Tortilla Chip Fried Mac and Cheese

Triangles of mac and cheese coated in crushed up tortilla chips and deep fried until crispy! Served with a pesto guacamole.

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

resting time6

Servings: triangles

Calories: 229kcal

Whisk the cornstarch with the evaporated milk when it is sill room temperature.
Add to a large pan and bring to a simmer. When it thickens, remove from heat.
Bring a heavily salted pot of water to a boil and add in the elbows. Cook about 3 minutes less than the package says until it is just barely tender. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid and then strain the pasta.
Add the pasta to the evaporated milk mixture. Add about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking liquid and stir to combine. Stir in the cheeses. Continue to stir until the cheeses are all melted. If you need to turn the heat back on the pan, go ahead, but be careful not to overheat or the cheese will seperate. If it needs more liquid, stir in a little more pasta cooking liquid, but go easy because you want to make sure it is solid after it cools!
Line a 1/4 baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour the pasta onto the baking sheet and spread it out evenly. Cover with more parchment and let it cool in the fridge overnight or at least 5 hours.

Put the basil, garlic, cheese, pine nuts, oil, and lemon into the food processor. Blend until smooth.
Put the avocado into a bowl. Add in the pesto and stir to combine. I only used about half of the pesto, but you can use as much as you feel is right. Taste and season with salt, pepper, or more lemon to your personal tastes.

Mix the flour and spices in one shallow plate. Whisk the eggs in another.
Smash up the tortilla chips and add them to a third plate. You can do this in a blender, food processor, or just smash them up in the bag with a rolling pin or heavy spoon.
Take the mac and cheese out of the fridge and put it onto a cutting board. Cut into triangles.
Dip each triangle first into the flour, then the egg. Repeat flour and egg one more time to make sure the coating is thick. Then dip into the chips.
Add the oil to a large heavy bottom pan. You could also use an actual fryer for this! Follow manufacturers instructions. And see above for air fryer tips.
Bring oil to 375. Fry the chip coated triangles in batches depending on how big your pan or fryer is.
Should take about 3 minutes. If you see any cheese leaking out, pull them asap!
Allow to cool on a rack while you continue to fry. Season with salt when they come out of the fryer.
Serve with the guac!