How to cook Andy Reid’s famous mac n cheese recipe

Earlier this week, we received a very special treat, and that was an explicit list of the six kinds of cheese Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid likes to put in his Thanksgiving macaroni and cheese dish.

They were: grated fontina, grated mozzarella, grated parmesan, grated sharp cheddar, gouda and gruyere.

My immediate thought was, “OK, we’re cooking this.”

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I initially ran into the problem of there being just ingredients without a recipe, so I googled, “multiple cheese mac n cheese” and found this article, via the website Garnish & Glaze. The website’s recipe called for five cheese. We’d be using what will I’m sure one day famously be dubbed The Reid Six.

Without further or due, here is my altered “Andy Reid mac n cheese” recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound bacon 8 slices (probably optional)
• 1 pound elbow pasta
• 4 cups whole milk
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 1/2 cups grated fontina
• 1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar
• 3/4 cup grated mozzarella
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan
• 3/4 cup gouda
• 3/4 cup gruyere
• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
• Fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan with butter.
2. Cook pasta according to package.
3. Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup fontina, 1/2 cup cheddar, 1/4 cup , mozzarella, 1/4 cup parmesan, 1/4 cup gouda, 1/4 cup gruyere and Panko bread crumbs. Set aside to use as topping later.
4. Cook bacon in a large pot until crisp. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and crumble into pieces when cooled.
5. Add butter to the bacon grease in the pan and melt over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes to make a roux. Add the salt and mustard. While stirring, slowly stream in the milk, whisking constantly while cooking until it thickens (5-7 minutes).
6. Stir in the remaining cheese (that you haven’t set aside for the final topping) until melted.
7. Add the sauce to the pasta and then pour into the pan. Top with the Panko/cheese topping mixture and bacon.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and bubbly. Let it rest 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve sprinkled with parsley.
9. As you can see from the above video, if you cook it perfectly, Andy Reid will actually appear in your pan.

The results

No joke, I don’t cook. It hasn’t ever really been my thing.

But I followed these directions down to a tee, and I’m not lying when I tell you it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. I almost couldn’t believe it.

Say what you want about Big Red in the football playoffs. This is championship mac n cheese.