Maximum Mac 'N' Cheese

The name says it all. Cheese tortellini already has cheese inside, and then you coat them in a homemade cheese sauce. It’s cheese on cheese on cheese, and it works exactly the way you think it does.

The sauce is a classic roux-based approach: margarine and flour cooked for a minute, then milk stirred in until thick and bubbly. Eight slices of processed cheese melt into that base and create a sauce that’s impossibly smooth and clingy. Processed cheese gets a bad reputation, but its emulsifiers are what make this sauce silky instead of grainy or stringy. It coats every tortellini evenly without breaking.

Using tortellini instead of elbow macaroni changes the whole experience. Each piece is plump, stuffed, and has a tender pasta exterior that holds more sauce in its folds than a smooth tube of macaroni ever could. The filled pasta also means the dish feels more substantial, almost like a main course rather than a side.

This comes together in about 35 minutes and makes enough for four generous servings.

Kitchen Tips

• Cook the roux for a full minute before adding milk. Raw flour taste is the number one reason homemade cheese sauce tastes off
• Stir the milk in gradually to prevent lumps. Adding it all at once can create a lumpy sauce that’s hard to smooth out
• Stir the cheese in off the heat or on very low heat. High heat can cause even processed cheese to separate
• Toss the sauce with the tortellini gently. Rough stirring can tear the pasta and spill the filling

Variations

• Bacon crumble: Top with crispy crumbled bacon for a salty, smoky crunch
• Broccoli add-in: Stir in a cup of steamed broccoli florets for color and a vegetable balance
• Baked version: Transfer to a baking dish, top with breadcrumbs and extra cheese, and broil until golden and bubbly