Between the ground beef and Monterey Jack cheese (obvious additions), this potluck-friendly dish gets moisture from cream of mushroom soup and fast food flair from ketchup, onions, steak sauce and diced tomatoes.

There’s nothing wrong with going a little wild on this list, and cheeseburger macaroni casserole is just the right wild for us. The only rule? Use the sharpest white cheddar you can find to impart the most flavor possible. On its own, it makes a great accompaniment to any potluck or barbecued meat, but you can add additional ingredients to make it stand out. What sort of extras? Diced city ham and sweet peas is a classic combo, but lobster, crab, roasted cauliflower, asparagus, broccoli and sweet grape tomatoes would all make fabulous additions. This particular recipe uses a cream-based sauce with dry mustard, nutmeg and hot sauce added to cut the richness of the cheese. Gouda, manchego, gruyere, taleggio, or even that stuff in the center aisle of the supermarket that starts with the letter V: all can be part of a delicious and unique mac and cheese. With a blend of cheddar for sharpness, Monterey Jack for meltiness, and Parmesan for saltiness, this recipe, which came to Southern Kitchen via Atlanta’s OK Café, is a nice jumping-off point for experimentation. And you shouldn’t have any misgivings about using a certain vilified processed cheese product – you might be surprised by what comes from even the most unconventional blend. This is an opportunity to truly test the limits of your imagination by incorporating any combination of your favorite cheeses. Many cooks believe in using a blend of cheeses in their mac. This recipe is a good basic version, but you can add a little extra flair by sprinkling the top with Parmesan cheese, buttered panko bread crumbs or even crushed-up cheese crackers for texture. (We love flair almost as much as mac and cheese.) Triple Cheese Mac and Cheese Using a blonde roux as a thickener will give you a mac and cheese that’s more stable in the oven, and will prevent the fat from separating in the sauce.

Perfect baked macaroni and cheese roux