Fried Mac and Cheese Bites — Crispy Vegetarian Snacks

Everything baked mac and cheese offers, you can have in snackable, bite-sized form. Say hello to fried mac and cheese bites: a top-tier cheesy appetizer, rivaling cheesy nachos and mozzarella sticks. Just picture the combination of soft macaroni pasta with a creamy, gooey, stingy and sharp cheese sauce, all coated in a crispy breaded exterior. Heaven!

For most Americans, mac and cheese might be the ultimate comfort food. Who can blame them — after all, the famous dish combines pasta and cheese, two of the most delicious ingredients known to man.

Although packaged sauces are convenient, I’m a huge advocate for making a homemade béchamel sauce (white sauce) and stirring through freshly grated cheese. It delivers that gooey, melty, and velvety texture like nothing else can.

For a long time, I thought it wasn’t possible to improve my mac and cheese recipe. I was wrong. How was I wrong? Well, just look at that photo: Crispy mac and cheese bites are everything.

Plus, if there’s one appetizer that’s guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser, it’s crispy mac and cheese bites. This dish is the perfect game-night snack, after-school treat (a great way to use up leftover mac and cheese), or side dish alongside homemade pizza.

Honestly, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, and Domino’s side dishes don’t have a leg to stand on against these moreish bites.

How do you make Mac and Cheese Bites?

While I’m not averse to a complicated recipe — sometimes it’s really, really, worth it — this one is surprisingly simple. It doesn’t require any fancy ingredients and has an incredibly simple method.

1. Cook the pasta. Cook your chosen pasta to package instructions or slightly al dente.
2. Whip up the cheese sauce. This starts with a basic béchamel made from whisking butter, flour, and milk together, and then incorporates cheese at the end. I like to add mustard and sometimes a dash of nutmeg, too.
3. Mix the pasta and the cheese sauce. The cheese sauce is a bit thicker than usual for these bites because we want it to just coat the pasta. Mix them all up together until the pasta is completely coated. You can also add extra cheese at this point.
4. Chill it. Chilling the pasta and cheese sauce mixture makes forming the bites a breeze.
5. Shape the balls. Take a scoop of the pasta and carefully form it into a rough ball shape.
6. Bread the bites. Whisk up an egg, roll the bites in the slurry, then coat in fresh breadcrumbs (or you can use panko).
7. Fry! Fry in batches until golden brown.

Which Pasta is Best for Mac and Cheese Bites?

It’s not often that I say I’m a traditionalist, but I might make an exception here. Traditional macaroni pasta, otherwise known as elbow pasta, is undoubtedly the best option. Macaroni pasta is small enough to shape into balls and has enough “nooks and crannies” for the cheese sauce to sink into. In the U.K., we get straight and slightly curved macaroni — either is fine, so use whichever you can get your hands on.

My second choice is cavatappi, also known as spirali pasta in the U.K., named for its distinctive corkscrew shape. Similarly to macaroni, the cheese sauce coats the pasta perfectly. The final option is ditalini — very small tubes comparable in size to a kernel of corn.

Avoid longer pasta like spaghetti, linguine, tagliatelle, etc. These varieties are best reserved for pasta aglio e olio.

Tips to make the BEST Mac and Cheese Bites

• Choose the right type of pasta. It makes a huge difference! You want the glorious cheese sauce to coat every side of the pasta. Plus, if your pasta isn’t the right size, you won’t be able to shape the bites.
• Cook the pasta until al dente. You’ll essentially be cooking the pasta three times; once when you boil it, again when you add it to your cheese sauce, and finally when you deep fry the mac and cheese bites. Although the last two times are more comparable to heating than cooking, it’s still important not to overcook at first.
• Use the best cheese you can find. I admit it — I’m an ardent hater of Velveeta. None of that here, please. We only want to use the best West Country cheddar.
• When making the cheese sauce, stir, stir, and stir some more. Patience is key to making a cheese sauce. Don’t rush the process, add the milk gradually, and keep stirring continuously to make a lusciously thick, velvety, and silky sauce.
• Add some extras to the cheese sauce. I absolutely adore adding a small spoon of wholegrain French mustard to my cheese sauce — it boosts it to a whole new level. Others prefer to add a dash of nutmeg; sometimes I combine both.
• Cool in the fridge. You can’t shape the mac and cheese bites while the pasta and cheese sauce is still hot. Cooling in the fridge is an essential step to achieving the results you desire.
• Use fine breadcrumbs. I always like to make fresh breadcrumbs from whatever bread I have on hand, but you can use panko too. Make sure the breadcrumbs you use are small, so they’ll adhere to the crispy bites more easily.
• Fry in batches. Don’t overcrowd the fryer; cooking small batches at a time will allow the bites to cook evenly.

Which Cheese melts best for Mac and Cheese?

For the best mac and cheese, you want to select a cheese that provides the perfect balance between flavour, melting, and texture.

Our favourite choice (which is backed up by experts around the world!), without a doubt, is cheddar cheese — preferably a mature smoked cheddar variety to really maximize the flavour, but sharp/mature cheddar also works well. Characteristically, cheddar boasts an ideal smooth texture, superior meltability, and robust flavour which makes it the number one choice for chefs around the world.

I recommend purchasing a block of West Country cheddar, as the milk from this region is vital for the full-bodied flavour we all know and love.

Additionally, it’s important to buy a block and grate your own cheese fresh; pre-shredded cheese contains additional ingredients that will negatively impact the texture.

You can combine gouda, gruyère, and mozzarella with cheddar if you have extra cheeses to use up. Just be aware that some of these cheeses are traditionally made with animal rennet, and are therefore not vegetarian. While many brands in the U.K. opt to use vegetarian rennet instead, it’s always worth checking the label.

This Recipe Is …

Frequently Asked Questions about Mac and Cheese Bites

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