Browned Butter Crabby Mac And Cheese
Ooyey, gooyey, melty cheessy covered rigatoni in a browned butter, Old Bay sauce with lump crabmeat and crispy, nutty brown butter crumbs.
Ingredients
Mac and Cheese
- 1 lb rigatoni pasta (or any pasta of your choice)
- 10 tbs unsalted butter, divided
- 4 cups full fat milk, at room temperature (heat the milk in the microwave for about a minute or two if it's cold)
- 2 tbs Old Bay seasoning
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cups Gruyere cheese, grated
- 2 cups extra sharp white Cheddar cheese, grated
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 lb jumbo lump crabmeat
Crumb Topping
- 2 tbs browned butter (reserved from above)
- 1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- ½ tsp Old Bay seasoning
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 °F.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid before draining.
- Melt the butter in a large light colored oven proof pan over low-medium heat. Stir constantly until fully melted, lightly toasted in color and tiny brown bits begin to form at the bottom of the pan. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the butter for the crumb topping.
- Add the flour into the pan with the remaining butter and whisk for about 3 minutes. Add the milk and continue whisking for about 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens. If the sauce appears to be too thick, you can add a bit of the reserved pasta cooking liquid, a tablespoon at a time, to thin it out a bit. Turn off the heat, add the seasonings and all of the cheese. Whisk until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.
- Add the cooked pasta to the pot with the sauce and stir to combine. Gently stir in the crab meat.
- Add all of the Old Bay crumb ingredients to the reserved 2 tablespoons of browned butter and stir to combine. Sprinkle the crumbs over the top of the mac and cheese.
- Place the pot in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the crumbs have browned.