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.
I am making a dish for Thanksgiving and this looks like a great idea. has it been tried with whole wheat whole grain organic natural pasta and whole wheat unbleached flour? I have to make special recipe this year due to some food sensitivities.
Hey Katie, of all the ways this recipe has been flipped on it’s head I can’t say that whole wheat flour has been used. An organic pasta will be just fine though and I’d think the whole wheat flour will be as well. Give it a try! I think it will work. 🙂 –Rachel
I’m also making this for Thanksgiving, however I am bringing it somewhere else. Can I reheat in the oven and it will still taste the same, or do I need to only partially bake it and refrigerate until travel?
Hey Kat, I wouldn’t partially bake it. If you have the option to make it and then wait to bake it when you get where you’re going, that’s what I would do. If you bake it at home and then take it and eat it an hour or two later, it will still taste good but the pasta will absorb the sauce and it dries out some. You can add 1/2 cup warm milk to the already cooked mac and cheese, stir it in, and then rewarm it in the oven as a last resort, but baking it on-site is best if you can pull it off. Happy Thanksgiving! –Rachel
I have made this recipe several times for my family and they just love it. I am going to try to whisk an egg in with the milk as it does tend to separate once refrigerated. But it’s great none-the-less.
Yeah David, those fats in the butter and cheese would separate after baking if you chilled it. It’s not made to bake, chili and eat and have it hold up like it did when it was first made. That’s the way it is with food that’s free from preservatives, stabilizers and gunk we don’t need. 😉 You can add a 1/2 cup of warm milk to that cold mac, put it on the stove on low and stir until it comes back together. That would treat you better than adding an egg will. –Rachel
I’m hoping to make this with gluten free pasta. Also is it okay to make the day before I bake it? We are traveling and need to make a group of people lunch upon arrival. Thanks!
Hey Hannah, yep you can. Just know it may thicken as it stands in the fridge so take along a bit (maybe a half a cup?) of milk, warm it a bit and stir it in before you bake it help loosen it some. It will work out fine.
Can you use almond milk?
Hey Caroline, you know, I’ve never done it myself, but I have heard that some readers have and that it works well. You’d be welcome to give it a try! –Rachel
Just made with almond milk and almond flour—it was amazing! (Also added albacore.). Thanks for this recipe!
Hey Vanessa! I’m glad to hear that! We have a lot of people who ask for subs like this and I can let them know it’s safe. 😉 Did you use regular cheese? Or a dairy free option? –Rachel
Ok, So I made this as the first of many recipes, all on a quest to make the PERFECT mac’n’cheese. As we all know, this is personal- like religion and politics…mac’n’cheese is not a one size fits all type a gal. Stove top or baked? Thick and creamy or extra cheesy with a crispy, almost burnt edge? Topped or not topped? And cheese….please don’t get me started on the varieties of cheese….. 🙂 Anyways, I read the recipe, scoffed at the few ingredients and very simple and quick prep time. Surely, something so simple couldn’t be IT. But, I was dedicated to the cause and vowed to make it EXACTLY as written. This is always a challenge for me, and often had to redirect myself to put down the garlic, put away the dry mustard, do NOT use evaporated milk instead of the regular milk you used….I persevered, sticking to your original recipe as closely as I could- using 1 cup each of grated swiss and sharp cheddar was the only liberty I took, in not being able to exactly pinpoint your exact proportions of swiss to sharp cheddar. And I will say, it was absolutely fantastic. I am so happy I followed this recipe exactly as written, and while I do NOT promise to not experiment with a bit of garlic in the future…like NEAR future, I found this to be one of the best mac’n’cheese recipes I have ever had. Thank you so much for sharing.
Oh my goodness Meagan you had me on pins and needles. I was literally ready to cover my eyes as I was reading this–I was sure you were going to say it was awful. But you’re right–you’ve discovered something that a lot of home cooks don’t realize–and that is that simple ingredients and techniques really do taste good when you do it right. And I’ll forgive you for adjusting the cheese ratios AND for the garlic. Hahahahaha! I’m currently writing a mac and cheese book–you’ll be amazed at what I do to this recipe. I’m so glad you took the time to let me know. –Rachel
I am unclear on how much of each cheese this recipe calls for, will you clarify? I’m using this for my first ever attempt at homemade & for Thanksgiving at that! Thank you in advance!
Melody the recipe states 2 cups of shredded cheese. I recommend 1 cup sharp cheddar and 1 cup of Swiss but you can do just sharp cheddar if you’d like. Don’t buy pre-shredded bagged cheese because it’s covered in an anti-caking agent that can cause clumping. Buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself, and then make sure you don’t stop stirring once you add the milk. 🙂 You can do it! –Rachel
Made this with medium shells, and only used a portion of the box, too. I put sharp cheddar on it, and seasoned it the way you suggested. I already read the comment to Sara suggesting the cook taste the sauce first, but it looked like the picture. Anyway, my point is that my family and I all agreed that it was bland. I did read other comments people left for you, so next time I might add bacon and/or some other ingredients and seasoning. Just thought I’d let you know. I mean, I constantly try hard to cook, but I’m personally much more of a baker. Lol.
Hey Christi, so yeah–bland is personal perspective I think. There are several reasons you might find the recipe bland. First is the type of cheese you used. I always recommend two cheeses–and the brand of cheese you use can be more bland or salty depending on who makes it. Second of course is salt. Add and taste to your family’s desire. And third, is simply that if your family is more used to the flavor of boxed, pre packaged food filled with preservatives and artificial flavors then getting used to food without it is a learning curve.–Rachel
This was great!! I added some smoked paprika on accident (thought it was regular paprika) and some garlic and would definitely make this combo again. I feel like I know how to make Mac and cheese now! Thank you!
Yay Brenna! Good job girl! And don’t worry–you can add SO MANY things to this dish and it will still turn out great. Use that as an excuse to experiment with it! –Rachel
I don’t have a cast iron pan. Can I use a regular one.
Thank you
Shelby
If your pan is oven safe Shelby, yes you can. If you don’t have one that’s oven safe just transfer it into a 2.5 quart baking dish. –Rachel
Better to use a Pyrex glass dish. You can see when the milk cooks down. I only use that for all my years if baking a mac and cheese dish. Maybe I will try a cast iron pan…
You’re welcome to use either one Verna. My recipe really doesn’t get baked long enough to get dry and need to worry about things cooking out or down. But either one works. 🙂 Rachel
Wow! This was good! I used gluten free noodles. gf flour to thicken and almond milk. The only thing I did that wasn’t dairy free was the sharp 5 year old aged organic cheddar cheese since we can tolerate that. This is the first in 4 years I have had anything that tasted like real Mac and Cheese. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheryl I know that feeling so well! I’m actually really battling to stay on my gluten free diet and I know how much you miss certain foods. Sometimes it’s just SO hard. It makes me happy that you’re happy! –Rachel
There is enough sauce to easily cover a 12 ounce box of rotini. Using 1 1/2 cups of pasta as the recipe states would make for a very soupy and not appetizing dish. Thankfully I made the entire box and it turned very good. Thanks for y
Hey Annie, thanks for your thoughts. This recipe has never been soupy by any stretch if you use 1 1/2 cups of pasta. The image on the post is the exact proportions the recipe states and it works with 1 1/2 cups just fine but thankfully you can make yours any way you want. Enjoy! Rachel
1 1/2 cups of cooked pasta or uncooked
Uncooked Michele. It states it in the ingredients.
It doesn’t state that in the ingredients. Messed up the recipe. Can you add it?
Actually Jody, steps 2 and 3 say to bring water to a boil and cook the pasta. I’d be happy to screen shot it for you if you need me to. One tip–it’s a best practice to read a recipe all the way through before you make it. That includes the ingredients, and the instructions and you’d be all ready for the steps and not mess it up. Just give it another go! –Rachel
I totally agree with the person you are replying to, it was way soupy and had to boil up another cup and a half of pasta as a quick emergency resuscitation. That was using tiny shells. I have made it several times with three cups of tiny shells (1.5 cm) and it came out great. Today I used larger shells (2.5 cm) and did not account for the fact that 3 cups of larger shells is actually less pasta by weight, so three cups of the larger shells made it too soupy and in need of emergency resuscitation with an extra 1.5 cups of pasta. I would recommend adjusting the recipe so that it reads “1.5 to 4.5 cups of pasta, depending on how creamy you like it”.
I’m very surprised that you had a no bake option in the recipe given how soupy it is as written.
Hey Mike–you know, this whole “soupy” thing is new. This recipe has been made thousands of times by my readers and lots of times by me and it’s never soupy. It makes me think you haven’t cooked your béchamel properly. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon–not drip off like water or milk would. I’ve made this dish with every kind of small pasta there is–shells, bowties, cavatappi, penne…and it never needed any help to survive. And no, I can’t tell people to put between 1 1/2 and 4 1/2 cups of pasta in this dish. That would be disastrous–worse than what your describing your dish to have been. My best suggestion is to make sure that béchamel is thick enough and there won’t be any soup to contend with. –Rachel
I tried this recipe for my family, and it was easy and wonderful. I added some bacon, which I cooked in the pan before making the flour rue. What a great! Thank you for the recipe.
Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed it Jen! I’m so glad it worked out well for you! Come see me again soon. 🙂 –Rachel
Added two tablespoons of tomato paste to the sauce before adding the noodles….just like Mom!
Yay! I’m so glad you liked them. I have a baked mac and cheese with tomatoes too in case you want to check it out. I LOVE tomato flavor in my mac 😉 –Rachel
So I am known for making the WORST homemade mac & cheese…. imagine my surprise (and fear) when my kids requested it for dinner tonight! I stumbled upon this recipe and I’m incredibly happy that I did! It turned out excellent! I even used preshredded cheddar (because I had it on hand), and then added just about 1/2 cup of asiago. I doubled the recipe. I whisked and whisked like my life depended on it. And I can barely wait for the kids to hop off the bus so they can rave about how their mom is the next best thing to Gordon Ramsey! Thank you!!
Oh I’m happy dancing over here Becki!!! Yay!!! I cannot tell you how excited I get to hear that you found success! And good girl whisking like your life depended on it. Hahahaha! That’s the way to do it. And you are the next best thing to Gordon Ramsey for your family. That’s what matters. I’m so glad for you. Come see me again soon, okay? And make more mac and cheese!!! –Rachel
I was wondering if I want to make this for a large group and need to either put in an aluminum pan and place on sterno to keep warm or place in crock pot, should I bake it first or not bake it? Should I also double the sauce so it doesn’t dry out?
Hey Diane, Mac and cheese that needs to be held over and kept warm is so hard to do well. I’d not EVER put my mac and cheese in a crock pot simply because it just gets thick and dry and bleh. But I’m a crock pot hater, so there’s that. I’d try a short bake in the oven (or just a few minutes under the broiler) to brown the top and then I’d make 1 1/2 times the sauce (probably not double) and serve it that way. I might hold for an hour, at the most two but it will thicken as it sits–there’s just no way around that. If you’re okay with that, it will still taste good. 🙂 –Rachel