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.
thank you for the great recipe! I’ve made it once before and really loved it. I want to make it again for a carryon and wondering the best way to keep it warm in a crock pot? Do you think baking it and then transferring to a crock pot on warm setting is best or skip the baking part and just put it in the crockpot on low for a certain amount of time? Any thoughts?
Hey Summer, I think mac and cheese in a crock pot is really tricky. To keep it’s texture, I’d try baking it first and then transferring to a warm crock pot. Make extra cheese sauce for the batch because as it cools/sits it’s going to thicken and you’d need to either add a bit of milk to thin it before serving or, like I said, make extra sauce to help keep it a bit thinner. It should hold in the crock pot for a couple of hours okay.
I love this mac & cheese! I’ve made it a few times and my super picky hubby & 6yr old have loved it every time. Over the past year I was lucky enough to become a stay at home mom and started playing around with some of my favorite dishes/recipes and who doesn’t love mac & cheese? The last 2 times I used whole milk for the creaminess, a bit of grated, aged asiago for a little bite and everyone that has tried this has asked (or begged) for your recipe!
Good for you Gabrielle. If you can be home with your kids, do it. We live on less so I can be home. I have days I miss the professional world, but I know that will come back around before I’m ready anyway. It sounds like you are becoming a mac and cheese expert. I’m so glad you have a dish everyone can enjoy–that gets harder the older the kids get it seems. Thank you for letting me know and I hope you find other recipes here you enjoy. 🙂 –Rachel
Hi! I found your recipe on Pinterest. My husband is recovering from a knee replacement and was in the mood for macaroni and cheese. I did NOT want to buy the KRAFT stuff! I made your recipe which is so easy and so delicious! Thanks! We will NEVER eat KRAFT again!!! : )
That’s awesome Kaye! I love that it worked for you–and that you can shun the neon yellow/ blue box whenever you want to. 🙂 I admit it though–my daughter still prefers the box over mine, but one of these days I’m sure she’ll come to my side. Ha! Ha! This recipe is truly one of my favorites. I hope you’ll come back and find more recipes you enjoy and that your husband is on the fast road to recovery. Knee replacements are big surgeries! –Rachel
Thank you for this delicious, easy recipe! I’ve made this twice, once with just mild cheddar and the other time with sharp and mild cheddar. So far, I love the sharp and mild cheddar mix. I think I will try your cheese mixture next time to see how that tastes.
That’s great Andrea! I love that you love it! I like sharp and mild cheddar too–I don’t think you can really go wrong no matter what you use–and you are very welcome. Lots more easy tasty dishes to come. 🙂
Hi there! Very excited to try this out for our Christmas dinner this year. Quick question, though. When you listed that you like Sharp Cheddar and Swiss do you use one cup of each? Or choose between the two? May seem like a silly question but I just wanted to clarify. 🙂 Thanks!!
It’s not a silly question–as long as you use 2 cups TOTAL you’re good to go. Sometimes I’ll dump in a little extra cheese but one cup of each is the standard. Hope that helps and I hope you love it as much as I do! Merry Christmas!
This is so easy and quick to make. I double the recipe and there’s never any leftovers. Thank you for sharing.
Yay for no leftovers Jenn! That’s great to hear. Thanks for letting me know.
Just found this on Pinterest and after reading all these comments I am drooling and can’t wait to make it, Thanks for sharing! ……..But the main reason I am leaving a comment is to give you Kudos, a high ^5 and an ALL TIME REWARD for Best Blogger and Follow up! In all of my 15 years of being online this is the very first time I have ever found a site/blog/ whatever you want to call it where it was actually up to date on it’s comments! I am sort of in a state of shock at this moment. If they made an Emmy for something like this I would be handing it to you right now! God Bless you Rachel Ballard and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Ha ha Mary Anne! When I first read this I thought it was spam–but I’m glad you’re glad that I follow up with my readers. I wish I could get an award for all time best blogger! That would be quite the accomplishment. 🙂 I’m just glad to be a resource to cooks new and old–Merry Christmas to you as well.
So glad I found this recipe on Pintrest. Love Pintrest!! Anyway..I am gluten free so I will change out the noodles with Schar noodles and the flour with the Artisean from Pamela’s. I’ll let you know how it works after Thanksgiving. Thank you for sharing.
It is 1 1/2 cups raw or cooked macaroni?
Bev it’s 1 1/2 cups uncooked pasta.
I use the same recipe for cheese sauce for nachos or mac n cheese. Never made baked mac n cheese before so im making this for thanksgiving. 🙂
I hope you love it Mary! Let me know how it turns out for you!