The Wholesome And Fresh Mac And Cheese Upgrade You've Been Looking For

Even if basic three-ingredient baked mac and cheese is your favorite meal, you may often wish there was a foolproof way to add some freshness to the everyday combo of noodles, whole milk, and Gruyère cheese. Fortunately, thanks to one versatile ingredient, you can take the look and taste of this nostalgic dish to the next level in no time. Among the many ingredients that will seriously upgrade your mac and cheese with fresh flavor, tomatoes are a top contender.

Especially in a creamy, milk-based dish like macaroni and cheese, tomatoes add a nice amount of acidity to an otherwise rich and heavy meal. Tomatoes are also juicy, sweet, and come in many different forms. Sure enough, you can use fresh tomatoes, tomato-based products, or a combination of both styles to add unexpected color and tangy flavor to your next pot of noodles and cheese.

For starters, fresh tomatoes are at their peak during the summer and prove to be a perfect way to enjoy traditional macaroni and cheese with a seasonal twist. Whether you use Roma tomatoes or your favorite heirloom variety, simply prepare your go-to, oven-baked macaroni and cheese recipe and before heating, add on a layer of fresh, sliced tomatoes along with a good amount of buttered breadcrumbs. To change things up, you can also stir fresh, halved cherry tomatoes into your noodles and cheese before baking. Once you try a few ways of adding raw tomatoes to this cheesy dish, you can experiment by upgrading your recipe with more convenient tomato-based products.

While fresh tomatoes are available year-round, canned tomatoes are another convenient, resourceful way to give homemade macaroni and cheese a hearty dose of fresh flavor with minimal effort. Especially if you enjoy the additional texture fresh tomatoes bring to mac and cheese, try giving stewed tomatoes a try. All you need to do is chop them up before adding them to your noodles and cheese. You can also use canned, diced tomatoes. Whichever style you prefer, feel free to incorporate your tomatoes with the included juice for more tomato flavor. However, in doing so, you may want to slightly reduce the amount of milk called for in your favorite mac and cheese recipe.

Conversely, if you enjoy the smooth texture of classic macaroni and cheese, you can also whisk some tomato paste or basic, all-purpose tomato sauce into your recipe's milk before adding the cheese and noodles. Even with cooked tomato paste or sauce, you'll still experience a pop of bright tomato flavor.

Whichever way you incorporate tomatoes into your next batch of mac and cheese, consider adjusting your seasonings to better accommodate this addition. You can give your mac and cheese a more Italian vibe with some dried garlic, parsley, or basil. Or, use a variety of cheeses besides cheddar, such as mozzarella, fontina, or parmesan.