Silky, creamy, and filled with smoky flavors, Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese is the boss of all macaroni and cheese.
If you are looking for the best mac and cheese recipe, the kind that you cannot stop eating because it is so addictively good, you’ve come to the right place (though make a pit stop in the Netherlands to grab that gouda first…just kidding!).
Can’t get enough mac and cheese? Check out these variations on the theme – Spaghetti Mac and Cheese, French Onion Mac and Cheese, Chili Mac and Cheese, and Adult Macaroni and Cheese.
Mac and Cheese with Smoked Gouda
I am thoroughly convinced that smoked gouda is put on this planet to create the best macaroni and cheese.
I’ve had smoked gouda in so many different things – sandwiches, pizza, breakfast omelettes, with crackers, by itself…
But none compare to its pivotal role in mac and cheese. Smoked gouda mac and cheese is the mac and cheese of all macs and cheeses.
Similar to my Adult Macaroni and Cheese recipe, where the cheese sauce is truly creamy, rich, and flavorful, this smoked gouda mac and cheese incorporates the base for my famous cheese sauce with smoky flavors of gouda cheese.
It melts in your mouth, ignites your tastebuds, and takes the meaning of mac and cheese to a whole new level.
Smoked gouda mac and cheese makes the perfect delicious side dish for holiday dinners or dinner parties. It’s like an ‘elevated’ mac and cheese, so it makes it a tad fancier and more indulgent, but the best part is, it is still so easy to make.
Disclaimer: we don’t really just eat this for the holidays or special dinner parties, because we need this smoked gouda mac and cheese more often in our lives than that…
Ingredients
Don’t let the thought of making this smoked gouda mac and cheese recipe from scratch intimidate you. It is actually truly simple.
It calls for pantry-friendly ingredients and is ready under 30 minutes.
And it tastes 200x better than store-bought boxes with powdered cheese packets. Trust me.
Here is the short list of ingredients you’ll need to make smoked gouda mac and cheese:
- Macaroni pasta: shells, cavatappi, or other short shape pasta work as well!
- Smoked gouda cheese: regular gouda cheese works too if you can’t find smoked gouda, but in my experience, it is less flavorful without the smoky flavors. Buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself. Pre-shredded cheese has anti-caking agent on it so they don’t melt as smoothly.
- Butter: I typically use unsalted. If using salted butter, you may just need to add less salt.
- All-purpose flour: used to thicken the cheese sauce.
- Heavy cream: super important to create a rich and creamy cheese sauce. You can substitute with half and half but it doesn’t have the same level of richness and creaminess.
- Milk: 2% milk or whole milk works best.
- Deluxe American cheese slices: the Deluxe kind tastes a lot better than regular. I like to add American cheese in here because it provides an extra dimension of flavor and it melts easily.
- Salt: important ingredient to open up all the wonderful flavors in this dish.
How to make smoked gouda mac and cheese
There are two essential parts to this smoked gouda mac and cheese recipe:
- Pasta
- Cheese Sauce
I typically make them simultaneously. I have a pot going for boiling the macaroni in water, and then another pot for making the cheese sauce.
I also typically use the bigger pot for the cheese sauce because we will eventually be adding the drained pasta into the pot with sauce, covering those chewy macaroni with the most amazing smoked gouda cheese sauce.
(Drooling while I type this…)
Step 1: Boil Pasta
To boil the macaroni, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil on the stovetop, then add pasta.
Cook based on package instructions until pasta is al dente. Drain excess water.
If the cooked macaroni will be sitting for a while, toss in olive oil to prevent from sticking together.
Step 2: Make Cheese Sauce
The secret to an amazing smoked gouda mac and cheese lies in the cheese sauce.
And this smoked gouda cheese sauce is the best ever.
To make the cheese sauce portion, start by melting butter then adding flour to form a roux, then add heavy cream and milk.
Important: WHISK to combine to remove lumps and grainy texture from flour. I find that if you use a spatula to do this it, just doesn’t work as well.
Fold in gouda cheese and American cheese.
Stir until cheese melts.
Add salt to taste to open up the flavors.
Once sauce is thickened, turn off heat, and bring cooked pasta (already drained) into the pot and fold it into the sauce.
Once macaroni pasta is folded in the smoked gouda cheese sauce, remove everything from pot so that pasta will not be overcooked.
And there you have it.
Smoked gouda mac and cheese that is rich, creamy, delicious, and makes the best comfort food well loved by grownups and kids alike.
It’s the perfect side dish to your favorite protein, and makes for a decadent side for Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter dinner.
Make Ahead, Storage, and Reheating
This works super well as a make-ahead dish.
If you have leftovers, store smoked gouda mac and cheese in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or freezer for up to 2 months. Bring a complete defrost before reheating.
To reheat on the stovetop, add a few tablespoons of milk when reheating in the pot and stir to combine, bringing back the creaminess. Simply reheating this without added liquids will cause the once creamy mac and cheese to be much dryer.
You can also reheat this in microwave oven. Again, sprinkle a few tablespoons of milk around mac and cheese to make it creamy again, then reheat in the microwave. Stir halfway through reheating.
Tips and Tricks
A few note-worthy points when making smoked gouda mac and cheese:
- Cook pasta till al dente: Do not over boil pasta because it will be ‘cooked’ more when combined with sauce even though heat is turn off.
- Use good quality cheeses: I find that the quality of your mac and cheese is directionally proportional to the quality of the cheeses you use. I always use Deluxe American Cheese on this, and Trader Joe’s smoke gouda is my favorite smoked gouda.
- Use food processor to shred cheese: If you need to shred your cheese, you use a food processor to make the process go faster.
- Remove the rind: Most smoked gouda cheese have a smoke rind, remove it before shredding cheese and adding it into the sauce to avoid pieces of rind in your macaroni and cheese.
- Whisk it up: Use a whisk to combine the milk and flour mixture until flour is completely dissolved. This will prevent the sauce from being grainy. I find that using a spatula to stir does not do as good a job.
- Keep on stirring, stirring, stirring: Stir the cheese mixture continuously so that sauce does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Adjust creaminess level: Add more milk to thin out cheese sauce as needed. If cheese sauce sits out for a while after it is cooked, it will thicken and become clumpy. To get it back to its silky, creamy texture, add milk and stir while heating it under low heat for a few minutes.
- Salt is magic: If you find that smoked gouda mac and cheese isn’t as flavorful as you’d like at the end, add a few more pinches of salt to open up the flavors. Salt doesn’t just add saltiness to dishes, it elevates and opens up all the flavors in the dish.
- Make it yours: I love eating this smoked gouda mac and cheese as is, but you can totally customize it! Add spices like paprika, nutmeg, garlic powder, black or white pepper, chili flakes etc. Use other cheeses such as parmesan or white cheddar cheese in addition to smoked guoda. Try different types of pasta. ADD BACON. The possibilities are endless.
- Boost nutritional value: Add some vegetables such as peas, broccoli, or carrots. Frozen mixed vegetables are a super easy addition.
Frequently Asked Questions
You don’t have to, but you will miss out on the hint of smokiness that comes from the smoked gouda.
If you’re not a fan of gouda, try using other cheeses or check out my Adult Macaroni and Cheese recipe instead.
Add more cheese or heavier cream. Or reduce the amount of liquid used in the cheese sauce.
Yes, simply add more milk or reduce the amount of heavy cream used in the cheese sauce.
You betcha. Bacon bits are a great addition (either store-bought or baked at home and then crumbled); shredded chicken meat or ground beef/turkey works well too.
Use macaroni made with chickpeas or cauliflower. Or use straight-up cauliflower instead of pasta! (Check out Kathryn’s Kitchen‘s Cauliflower Mac and Cheese for this).
Cheese sauce will solidify after it sits out without being heated. To loosen it up, add some milk, heat it, and stir continuously until cheese becomes silky and creamy again.
What to Serve with It
Some of my favorite dishes that goes well with smoked gouda mac and cheese:
- Garlic Rosemary Chicken
- Bacon Cheeseburger Sliders
- Pork Milanese
- Zesty Tuna Melt
- Sheet Pan Oven Baked Sausage and Peppers
- Dutch Oven Herb Butter Turkey Breast
ENJOYED THIS RECIPE? Tell us what you think by leaving a rating and review below! 🤍
More Delicious Side Dishes
- Cheesy Garlic Scalloped Potatoes
- Crispy Baked Potato Skins
- Brown Sugar Pecan Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans
- Mascarpone Mashed Potatoes
- Roasted Baby Potatoes
- Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad
- Honey Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
- Honey Butter Rolls
Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 oz macaroni pasta
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/4 cup 2% milk more
- 6 oz smoked gouda cheese shredded, remove rind
- 2 slices deluxe American cheese
- 1 tsp salt or more to taste
Instructions
- Boil water in a small/medium pot and cook macaroni pasta based on package instructions. When done drain water from pasta.
- Bring a medium/large pot to medium heat. Melt butter then add flour, stirring to combine. Add heavy cream, 1/4 cups of milk and salt. Use a whisk to stir continuously to remove the grainy texture formed by the flour.
- Once it comes to a boil, turn off heat and add shredded gouda cheese and American cheese. Stir to incorporate cheese into sauce until cheese dissolves. If cheese sauce is too thick, add a tablespoon or two of milk and stir to thin it out. (See Note 1)
- Taste, and add more salt if needed.
- Fold drained pasta into cheese sauce.
- Serve and enjoy!
Love, love this! Polished off the whole dish. Already getting requests to make it again. Thanks! 🙂
Thank you Annette! We love this so much too! 🙂
Had some friends over last night and just wanted some good old fashioned comfort food! This was so delicious! Of course it was, it’s with smoked gouda!!
YES – Smoked gouda makes everything better!! Thanks for giving this a try!
Oh heavens, this mac and cheese is amazing. We love gouda and I couldn’t believe the difference the American cheese slice made. This is my new fav recipe!
That’s great! So happy to hear that you all enjoyed it. Yes – the American cheese adds another dimension of flavor and I love it!
This was THE creamiest and most incredible mac and cheese evaaahh! Gonna have to double it next time so we have lots of leftovers.
Haha yess! Leftovers are the best! Thanks for making it and sharing how it went!
I was one of those weird kids that didn’t like boxed mac n cheese – the first time I ordered mac n cheese as an adult was with smoked gouda. I was sold. We made this and LOVED it!!
YES! That’s what I love to hear! 🙂
My family loved it! We will make it again SOON!!! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Yay! I’m so glad, Laya! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Are the American cheese slices 1/2 ounce each? Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi there! Not sure about the weight but it’s the regular sliced American cheese from the generic grocery stores! Kraft singles is one of the brands out there (but get the deluxe kind for best taste)
New fave! Absolute deliciousness in a creamy, flavorful bowl of comfort food! Thank you!
Thank YOU for giving it a try!
I’ve made this recipe 6 times in preparation for Easter and it’s amazing! I add about 1 tsp of franks red hot and a dash of nutmeg to the sauce. I also top the dish with additional cheese and garnish with some bacon. Once you realize how easy and delicious it is to make your own you won’t go back! Thank you for this delicious recipe, will be making it forever
Thank you so much, Colleen! Great idea to add that splash of hot sauce in there!
Perfect and delicious! The only change I made was subbing half & half for the heavy cream (because that’s what was in the fridge). This one’s a keeper!
Thanks for making it and sharing how it went, Maire!