What to Do With Leftover Mac & Cheese? [13 Ideas + Recipe] (2023)

Mac and cheese are one of those meals you always enjoy. Simple, cheap, delicious, and very easy to make, mac and cheese is undoubtedly a frequent guest in many households. If there is one downside to mac and cheese is the stiffness and stickiness after they cool down. The cheese part gets very sticky and hard after it cools, making the mac part look like one giant lump. However, it is not only the cheese’s fault. The macaroni tends to stick together, too, adding an insult to injury in the combo. After the mac and cheese cool down, they are hardly what they used to be, so you need to either have them in a form far away from their former glory or be creative and repurpose them. So what to do with leftover mac and cheese?

You can make muffins, stuffing for chicken, pizza topping, breadsticks, mac and cheese moussaka, stuffed eggplants, stuffed bell peppers, pie, hamburger sauce, mac and cheese balls, cream soup, and waffles.

Greediness is a very common occurrence when it comes to mac and cheese. Although delicious, mac and cheese is a heavy dish, and you cannot eat as much as you initially thought. You will likely go overboard with the ingredients and be left with lots of leftovers after your meal.

Therefore it is always a good idea to have a plan B to make the most of this simple delicacy. In the following paragraphs, I will give you a few ideas about repurposing your leftover mac and cheese and creating a new dish with the famous mac and cheese charm.

Muffins

If you like turning your leftover mac and cheese into fun bitesize muffins ideal for a small get-together or just chilling by yourself in front of the TV, mac and cheese muffins are the best solution for you.

You must restore the mac and cheese creaminess before placing them in the muffin molds. Add half a cup of heavy cream or sour cream to each plate. Grate some extra cheese and mix everything well.

Spray the muffin molds with cooking oil and place the mac and cheese inside them. Put one scoop of mac and cheese in the molds, but add some more if they are empty at the top.

Bake the mac and cheese muffins at medium temperature, about 300 °F or 150 °C. Don’t preheat the oven but let them warm up gradually.

Stuffing for Chicken

Using your leftover mac and cheese to make a delicious stuffed chicken is the perfect send-off for your meal, only to welcome a new one with the same charm. Spruce up the mac and cheese with some tomato sauce, onion rings, and olives.

Simmer some tomato sauce mixed with onion rings and finely chopped olives. Add the mixture to the mac and cheese. Mix everything well and stuff the chicken with the mixture.

Bake this mac and cheese stuffed chicken as you would usually do with a regular chicken.

Pizza Topping

If you are not feeling particularly creative but hungry, you only need a pizza crust, your leftover mac and cheese, some extra cheese, and pepperoni.

Spread your leftover mac and cheese on the pizza crust and top it with grated cheese and pepperoni. Bake this mac and cheese pizza as you would usually do with any other pizza type.

For extra flavor and character, you can sprinkle some oregano on top of the mac and cheese pizza.

Breadsticks

Mac and cheese braided breadsticks are excellent use for your leftover mac and cheese. Make the breadsticks following your favorite breadsticks recipe, or just improvise by mixing flour, oil, and active yeast together.

Knead the bread with the mac and cheese and make sticks. Mix melted butter and eggs and smear the breadsticks with it. Preheat the oven to 200 °C, i.e., 400 °F, for ten minutes

Place the mac and cheese breadsticks inside the oven and bake for about ten minutes. Follow the breadsticks through the oven door glass and ensure they don’t burn. About two to three minutes before they are done, cover them with grated cheese.

Continue baking for another two-three minutes, take them out, let them rest for a few minutes, and enjoy.

Mac and Cheese Moussaka

Moussaka is a Greek dish known and loved in the Balkans, the Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe. To make mac and cheese moussaka, you will need a few potatoes, two-three eggs, grated cheese, heavy cream, and the leftover mac and cheese.

Peel the potatoes and slice them in thin circles. Take a round baking pan and spray it with cooking oil. Layer the pan with one payer of potatoes and place the leftover mac and cheese on the potato layer.

Put another potato layer on top of the mac and cheese. Mix the eggs and heavy cream and pour the mixture onto the top potato layer. Spread it evenly, allowing it to penetrate into the lower layers of mac and cheese and potatoes.

About five minutes before the mac and cheese moussaka is done, take it out of the oven and cover it with grated cheese. Put the pan back in the oven and continue baking for about ten more minutes until the cheese forms a crust on the surface. Bake for 20 minutes at a high temperature of about 200 °C, i.e., 400 °F.

Stuffed Eggplants

This is another great idea to give your leftover mac and cheese a new face. Empty two or three eggplants, depending on how much mac and cheese you have left. Mix the leftover mac and cheese with tomato sauce and put it in the hollow eggplants.

Grate some cheese on the mac and cheese filling and cover it with the eggplant pieces you took out. Sprinkle some olive oil on top of the stuffed eggplants and place them on a baking pan.

Preheat the oven to 150 °C, i.e., 300 °F, for ten minutes, and pop the stuffed eggplants in the oven. The mac and cheese cheesy flavor will mash excellently with the tomato sauce, and it will combine great with the eggplant’s mildly bitter taste. Bake for 15 minutes, and then check to see if the dish is done.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

This idea is probably the simplest one of the stuffing suggestions. Take a few big bell peppers and take the seeds. Make the mac and cheese creamy again by adding heavy cream and, scoop by scoop, stuff the bell peppers with it.

Make a mixture of heavy cream and warm water, stir until the ingredients homogenize, and pour it on the stuffed peppers. Close the peppers with a vegetable of your choosing. It can be a piece of pepper, a potato slice, or a carrot piece.

Pop the stuffed bell peppers in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes at 200 °C, i.e., 400 °F. Take the stuffed peppers from the oven and let them rest for a while in the pan on the counter. Serve and enjoy.

Hamburger Sauce

If you don’t know what to do with your mac and cheese leftovers, why not turn them into a hamburger sauce? Take two-three scoops of your mac and cheese leftovers and add ricotta, crème Fraiche, or sour cream to make it creamier.

Dice a few pickles and slice some onion rings. Mix the mac and cheese with the pickles and spread it over the burger patty and the bread. Add the onion rings on top of the mac and cheese hamburger sauce, close the bun and enjoy every bite.

Pie

If you want to turn your warm and wholesome meal into a rustic experience, go ahead and make a pie of it. You will need a pie crust, some cheese, and your mac and cheese leftovers.

Before placing the mac and cheese pie filling, pre-bake the pie crust at 200 °F, i.e., 100 °C, for about ten minutes. Take the pie crust out of the oven and let it cool down. Fill the crust with the mac and cheese filling.

If you have too much mac and cheese filling, don’t overfill the crust and divide the filling into two pies. You can make the mac and cheese creamier by mixing it with sour cream, ricotta, or crème Fraiche.

Cover the mac and cheese pie with grated cheese and pop it into the oven to bake for about 10 minutes. You will know that it is ready because it will smell heavenly. This is likely to become a regular thing for you, as it is extremely simple and delicious.

Mac and Cheese Balls

The best thing about making mac and cheese balls is that you can bake them or fry them; they are delicious either way. You will absolutely love their cheesy crunchiness and softness.

Make balls from the mac and cheese using your hands. If it gets sticky, put oil on your palms. Beat an egg or two and have breadcrumbs ready in a bowl.

Dip each mac and cheese ball in eggs and then roll it in the breadcrumbs. You can place the mac and cheese balls on baking paper on an oven tray or deep fry them in oil.

Cream Soup

Make mac and cheese cream soup if you are feeling particularly creative and don’t mind putting in the extra effort. You can be as inventive as you want to, adding carrots, onions, mushrooms, or anything else you like. You can also make the soup plain and just add cream of mushroom soup.

Place the mac and cheese leftovers in a pot and sizzle them with some oil. Next, add the extra ingredients. I strongly recommend adding onion rings, but you don’t have to. After you sizzle the mac and cheese leftovers with the additional ingredients, add the cream of mushroom soup and water as per the instruction on the pack.

Stir all the time as the soup thickens, and take it off the plate once it is done. Pour yourself into a bowl and add some grated cheese on top. Each spoonful will delight you, making this idea one of your favorites.

Waffles

What this idea lacks in imagination, it makes up for in taste as it is delicious. Spray the waffle iron with cooking oil and preheat it for five minutes. Take a chunk from your leftover mac and cheese and put it on the plate.

Press the top plate onto the mac and cheese and leave until it turns into a waffle. Remove the top plate and check if you are happy with the results. If you are, grate some cheese on the mac and cheese waffle and take it out.

This isn’t a recipe with a specific time limit, as the mac and cheese are already fully cooked. Just see that you don’t burn the mac and cheese in the waffle iron.