How To Add Umami Flavor To Boxed Mac And Cheese

If you're craving a simple meal at the end of a long day, you can't go wrong with a piping-hot bowl of boxed mac and cheese. It's the perfect comfort food at any age and it's ready within minutes. But if you're getting tired of the same old, same old with your mac and cheese, a splash of fish sauce is the secret ingredient you need to give this classic favorite a pleasing punch of umami flavor.

For the uninitiated, umami means "pleasant savory taste" and gives dishes a tasty, meaty, straight-up savory flavor that turns even the plainest of dishes into flavorful entrees of deliciousness. Seafood is one of many foods that's packed with umami flavor it can also be found in mushrooms, tomatoes, and certain kinds of cheese.

By adding fish sauce to your comfort food fave – you only need a teaspoon — is an explosion of flavor that will change the way you view mac and cheese. Even if you regularly add hot sauce, pepper, or even ranch dressing to doctor up your mac and cheese, fish sauce is an addition that's in a league of its own.

Everyone from Anthony Bourdain to country star Dolly Parton has a fondness for mac and cheese. And before you turn your nose up at fish sauce, hang on. Fish sauce at its core is made with anchovies and you've likely gotten a taste of it if you've eaten Pad Thai, you love seafood, or you've eaten certain soups.

Fish sauce gives your mac and cheese a certain je ne sais quoi that will excite your tastebuds and leave you wondering why you haven't tried this before. If you're quick to add extra seasonings and extra handfuls of cheese to spice up your mac and cheese, fish sauce is the umami punch you owe it to yourself to try. With a new secret ingredient in your arsenal, you can turn a simple boxed mac and cheese from an easy go-to snack into a gourmet-style meal that you'll look forward to eating every time you make it.