I tested 9 Mac and Cheese brands. Here’s what I found

For this list, I followed the directions on each box word for word and ingredient for ingredient. But you don’t have to. In fact, there are a few things I would change.

Use less butter

Most of the mac and cheese packages I made for this list called for a quarter cup of milk and 4 tablespoons of butter. So, first of all, bro. That’s a lot of butter. These are (roughly) 6 to 7 ounce boxes. I promise you don’t need that much butter. I personally use 1 to 2 tablespoons of butter when I make mac and cheese, and that’s plenty. To be honest, you don’t even need to add butter if you don’t want to. It’s there to add a little extra flavor and help make the pasta a little creamier.

Do not use too much milk

What you really need to be sure to add is milk. The addition of milk is necessary to help mix the cheese powder and prevent the pasta from drying out too quickly. Most of these brands asked for a quarter cup of milk – that’s too much. If you add that much milk, you risk drowning the pasta in a pool of cheese water at the bottom of the pot. Your mac and cheese will not be creamy, it will just be runny. Instead, I would recommend just adding two tablespoons of milk. And if you feel that your pasta is too dry, add another tablespoon. You can always start with less and add more as you blend and blend, bringing it to your desired consistency.