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.
Can i use salted butter dor this recipe?
Yes!
I love how easy this recipe is. Can I make it with almond milk or soy milk?
Readers have–they say it works!
I just made this recipe with gluten free noodles and added about 1/2 tsp of onion powder to the mix. I usually saute onions, but forgot them this time. And used Vermont extra sharp cheddar cheese. This was a winner! Thank you for the idea!
Wonderful! There’s a gluten free version on the site too if you ever need it! –Rachel
Also, my mac&cheese was pretty flavorless. I added the right amount of the salt and pepper, so could you specify something I did wrong for next time I make this?
Yes, so in the post I stress the need for you to taste your sauce and adjust the seasonings as needed. Make sure you do that–also make sure you are using cheeses with bold flavors like sharp or super sharp cheddar, swiss, Gruyere, etc. Using mild cheeses like mozzarella or monterey jack will lend you to a flavorless sauce. A dash of red wine vinegar is delicious in this–about 1 teaspoon or so–or a bit of mustard powder. Above all, add more salt if needed and taste as you go. –Rachel
I am trying out different mac&cheese recipes for christmas, and all we have is self-rising flour. Is it ok to use this?
I doubt it would hurt anything Della.
I added the whole pack of macaroni instead of 1 1/2 cups and it was perfect and I added a bit more milk and flour
I made it for my family and they loved it. thanks for the recipe
I made this last night! Loved it! I added about a 1/2 cup of real bacon bits to it. Will definitely make it again!
Can I make the cheese sauce today and cook the pasta and everything else tomorrow?
Not in this case. It needs to be made all at once but can be baked the next day if you prefer.
@Rachel Ballard, did I read to cook the noodles and sauce, cool, snd assemble up yo two days.
Hi there, you can do that, yes. I see that you’ve asked a lot of questions in other places, so I’m going to try to address them in one spot and see if I can piece together what sort of project you have going on. You asked about tempering eggs–there are none in this recipe.
I would not make this dish ahead then chill it and the warm it a roaster. You can bake it according to the instructions in a regular oven (it may need a tad bit of milk before baking to thin things a bit, and I’d make sure that pasta wasn’t overly cooked so it doesn’t get soggy while it sits in the fridge) and then move it to something to keep warm but if I’m reading your question right I’m picturing something like a buffet sterno heater or similar. You can keep it warm with one of those but not use it as the only cooking source. If you mean you have one of those lidded roasters for making a turkey in at Thanksgiving, I fear it’s going to steam inside with the lid on and get pretty gross.
Velveeta would be a last choice for me. Well, a never choice if we’re being honest but I’m not feeding 100 people so do what you think is best. I have never personally tested the performance of this recipe with Velveeta.
I find the pasta ratio to be just fine as written. People complain about it but I feel like there’s been a measuring error on their part. I have made this recipe so many ways and times (even wrote a whole cookbook based on it) and it performed well every time. HUGE pasta like Cellentani or big bow ties take more as do tiny things like Ditalini. Everything else does fine as written.
Do not put olive oil on the pasta. It makes the sauce slide off and not cling.
Serving size on this recipe is estimated as a side dish which is 1/2 cup.
I hope I got to all of your questions! Very good luck with your dinner. –Rachel
Just doubled, added 1/2 turkey breast 1lb of broccoli and a can of cream corn . Mmmmmmmmm