Steal Chick-Fil-A's Secrets For The Best Mac And Cheese

Chick-fil-A chicken is the star of the chain restaurant's menu for good reason, but if you haven't given its mac and cheese a try, you're sleeping on an absolute hit (it did well when we ranked the best and worst of fast food mac and cheese). It's made with several different cheeses (don't worry, we'll talk about every single one of them), giving it unique flavor that's the perfect blend of creamy and sharp. The elbow noodles themselves are soft, but never mushy. The crispy cheese layer on top is where things really come together in my opinion — every time I order a cup of mac and cheese, I'm hoping that whoever dished it up was feeling generous with the crispy top. It's got a bit of a bite, and it's at the sweet spot of crispy-but-not-burnt. 

Recreating restaurant recipes at home is always a bit of a gamble. Chick-fil-A hasn't released its recipe, but we're doing our best to piece together how you can recreate the dish at home. We looked at Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese ingredients list as well as copycat recipes from those who have already attempted to make the good stuff in their kitchens. We've come up with a few key elements you'll need to include to create a dish that's close to the mac and cheese you'd get alongside (or on top of, if you'd like to 10x the flavor) your Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich.

If you've had Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese, you know that they're not playing around when it comes to the amount of cheese they stuff into each batch. But did you know the restaurant uses no less than eight different types of cheese? While we don't know the exact ratio of cheeses used in Chick-fil-A's recipe, ingredients are listed in descending order by quantity, so we can at least get an idea of what flavors play a more prominent role than others. 

The first to make an appearance in the ingredient list is pasteurized cheese spread made from American cheese. MontAmoré cheese is next (it's a cheddar from Sartori, a Wisconsin cheese producer), followed by straight-up cheddar. Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano are next on the list. Finally, the cheese profile is rounded out with "bleu cheese flavor" and Monterey Jack. Obviously, buying all of these varieties would create a seriously expensive grocery bill (if you have a Whole Foods nearby, check out the smaller, lower-priced wedges to save big on cheese). Even if you just stick with American and cheddar for the cheese that goes below the crispy layer, you'll likely come pretty close to nailing the taste and texture Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese is known for.

Like we said, the crispy layer on top is one of the factors that really sets Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese apart from the competition. Copycat recipes recommend sprinkling the top of your mac and cheese with cheddar (some recommend topping with both sharp and mild varieties). Some say you should add Parmesan and Romano as well before popping it in the oven. While lots of homemade mac and cheese recipes recommend adding butter and breadcrumbs as a topping, Chick-fil-A's top layer seems to be just straight-up cheese, though this doesn't mean the recipe skimps on the butter.

Regardless of what cheese topping you use for your mac and cheese, you'll want to make sure you're getting to that just-baked-enough-but-not-burnt stage that Chick-fil-A manages to nail so perfectly. You can certainly just throw the cheese on top before you put your pan into the oven, but this can be risky, as the topping can brown too quickly. You can try covering your pan with foil as it's baking. For the last few minutes of baking, remove the foil so the top gets a chance to brown. If it's taking a while, you can always turn on the broiler and let it do its thing — but be sure to set a timer.

Finally, if you truly want to recreate Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese recipe at home, you can't fear the fat. According to the ingredients list for the restaurant's mac and cheese, it includes both margarine and butter. Margarine made with palm and soybean oil is actually the fourth ingredient on the list, after cooked elbow macaroni, water, and pasteurized cheese spread. 

Natural butter flavor appears much later on the list. The ingredient consists of maltodextrin (a thickener), modified butter oil, salt, dehydrated butter, and several other ingredients. We're guessing that you could just add actual butter to get a similar effect. 

While it may seem a little strange to add multiple types of fat to one recipe, it makes sense. Different types of fats can enhance a recipe's flavors and textures in different ways. Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese is most definitely on the greasy side. If you've ever noticed some grease in the bottom of the cup after you've polished off an order of the stuff, you know what I mean. You'll want to make sure you don't skimp on the fat in your mac and cheese if you're trying to create an authentic, Chick-fil-A-style result.