Creamy Crockpot Mac and cheese

• servings: 8 servings
• active time: 5 minutes
• total time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound cellentani (corkscrew) pasta (uncooked, or other small pasta shape)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (sliced into tablespoon-sized pieces)

4 ounces cream cheese (cut into 1 ounce pieces)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 cups whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 cups freshly shredded cheddar cheese (I use sharp cheddar)

1 cup freshly shredded pepper jack cheese

Directions

Pour the uncooked pasta onto the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Scatter the butter and cream cheese pieces over the pasta.

Sprinkle the salt and cayenne pepper over the top and pour the milk and cream into the slow cooker.Stir to combine everything and smooth the pasta into one even layer coated in sauce.

Cover and cook on low for 1 to 2 hours, until the pasta is chewy (not quite crunchy, but very al dente). Your cook time will vary if you use a different pasta or different size crockpot, so start with 1 hour and adjust from there.

Stir once halfway through the cook time and be sure to smooth the pasta into one layer so it is well coated with the sauce.

Once the pasta is ready, sprinkle on the cheddar and pepper Jack cheeses and stir to combine. Cover and continue cooking for 10 minutes. The cheeses will melt into the sauce to create the most luxurious creamy cheese sauce.

Stir before serving. Enjoy!

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cup
• Calories: 584 kcal
• Total Fat: 34 g
• Saturated Fat: 20 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
• Trans Fat: 1 g
• Cholesterol: 98 mg
• Sodium: 648 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 49 g
• Dietary Fiber: 2 g
• Total Sugars: 7 g
• Protein: 22 g