Baked Mac and Cheese Recipe
Last Updated on: 18th March 2025, 12:29 pm
Baked Mac & Cheese
This 5-cheese mac & cheese is the best comfort food you'll ever make! Creamy, cheesy, and golden-baked to perfection. The secret? A blend of five cheeses and a smooth mornay sauce that melts in your mouth with every bite.
Why This is the Best Baked Mac & Cheese
Iโve spent years perfecting this recipe, and itโs now a family favorite. The combo of sharp cheddar, mozzarella, gouda, parmesan, and cream cheese creates a perfect balance of flavor and creaminess. And the crispy topping? It takes this dish over the top. Each bite is pure comfort.
The Secret to Creamy Mac & Cheese: Mornay Sauce
The mornay sauce is key. Itโs a cheese-infused bรฉchamel sauce that makes the dish rich and velvety. Adding spices like granulated garlic elevates the flavor, giving the sauce a deep, delicious taste that blends perfectly with the pasta.
How to Make the Ultimate Mac & Cheese
First, cook the pasta until al dente. While thatโs happening, make your mornay sauce with butter, flour, milk, and cream. Add your cheese blend, stir until smooth, and combine with the pasta. Transfer everything to the oven and bake until the top is golden and crispy. Easy, right?
Why Youโll Love This Mac & Cheese Recipe
Whether you're serving it for a family dinner, holiday gathering, or just a cheesy craving, this recipe will impress. Itโs a crowd-pleaser! You can even mix things up by adding bacon or breadcrumbs for a twist.
BON APPรTIT,
Chef Abyssinia
Baked Mac & Cheese
Equipment
- Pot
- Whisk
- small saute pan
- rubber spatula
- Baking dish
Ingredients
Cheese Sauce
- 2 qt milk
- 3 cup milk
- 1 each onion, halved
- 1 each bay leave
- 1 tsp peppercorns, crushed
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg preferably freshly grated
- 4 tbsp salt
- 24 oz block cheese, cut into cubes I used shard cheddar, Colby jack, and Muenster
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
Roux
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup oil (fat) you can use butter, shortening, or oil
Pasta
- 24 oz elbow pasta (dry) 1 1/2 boxes
- 3 each eggs whole
Instructions
Cheese Sauce
- In a pot add milk, onion, bay leaves, and crushed peppercorns. Cover and heat on low heat until hot. Set aside.
- Be sure the flame is not too high. Keep a close eye on your milk so that it does not boil over and make a huge mess.
Roux
- In a saute pan add flour and cooking grease. Mix together and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. This flour and fat mixture is a roux that you will use to thicken your sauce.
- Be sure to mix your roux constituency as it cooks. Do not let it burn, do not let the color get too dark. The longer it cooks, the nuttier of a flour you will achieve. The goal here is to cook the roux long enough so that the flour taste is cooked out.
Cheese Sauce
- Once your roux is ready and your milk is hot, slowly whisk the roux into the milk. Work in batch incorporating half at a time.
- Whisk until fully incorporated and allow the mixture to cook together uncovered on low heat. As your milk cooks it will thicken. This process will take 5-10 minutes, continue to whisk your milk as it thickens.
- Once the milk is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, strain to remove onions, bay leaves, and peppercorns.
- (I kept my aromatics in the milk until the cheese sauce was completed for added flavor. Once the cheese is added, however, it is a headache to remove them. Proceed as you'd like)
- Add salt and freshly grated nutmeg. Use dry nutmeg if you do not have fresh.
- Turn the flame to low (simmer). In small amounts add in the cream cheese and cubed cheese. (save shredded cheese for the last step)
- Be sure that you add the cheese in a little at a time, otherwise, your cheese sauce can break. Be sure the flame is not on high, if the sauce gets too hot or too cold, the sauce may break. See notes below for steps to follow if your sauce breaks.
- Once the cheese is fully melted, turn off the heat, taste the sauce, and adjust seasoning accordingly. If the sauce is too thick, add warm milk in small amounts at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
Pasta
- Boil pasta in salted water until pasta is al dente. Stain and cool.
Mac & Cheese Assembly
- In a baking dish mix pasta and cheese sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.
- In a bowl whisk together three cracked eggs. Mix eggs into mac and cheese until fully incorporated.
- Top with a layer of shredded cheddar cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake at 325 degrees F for 40-1hr minutes. Remove foil, set oven to broil, and brown the top of your mac and cheese.
- Enjoy!