The Italian Twist That Lifts Mac And Cheese Beyond The Same Old Dish

When you hear the term comfort food, macaroni and cheese has to come to mind almost immediately. According to Trend Incite, Americans eat mac and cheese about 22 times per year, which is close to twice a month. With 340 million people in the country, that would be just shy of 7.5 billion servings of mac and cheese. It's not hard to imagine that the dish may get boring if there's that much of it being consumed, so finding a way to give it a twist is crucial. If you're looking for a new spin on this old favorite and haven't tried vodka sauce yet, there's no time like the present.

Tomato, pasta, and cheese are a classic trio, so the idea of adding a vodka sauce to the mac and cheese shouldn't be that jarring. It's a spiritual cousin to pizza, and we know how well that works. Vodka sauce in particular enhances a pasta dish because the alcohol helps release aroma and flavor compounds in the tomato. The alcohol works on a similar principle to deglazing a pan with red wine or incorporating bourbon into a sauce. Too much can be overpowering, but just enough brings it all together.

Vodka also acts as an emulsifier in pasta sauce. When you add vodka sauce to mac and cheese, it enhances the creaminess, making it taste better and feel smoother and richer. Because there is so little alcohol present, it won't alter the flavor.

Incorporating vodka sauce into mac and cheese isn't difficult. It works best in a baked mac and cheese that you make from scratch. As you're making your roux, add tomato paste and vodka before incorporating the cheese. You want to caramelize your tomato paste and let the color deepen. Then you can use a bit of vodka to deglaze the pan, making sure the alcohol boils off before finishing your cheese sauce as normal. Assemble the rest of your casserole and bake it in the oven.

It's possible to do this with box mac and cheese and a jar of store-bought vodka sauce, but the flavor won't be as rich and dynamic as if you made it from scratch. But nobody expects that from box mac and cheese anyway.

It's easy enough to take your mac and cheese with vodka sauce to even greater heights if you're looking for something to expand on this idea. You could saute some onions, mushrooms, Italian sausage, or pancetta, and build your roux on top of that. For a spicy kick, you could include some hot peppers in the mix.

You can incorporate chicken or beef to make the casserole more of a complete meal, or add spinach if you want to keep it vegetarian. Just like any good mac and cheese casserole, you could also go for a crunchy, textured topping with panko or even crushed up crackers and some Parmesan. Check out our classic penne alla vodka recipe for tips on how to make the sauce yourself and adapt it to one of these great mac and cheese recipes.