This is one of my most favourite recipes in the world. I mean, I realize I probably had you at “Macaroni and Cheese” – It’s kind of a famous dish. But truly, I’ve never had it so satisfying and so delicious as it is in this recipe!

I’ll be the first to own that perhaps the reason I love it so much is that this recipe is based on the way my mom always made it when I was growing up– so I may be a little biased. But… Look at this!

How to make the best homemade macaroni and cheese

This recipe is actually super simple to make, and it is put together with just two elements: pasta, and a delicious creamy homemade cheese sauce.

To make the pasta, honestly, the best thing is to just follow the package directions and cook it with enough salt to get some good flavor in there.

For the cheese sauce, I like to keep it super simple: you’ll make a white sauce with creamy milk (with a base of butter and all purpose flour to thicken it), season it with salt and pepper, and add lots of real, good quality cheese until it’s melted into the milk until it makes the most incredible creamy, cheesy sauce.

The secret ingredient for making the best macaroni and cheese

Quite honestly, I’m sure everyone has their own “Secret ingredient” for their macaroni and cheese recipe. I’ve heard that some people use mustard to add flavor to their cheese sauce, but in my opinion, the secret ingredient for the best mac and cheese is a good quality, sharp cheese.

The best cheese

Personally, I’m not even a huge fan of super sharp cheeses (at least not in large amounts), but for cheese sauce, for whatever reason, getting a good quality sharp cheddar is absolutely essential to getting the best flavor.

You could also add, for a little extra kick, something like pepper jack or another strong cheese flavor, but honestly? A good quality cheddar is my favorite way to go.

If you try making your macaroni and cheese with something more mild, like mozzarella cheese, you’ll find that the cheese flavor is almost completely lost in the milk-based sauce. So, I say – don’t do it!

Perfect pasta

My other tip for choosing the best ingredients, is actually to serve it on the right kind of pasta.

It’s true, this delicious creamy cheese sauce slathered on any type of pasta is delicious; however, I find that choosing a small pasta noodle with lots of curves (for the cheese sauce to get into all the crevices) makes for the best mac and cheese experience.

For this post, I’ve chosen to use elbow macaroni, but I really love serving this on fusilli or rotini, or even miniature shell pasta as well.

Is heavy cream or milk better for macaroni and cheese?

Honestly? You need something a higher fat content than regular milk to make this recipe shine. You can use part cream and part milk, or go the simpler route (as I do), and use evaporated milk and regular milk together. (I usually have 2% milk, but whole milk would be even better.)

Choosing a creamier milk does make a big difference in the final product! Since I also use butter in this recipe, I would not use heavy cream exclusively; rather, if you’re wanting to sub the evaporated milk for cream, I would use a lighter cream (such as half and half) in its place, or just use a smaller ratio of heavy cream with more milk to thin it out a little bit (50/50 would be a great ratio).

A note on making baked macaroni and cheese

Whether you’re serving it as a main dish or side dish, baked macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food.

That said, for whatever reason, making baked macaroni and cheese, I have found, is a whole different thing than just the stovetop version. Here are a few tips I can offer about making this mac and cheese in the oven:

Note: I have yet to consider myself a master of this method—to my own standards—so please feel free to share your own tips in the comments!

1 – Grease the baking dish

This is probably a no-brainer, but yes. Before you scoop your velvety smooth mac and cheese into a baking dish, make sure you’ve rubbed the dish down with some butter or cooking spray first!

2 – Cook the pasta until al dente

Since the pasta will continue to cook in the oven, making sure that it’s not overdone is essential! Even perfectly cooked pasta may come out a little bit soft, so I recommend making baked mac and cheese with pasta that still has the tiniest bit of firmness left in it.

3 – Use plenty of sauce

Interestingly, pasta can happily soak up the cheese sauce and almost making it seem like it’s disappeared! To keep your mac and cheese nice and creamy, make sure you’re using a generous amount of cheese sauce.

4 – Use extra cheese

To make my baked macaroni and cheese extra great, I would recommend folding in a bit of extra, grated sharp cheddar cheese, and then generously sprinkling it on top as well.

5 – Do not over-bake

The longer you leave it in the oven, the more the pasta will soak up the sauce, become bloated, and lose a lot of the charm that makes this recipe great.

For the best experience, honestly, I would aim to make this recipe fresh, top it with cheese, and throw it into the oven at 375 (F) for about 10 minutes just to melt and crisp the cheese on top before serving it.

Since a part of the reason for making this recipe in the oven, however, is to make it ahead, I would say this: follow the tips recommended above, and bake it at 350 degrees F until just heated through (about 45 minutes). You can test if the whole pan is heated through by sticking a knife into the center of your macaroni and cheese casserole dish. If the blade comes out feeling hot, your dinner is ready!

What to serve with macaroni and cheese

Personally I love serving this recipe with stir fried broccoli, steamed cauliflower, green peas, or something similar. Anything that you can “Accidentally” splash with extra cheese sauce, just because.

Also, make sure you have some good black pepper on hand. For whatever reason, this recipe (to my taste), is made to shine that way.

You will need:

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

This is my go-to favourite way to make macaroni and cheese at home. And with the leftovers? Top it with grated cheddar and heat it in the oven; delicious.

Course Dinner, lunch

Cuisine American

Keyword cheese sauce, cheesecake, easy cheese sauce, mac and cheese, macaroni

Author Naomi

Ingredients

Elbow Macaroni (approx 3 cups raw, cooked)*
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp all purpose flour or cornstarch (use cornstarch for gluten free)
1-1/2 cups evaporated milk (or 1 354mL can)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.
Meanwhile, in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from heat, and whisk in the flour until completely combined.
Pour a little bit of the milk into the butter/flour mixture in several small additions, whisking each time, until the mixture becomes a smooth paste. Continue adding the rest of the milk until fully incorporated and smooth.
Add the salt and pepper, and place over medium-low heat, whisking constantly (to prevent burning), until the mixture becomes very hot.
Whisk in the cheese until completely melted, incorporated, and smooth. Add more salt if desired (the amount in the recipe should be enough).
Ladle over cooked pasta and serve.

Recipe Notes

*Please note that the amount of pasta in this recipe is approximate. I never measure – I just cook what I would for my family, and then make enough sauce to equal 1/2 cup milk in the sauce per person. That said, the ratio might not be perfect in this recipe of pasta to sauce!
You can pre-mix your pasta and cheese sauce as I have in the pictures, but I find that if I have leftover that way, the pasta absorbs some of the sauce overnight and it becomes much thicker and less flavourful the next day. Ladling sauce over each serving makes the leftovers much better! I find that 1 cup of cooked pasta with 1/4 cup of sauce is just about perfect.
For a delicious alternative, mix the pasta and cheese sauce together, spread into a greased baking dish, and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Heat in the oven at 350 degrees F until the cheese is melted and the mixture is hot through.

And now… I want to make it again.

If you like this recipe, you may also like:

As always, if you make this recipe, tag me in your photos on Instagram @naomicakesofficial! I would love to see that this recipe is being enjoyed!

Back soon,

–Naomi

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The Best Homemade Macaroni and Cheese [Recipe]

How to make the best homemade macaroni and cheese