Is 3 hour slow cooker mac and cheese really any better than 3 minute mac and cheese? Let’s find out!
I could have really gone to town on this or done a cheap vs steep version with onion instead of onion powder, parmesan, butter and more. But I decided to stick to the good old classic with basically just macaroni, cheese and milk, with a few chives and the onion powder to spice it up a little bit. But today I wanted to see if just patience would make the difference.
My thinking is that the time would give it the texture rather than adding anything else to the flavour, like the thickness, creaminess, the goodness!
So after a bit of research, I found out that the typical cost to run a microwave for 3 minutes is 1p, but running a crockpot for 3 hours ends up at about 24p. So actually this has headed into cheap vs steep territory! But is it worth it? As you can probably tell from the thumbnail, there is a clear difference in looks, but which would Mrs B and I prefer?
Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese Recipe
This was a pretty simple recipe to be honest, I just whacked all the ingredients into the crockpot, set it to go and left it! I stirred it at the one hour mark and again at the 2 hour mark – be careful with it though at this stage as it’s very delicate and kind of mushy! Then I gave it another half hour before checking and stirring again. It all sort of congeals together (in a mostly good way!). Serve up with a sprinkle of chives and enjoy!
Microwave Mac and Cheese Recipe
So for the microwave version of the recipe, you’ll need to take a look at the size of your container and decide how much you need to make it – maybe a quarter or even an eighth of the recipe would do?!
First put the macaroni and water into a microwave safe dish and cook at 800W for 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn’t boil over!
Remove carefully from the microwave and agitate it a little bit (don’t call it any funny names!), then add the onion powder, milk, a sprinkle of chives, black pepper and salt, and finish with the cheese.
Put it back into the microwave then cook for a further minute. Finish off with a sprinkle of chives, and serve!