If you are still looking for a quick easy recipe to serve to your kids for dinner, then why not make this baked mac and cheese recipe and call it a night!
Anybody doesn’t love mac and cheese? Yeah, we all know the answer, we can barely find someone who doesn’t. And this baked mac and cheese recipe is the best if you want to please the crowd and serve a delicious version of this famous dish.
There are plenty of options available in the stores to help you prepare mac and cheese at home. However, mac and cheese when made at home is easy to make, delicious to have, and healthier than store-bought.
Making baked mac and cheese is not a hard task. As you boil the macaroni, you prepare your béchamel sauce, add the cheese to the sauce with the macaroni in a baking tray, and off to the oven. So, if you are still looking for a quick easy recipe to serve to your kids for dinner, then why not make this baked mac and cheese recipe and call it a night!
Pretty straightforward, the ingredients of this recipe are:
Making this recipe is way easier than you think. You just need to follow these easy steps and you will end up with a silky melting delicious baked mac and cheese.
First, start by boiling the water and cooking your macaroni. Remember not to add oil to the water so that the sauce sticks on the pasta later on.
Next, start preparing your béchamel. Heat the butter, add flour, mix then start adding gradually the milk while stirring continuously.
Before the béchamel thickens, add the cheese, mix the ingredients and pour the sauce over the macaroni in a baking tray.
Finally, bake the mac and cheese and serve hot!
To have the best results, always use short pasta such as elbow, fusilli, or penne pasta.
If you search the internet to find the best cheese for this dish, you will find that most recipes call for the use of Gruyere cheese. For the best results, it is better to combine gruyere and mozzarella. The reason is that gruyere will boost the cheesy flavor in the recipe, while mozzarella will give you the silky melting cheese effect.
Other than Gruyere, you can use cheddar cheese or pepper jack. In this recipe, I am calling for the use of cheddar cheese.
It is better to use freshly grated cheese to avoid grainy sauce.
Coat cool macaroni with butter or olive oil. Macaroni will not then absorb more water and get overcooked while baking.
To keep the macaroni safe from sticking to each other, wash them with cold water.
Add a small amount of milk over butter and flour and whisk well to remove any lumps, then add gradually the remaining milk.
Of course, you can. Boil the pasta, prepare the sauce, combine them in a baking tray and let them cool. Then cover the tray with a plastic bag and store it in the fridge. Another option, which is what I am in favor of, is the have the sauce and pasta ready in separate containers and combine them in the baking tray at the time of baking.
You can store mac and cheese in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. However, you will feel like it is a bit dry and no sauce in there. Do not worry, the status will change once you warm it up. If you like a saucier mac and cheese, save some sauce in the fridge to pour it later before warming up your plate.
It is better not to freeze this dish. You will not end up with the same result once you thaw it.
If you are a lover, then you must try these recipes:
If you like this recipe, please leave a rating and a comment below. I would like to invite you to visit my social media pages. You can find me on Pinterest, Tiktok, Instagram, and YouTube. Please follow & subscribe to keep track of the new posts and videos! Thank you for your support!
If you are still looking for a quick easy recipe to serve to your kids for dinner, then why not make this baked mac and cheese recipe and call it a night!
Pasta:
Sauce:
Topping:
Calories: 378 kcal per serving | Serving size: 1 serving spoon | Number of servings: 8
Total Fat 22 g | Saturated Fat 12 g | Cholesterol 58 mg | Sodium 698 mg | Potassium 129 mg | Total Carbohydrate 13 g | Dietary Fiber 2 g | Sugars 4 g | Protein 31 g | Vitamin A: 11% | Vitamin C: 0% | Calcium: 47% | Iron: 19%
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet