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So I bet you’re probably thinking that having parents who write a food blog would mean that our six-year-old daughter is a little ‘foodie’ herself? And she’s willing to try many of the delicious foods that we make for our blog?
Nope.
Our six-year-old is a very picky eater, and we can count on two hands the foods she willingly eats. (And it’s not for our lack of trying to get her to try new foods!)
Like most kids, one of Emma’s favorite foods of all-time is macaroni & cheese – and this recipe for our Copycat Kraft Macaroni and Cheese comes very close to recreating both the flavor, as well as the distinctive yellow-orange color of the cheese sauce from the package. (As anyone with a young child knows, sometimes, it’s as much about how the food looks – never mind how it tastes!)
We’ve used a blend of cheeses and seasonings to create this copycat recipe. Also included in the recipe are ideas for adding in some pureed vegetables like sweet potato or cauliflower to the cheese sauce, just to get some vegetables in somehow!
And our toughest critic? What does she think about how this mac & cheese sauce tastes? Her words: “This is VERY GOOD!”
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Copycat Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- Pasta of your choice
For the cheese sauce
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup WisPride
- 1/2 cup Velveeta
- 8 slices yellow American cheese
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon Colman’s dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2–3 drops Tabasco sauce
- Orange food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- To prepare the cheese sauce, place all ingredients into a medium sauce pan and heat until the cheese is melted and the mixture blended. Remove from heat and store in refrigerator for later use or mix one cup of heated cheese sauce to three cups of cooked pasta and serve immediately.
- Note: If you want this to look and taste just like the boxed mix, use all of the salt, butter and use orange food coloring. Otherwise, you can cut back on the salt and butter and omit the food coloring for a healthier version. This will all depend on how finicky your child is.
- Another tip to make this extra healthy is to add cooked pureed sweet potatoes and/or cooked pureed cauliflower with a little milk to thin them down. The taste only changes a bit and you are getting a healthier version of the copycat recipe into your child. We slowly added these vegetables over time to get our daughter used to the taste and now her cheese sauce is 1/3 cheese sauce, 1/3 pureed sweet potato and 1/3 pureed cauliflower. (She knows we add in the vegetables and is fine with it!)
- In our house we keep prepared sauce and cooked pasta in the refrigerator. When someone is hungry for macaroni and cheese, we just heat 3 parts pasta to one part sauce and microwave. In about two minutes, hungry children are eating lunch or dinner.
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Mike says
Amazing easy recipe. My daughter and I both loved it. I added some crumbled bacon. And I love that the cheese sauce doesn’t involve making a traditional roux which I often screw up.
Martha says
So glad you both enjoyed the recipe Mike!
Kristina says
It’s funny you speak of picky eaters as if they are only young. My friends 16 yr old daughter stayed at my house and she only like chicken nuggets and Mac and cheese. So I used your recipe, and sauteed garlic, onion, and spinach to mix with it. She was NOT happy. But, I told her if she wanted to eat Mac n Cheese, she has to eat the other stuff in it. SCORE! She was hungry enough to try it. Now she asked for the recipe!!!
Martha says
That’s great Kristina!
Joey says
Hi! I haven’t seen wispride in any of the stores I visit and I was wondering if you can suggest anything that tastes similar?
Martha says
Hi Joey – Since publishing this recipe a number of years ago, it does seem like Wispride is getting more difficult to find in stores – it may be time for us to update this recipe!
Some (but not all) Target stores sell either the President brand or Wisconsin Kaukauna brand of spreadable cheese…I’ve also seen a cheddar version of spreadable cheese sold by The Laughing Cow brand.
I hope that helps at least a little!
Julia says
My son is a PICKY eater. We were out of Kraft so I needed to improvise. I used LOL yellow American slices from the deli, some shredded cheddar jack, butter, milk, salt and the key ingredient: a drop of orange food coloring. He loved it! I’m storing the leftover pasta and cheese sauce separately. Wispride, Velveeta, mustard, tabasco and worstershire are not needed to make this a close replica for the kid fave.
Martha says
Thanks for letting us know Julia.
Gabi says
How do I store this? How long does it keep in the fridge? Thank you for the idea I love it. My kid loves boxes mac and cheese but he is sensitive to some ingredient in it so cant have it.
Martha says
Hi Gabi – I’d suggest storing it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for a day or two.
Erin Whiting says
Delicious! I’m back for my third time making this for my family.
Martha says
Glad you are all enjoying the recipe Erin!
Cero says
Thank you!!
Disclaimer- I haven’t tried it yet as I need to buy pasta, but have utmost faith in your child’s palate.
Kraft Mac and Cheese has always been my guilty pleasure and stress food (for better or worse); but recently the boxes I’ve bought have had pasta that went bad- likely the weather was to blame as some other starchy products in my pantry shared a similar fate, but nothing puts you off a food like making it and then realizing the pasta was stale. Now I can make it with better-sealed pasta (and in any shape I so desire, hehe).
Martha says
🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe Cero!
Susy says
P.S. to my earlier post – I used a melty cheese spread similar to Velveeta and grated real Cheddar. As I said, terrific!
Martha says
Thanks again Susy! 🙂
Susy says
I had to leave out some of the ingredients like Tabasco and substitute prepared mustard for the Coleman’s but it turned out great anyway. My tip for color: whisk in a good shake each of paprika and turmeric (red+yellow = orange) while the milk butter mixture is heating up, before you add the cheeses. Looks real. Tasted great. Thanks for this recipe – we can’t get the boxed kind very easily here in Germany.
Martha says
Thanks for the suggestion Susy! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Marina says
Sounds good! Have you ever frozen the sauce?
Martha says
Hi Marina – No – we haven’t tried freezing the sauce.