Cheese and Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese! For more similar recipes check out these beauties:
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If you loved this French Onion Mac & Cheese recipe then be sure to pin it for later! Already made them or got a question? Give me a shout in the comments below and pick up your free ecookbook along the way!
