Score: 5.00 (votes: 2)
The difference between the "deluxe" version of Kraft's Macaroni & Cheese Dinner and the original is the cheese. The deluxe dinner has an envelope of cheese sauce, while the original dinner, introduced to the nation back in 1937, comes with powdered cheese. The original Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner is the most popular packaged dinner product around, and one of the top six best-selling of all dry goods sold in supermarkets—probably because it only takes about 7 minutes to prepare, and a box costs just 70 cents. And who doesn't like macaroni and cheese? But it's the deluxe version—the more expensive version—with its pouch of gooey, yellow cheese sauce, that Kraft reformulated as a reduced-fat product in 1997. The new version boasts 50 percent less fat and 10 percent fewer calories than the deluxe original, and tastes just as good. So here's a simple clone that requires you to get your hands on Cheez Whiz Light, reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, and elbow macaroni.
Nutrition Facts
Serving size–1 cup
Total servings–4
Calories per serving–290
Fat per serving–5g
Source: Top Secret Recipes Lite by Todd Wilbur.
Get This
_main
- 8 cups water
- 1 3/4 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
- 1/3 cup reduced-fat (2% fat) shredded Cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup Cheez Whiz Light
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Do This
1. Bring 8 cups (2 quarts) of water to a boil over high heat in a large saucepan. Add the elbow macaroni to the water and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
2. As the macaroni boils, prepare the sauce by combining the Cheddar cheese, Cheese Whiz, and milk in a small saucepan over medium/low heat. Stir the cheese mixture often as it heats, so that it does not burn. Add the salt. When all of the Cheddar cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth, cover the pan and set it aside until the macaroni is ready.
3. When the macaroni is ready, strain the water, but do not rinse the macaroni.
4. Using the same pan you prepared the macaroni in, combine the macaroni with the cheese sauce, and mix well.
Makes about 4 cups.
Tidbits: If you would like your macaroni and cheese to have a color tsimilar to the florescent orange tint of the original, you can just add a little paprika—about 1/8 teaspoon—to the cheese sauce just before you remove it from the heat.
Reviews
Jordan
Jan 4, 2015, 22:00
Eating it now... MMM THANK U SO GOOD. IM SO PLEASED!!!
Karl
Jul 25, 2013, 22:00
I'm sure this recipe is just as good as others that Todd has posted, but I live in Europe where (thankfully) Cheez-Whiz is an unknown commodity, and it does occur to ask rhetorically: If you have to go out and buy Cheez-Whiz, doesn't it make more sense to just pay the 70 damn cents for the original product? Just saying.
I'm Todd Wilbur, Chronic Food Hacker
For over 30 years I've been deconstructing America's most iconic brand-name foods to make the best original copycat recipes for you to use at home. Welcome to my lab.
.png)
