Trader Joe’s (Diner) Mac & Cheese Copycat Recipe

Name: Trader Joe's (Diner) Mac & Cheese Copycat Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: enough sauce for 2 lbs of pasta
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 oz (1/4 cup) butter; 3 oz (a little less than 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour; 4 oz good quality white Cheddar cheese, grated; 3 oz good quality Havarti cheese, grated; 2 oz good quality Gouda cheese, grated; 1 oz good quality Swiss cheese, grated; 3/4 tsp salt; 24 oz milk (3 cups) whole milk; white pepper; nutmeg; 1 lb good quality elbow pasta (I like De Cecco)

September 3rd, 2013 | 38 Comments

If you’ve ever tried Trader Joe’s Mac & Cheese in the frozen section, then you’re going to flip for this copycat recipe which recreates the dish perfectly!

Trader Joe’s boxed macaroni and cheese is one of the few pre-packaged items I buy.

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It doesn’t contain any “junk”, my kids absolutely love it (it will probably be my son’s staple food this year at Georgetown) and it’s good to keep on hand for those times when there’s no food in the house (hey, it happens–well, I may be exaggerating just a wee bit!)

However, I had no idea that Trader Joe’s Mac & Cheese was a treasure just waiting to be discovered, only one aisle over, in the freezer section! I don’t recall who it was, but a friend was talking about the TJ’s frozen mac and cheese as if it was the best thing she’d ever eaten in her entire life, so naturally, I was curious.

Another fabulous recipe for cheese lovers! Greek-style Tiropita.

The next time I was at Trader Joe’s, I examined the ingredients and nutrition label, and although the ingredients looked good, the super high calorie and fat content only confirmed what I was thinking: it was going to be fantastic! I decided that my husband and I would share a box, just this one time, and took that baby home.

After sticking it in the microwave for a few minutes, the texture of the sauce was perfectly smooth, and it really looked appetizing, despite being a pre-made meal. One bite, and I understood why my friend had been raving about this Trader Joe’s Mac and Cheese! I honestly couldn’t believe a frozen meal could taste this phenomenal!

Well, if you read my blog regularly, you’ll know what I was thinking the very next minute, “Could I recreate this from scratch?” The answer is “yes”, and because all the ingredients are actual items which one can aquire from a grocery store (instead of a chemistry lab), it was actually quite easy, which means you can make it too, especially if you are nowhere near a Trader Joe’s!

EDITED March 2020: Trader Joe’s has added a frozen Hatch Chile Mac and Cheese and so have I!

However, a word of advice: I would not advise buying already grated packages of cheese–

1. The quality of cheese is sub-par in any of these cheeses.
2. There are additives to keep the cheese from clumping which are unneccessary.

PLEASE NOTE: the following recipe will make enough cheese sauce for about 2 lbs of pasta. Because the cheese sauce freezes perfectly, it’s worth making a larger batch and freezing half for another time. To make less sauce, halve the sauce recipe.

Trader Joe’s
Mac & Cheese Copycat Recipe

Recipe created by Christina Conte

makes about 4 1/2 cups of sauce, enough for 2 lbs of pasta (see note above)

Ingredients

2 oz (1/4 cup) butter
3 oz (a little less than 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
4 oz good quality white Cheddar cheese, grated
3 oz good quality Havarti cheese, grated
2 oz good quality Gouda cheese, grated
1 oz good quality Swiss cheese, grated
3/4 tsp salt
24 oz milk (3 cups) whole milk
white pepper
nutmeg
1 lb good quality elbow pasta (made in Italy)

Start by putting a large pot of water on to boil the pasta-make sure to salt it well.

Now, start making the cheese sauce, but if the pasta water comes to a boil before you add the cheese to the sauce you are making, turn it down.

Melt the butter in a medium sized pan over medium heat, then add the flour and stir well. Continue to cook while stirring for about 3 to 4 minutes, but do not let it brown. (Cooking the flour well is important because the sauce will have a “raw-flour” taste if it isn’t cooked long enough.)

Have the milk closeby in a jug that is easy to pour from, and add a little drop of milk. The milk should sizzle and steam immediately, if it doesn’t, turn up the heat a little. Once the milk does sizzle, begin adding a little at a time, and stirring quickly to keep the sauce smooth.

The secret to not having lumps in white sauce is to gradually increase the amount of milk you add each time; if you add too much at once, especially early on, chances are you will end up with lumpy sauce (which is completely reparable with an immersion blender!)

Start with about 2 tablespoons of milk, then 2 more, then a little more each time.

Once the sauce begins to form, you can add more milk each time. Just make sure all the milk has been absorbed after each addition, before adding more.

Once the sauce is finished, add salt, nutmeg and white pepper to taste, and lower the heat.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have just made a Besciamella sauce (White Sauce/Bechamel Sauce) which you can use as a base for many soups and cream sauce recipes!

This is a good consistency, if yours is too thick, add a little more milk, but remember, it will thicken as it cools.

At this point, add the pasta to the boiling water and stir well; stir the white sauce, too, so it doesn’t stick. Now, add the grated cheeses to the white sauce, and stir until it is melted, adjusting the heat if necessary. Stir constantly or it will stick.

When the pasta is ready (al dente), drain and return to the pot. Add HALF of the cheese sauce, if you made the full recipe.

Serve hot!

If you want to gild the lily, you can put this in a casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs and put it under the broiler for a lovely, crunchy topping. Who am I kidding? As if anyone is going to wait any longer than they have to-to eat this sea of cheese-laden noodle ecstasy!

Put the extra sauce in a jar or container to cool, then place in the freezer and use within two to three weeks.

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Yield: enough sauce for 2 lbs of pasta