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.
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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 this for dinner tonight, can I prepare the pasta this afternoon and refrigerate until ready to bake??
Hi Beckie,
If you are going to make the cheese sauce too and mix it all together and stick it in the fridge, then yes absolutely. It will probably take it a bit longer to bake when it’s totally cold but that’s no big deal. If you wanted to just make your pasta and chill it without the sauce, I’d toss it in a bit of oil (maybe a tablespoon or two) to keep it from turning into a giant blob when you are ready to mix it up. Hope that helps! –Rachel
Sounds super easy looks so tasty
This looks great. I plan on trying your recipe tonight, I was wondering what you think about using half and half? Thanks 🙂
Shauna I think half and half would be just fine, I just wouldn’t replace all the milk with it. You need the sauce to be thin enough to coat the noodles and still have a bit in the dish after it cooks. I’m afraid that using all half and half might make it too thick and affect how it bakes. I’d say replace no more than half of the milk with it just to be safe. I hope you love it–it’s a fantastic dish. –Rachel
So if I wanted to double this recipe…? Any adjustments? Or do I just double all the ingredients?
I am in love with this recipe. I could eat it every day. [=
Nope, no adjustments Amy. Just double everything. I made a triple batch this past weekend in fact and it made a full 9×13 plus a little left for a 2 quart baking dish. I’m so glad you like it!. It’s pretty great to me, too. 🙂
I made this for lunch for me and my husband. Turned out good but a little grainy and lacking something seasoning wise. Any advice?
Hey Samantha,
I have several suggestions you can try. I think the first thing that might improve it for you is to make sure you don’t over cook the pasta. Boil it about two minutes or so less than package directions. Second is your cheese–if at all possible, don’t use pre-shredded bagged cheese. Grate your own and you can eliminate the additives they use to prevent clumping in the bag (which can also affect melting). You can also use a sharper cheese. Sometimes a mild cheddar just doesn’t have the bite you may be looking for. Feel free to swap it for half sharp cheddar and may half fontina–a cheese that is super creamy when it melts. Add more salt, and maybe a dash of red pepper or hot sauce to your cheese sauce before you add the pasta if you would like. And remember–a homemade mac and cheese won’t ever have the texture of a box of shells and cheese. Please let me know if you give it another try! –Rachel
came across this on pintrest, my husband loves loves Mac and Cheese!!! This was so easy to make and he loved it!!! Thanks will be making again……
Yay Randi! This mac and cheese is by far the most popular on my blog and for good reason.It’s just so doggone tasty. I’m glad you all enjoyed it and thanks for letting me know!
Rachel, I made this a couple of weeks ago and my grown up family of 5 loved it. Delicious and easy. Thanks so much for sharing a great mac and cheese recipe.
Score for Theresa! And oh look–that’s a score for me too! 🙂 I’m glad!
What type of pepper do we have to use ?
Natally, any pepper will work. I use black, but if you don’t want to see the pepper in your sauce you can use a white. Either is perfectly fine.
I have to say that this is my favorite Mac and cheese recipe. The only thing I’ve changed is substituting evaporated milk for the regular milk. My entire family loves it and there are no leftovers.!!
I love that Leena! I’m so glad your family enjoys it!
Hello, I have made many different mac & cheese recipes and am never truly happy with either the texture or the flavor. When I try a new recipe for anything I always follow the recipe to the letter then of course as I become familiar with it I may mess with it a little. I noticed in one comment a reader asks about how to incorporate the milk and you reply with some details as to waiting for the milk/roux to combine & thicken yet this directive is nowhere to be found in the recipe itself.
Honestly I rarely comment in the negative and would hope for this to not be interpreted as a negative but these are the minute details that I believe mess up the final product for me! I would say 99% of mac & cheese recipes call for the cook to wait for the milk to thicken before adding the cheese. The science behind it may also even call for the part where the milk thickens to not be taken too far otherwise the sauce can break or become grainy.
THEN there’s the part where most recipes call for the pot to be removed from the heat before or right after the cheese is added otherwise again I believe the sauce could break or get a gummy odd texture.
I love being in the kitchen and also LOVE mac & cheese; it just makes me nuts to invest time and ingredients and get not the best results due to lack of thorough instructions. When it’s ME that screws up I have no one else to blame ha ha!
You know Carla, those are very valid points and I don’t consider them negative at all. I think cooking is a science and since I spent four years in college studying the sciences, you would think I could write a truly objective recipe that allows anyone to take my recipes and make them perfectly every time.
I’ll revisit this recipe and see what I can do to make it more clear and reliable. There’s a website called Cooking for Engineers (or something similar) that you might want to check out. I hear it’s the place to be for super exact, defined details and you may really enjoy it!
I really appreciate your feedback and I hope you’ll still give this recipe a try. I’ll do my best to clarify any muddy spots in the directions. 🙂 –Rachel