Mac and cheese

Name: Mac and cheese
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 6 people
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 450 g Macaroni, elbows; 60 g Butter; 40 g Wheat flour; 950 ml Milk, whole, warmed; 1 tsp Mustard powder; 0.25 tsp Cayenne pepper; 2 tsp Salt, plus more for the pasta water; 0.5 tsp Black pepper; 400 g Mature Cheddar, sharp, coarsely grated; 100 g Gruyère, grated; 60 g Panko; 30 g Butter, melted; 0.5 tsp Paprika

Macaroni and cheese

Elbow macaroni baked in a sharp cheddar sauce built on a butter-and-flour roux, under a crisp buttered crumb top.

Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: Macaroni and cheese.

Start cooking

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 45 min
Rest: 10 min
Total: 1 hr 10 min
Difficulty: Easy
Spice: No chilli
Cost: Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price

Know it before you cook it

Image coming soon

About

Baked mac and cheese starts as a white sauce. Butter and flour cook together for a minute, warm milk goes in a little at a time, and once it thickens a lot of grated sharp cheddar melts into it, with mustard powder and a pinch of cayenne to sharpen the cheese rather than to add heat. Undercooked macaroni is folded through, the whole thing goes into a dish under buttered crumbs, and it bakes until the edges bubble and the top crisps. Grate the cheese yourself; bagged cheese is coated in starch and makes the sauce grainy. Make the sauce looser than seems right, because the pasta drinks it in the oven.

What you'll need

13 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.

0 of 13 ready

6 servings

Pasta and sauce
Topping

Ingredients

Servings

Pasta and sauce

Macaroni, elbows450 g
Butter60 g
Wheat flour40 g
Milk, whole, warmed950 ml
Mustard powder4.9 ml
Cayenne pepper1.2 ml
Salt, plus more for the pasta water9.9 ml
Black pepper2½ ml
Mature Cheddar, sharp, coarsely grated400 g
Gruyère, grated100 g

Topping

Panko60 g
Butter, melted30 g
Paprika2½ ml

Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.

Steps

Step 1
Heat the oven to 200°C and butter a 23 x 33 cm baking dish. Boil the macaroni in well-salted water for two minutes less than the packet says, drain, and leave it in the colander.
10 min200°C
Step 2
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisk in the flour and cook for a minute or two until it smells nutty but has not browned. Add the warm milk a ladle at a time, whisking smooth after each, then simmer for five minutes, stirring, until it coats a spoon.
10 min
Step 3
Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the mustard powder, cayenne, salt and pepper, then the cheeses a handful at a time until melted. Taste it: it should be a little saltier than you want, because the pasta will take some of that.
5 min
Watch: Do not boil the sauce once the cheese is in, or it splits and turns stringy.
Step 4
Fold the macaroni into the sauce and tip it into the dish. Mix the panko with the melted butter and paprika and scatter it evenly over the top.
3 min
Step 5
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges bubble and the crumbs are golden. Rest ten minutes before serving so the sauce settles.
25 min200°C

Nutrition

Per serving · estimate

Calories: 599 kcal
Protein: 26.1 g
Carbs: 30.9 g
Fat: 41.6 g
Saturated fat: 24.3 g
Fibre: 2.1 g
Sugar: 11.2 g
Sodium: 1238 mg

Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.

Allergens

Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.

Wheat
Milk

Vegetarian
Nut-free

Vegetarian only with a vegetarian Gruyère: the traditional cheese is made with animal rennet.

Adapt this recipe

The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.

Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.

Substitutions

Gruyère → Monterey Jack, Colby or more cheddar
Jack melts smoother and milder. All-cheddar is the plain classic.
Panko → Crushed butter crackers
A Midwestern potluck habit. Saltier and richer.

Tips

For the Southern custard-style version, whisk two eggs and 350 ml evaporated milk into the cooled sauce before the pasta goes in, and swap the crumbs for another layer of cheddar.
You can assemble it a day ahead and refrigerate it. Add the topping just before baking and give it ten extra minutes.
Cavatappi or shells hold more sauce than elbows if you want to stray.

History & culture

It is the Thanksgiving side that gets fought over, the soul food Sunday dish where a family's version is a point of pride, and the default barbecue joint side next to slaw and beans. Many Southern cooks make a firmer version set with eggs and evaporated milk and cut it in squares. The boxed kind is a separate weeknight institution.

Pasta baked with cheese is medieval European, and English cookbooks printed macaroni and cheese in the 1700s. Thomas Jefferson brought a taste for macaroni home from Europe, and a 'macaroni pie' was served at his White House in 1802; the cooking in his households was done largely by enslaved cooks, among them the Paris-trained James Hemings. Kraft's boxed dinner arrived in 1937 and made it cheap and national.

Traditional — Stovetop versions skip the oven and stay creamier. The baked roux casserole here is what most American families mean by homemade mac and cheese. The Southern egg-set version is in the tips.

Provenance: Editorial adaptation.

Questions about this recipe

Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.

How long does Mac and cheese take?

1 hr 10 min all in — 15 min prep, 45 min cook, 10 min rest. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.

How many does it serve?

The recipe is written for 6 people. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.

How hard is it?

Easy.

How spicy is it?

No chilli.

What allergens should I watch?

This recipe is labelled for Wheat, Milk. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.

Does it fit a diet?

The published recipe is labelled Vegetarian, Nut-free.

8 more questions

What does it cost to cook?

Weeknight budget — about $8–16 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.

What equipment do I need?

Stockpot, Saucepan, Oven.

How much salt do I put in?

The recipe lists Salt at 2 tsp (plus more for the pasta water).

What can I use instead?

Gruyère → Monterey Jack, Colby or more cheddar. Jack melts smoother and milder. All-cheddar is the plain classic. Panko → Crushed butter crackers. A Midwestern potluck habit. Saltier and richer.

What should I watch for?

Do not boil the sauce once the cheese is in, or it splits and turns stringy.

Any tips from this recipe?

For the Southern custard-style version, whisk two eggs and 350 ml evaporated milk into the cooled sauce before the pasta goes in, and swap the crumbs for another layer of cheddar. You can assemble it a day ahead and refrigerate it. Add the topping just before baking and give it ten extra minutes. Cavatappi or shells hold more sauce than elbows if you want to stray.

Can I prepare this ahead?

You can assemble it a day ahead and refrigerate it. Add the topping just before baking and give it ten extra minutes.

Can I use an air fryer?

This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.