Creamy Baked Macaroni & Cheese
“Learn how to make creamy & cheesy baked macaroni and cheese! No Velveeta just real cheese and simple ingredients. It’s the best of both worlds and a real crowd-pleasing recipe.”
Watch me make this creamy & cheese baked macaroni and cheese from start to finish!
****NOTE*** Ughhh!! I keep saying Monterey in the video but I meant COLBY JACK!! Lord help me!
I LOVE this creamy, stovetop macaroni and cheese. I also LOVE this comforting, Southern-style baked macaroni and cheese. You know what this means right? It was time for these macaroni and cheese recipes to make a baby. I present to you their love-child, Mabel.
That’s what I named this recipe. Yeah, I’m one of those people that give names to pretty much everything. Oh, don’t act like you don’t do that. Pretty sure your car has a name.
I’ve been getting a lot of requests for baked macaroni and cheese that is both creamy and cheesy! I hear ya! I like it that way too!! We always have such a similar taste. We might be cousins. What’s your mama’s name?
Well, this recipe does such a fantastic job at creating one heck of a creamy, cheesy, old-fashioned, baked macaroni and cheese! No Velveeta included. Although I do love me some Velveeta let’s just keep it real, OKAAY!!
If you have picky eaters or Southern eaters who complain about every freaking thing, then make this baked macaroni and cheese. It keeps you on the safe side. It’s delicious. For real.
My husband says it’s his absolute favorite! Very redeeming since my sister’s mac and cheese held the top spot in his heart for so many years.
Let me tell ya, kids will love the flavor and that it’s ultra-creamy. Adults will adore that it doesn’t feel like they are eating kid mac n cheese. Everybody wins. Case closed. Go home. Good-night.
Wait I forgot another thing that you will LOVE about this baked macaroni and cheese recipe! It doesn’t have a gazillion different cheeses in it.
Here are the two kinds of cheese I used. I LOVE them together! I got them both from Walmart.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m such a fan of baked macaroni and cheese that has a wide variety of different cheeses, but man, it can be “exspainsive.” That’s how my grandmother says expensive.
This recipe uses a big shredded block of Monetary Jack cheese (gosh I love that cheese) and of course some smoked cheddar. Baked macaroni and cheese is dead to me without smoked cheese in it! Hmph! There. I said it! Smoked cheese (whether it’s smoked gouda or smoked cheddar) just tips it over the edge and into “mercy this is sinful” territory! Be in that territory. Happiness lives there.
Do you want to be happy?
Get the Recipe: Creamy Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- 3 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup half n half, warmed
- 3 1/2 cups Colby Jack cheese, shredded & divided
- 1/2 cup Smoked Cheddar cheese, shredded & divided
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Butter an 8x10 casserole dish. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of seasoned water to a boil. (I season my water generously with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. It should taste a bit salty)
- Cook pasta until a little under al dente ( about 7 minutes)
- Drain and set aside.
- In a large saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter.
- Whisk in flour and continue stirring until golden.
- Slowly whisk in half n half.
- Continue stirring until smooth.
- Stir in 1 cup Colby Jack cheese until sauce is creamy.
- Pour cheese sauce over macaroni, tossing to coat.
- Pour macaroni into prepared pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add milk, 2 cups Colby Jack cheese, and 1/4 cup Smoked Cheddar.
- Taste mixture and add salt and pepper until the mixture tastes seasoned to your liking.
- Add in eggs and stir well to make sure the eggs are mixed in.
- Pour egg mixture over the macaroni. (Use a spatula to help push the mixture throughout so that everything isn't just sitting on top). (see note)
- Sprinkle the top with remaining cheeses. (I never need all of it)
- Bake for 30-35 minutes. (may not need this long so check on it at the 25-minute mark)
- Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
I made this recipe yesterday. My family loved it and said: “best Mac and cheese ever”.
Excellent Thank you
I want to try this recipe but dont have half and half… What can I do as replacement?
I never have half and half handy so I always use a can of evaporated milk. Plus I used some cream cheese as an added bonus cheese.
You could just use half heavy cream and half milk instead. So for one cup, 1/2 of each milk and cream.
Really good — recipe tolerates modifications!
– Doubled the recipe for a rectangular casserole dish and entire box of pasta
– Used big Rigatoni noodles, cooked in “Better than boullion” broth. Added chopped broccoli.
– Substituted canned unsweetened lite coconut milk (Thai Kitchen brand, room temp) instead of half ‘n’ half. Could not taste in the final product & neither could 2 roommates.
– Cheese: Used Colby jack and shredded Parmesan bc that’s just what I had on hand. I used pre shredded cheeses & it tasted fine but I don’t recommend it to others because it does that clumping together thing so you have to finesse the mixing into the noodles evenly a lot more. Still delicious and heavenly creamy though. Added fresh cracked black pepper & like 1/2 tsp of garlic salt prematurely on accident.
– Egg mixture: Didn’t have milk on hand so I reserved the broth the noodles cooked in and substituted that instead. Added dried chives & a little Cajun seasoning. Reduced cheese by 1.5 cups.
– Topping: Instead of extra cheese, I topped with whole wheat panko, garlic salt, fresh cracked black pepper, and parsley. Spritzed with canola oil.
-Cooked for 20 minutes, top came out slightly dry, but the noodles under were perfect. Probably cook with aluminum foil to cover if you’re doing breadcrumbs. 🙂
Umm…this is no longer her recipe. LOL!! Adding veggies has turned it into a totally different cultural dish. Congrats on the new invention!
I wanted something to fit the taste buds of my 5yr old and still deliver for my 13 yr old daughter without cutting out our traditional southern style macaroni and cheese I’ve made for years. And this recipe delivered I’m so happy I found it Simplified the recipe and still delivered a fantastic outcome we love it! I used sharp cheeses the 2nd go round bc the kids weren’t a fan of the smoked one other then that I have no complaints! Thank you so much for sharing Monique with this #MomOf2
This is the second time that I made this version of Mac and Cheese and my friends and family LOVED it! The only hard part was finding the smoked cheddar, but it is totally worth it. Thank you so much for the recipe!
I made this once for a potluck and it was hit. I still love it but don’t have any. If crowds to plan for. I would love to make this recipe for a family of two. Any advice on how to scale down the ingredients to make this happened.