• Gluten Free Cheese Brands
• Gluten Free Baked Southern Macaroni And Cheese

This creamy vegan mac and cheese is a mouth-watering recipe that the whole family will love! Made with gluten free pasta and a delicious vegan cheese sauce that is made a few secret veggies and NO. This gluten free cheese sauce made from scratch is perfect for dipping, making into queso, and even making the easiest mac and cheese ever! Why this creamy gluten free cheese sauce recipe is small batch. I used to make a casserole-style baked macaroni and cheese every week. It was so easy and even though my kids were little, no one complained. Combine gluten-free macaroni and a touch of cheese sauce magic and, voila, a new (for me) no-wheat mac and cheese is born. For those eschewing wheat, standard mac and cheese has three wheat issues. Keep the sauce on a medium heat and stir as it thickens. This can take from 5-8 minutes and don't be tempted to turn up the heat. Leftovers can be eaten hot or cold the next day, this mac and cheese won't freeze well. Nutrition Facts. Gluten-Free Mac and Cheese with Goat Cheese and Roasted Peppers. Amount Per Serving.

Combine gluten-free macaroni and a touch of cheese sauce magic and, voila, a new (for me) no-wheat mac and cheese is born.

For those eschewing wheat, standard mac and cheese has three wheat issues.

Gluten Free Cheese Brands

One: Standard macaroni is made from wheat.

Two: Most mac and cheese sauces begin with a roux, where butter and flour are cooked together.

Three: Toasted, wheat-based bread crumbs top what many consider a classic mac and cheese.

I've tired of many of my terrific not-mac and cheese creations, and I really missed the standard and wondered if I could create a wheat-free mac and cheese that was nearly identical.

No surprise, mac is the main wheat source in mac and cheese. First, I searched the web for nonmanufacturer affiliated websites that had tested and ranked wheat-free pasta. The Epicurious website -- epicurious.com/expert-advice/the-best-gluten-free-pasta-you-can-buy-online-article -- recommends an old favorite: Jovial brand 100-percent Organic Brown Rice Gluten-Free Pasta.

About Jovial's brown rice pasta, they quoted their Senior Food Editor Anna Stockwell: 'I've fed it to people who could not tell they were eating gluten-free pasta at all. This stuff is magic.'

Magic? Hmmm. Just what I was looking for.

Lucky me, there was an unopened box of Jovial's organic, gluten-free macaroni (12 ounces/$4.49) in my pantry. Perfect.

Melting cheese into a sauce without a roux was my next hurdle since melting a block of cheddar cheese and stirring it into pasta doesn't work. It separates into a fairly gloppy mess.

So, it's molecular gastronomy to the rescue with a, once again, magical solution: sodium citrate ($7.99/2 ounces at Amazon).

Sodium citrate makes processed cheeses (like American or Swiss) melt beautifully. You've probably used a processed cheese on a burger or grilled cheese without knowing that sodium citrate was the magician pulling a perfect melt out of the hat.

Turning to a Modernist Cuisine mac and cheese sauce that uses cheese (any kind), sodium citrate and liquid (anything from water to milk) solved my no-wheat cheese sauce dilemma.

For those who need to bake a breadcrumb topped macaroni and cheese, my solution to that is grated (I use my food processor's grating blade) baked pork rinds into a topping that looks like bread crumbs.

Preferring the ease of a one-pan, no-bake mac and cheese, while my brown rice macaroni simmered away, I grated 8 ounces of organic, raw milk white cheddar. Using a 2-quart saucepan, I whisked a ½-teaspoon of sodium citrate into a half-cup of water until it dissolved. Then, I brought the water to a low simmer and began whisking in the cheese. At first, once all the cheese was added, the sauce looked a little thin. Soon it began to thicken and looked just like a regular roux-based sauce. I drained the macaroni and stirred it into the sauce until it was mixed well. A few grinds of black pepper, and it was ready to serve.

Gluten Free Baked Southern Macaroni And Cheese

The results could not have been better. I could not tell that this was a no-wheat mac and cheese. The macaroni was both smooth tasting and my cheese sauce clung perfectly.

Almost magic.

• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.

Zero Wheat Macaroni and Cheese

8 ounces, 100-percent Organic Brown Rice Gluten-Free Macaroni

½ teaspoon sodium citrate

½ cup water (or milk, your choice)

8 ounces extra sharp, cheddar cheese, grated (I prefer organic)

Add 2-quarts water to a 5-quart saucepan and place over high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon kosher salt (or 1½ teaspoons sea salt) and bring to a boil. Add the macaroni and bring back to boil, while stirring. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 12 minutes. (I begin tasting at 10 minutes).

While macaroni cooks, add sodium citrate and water to the bottom of a 2-quart saucepan. Bring to a simmer of medium heat. Add the cheese, a handful at a time and whisk into the liquid. As each handful melts, add the next handful until all the cheese has been incorporated. If the sauce is too thick add a tablespoon of liquid.

When the macaroni is done, drain and add to the cheese sauce; stirring until well combined.

Serves 4

Nutrition values per serving: 440 calories (42.5 percent from fat), 20.8 g fat (12 g saturated fat), 43.7 g carbohydrates, 0.3 g sugars, 2 g fiber, 19 g protein, 60 mg cholesterol, 528 mg sodium.

• Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the cornstarch and rice flour. Combine the mixture with a wooden spoon and cook for 2 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally.
• Don't wander away! Gluten free roux is pretty easy to burn. With so few ingredients in such a short time, this is not the step you work on while you multi-task especially if you're trying it for the first time. Flour can burn as can butter if it cooks on a too-high temp. So, while your cooking roux make sure it's just the roux and you.
• Try other flours. Our gluten free roux uses rice flour to create the thickening sauce. This isn't the only gluten-free flour. If you're looking for a different taste, consider using almond flour or even corn flour.
• Sticking to a paleo diet? Substitute another flour for the rice flour. Some great grain-free flour alternatives are cassava flour and plantain flour. You can also substitute the butter for lard, bacon grease, tallow ghee, or coconut oil.