Updated November 22, 2021
This is, hands down, the best truffle mac and cheese recipe on the planet! This is perfect for holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, but is also a fabulous and gourmet side dish any day of the year.
I have never claimed to be a gourmet chef, or an expert on food. But one thing I do claim? Greg and I have the best truffle mac and cheese recipe. I don’t mean to brag (okay, maybe I do), but nothing I’ve tried out there comes close. We have made this every year since we got married and it is always a hit with our family and friends.
Greg and I went to Smith and Wollensky (which no longer exists… boo) for Houston Restaurant Week years back and ordered some truffle mac and cheese. We obsessed over how good it was and set out to make our own. So we developed our own recipe. It’s a combination of three different ones we found, taking the best. We have best truffle mac and cheese recipe for sure. I think what sets ours apart from other recipes is using cavatappi noodles, the panko breadcrumbs, and the hand-grated aged white cheddar. Obviously, the truffle oil takes this over the top.
Aww! It’s newlywed Meg & Greg with one of our first trial runs of this recipe! Aren’t we precious? To this day, we haven’t changed a thing with this recipe because it’s that good. We have requests for it for every major holiday. It is truly is perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners. It doesn’t disappoint.
And you know it’s about to get good when you start out with butter, onions, rosemary, thyme, basil, half and half, heavy whipping cream, cheddar, truffle oil and wine. Just sayin’. Now let’s just get to the good stuff – the recipe. Just as an FYI, we have made this recipe with both black and white truffle oil and it comes out tasting the same. Only difference is you need to use more white truffle oil to get it to the desired flavor.
The Best Truffle Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 lb cavatappi pasta (If you cannot find it, you can use any small noodle)
- 1 and 1/4 sticks of butter
- 3/4 cup chopped red onion
- 2 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 cup flour
- 16 oz. block white aged cheddar, shredded
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- 1 cup milk (any works with this recipe - we've used skim, 2%, and whole)
- 1/2 cup half & half
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, thyme and rosemary (1/4 cup total, not of each herb)
- cracked black pepper (to taste)
- 1/2 cup (or more) Japanese panko breadcrumbs
- Splash white wine (about 1/4 cup)
- If you have black truffle oil: 1 Tbsp and 1 tsp black truffle oil (this is to your preference – start with 1 Tbsp and if that’s enough for you, stop there. Black truffle oil is more expensive and also more intense. I always add more to taste if the mood strikes me.)
- If you have white truffle oil: 2-3 Tbsp.
Instructions
- Boil cavatappi per package instructions, set aside.
- Add butter to pot over medium-high heat. Saute the onions and garlic until they turn slightly brown. Add the flour and whisk together for 3 minutes to make a blonde roux.
- Whisk in the milk, half and half, heavy whipping cream, and a splash of white wine and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent the roux from burning. You may have to keep adding in additional milk if you think it’s looking a little too “flour-y”. Just eyeball it.
- Cook until the roux has dissolved completely and you can no longer taste the flour.
- Add the fresh herbs, the truffle oil, the cheddar, and half of the parmesan until dissolved.
- Season with cracked black pepper (to taste). Incorporate the cooked cavatappi into the sauce.
- Put ingredients into a baking dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs and remaining parmesan cheese on top evenly.
- Place under a broiler for a few minutes until top becomes golden brown.
I hope y’all give the best truffle mac and cheese recipe a try for your next family get-together! Or just because. Let’s face it, you don’t need a reason to make truffle mac and cheese.
I want a HUGE helping of this right now. right. now.
Stop with this deliciousness!
I’m pretty sure I would eat cardboard if it had truffle on it.
I’ve never heard of this! I’m going to have to give it a try. You guys have definitely made it look delicious! Thanks for sharing!
This sounds amazing! I need to make!
Hi! I can’t wait to try this. Question. When do you add in the pasta??
Thank you!
Sorry, I didn’t realize I hadn’t added that step! You want to incorporate the cooked pasta before you add everything to the baking dish! I hope you LOVE it! We’re making it again for Thanksgiving this year 🙂
Thank you!! I’m going to make this and bring it to my family’s Thanksgiving dinner 🙂 can’t wait!
Looks like a great recipe – but difficult to determine when/how the pasta makes it into the dish as it is not discussed in the recipe! I assume we boil the pasta and put into casserole dish before adding the sauce mixture.
It is in the recipe! I just forgot to add at the beginning to cook the pasta per package instructions. You’re correct – you incorporate the cooked cavatappi before transferring everything to the baking dish.
What is the serving? For how many people?
This recipe is the BOMB! I do not normally try new recipes on Thanksgiving BUT considering the ingredients in this and fact I’ve got a traditional Mac n Cheese recipe down pat … I just knew it would be okay. So so pleased with how this turned out for me. The only change I made was not using skim milk and instead using more half n half to make up for it … of course that made it much more fattening LOL. This recipe was a HIT and it will definitely be made again in my house!!!! Just wanted you to know … a much loved recipe!!!
Sorry I’m just replying but I’m SO GLAD that the recipe turned out amazing for you! It makes me so happy to hear that other people love it as much as we do! Now can you see why our family requests it all the time?!? It’s seriously an obsession for us. Haha! And hey, I’m sure the extra fat from the half and half tasted awesome. We used milk just to thin out the flour more but if it worked great with the half and half that’s awesome too!
Hi Meg! I am going to try this recipe tomorrow, but I have a question – is it 1/4 cup total of fresh herbs? Or, is it 1/4 cup of each of the fresh herbs listed? Thank you!
For the fresh herbs, recipe says 1/4 cup of all three herbs. Is that 1/4 cup of each one? Or combined? Seems like a lot so just want to be sure which! Thank you. Looks delicious!
It’s 1/4 cup total for all the herbs! I hope that you enjoy the recipe as much as we do! 🙂 Merry Christmas!
I made this for dinner last night, and my Italian boyfriend said it was the best mac & cheese he had ever had!
Have you tried making this with fresh truffles? I have some black ones on hand and this looks so good, I just don’t know the ratio of fresh truffles v. the truffle oil. any suggestions/ideas?
Made this tonight, and it was fantastic! I did have to add more milk to loosen the cheese sauce a bit. It was too thick initially. I used a Welsh aged white cheddar, freshly shredded. I also used black truffle oil, since that’s what I had. I would suggest revising the recipe to indicate that 1/4 cup of rosemary, thyme, and basil COMBINED is needed, and NOT 1/4 cup each of the three herbs. I cook a lot, so I knew it was 1/4 cup total, but I could see someone potentially being confused by the way it’s written. Highly recommend this recipe!!!! So yummy! Went great with BBQ shredded chicken sandwiches, too!
Went through a billion truffled mac and cheese recipes and thought this one sounded the best! Buying ingredients tonight and will be making it for Thanksgiving! Can’t wait to see how it turns out. Thanks for sharing.
How much butter is 1 and a 1/4 sticks? a 1 lb stick or a 1/2 lb stick?
whats the serving size on this? I’m going to make it for a friendsgiving 🙂 Also, where do you buy your truffle oil?
Hey Victoria!! I would say that this serves a big group… like 8+ people pretty well! It’s so rich you don’t want to eat like half the pan, haha!! I haven’t had trouble finding truffle oil at my local grocery store. Ask around because it may be a little hidden! If they don’t have it, check out world market or a specialty grocery store. I know whole foods has it too!
Can you make this a day before?
Yes, you definitely can! We have done that before! We will make it all except the breadcrumbs/Parmesan on top and put in in the fridge. The day of, we’ll warm up in the oven and then broil with the breadcrumbs/Parmesan!
How long do you earn it up on the oven to make sure it’s warmed through? Does that dry it out?
Are you asking about if you make it ahead of time and need to re-heat? We have done that before – we will just do everything besides the breadcrumbs and then cover and put it in the fridge. When it’s time to get it ready to serve, we’ll heat the oven to 350 and just kind of eyeball it (20-30 minutes I think?). At the very end, we’ll take it out, add the breadcrumbs/cheese and broil for a few minutes. I never feel like it gets dried out if we make it beforehand and reheat/broil!
If you’re making it and serving it immediately, it is already warm enough between the cooking on the stove and the broiling with the breadcrumbs.
You were not lying. This is best ever. Made it for my 13yo’s birthday (he wanted to try truffles). Also I didn’t believe you that this would serve 8. I almost doubled it. Glad I didn’t… it fed 6 of us for dinner with just some zucchini and squash on the side… and had 4 serves leftover !
Ahh yay! I’m SO glad you all loved it! It does make a big pan and we always seem to have leftovers too with our big group!!
What is the difference between using whole milk and skim milk for this recipe?
Delicious recipe thanks for sharing.
Do you know of any reason why this recipe shouldn’t be halved? We eat pretty healthy so I don’t want a lot of leftovers…I LOVE this recipe and can’t have it in the house
I have never tried halving the recipe! Hahaha… I hear that. It is so tempting to eat it all. I’m sorry I’m not more helpful!
HI! We’re hosting a Christmas party this year and I was looking for a more fancy Mac and cheese and this looks beautiful! The rest of the foods are apps and finger foods so I was originally looking for something I could keep warm in a crockpot. What are your thoughts on skipping the broiling step and moving it to a crockpot after incorporating the pasta? Thank you!!