Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Baked macaroni and cheese doesn’t have to be complicated with layers of ingredients to be the soul-warming food you crave. This homemade baked macaroni and cheese is my most favorite and has pleased crowds, small families, kids and picky eaters alike–give it a try and you’ll see why.
Jump to Recipe
Key Takeaways
- Stir constantly so the sauce doesn’t split and keep the heat down low.
- Use strong flavored cheeses like Swiss and sharp cheddar grated from a block and never bagged pre-shredded.
- Make sure to taste the sauce before baking and adjust with more salt or a dash of red wine vinegar to your preference.
- You can make this mac and cheese up to three days in advance and bake it later.
- It will get dry and mushy in a slow cooker. I don’t recommend one.
- Prep and bake later: Just let it cool down, put some plastic wrap right against the surface of the mac and cheese (to keep it from forming a skin) and stick it in the fridge. When ready to bake, cook until the edges are bubbling and the center is warm.
- To freeze: Can’t freeze it.
Other tips:
- Never stop stirring your milk once it hits the pan. If your skillet is too hot or you walk away and for a minute you could scorch the white sauce and it will curdle. It doesn’t really hurt the taste, but it will look sort of clumpy. Some readers have called it “grainy”. It only takes 5 minutes. Just hang out and stir until that sauce is thick enough to coat the back of your spoon.
- Use good cheese in your baked macaroni and cheese. That means avoiding bagged, pre-shredded cheeses because they contain cellulose (an anti-caking agent) that can cause your cheese not to melt as it should.
- Try to choose a melting cheese and a flavor cheese for the best flavor and texture in your baked macaroni and cheese. Sharp cheddar and Swiss are my favorites but you can go as bold as you want!
- Taste as you go. Taste your cheese sauce before you add your pasta. Is it bland? That can be because of the cheese you used or even the kind of salt you seasoned with. If it doesn’t have enough flavor, add a pinch more salt, stir it in and taste it again until it suits you.
- Feel free to add more pasta if you want to. Some people say that this recipe doesn’t have enough noodles in it, but I’ve never had that problem. And yes, you should cook your pasta before adding it to the cheese sauce.
Try a dash of vinegar for more zing
Because of the fat in the dairy, mac and cheese often needs some acid to bring the flavors to life. I love adding 1-2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar to the sauce before stirring in the pasta. Avoid strong vinegars like apple cider or white distilled.
To measure the pasta: Please follow the volume instructions and measure your pasta dry in a measuring cup meant for dry items (not a liquid one). Small pastas like ditalini or little wagon wheels can go up to about 2 cups and be fine in the recipe, and large ones like bow tie or cellentani can as well. If you will stick to elbow pasta until you get the hang of things you’ll be better off.
To double, triple or quadruple: Simply multiply the recipe below (look for the 1x, 2x or 3x on the right side of the recipe to double or triple the ingredients). Then place it in a 9×13. The bake time should be close to the same. Just bake until the center is hot and the edges bubble.
Other macaroni and cheese recipes you’ll want to devour:
- Lobster mac and cheese
- Spicy baked macaroni and cheese
- Creamy ham and sage macaroni and cheese
- Three cheese stovetop ultra creamy mac and cheese
- The best baked macaroni and cheese with tomatoes
- Truly easy microwave easy mac and cheese
- Super Creamy gluten free mac and cheese
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups dry elbow macaroni shells or cavatappi
- 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 cups milk not skim
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
- 2 cups shredded cheese I like 1 cup each of sharp cheddar and Swiss
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil; add a generous sprinkling of salt the pasta.
- While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a skillet or pot large enough to hold the pasta when it’s done.
- Add the flour and stir over medium heat until the mixture is lightly browned; 1-2 minutes.
- Add the milk and whisk to remove any lumps and add the salt and pepper.
- Cook over medium-high heat until the sauce thickens and starts to bubble. About 6 minutes.
- Stir in the cheese and whisk until smooth and melted. Turn off the heat.
- When the pasta is almost done but still firm, drain it and add to the sauce.
- Stir the pasta into the sauce and bake in a greased 2 quart dish (or an 8×8 pan works pretty well) 20-25 minutes until browned and bubbly. You can also skip baking it if you want it super creamy and just put it under the broiler to brown the top (keep an eye on it) and then serve.
Hey! I’ve been reading all these great reviews and now have a question of my own. Will there be splitting if I use grated parmesean from a jar? I really want to try this recipe as soon as possible. Oh and what other cheese do you reccoment with parmesean? ??
Oh lol forgot to give you my expected rating
Hey Safa, Thank you for the confidence in that five star review! I love that. You know, you can do it with jarred parmesan but if it’s the truly powdered kind, it is covered in cellulose for sure and it could make the sauce split–I can’t guarantee it though. Stirring constantly helps more than anything to prevent splitting. And for a cheese to pair it with, I always recommend one flavor cheese and one melting cheese. Take a look at this post, near the bottom is a list of cheeses–pick a melting cheese from the list that you like and go for it girl. Then let me know how you like it, okay? https://feastandfarm.com/18-secrets-to-the-richest-creamiest-mac-and-cheese/
Made this a few nights ago and loved the cheese sauce. The dish came out great and the leftovers were gone before the next days afternoon. Will certainly become a regular dish here, so thank you for that. Then, tonight I decided I just wanted some of that cheese sauce with tortilla chips. So, I just made the roux cheese sauce, added some Chorizo, sauteed onions, and good gracious. It’s gonna be hard not to just eat this every day for the rest of my life. haha Thank you again, great dish, and it lead to other ideas that I was comfortable moving on to.
James you are bad in the best way possible. Hahahahaha!!! And I’m so glad it’s a regular dish for you—you’re welcome–but you did it, not me so way to go on that. 🙂 And I’ve been thinking of making that roux into a dip…I always worry that as it cools it will get too thick. You’ll have to share your recipe so we can all have it here! And PS…there’s a Mac and Cheese BOOK in the works that I’m doing with 25 variations on this recipe. You’ll be able to say “good gracious” all the time. LOL. I’m so, so glad it helps you feel more comfortable in the kitchen. That makes my day! –Rachel
Was surprised at how easy it was to prepare. Made this for me and my little brother. It was surprisingly great! Wasn’t expecting to pull it off! Thanks for the great recipe!
Good for you Harley! It IS easy and I’m really proud you did it! –Rachel
I would like to smoke some mac n cheese do I have to boil the noodles it will probably be on the smoker several hours
Hey William, You know–I have never in my whole life smoked mac and cheese. I know that people do it, so take my advice loosely but yes, I’d cook the pasta halfway OR you can make extra sauce to put the dry noodles in. If it’s going to sit on the grill for several hours, my fear is that you are going to end up with a SUPER dry final result but you go for it and then come back and tell me how it turns out. I’m very curious. 🙂 Rachel
This recipe is pretty good – I doubled it. I think there’s too much flour; I’d like to try it again with half as much and see if it thickens enough without tasting like flour.
Hey Allyson, I hear the flour comment from time to time and here’s what to keep in mind: 1) a roux and bechamel sauce like the one used in this recipe is equal parts flour and butter. Those measurements are correct. 2) Often, what people think is a “flour” taste is in fact a need for either more salt or a bit of acid like a dash of white wine vinegar to brighten. 3) Sometimes a certain cheese choice may be too bland. Try one with more flavor on your next go around. 4) Make sure you add enough salt. Or, on occasion people find their mac and cheese dry after baking and think the flour did that–just shorten the bake time a bit or skip baking it altogether and see if you like that more. –Rachel
When I tried your recipe, My sauce was lumpy. The texture felt like flavored sand 🙁 How do you fix this??
Hey Jonathan–chin up–it’s an easy fix. If I had to guess, your sauce split. This happens when you don’t stir the milk, butter and flour frequently enough when it’s heating up. Once you add the milk to the butter and flour, stand there and gently stir the whole time until the mixture thickens. When you have your heat up too high on your pan and you walk away and/or don’t stir for even 60 seconds the mixture gets too hot and it will split. The OTHER potential issue (I see this less often but it still happens) is that you may have used pre-shredded bagged cheese. Pre shredded cheese is coated in cellulose–an anti-caking agent that can cause a lumpy texture when it melts. I always recommend grating your own cheese from a block.
One good point though is that even though the split sauce looks bad, it doesn’t really ruin the taste so give it another go and this time stand there and stir. 🙂 You’ll get it! –Rachel
I usually don’t bother with the comments on blogs, but I just had to let you know that this recipe is fantastic! Reading about all of your tips really set me up for success. Thank you for being so thorough! I used half and half, grated up my own Jarlsberg and sharp cheddar, then finished it with panko. I served it up with fried chicken and cornbread. My dinner guest literally said WOW when I put your dish on the table. …and it was delicious. Thank you. (:
Hi Elizabeth! I know coming back to comment is a headache but I know everyone who comes behind you appreciates it so much. And you know…your guests were wowing at your dish–not mine!!! And I would have been happy to have had a some mac and cheese with that cornbread and fried chicken. You sound like my kind of girl. 🙂
I try really hard to answer any and all questions on my blog so that you can feel confident that you’ll have the right answers and the tools you need to be successful in the kitchen. Thank you for your thoughtful comment and come back soon! –Rachel
I was just wondering how I would go about adding a panko breadcrumb topping? When would I add it,etc? The topping is my favorite and I think it would be great with this recipe! Thank you!
Hey Hannah, good question. I usually toss my panko in a bit of melted butter and then layer them on before I put it in the oven. They should brown up just fine during the cook time. Please let me know when you try it how it works out for you!–Rachel
This was the BEST Mac n cheese I have ever made. Rave reviews from everyone. Thank you!!
YOU did it Tracy–not me. I was one tiny piece of your success so here’s all the praise back to you! Way to go!! –Rachel
I have made this with shredded and block cheese all different types and it comes out great every time if you can make a good cheese sauce. The better quality noodle makes it outstanding! I have tried all different chefs recipes from Alton Brown to Paula Deans and yours is the best and easiest to make thank you!!
Well thank you so much Perry! I love being compared to good cooks–especially when I come out on top. 😉 I think you should get the praise here though–after all, you mastered it and you get all the compliments from the people you care about. That’s the best!! Thank you for letting me know! –Rach
Somehow the sauce tasted sandy, not sure what went wrong.
It tasted sandy? Or the texture was lumpy? I just finished answering your previous question about the cheese. Did you go ahead and use the bagged kind? That could have been it. OR…if you didn’t stir the butter, flour and milk enough while it was heating it will split. I’ve learned that over time.If you walk away from it for 4 or 5 minutes then come back and stir, the sauce will overheat and split before it’s even time to add the cheese.
I say not to worry–try again. I’ve had mine split before so it happens. It still tastes good…it just looks odd when that happens. Don’t give up! –Rachel
Yep, the texture was lumpy because I used the pre-shredded cheese in the end. And yep again, I had left the pot to boil by itself for quite a while, lol. The mac and cheese tasted rather weird as a result… Feeling like a failure now T^T
Anyway, thanks for your guidance, definitely will try this recipe again some time soon!!!
Jessica DO NOT give up! Just do it again and this time grate your own cheese and stand there and stir (not like a wild woman, but just gently) until the sauce thickens. You’ll get it!!!
I used the Kraft shredded triple cheddar cheese with a touch of Philly cream cheese and it came out great!!!
I know a lot of people like the cream cheese in it. I personally recommend grating your own off a block, but if it worked for you, that’s still GREAT!
Ohhh my geee!!! Yum yum!! If yours didn’t turn out right, you did something wrong! I followed this to a T and it was amazing! I am in LOVE. Also I used 2 cups of Velveeta cheese instead and it was pure greatness!! When I add sugar it became non existent!! So many complements when I make this!! Thank you!!!!
Hahahaha Nikky! You are so funny! I’m glad you are so enthusiastic about your mac and cheese…but did you say you put SUGAR in it? You’re gonna have to explain yourself on that one. 😉
I love to add sugar to my mac and cheese as well. I’m making this recipe for friends today, wish me luck.
Really Latonya? Well you go for it…I think I’ll stick to my regular way. 😉
I actually add a drop of honey and some soul food seasoning after the cheeses are melted. Then some crumbled bacon. I have never tried sugar but i may now. This recipe is great. Very similiar to my own recipe. Only differemce is the seasoning and honey. Also I warm the milk in the microwave 1st before wisking it. And make sure to add a creamy cheese with the cheddar (to cut out the gritty cheddar). I tend to buy leftover cheese ends at the deli. Good recipe ty
Well you’re showing me that more than one person adds some sweetness to their mac and cheese…and the soul food seasoning sounds pretty fantastic too.You’re also right about warming the milk. It helps prevent lumps in your sauce. 🙂 Smart girl! I’m so glad you like the recipe and I can’t wait to have you come back and visit me again soon. –Rachel