If you love mac and cheese and all the toppings you can pile on, this board is the ultimate comfort-food feast. Here’s how to build your own step by step.
How to Make a Mac and Cheese Board
Video
Ingredients
Mac and Cheese Base
Your favorite mac and cheese (homemade or store-bought) Here is my recipe, serves 4:
100g cheddar, grated
100g red leicester, grated
50g gruyere, grated
1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon parika
3 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon flour
500ml milk
300g macaroni
Method
On medium heat, melt the butter in a deep sauce pan. Once melted and bubbling add in the flour and whisk together until a paste forms. Slowly pour in the milk while whisking to avoid clumps then once all of the milk is added, add the cajun seasoning along with salt and pepper then bring to a boil before reducing to medium-low. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, put the macaroni on to boil.
Once the sauce has thickened slightly, turn off the heat and stir in half of each cheese, reserving the other half for topping. Once melted, add in the pasta and coat with the cheese sauce.
Sauces (small ramekins)
- Buffalo sauce
- Chimichurri
- Chipotle mayo (mix mayo and chipotle paste)
Meats (make or buy)
- BBQ pulled pork (store-bought or homemade)
- Steak bites (I made mine from scratch)
- Fried chicken (homemade or store-bought)
- Crispy bacon
Toppings
- Caramelised onions
- Crispy fried onions
- Garlic butter mushrooms
- Kimchi
- Crumbed blue cheese
- Gherkins
- Jalapeños
- Chives
Step-by-Step Assembly
1. Prepare the Sauces
Buffalo sauce: Mix hot sauce, melted butter and paprika in a small ramekin.
Chimichurri: Chop 5g parsley and mix with 1 garlic clove, 2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, ½ teaspoon chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Serve in a ramekin.
Chipotle mayo: Mix mayonnaise and chipotle paste until smooth. Serve in a ramekin.
2. Cook or Prep the Meats
Pulled pork: Use store-bought or slow-cook your own. I like to use either left over or store bought oven-cook bbq pulled pork to save time.
Steak bites: Pan-fry bite-sized pieces of steak with salt and pepper until cooked to your liking.
Method for steak
Heat a large pan over high heat for about 1 minute to ensure it’s hot enough to sear the steaks properly. Place the seasoned ribeye steaks into the hot pan and sear for 1 minute on each side, until you have a golden brown, seared steak. This is quick work so keep an eye on the pan.
Add a knob of butter to the pan and spoon the melted butter over the steaks for an additional minute. Remove the steaks from the pan and set them aside to rest (cooking times may vary depending on skillet such as whether you use a cast iron skillet and type of hob as well as how pink you like your steak). Check the internal temperature if you are unsure.
Fried chicken: Either make crispy fried chicken at home or buy ready-to-eat pieces.
Crispy bacon: Cook until golden and crispy.
3. Prep the Toppings
Onions: Caramelise some onions in butter and sugar for 40-45 minutes. Buy store bought crispy onions, slice spring onions and chives.
Pickly bits: Slice gherkins, jalapeños, and have kimchi ready.
Mushrooms: Sauté 2-3 sliced mushrooms with 2 tablespoon butter until golden then add 2 cloves garlic and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley.
Cheese: Crumble blue cheese.
4. Build Your Board
- Start with a generous layer of mac and cheese in the center of your board or platter.
- Add the sauces to the board for dipping
- Arrange the meats around the mac: steak bites, pulled pork, fried chicken, and crispy bacon.
- Add the toppings in small clusters: onions, mushrooms, pickly bits, cheese etc.
