Out of curiosity last week, I attempted to make a batch of Mac & Cheese using condensed cheddar cheese soup as the base of my sauce. I honestly wasn't expecting much, but was instead pleasantly surprised by the results. I've tried a number of recipes over the years for Mac & Cheese, such as starting off with a bechamel sauce - which almost always results in a bland flavorless cheese sauce and the cheese itself often separates - to making it by just melting cheese into heavy cream, which is better in some ways, but when the Mac & Cheese cools, it firms up like a brick. I've even been dabbling with sodium citrate to keep the cheese from separating. This time around, I used a can of the condensed cheese soup, then doctored it up with 2 more cups of sharp cheddar (shredded), some grated Parmesan, a little sour cream, about 2/3 of a can of milk, mustard powder, hot sauce, and garlic pepper seasoning. I also added about a 1/2 stick of melted butter to keep things moist. I mixed the sauce ingredients together well, then added in the cooked and drained elbow pasta and stirred it all together, before pouring it into a greased baking dish. I also ended up topping it with some buttered seasoned breadcrumbs too mixed with some more parmesan cheese, and baked it all for about 40 minutes uncovered. The end result? Great! I was worried it would have that "canned soup" taste, much like Tuna Noodle Casserole does, but it didn't for the most part. The additional ingredients covered it up well. The other nice thing was that the pasta pretty much stayed "creamy" even when it cooled down to room temp. It didn't become all dried out quickly, and it actually reheats well too.
We actually recently just tried this same recipe. My kids LOVED it! If you come up with any recipes that taste the same without the condensed soup though, let me know! We try to eat as little processed food as possible but I admit that it is a recipe I will make an exception for in the meantime!
I definitely think your added flavours helped mask that canned soup taste. Without that you may have been in trouble. I would try to add veggies to the mac. Perhaps peas or broccoli. Broccoli & that cheddar soup is a great thing a lone so I imagine it would be delish in this.
I love adding condensed soup to make it creamier, but I like a mushroom condensed soup or a corn chowder. It adds flavor and also means I don't have to add milk or cream. Sometimes I bake it and add some breadcrumbs on top as I like my mac and cheese with crunchy bits.
