8 Crockpot Mac and Cheese Dinners

These crockpot mac and cheese dinners turn a side dish into the whole meal.

From a classic creamy version to buffalo chicken mac, chili mac, and a pizza pasta my kids would eat nightly, they all cook right in the slow cooker with the pasta going in dry.

Here are the eight I make!

I resisted slow cooker mac and cheese for years because I’d had the gluey kind.

Then I learned that it’s a timing problem, not a recipe problem, and once you cook the pasta for two hours and not six, it comes out creamier than the stovetop version.

1. Classic Crockpot Mac and Cheese

The base recipe, and the one that convinced me!

Dry elbow macaroni goes in with milk, evaporated milk, butter, and a mountain of shredded cheddar, and it cooks on low for about two hours with one stir in the middle.

Shred the cheese yourself, since bagged shreds are dusted with anti-caking powder that turns the sauce grainy.

A green salad next to it counts as dinner in my house, and nobody argues.

2. Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

Shredded chicken, buffalo sauce, and ranch seasoning stirred into the cheese sauce, and it tastes like the wing night you didn’t have to clean up after.

I use rotisserie chicken or a batch from the freezer, so the only work is shredding cheese.

Blue cheese crumbles and sliced green onions on top, and a little extra hot sauce for whoever wants it.

A small bowl goes a long way, and it reheats better than any other mac here.

3. Chili Mac

Chili and mac and cheese in one crock, and my kids ask for it the first cold night of the year.

Browned ground beef cooks with beans, tomatoes, and chili powder for a few hours, then dry macaroni and a lot of cheddar go in near the end.

Check the pasta early, because it goes from firm to soft faster than you’d think in a slow cooker.

Sour cream and Fritos on top, and it feeds a crowd for almost nothing.

4. Taco Mac and Cheese

Taco night and mac night, together, which solves a weekly argument at my table.

Ground beef with taco seasoning, a can of Rotel, and macaroni all cook in the crock, and a block of Velveeta or a pile of shredded cheddar melts in at the end.

Crushed tortilla chips, salsa, and sour cream on top, and it’s a different dinner than the chili mac even though the ingredient list looks close.

5. Cheeseburger Macaroni

The boxed hamburger helper of my childhood, made from real ingredients and better for it.

Browned beef, onion, a little ketchup and mustard, beef broth, and macaroni cook together, and cheddar goes in at the end until it’s one creamy, beefy pot.

Diced pickles on top are not optional as far as I’m concerned!

This is my empty-fridge dinner, since there’s always a pound of beef in the freezer.

6. Bacon Mac and Cheese

Three cheeses, a spoonful of dijon, and crumbled bacon through the whole thing, and it’s the grown-up version of the classic above.

Cook the bacon crisp first and add most of it at the end, so it stays crunchy, with a little stirred in during cooking for the flavor.

Sharp cheddar, gruyere, and a bit of cream cheese for body, and the mustard is what keeps it from being too heavy.

A tomato salad on the side cuts the richness, and it’s the one I’d make for company.

7. Pulled Pork Mac and Cheese

Leftover barbecue pork stirred through the classic mac above, with a swirl of extra sauce.

The mac cooks in the crock as usual, and the pork gets stirred in for the last twenty minutes to heat through, so it doesn’t overcook and dry out.

Sliced scallions on top, and more barbecue sauce at the table.

It’s the reason I always make more pulled pork than I need.

8. Pizza Pasta Casserole

Not mac and cheese in the strict sense, but it’s pasta and cheese in a crock and my kids don’t care about definitions.

Cooked pasta, marinara, browned Italian sausage or ground beef, pepperoni, and a lot of mozzarella get layered in the slow cooker and cook on low for a couple of hours until the cheese is melted and the edges bubble.

Add a layer of pepperoni on top during the final half hour so it crisps a little.

Garlic bread on the side, and it’s Friday night without the delivery fee.

Notes on Mac and Cheese in a Slow Cooker

Dry pasta cooks in the sauce in about two hours on low, and it’s mush at three, so the mac recipes are afternoon recipes and not all-day ones.

Stir once at the one-hour mark to keep the pasta from clumping on the bottom, and then leave the lid on.

Full-fat dairy only, because skim milk and low-fat cheese both break and go grainy in the crock.

Evaporated milk is what keeps the sauce smooth, and I keep a few cans in the pantry for exactly this.

A box grater and a block of cheese beat the bagged stuff every time, and it takes three minutes.

Use a slow cooker liner or butter the crock well, because baked-on cheese is the worst thing to scrub.

A 6-quart slow cooker that switches itself to warm is what makes these work on a weeknight, because you can’t be late to a pot of pasta.

Leftovers keep three days and reheat best in a saucepan with a splash of milk, stirred until it loosens, in a small nonstick saucepan.

More Crockpot Pasta on the Site

My crockpot chicken alfredo pasta uses the same dry-pasta-in-the-crock method with a cream sauce.

The quick crockpot dinners with ten minutes of prep post has a couple more pasta dinners in it.

And for a night with no pasta at all, the crockpot meals with chicken breast that don’t dry out post is the other one I send people to.