Make our Cheesecake Factory Fried Mac and Cheese Balls Recipe at home tonight for your family. TCF says they are, “Crispy Crumb Coated Macaroni and Cheese Balls. Served over a Creamy Marinara Sauce.”

Photo by Mark Guim

Cheesecake Factory Fried Mac and Cheese Balls

A Cheesecake Factory Copycat Recipe

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Cheesecake Factory Fried Mac and Cheese Balls Recipe

Make our Cheesecake Factory Fried Mac and Cheese Balls Recipe at home. TCF says they are, "Crispy Crumb Coated Macaroni and Cheese Balls. Served over a Creamy Marinara Sauce."

Prep Time4 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Active Time20 minutes mins

Total Time4 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Kid Favorite, Party Recipe

Cuisine: American, Italian

Keyword: Cheesecake Factory

Ingredients

• 3 cups Mac & Cheese store bought or homemade
• Butter as needed
• Vegetable Oil for frying
• 3 Eggs
• 3 tablespoon Milk
• 1 1/2 cups Panko Bread Crumbs
• Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper to taste
• Marinara Sauce store bought or homemade, to serve
• Freshly grated or shaved Parmesan Cheese to garnish

Instructions

• Prepare mac & cheese according to recipe or instructions on box - cooking pasta just slightly under done (it will be easier to work with and will finish cook somewhat in the frying).
• Butter a large square glass pan.
• Place mac & cheese in pan. Spread out thinly.
• Place pan in the refrigerator until the mac & cheese is cold, about 2 hours.
• When fully chilled, remove from refrigerator to a work surface.
• Remove about a tablespoon of cold mac & cheese and form into a ball of about 1 1/2 inches.
• Place ball on a cookie sheet lined with foil.
• Repeat until all mac & cheese has been used.
• Place cookie sheet in freezer and chill for about 1 hour.
• Remove pan from freezer to to a work surface.
• One by one take each mac & cheese in your hands and compress to make them firmer and tighter.
• Place them back on the same cookie sheet. Return the sheet to the freezer for 1 more hour.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat.
• Preheat oven to 200°F.
• Crack eggs into a small bowl.
• Add milk. Whisk to beat. Set aside.
• In a medium to large bowl, place the Panko bread crumbs and salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.
• Remove mac & cheese from freezer just when you are ready to cook, so they will stay chilled.
• A few at a time, dip mac & cheese balls in the egg mixture. Roll around to make sure to coat fully.
• Remove from egg mixture, allowing excess to drip off, and drop in the Panko bread crumbs. Roll around to coat each mac & cheese ball fully.
• A few at a time, do not crowd, carefully drop coated balls in the heated vegetable oil.
• Cook until they are light brown when they are done.
• Remove browned balls to a towel-cover plate to drain the oil.
• As balls are done, place on a new foil covered cooking sheet and place in preheated oven in a warm oven to keep warm while you cook the rest and until ready to serve.
• Place marinara sauce in a small sauce pan.
• Place on stovetop over medium heat and warm to a good serving temperature.
• Place several spoonfuls of warm marinara sauce on each serving plate.
• Place 2 to 4 warm mac & cheese balls onto marinara sauce.
• Ladle a little sauce on the top of the balls.
• Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
• Serve warm.

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Photo of “Fried Mac n Cheese at Cheesecake Factory” is by Mark Guim and is used by permission under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) License. Read the Full License Here – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode. Thank you, Mark. Great Picture. Photos may be “representative” of the recipe and not the actual finished dish. All photo licenses listed were correct at the time of the posting of the page. Recipe is our adaption of several recipes formally widely-circulated on the internet – courtesy of the Wayback Machine. Additional Information Courtesy of Wikipedia and is used by permission.