Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese

Let your slow cooker do the cooking with our Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese recipe, an easy recipe for mac and cheese that is creamy, cheesy and saucy.

Everything cooks together in your slow cooker, including the pasta, for this mouthwatering mac n cheese! 

Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

The wind is whipping around here in Jersey and the wind chill factor makes the air temperature brutal.

What to do on a freezing cold day in February? Make comfort food, of course!

Today I'm making an easy no boil Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese that will cook itself in just over an hour.

My slow cooker will be cooking up pasta while making a cheesy sauce that will fill all the nooks and crannies of the shell pasta.

I love making mac and cheese with shell pasta because each pasta shell catches the creamy cheese sauce and cradles it making every bite burst with cheesy goodness.

This recipe makes a very cheesy and saucy macaroni and cheese. The cheese sauce is rich and indulgent!

Our macaroni and cheese recipe is also perfect for a game day meal that will keep warm until halftime if you can wait that long!

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Be sure to visit the Swirls of Flavor Amazon Storefront for GG's personal kitchen recommendations!

Hungry for more? Follow along on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter for my latest recipes.

Use code SAVE25 for 25% off the purchase of my Easy Slow Cooker Recipes for Beginners eBook with 21 easy recipes including tips for cooking with a crockpot!

How to make macaroni and cheese in the slow cooker

Scroll down for the full recipe instructions and ingredient amounts in the recipe card below

• Place the uncooked pasta in the slow cooker.
• Combine the milk, evaporated milk, Worcestershire, kosher salt and pepper and pour over pasta.
• Top with cheddar cheese, cream cheese and butter.
• Cook on low for 1 hour 30 minutes. Stir until the cheeses are completed blended with the pasta.
• Cook an additional 15 minutes on low after stirring. Depending on the wattage of your slow cooker, the cook time may be slightly less or a bit longer. Check the pasta texture for doneness after 1 hour 15 minutes of cooking.
• Stir and serve. Top with additional shredded cheese, if desired.

Swirls of Flavor Recipe Tips

A couple of pointers to be aware of to guarantee that your Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese is absolute perfection:

• It is extremely important that you grate your own cheeses for this recipe! Store bought grated cheese has a coating on it that prevents it from melting into a creamy cheese sauce.
• Depending on the wattage of your slow cooker, the cook time may be slightly less or a bit longer. Check the pasta texture for doneness after 1 hour of cooking.

Substitutions

• Change up the cheesy flavor and substitute 2 ounces Monterey Jack cheese for 2 ounces cheddar cheese
• Use 2 ounces of Colby Jack cheese in place of 2 ounces cheddar cheese

Equipment

• slow cooker

Who Invented Macaroni and Cheese?

Have you ever asked yourself....so who was the first person to actually make mac and cheese? Who invented this oh-so-popular comfort food recipe? And yes, how long has macaroni and cheese actually been around because it seems like it's been around forever!  

Apparently, there are several urban legends that credit Thomas Jefferson. Seems he brought a pasta machine and noodle recipes with him to the Colonies because there were none available here.

When he was president he had his cook make macaroni, add lots and lots of York cheddar cheese and bake it. He actually served macaroni and cheese at a state dinner in 1802 at the White House making macaroni and cheese very presidential indeed! Jefferson’s mac ‘n cheese was baked in the oven.

Our baked macaroni and cheese recipe is perfect to serve a crowd with and you can halve the recipe for a smaller group too. 

Our stovetop mac ‘n cheese recipe cooks in one pot on the stove top, including the uncooked pasta. Everything cooks together, no need to boil your pasta separately.

Ingredients for mac and cheese in a crockpot

• pasta
• milk
• evaporated milk
• Worcestershire sauce
• kosher salt
• pepper
• sharp cheddar cheese
• cream cheese
• butter

Mac and cheese recipes

In case you haven't noticed, I absolutely love making mac and cheese any which way that I can. Be sure to check out these macaroni and cheese recipes too.

I’ve upgraded mac and cheese from the blue box and made it better and super easy for you with One Pot Mac ‘N Cheese with the pasta, cheesy sauce and breadcrumb topping all cooked together in the same skillet! 

Bacon Mac N Cheese Bites is an easy recipe for a last minute appetizer. With just three ingredients you can have this bite of cheesy goodness in just minutes! Bacon with macaroni and cheese is a perfect combination of two comfort foods for a recipe that everyone will love! 

Surrounded by a creamy cheddar sauce, every spoonful of cauliflower in Cauliflower Mac ‘N Cheese is bursting with cheesy goodness! Trust me, you won’t miss the pasta! Serve as a side dish or a main dish, the choice is yours. Mac ‘N Cheese will never be the same again.

One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese is an easy dinner recipe that combines two all time comfort food favorites, mac and cheese and chili. This one pot recipe is filled with cheesy saucy goodness, and yes, it’s made in just one pot! Kids, and grownups, will love when this tasty chili mac and cheese recipe is on the menu! 

Why not serve our favorite comfort food, mac n cheese, as mini bites? Serve warm or at room temperature, either way, everyone will love Mini Mac ‘N Cheese Bites, ,cheesy bites with the perfect bit of crunch from panko breadcrumbs. Bet you can’t eat just one!

Creamy Cheddar Mac ‘N Cheese is the perfect comfort food recipe to feed a crowd! Creamy sharp cheddar sauce not only coats the pasta but also hides inside the little shells making each bite pop with cheesiness! You can easily halve this recipe to feed just a few!