Give Your Boxed Mac And Cheese Restaurant-Style Flavor With This Simple Step

Both children and adults alike can acknowledge boxed mac and cheese as the supreme comfort meal. It's easy to make with limited ingredients and has a reliable flavor that evokes nostalgia. That being said, it's simple enough that it practically cries out for upgrades. You can swap base ingredients, add protein, mix in vegetables, and more to change things up. One addition that turns boxed mac and cheese into a delicious dinner is a simple change in the butter. Rather than mixing it in as a chunk with the cheese sauce, you should brown it first.

This might sound pretty fancy, but it doesn't take very long, and the boost in flavor is undeniable. Swapping brown butter with regular butter in this recipe is straightforward. Cook the pasta as instructed on the box and drain. Then, put the butter — use salted if you want it to taste better — into a pan over medium heat. Stir regularly and watch it carefully as it begins to bubble and foam, and the color darkens. This should only take about 5 to 7 minutes. Once there's a nutty smell and the butter looks amber with small flecks at the bottom, take it off the heat. Pour the pasta into the butter, and gently mix it until the macaroni is fully coated. Add the cheese powder or sauce to the pasta and continue preparing it as per the directions.

What you'll end up with is a rich sauce with a deeper dimension of flavor than you've ever had with boxed mac and cheese before. It will have more of a homemade feel that balances the tanginess of processed cheese. This trick is easy and quick, much like boxed mac and cheese itself.

Butter turns boxed mac and cheese into the ultimate comfort food because of some basic scientific reasons. The main principle behind brown butter being so delicious has to do with the Maillard Reaction. This happens when the milk solids contained in the butter separate from the butter fat after any water evaporates, intensifying the flavors in what's left behind. The heat makes the butter's amino acids react to sugars, turning into new flavor compounds that might be described as toasty, nutty, or caramelly. This is the same reason grilled sandwiches or seared steaks take on an extra savory, salty, and luxurious taste. The caramelized milk solids you see floating in the butter at the end of browning are especially rich in this flavor, so be sure to include them in your completed mac and cheese.

There's another way you can include brown butter in your mac and cheese, if you want to get extra fancy. In a separate pan, you can brown more butter and then toss breadcrumbs in it until they get crispy and absorb the toasty flavor. Put that on top of the mac and cheese, also made with brown butter, and serve, or pop it all into the oven until the breadcrumbs turn extra golden and crunchy. This can work with just about any boxed mac and cheese you like. If you're looking to make Kraft mac and cheese just the way you remember it, browned butter might not be quite the right vibe. But if you're looking for a restaurant-style mac with more richness and stronger flavors, this is one hack you don't want to ignore.