There are a lot of stovetop mac and cheese recipes that claim to be “just as quick as the blue box” and just as good too. There are not as many that try to do it with only three ingredients. But this one? It delivers what it promises. Maybe even over-delivers. Since discovering J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s method for stovetop mac and cheese, I’d say I’ve made it on average once a week. It’s that good. It’s impossibly creamy with just enough bite, it really is as quick as making boxed mac, and yes, it only takes three ingredients. It’s a miracle in mac and cheese form.

Is It Really Just Three Ingredients?

It really, truly is. You need:

• Elbow macaroni.
• Evaporated milk.
• Cheese.

(I’m not counting salt, pepper, or water as ingredients.) As for the cheese, you can use whatever your favorite is! A cheese that has good melting qualities will give you the ideal texture, so think cheddar, gruyere, Monterey Jack. Even better — use a blend of your favorites to up the flavor.

Just using those three ingredients will give you stellar results, but if you wanted to you could stir in some ground mustard, some nutmeg, or maybe even some cayenne pepper or hot sauce. It’s in no way necessary, but there are a lot of ways you can play with the flavor here!

How Do You Make It?

When making pasta, you might be accustomed to boiling a large pot of water, but that’s not what you do here. Instead, you’re going to add just enough water to cover your macaroni and boil it like that. Cooking it in a smaller amount of water concentrates the amount of starch that’s released, which is what gives you that wonderful creamy texture. You do need to stir your pasta often when it’s in this little water, so stay nearby. (It goes fast anyway.)

Once the pasta is al dente and the water is mostly gone, you stir in the evaporated milk. Using evaporated milk is key here. As Kenji explains it, it has a higher concentration of proteins in it and that helps to emulsify the sauce. (Which is how we avoid making a bechamel here but still end up with ooey-gooey dreamy creaminess.)

Next, you stir in your cheese. Just keep stirring until it’s melted and has come together into a creamy, emulsified sauce. It’s foolproof.

This will thicken up as it sits, but you can simply stir in some more milk or water to loosen it back up if you need to. However, I often like to let it sit covered for a few minutes for a thicker texture.

Most of the time, I make this with sharp cheddar but I’ve tried various combinations based on what I have in my fridge. I often like to throw in a little bit of parm for added flavor and I’m very partial to the nuttiness of Gruyere, but truly, it all works beautifully.

I don’t think I’ve opened a box of mac and cheese since coming across this recipe. It is ready in less than ten minutes, which is pretty much the fastest dinner I know how to make, and it’s always comforting and delicious. Even my daughter, who is a die-hard fan of my homemade baked mac and cheese (with breadcrumb topping, of course) now asks for this all the time. It’ll never replace a big ol’ 9×13 of baked mac, but when you want something quick and comforting, it’s the way to go. It’s definitely in regular rotation at my house and always will be, which just might mean it’s replaced the box.