Costco Mac and Cheese-- quick, easy and just as good (or better) than the deli version. You can go ahead and throw that membership card out. 🙂 
Could this Costco Mac and Cheese recipe be the easiest, creamiest, most flavorful mac and cheese ever? Maybe. I was planning on posting this recipe as a Costco Mac and Cheese copycat but once I made it again to take pictures I decided it was, in fact, BETTER than Costco's version and I'd be doing it a disservice by calling it a mere copycat.
Pshh.
Nobody wants to be called a copycat, after all.
My favorite part about this recipe is how stinking easy it is. I'm a huge fan of slow-cooked roux-based cheese sauces that typically top most homemade mac and cheese recipes but I don't always have the time or patience for that! This "Better Than Costco Mac and Cheese" uses jarred alfredo sauce as the sauce base and it doesn't even need to heated up before baking! Just cook your pasta, pour on the sauce, stir in some cheese and bake to ooey, gooey perfection.
Pin This Recipe To Your Pasta Board!
Pin This Recipe To Your Pasta Board!
Tips for Costco Mac and Cheese:
- Use a "Four Cheese" or other mild-tasting alfredo sauce. When testing this recipe I once used a "Garlic Alfredo" and while delicious, it was a bit too garlicky to pass off as Mac and Cheese, in my opinion.
- Choosing Cheese-- After studying the Costco Mac and Cheese label, I settled on using sharp cheddar, Jarlsberg, and parmesan cheeses to try to recreate to the flavor. The ingredient list on Costco's actually lists Gruyere instead of Jarlsberg but both are in the Swiss Cheese family and Jarlsberg is typically a little bit cheaper and melts BEAUTIFULLY so I went with it and loved the results. But the bottom line is, use the cheese you have/love. 🙂
- Choosing Pasta-- any pasta shape can be used for this recipe. I like the cavatapi because it has lots of surface area to grab hold of the cheese sauce, but if you have penne, use it! Have elbow? Use it!
Want More Easy Pasta Recipes?
- Cheesy Broccoli Pasta
- Frozen Ravioli Lasagna in One Pan!
- One Pan Cheeseburger Macaroni
- Pizza Tortellini Bake
Tools Used for Costco Mac and Cheese:
- Pyrex Easy Grab Pans: I love these pyrex pans because of the big handles. It makes them so much easier to pull out of a hot oven and also easier to wrap with foil or plastic wrap.
- Cheese Box Grater: Grating cheese is usually a task I pass off to my kids because I hate it, but this grater makes it as enjoyable as it can be. 🙂 I love the four sides and that they include a slicing blade.
Better Than Costco Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Cavatapi Pasta
- 15 ounces Jarred Prepared Alfredo Sauce
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 8 ounces Sharp Cheddar shredded and divided
- 4 ounces Jarlsberg Cheese shredded
- ½ cup parmesan cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cook pasta according to package directions to "Al Dente" doneness. Drain and place in a large bowl.
- Pour alfredo sauce and dijon mustard over the cooked pasta and stir. Add in ¾ of the sharp cheddar and all of the Jarlsberg and parmesan cheese. Stir until well combined.
- Spray an 8"x 8" baking pan with non-stick cooking spray and spoon pasta into the dish.
- Sprinkle remaining sharp cheddar over the pasta. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly.
Okay but didn't taste like Costco's mac and cheese. The salt needed to be upped, and the bread crumbs, much, much less.
Oh, and we had to add half and half because the it was too dry.
Have made this for family parties the last few holidays/occasions and the family is obsessed.
We’ve doubled and even tripled the recipe in the past for bigger groups and it always turns out great.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Can you make this in a crock pot? I'm wondering if you could put all ingredients in a crock pot, including uncooked pasta and cook for about 2 hours?
Can this recipe be doubled and frozen for later use?
I've never frozen it, but I'm afraid the cheese sauce might separate after freezing.
What Costco's have this? I've been a Costco member for at least 20 years and have never seen this. I'm in New Jersey so that probably explains it.
It's found in the refrigerated deli section, back near where the rotisserie chickens are. On the west coast, there's typically pre-made entrees like stuffed peppers, meatloaf, pot pies, sandwiches, salads etc. Hope that helps!
I've never seen someone use Alfredo Sauce in Mac N Cheese before. I think I'm going to have to give it a try. I bet it's rich and creamy. Thanks for sharing.