Four Cheese Mac and Cheese (Creamy Stovetop Recipe)

My four-cheese mac and cheese stays creamy because it never goes in the oven. Aged white cheddar, Gruyère, fontina, and Parmesan melt into a silky stovetop béchamel, and it’s on the table in 30 minutes.

Almost every four-cheese mac and cheese I come across goes into the oven. I’ve made it both ways more times than I can count, and the stovetop version wins every time.

Baking is what dries mac and cheese out. The sauce keeps cooking, the pasta keeps drinking it up, and what comes out of the oven is stiffer than what went in. Skipping that step is the reason my four-cheese mac and cheese stays glossy and loose in the pot. The sauce starts as a real béchamel with butter, flour, and whole milk, and I soften a finely minced onion in the butter first for a savory base that onion powder can’t fake. The cheese goes in over low heat: aged white cheddar for sharpness, Gruyère for nuttiness, fontina for stretch, and Parmesan for salt. A teaspoon of Dijon at the end keeps all that richness from going flat.

One pot of pasta, one sauce, thirty minutes, no oven. Grate the cheese yourself rather than buying it pre-shredded, and it comes out silky every single time.

Cheese substitutions

Each of the four cheeses does a different job, so the easiest swap is to replace one with another that does the same thing. Keep the total at about 3 ½ cups, and the sauce will behave the same way.

• Aged white cheddar (1 ½ cups) brings the sharpness. This is the flavor you actually taste, so it’s the last thing I’d change. If you need to, a sharp orange cheddar works and will turn the whole pot a deeper gold. Aged gouda is good here too, a little sweeter and less tangy.
• Gruyère (1 cup) brings the nuttiness. It’s what keeps the sauce from tasting like plain cheddar. Comté is the closest swap, and Emmental or a young Gouda both work. Jarlsberg is the easiest one to find in most grocery stores.
• Fontina (½ cup) brings the stretch. It melts into long, soft strands and gives the sauce that pull. Low-moisture mozzarella does the same thing for less money, though it’s much milder. Havarti or young provolone also work.
• Parmesan (½ cup) brings the salt. It’s as much seasoning as it is cheese. Pecorino romano is saltier and sharper, so start with a bit less. Grana Padano is a gentler swap.

A few I’d skip. Pre-shredded cheese of any kind is coated in starch to keep it from clumping in the bag, and that starch is what makes a cheese sauce turn grainy. Fresh mozzarella holds too much water and will thin the sauce. Very aged hard cheeses tend to break rather than melt, which is why I use Parmesan as a supporting player here instead of the main one.

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Four Cheese Mac and Cheese (Creamy Stovetop Recipe)

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

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A stovetop mac and cheese built on aged white cheddar, Gruyere, fontina, and Parmesan melted into a scratch béchamel. No oven, no processed cheese, and no waiting for a casserole to bake.

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Ingredients

• ▢ 3 cups elbow macaroni
• ▢ ½ cup butter
• ▢ 1 medium onion (finely minced)
• ▢ ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ▢ 4 cups whole milk
• ▢ 1 ½ cups aged white cheddar cheese (shredded)
• ▢ 1 cup Gruyère (shredded)
• ▢ ½ cup fontina (diced)
• ▢ ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (grated)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ▢ Black pepper (to taste)

Instructions 

• Cook the macaroni in a large pot of salted water according to package directions.
  3 cups elbow macaroni
  
• Melt the butter in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes, or until softened but not browned. Add the flour and stir continuously for 2-3 minutes, or until it is light brown. Pour in the milk while whisking constantly. It will thicken a lot at first, but then thin as you add more milk. Bring the pot to a boil for 2 minutes, or until it has thickened.
  ½ cup butter, 1 medium onion, ½ cup all-purpose flour, 4 cups whole milk
  
• Lower the heat to medium-low and add the 4 kinds of cheese to the pot in a few additions. Stir until the cheeses melt, then add the Dijon mustard, sea salt, and black pepper. Taste the cheese sauce and add more sea salt and pepper if you'd like.
  1 ½ cups aged white cheddar cheese, 1 cup Gruyère, ½ cup fontina, ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, Black pepper, 1 teaspoon sea salt
  
• Stir the macaroni into the cheese sauce. Serve with pepper on top and a little grated white cheddar on top.
  

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving = ⅛ of the recipe, Calories: 618kcal (31%), Carbohydrates: 53g (18%), Protein: 27g (54%), Fat: 33g (51%), Saturated Fat: 20g (125%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 98mg (33%), Sodium: 804mg (35%), Potassium: 358mg (10%), Fiber: 2g (8%), Sugar: 9g (10%), Vitamin A: 1051IU (21%), Vitamin C: 1mg (1%), Calcium: 591mg (59%), Iron: 1mg (6%)

© Author Kristen Stevens

We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.

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