The Best Baked Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

The Best Baked Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

Forget boxed macaroni & cheese! This home-cooked staple is as delicious as late-night comfort food as it is on the Thanksgiving table. Rich, velvety, and bursting with flavor, it’s a firm favorite of vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.

Our baked macaroni & cheese recipe beats out the rest of the competition. Our secret ingredients are a dash of ground nutmeg and a quartet of delicious creamy cheeses. You’ve never tasted anything quite like this! This isn’t just baked macaroni and cheese; this is gourmet mac & cheese.

Whether it’s a to-die-for Thanksgiving dish or a plate of celebratory comfort food, you won’t be disappointed by the complex flavors of this timeless classic with a twist.

The Best Baked Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

There’s nothing wrong with classic mac & cheese. If you want to save time (and money), you can make this recipe with regular cheddar. However, if you want something special, using all four cheeses will turn this dish into something sensational.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time:  50 minutes

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 lb. of macaroni pasta (alternately, you can use cavatappi, penni, or rotelle)
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• ¾ lb. mature cheddar cheese, grated
• ½ lb. gruyere cheese, grated
• ½ cup asiago cheese, grated
• ½ cup Fontina cheese, grated
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon dried mustard
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt

Note: As this is a baked macaroni & cheese recipe, you won’t end up with a lot of excess cheesy sauce. If you want more sauce, lower the amount of pasta used.

Directions

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1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 3-quart baking dish with non-stick spray.
2. Mix the grated cheese together in a large bowl.
3. In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter. Gradually whisk in the flour until it’s a smooth, slightly bubbly roux. Whisk the milk slowly. Stir in the onion powder, salt, dried mustard, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, and whisk in 2 ½ cups of the mixed cheese. Stir until smooth.
5. Boil the macaroni in salted water until it’s al dente. Drain the pasta. Mix pasta into the cheese sauce.
6. Place half the mixture into the baking dish, and cover with a cup of cheese mixture. Spoon the remaining pasta into the dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Cover the dish with the breadcrumbs.
7. Bake for 30 minutes in the oven or until the breadcrumbs are lightly brown and the cheese is bubbling.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

That’s our delicious, creamy macaroni & cheese recipe. Try it yourself. If you’re struggling for time, you can just use cheddar – you can even use ready-shredded cheese to speed things up further. However, ready-shredded cheese doesn’t melt as cheese should.

Other variations include adding little cubes of cheese throughout the pasta – these form little gooey pockets of goodness. Nothing could be cheesier! Some people even add cooked bacon and crushed saltines for a meatier flavor – that’s the best thing about mac & cheese; there’s no wrong answer.

How to Store Homemade Mac and Cheese

You can store mac & cheese in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You might find it dries a little after a few days – a dash of cream or milk will revamp the dish, turning it deliciously creamy again.

If you’re pressed for time, you can prepare mac & cheese ahead of time. Line the baking tray with fill – leaving enough overhang on the sides. Pour in the mac & cheese mixture, cover tightly with foil, and allow to cool before putting it in the freezer. Once frozen, you can store the portions in a ziplock bag. When needed, you’ll need to let it thaw overnight.

Alternative Cheeses You Can Use

Most mac & cheese recipes rely on strong, sharp Cheddar cheese to do the heavy lifting. In this recipe, we use some more unusual cheeses. But there’s no right and wrong answer to what cheese you can and can’t use.

Here are some alternative cheeses you can include:

• Gouda cheese
• Mozzarella cheese
• Swiss cheese
• Pepper Jack cheese
• Colby cheese
• Stilton (or another blue cheese)
• Brie

Try different variations of these cheeses to discover the combination that works for you. Just remember to get it perfectly golden brown for the best results. Everyone has their own recipe; we hope you enjoy ours!

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