Homemade Mac and Cheese
Mac and cheese is the BEST and the most comforting dish there is and there is not arguing about it! Adults and kids love it alike and that’s why I make it every single week! I’ve tested and re-tested dozens of cheese combinations for mac and cheese and came to a set of favorites that kids and adults love. Sharp cheddar provides great sharp flavor, Monterrey Jack melts beautifully but also has extra flavor, and cream cheese provides extra creamy texture. It’s a similar combination that I use in my baked mac and cheese and cauliflower mac and cheese because it never fails to satisfy!
Featured Comment
“
First mac and cheese recipe that my whole family loved! Will definitely be making this often! ~Amie”
Must-Have Ingredients and Substitutions
Pasta options for mac and cheese – macaroni is a given of course, it’s a classic option and it’s right in the name. But of course, you can always use other pasta to make it more fun like pasta shells, bowties, corkscrew pasta, cavatappi, and penne.
Milk – I usually stick to either whole milk or 2%. Whole milk will give you riches and creamier consistency while 2% will be a little lighter.
Seasoning – keep it simple with salt and pepper and I always bring in a little something extra with addition of paprika. Remember to taste your sauce as you cook to know if you need to adjust the seasoning.
Cheese Options & Substitutions
When choosing cheese, remember how well it melts, how smooth it melts, and the flavor:
- If you want sharper, stronger flavors, then choose sharp cheeses. Note that the harder the cheese, the lower melting point. Parmesan and other hard cheeses don’t melt as well. Hard cheese can be a flavor addition but not the main cheese.
- For smoother melted cheese, choose cheeses like cheddar, Monterrey Jack cheese, Colby Jack, and even Mozzarella. These cheeses all melt very well because they are not soft cheeses and not too hard.
- My favorite cheese combination for this easy mac and cheese is extra sharp cheddar, Monterrey Jack cheese, and a little cream cheese.
Tips To No Fail Homemade Mac and Cheese
Grate cheese off the block! It’s always best to get a good brand of cheese and use a BLOCK not pre-shredded cheese. Pre-shredded cheese always had additives like separators and preservatives that will affect the texture of your sauce.
Best way to achieve smooth cheese sauce for mac and cheese and avoid lumps is to first whisk the flour and melted butter well to form a roux and then, slowly pour in the milk while constantly stirring. (Roux is a smooth combination of butter and flour that’s mixed well.)
Avoid grainy cheese sauce: your cheese sauce can be grainy if the flour didn’t get a chance to cook well and thicken the milk or the type of cheese you used. When letting the milk heat through, before adding the cheese, make sure you give it several minutes to heat through completely and thicken. Don’t add cheese too soon.
Never let the cheese sauce or mac and cheese boil! Cook the cheese sauce over medium to medium-low heat to let the milk heat through and the cheese melt. After adding the pasta, you will only cook for additional couple of minutes to heat up the pasta.
Don’t over-cook! Most likely the cause of cheese sauce separating is overheating. Never let your cheese sauce or milk boil. Cook over medium to medium-low heat the whole time. Don’t over-cook either, as soon as the cheese is melted and smooth, add in pasta. As soon as pasta is heated through, take the pot off heat.
Step by Step Photos To Make Mac and Cheese
Cook macaroni according to the package instructions in salted water, drain, and set aside.
While pasta is cooking, grate cheese and start to prepare the cheese sauce:
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Whisk in flour and once it’s combined, start pouring in milk while constantly stirring. Keep whisking slowly until all incorporated.
Cut cream cheese into small pieces and add it to the pot. Stir and let cream cheese mix into the sauce. Add cheeses, one handful at a time, while slowly stirring.
Season with paprika, salt, and pepper. Once all cheese is melted and smooth, add pasta. Stir until all completely combined. Let it cook on medium-low for a couple of minutes and serve. The point if to heat the mac and cheese through after adding the pasta.
How To Make Mac and Cheese Gluten Free?
Mac and cheese is very easy to make gluten free with just two easy substitutions. First, use gluten free pasta. (I prefer the Tinkayada brand of gluten free pasta. Its texture is the least crumbly and tastes the most like regular pasta.)
As far as thickeners, you have two options. Option one is substituting flour for gluten free flour, and option two is using cornstarch instead of flour.
If choosing to use gluten free all purpose flour, simply substitute it for regular flour and mix it with melted butter.
When using cornstarch instead of flour, it has to be mixed with cold milk first and then added to the pot to heat through. (1 tablespoon of cornstarch is enough for this recipe.)
How To Make It Lactose Free?
Did you know that you can easily enjoy mac and cheese even if you a lactose free? Many people who are lactose intolerant are actually not aware that they can still eat cheese. Cheese that is aged 6 months and longer is naturally lactose free through the aging process.
Soft cheeses like blue cheese, Brie, feta, cream cheese, and a few others are not lactose free but cheeses like cheddar, Parmesan, Monterrey Jack cheese and even some Mozzarella are lactose free.
Many brands will put lactose content right on the label, under the nutritional information. Look for words like “contains 0g of lactose per serving.” If the wording is not there, you can look at sugar content. If sugar is 0g, that will indicate there is very low chance for lactose.
Cream cheese can be substituted for vegan (plant-based) cream cheese. I haven’t tried all brands but a few brands that I’ve tried do melt and mix into the sauce well.
Instead of regular milk, use lactose free milk. (Tip: Fairlife brand is not as sweet as Lactaid. I recommend that one in savory dishes.)
Storing and Reheating Instructions
Storing: Keep any leftovers you have mac and cheese in an airtight food storage container, in the refrigerator. You can also use the same pot you used to cook it but cover it air-tight. Properly stored, this dish should stay good for about 3-4 days.
Reheating a whole pot: While you can reheat individual portions in the microwave, you can also reheat the whole pot on stove-top. Make sure to reheat it over medium-low heat and add about 1/4-1/3 cup of milk. Cover the pot as mac and cheese reheats and stir every few minutes.
Reheating single portion: When reheating individual portions in the microwave, add a couple of tablespoons of milk to the bowl with pasta and use a microwave cover if you have one. Reheat the mac and cheese in 30-45 second increments, stirring in between. Make sure to reheat only until heated through.
PRO TIP: you will need to add some milk when reheating, to invigorate the pasta and cheese sauce again. Pasta tends to soak up moisture from the sauces as it sits, so adding a little milk will help refresh it.
Did you make this recipe?
PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below or share and tag me on social media @willcookforsmiles. DON’T FORGET to subscribe to my newsletter!
Homemade Mac and Cheese Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb elbow macaroni
- salt salt water for cooking pasta
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 10 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese block, it melts smoother
- 8 oz Monterrey Jack cheese block, it melts smoother
- 3 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil and season with salt. Cook pasta according to the box instructions. Drain completely once pasta is cooked.
- While pasta is cooking, grate cheese and prepare the cheese sauce.
- Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.
- Whisk in flour and once it's combined with butter, start pouring in milk while constantly stirring. Keep whisking until all incorporated. Let the milk heat through until thickened, while slowly stirring from time to time.
- Cut cream cheese into small pieces and add it to the pot. Stir and let cream cheese mix into the sauce.
- Start adding the grated cheeses, one handful at a time, while slowly stirring and letting it melt.
- Season with paprika, salt, and pepper.
- Once all cheese is melted and smooth, add pasta. Stir until all completely combined. Let it cook on medium-low heat for just a couple of minutes and take off heat. The point is to just heat the mac and cheese through after adding the pasta.
Video
Notes
- *Read the post to learn how to make this mac and cheese gluten free and/or lactose free!
- Remember: Never let the cheese sauce or mac and cheese boil! Cook the cheese sauce over medium to medium-low heat to let the milk heat through and the cheese melt. After adding the pasta, you will only cook for additional couple of minutes to heat up the pasta.
- Reheating: You can also reheat the whole pot on stove-top. Make sure to reheat it over medium-low heat and add about 1/4-1/3 cup of milk. Cover the pot as mac and cheese reheats and stir every few minutes.
- When reheating individual portions in the microwave, add a couple of tablespoons of milk to the bowl with pasta and use a microwave cover if you have one. Reheat the mac and cheese in 30-45 second increments, stirring in between. Make sure to reheat only until heated through.
Nutrition
More Mac and Cheese Recipes To Try
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on February 1, 2019.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
First mac and cheese recipe that my whole family loved! Will definitely be making this often!
I am so glad you liked it, Amie!
Can I use evaporated milk instead of regular or 2%?
Hi, I haven’t tried using evaporated milk in this recipe, I think it may change the flavor. If you’d like to use it add equal amounts of water to the milk. For example, the recipe calls for 2 cups of milk so you will use one cup of evaporated with one cup of water. Hope that helps.
Are the servings for an entree or as a side dish?
Hi Terry, the serving is for a side dish. Hope you like it! 🙂
Recipe amounts are perfect, wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you, we really enjoyed it on a rainy January evening 🙂
Thank you, Eli! Glad you liked it!
Hi there
Do mine was a little grainy in texture not as bad as the first time. The first time I cheated and used bag cheese definitely don’t do that. Second time I used block cheese but it was still a little grainy. How long do I melt the cheese maybe I’m not melting it long enough?
Thanks
Laura
Cheesesauce will break and become grainy if it gets too hot
Why was it sweet. Good, but why was it sweet.
Hmm, I am not sure, it shouldn’t be at all sweet. Maybe it was the cheese you used?
OH MY GOSH!!!! This is the BEST Mac and cheese I have ever made. I can’t thank you enough for this. I literally kept eating it out of the pot!!! The only thing I decided to do different was (after I was done eating several fork fulls out of the pot of course lol) put it in a baking dish add more cheese on top and bake it at 325 for 15 minutes.
Awe thank you! I am so glad you liked it! 🙂
This is the BEST Mac-n-cheese ever!!! So rich, creamy and absolutely delicious!! I had been searching for the perfect Mac-n-cheese recipe and I finally found THE ONE!! Yummy!!
Wow! Thank you so much for the sweet compliment! I am so glad you liked it!
Everytime i used the flour and butter to make a roux, the end macaroni and cheese always ends up being grainy despite whisking the heck out of the butter and flour mixture. Is there any way to fix that?
Hi Ella!
I’ve never noticed the grainy texture myself but you may be sensitive to texture. I know plenty of people who are sensitive to textures in sauces and other things.
What you can do is try to use cornstarch to thicken the mac and cheese and see if you like it better that way. It’s a little bit of a different process though. You would whisk the cold milk and cornstarch together first, before adding it to the hot pot and warming it up. So start by melting butter and then whisk cornstarch (about 1 1/2-2 tablespoons) and cold milk. Pour the milk mixture into the pot and slowly stir the whole time as the milk is warming up. When the milk is hot, start adding the cheeses. The rest is really the same.
I really hope this helps! Let me know
Youre getting it too hot. Cheesesauce will break if too hot and becomes grainy
This was super easy and super yummy. I used a little more paprika (I’m a big fan), some mustard powder, cayenne and Essence of Emeril. Yum! I usually bake my Mac n cheese, but this was way better and cheaper. Yum—where has this recipe been all my life??
Hi Lisa,
Thank you so much for the sweet compliment, you made my day! I am so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
Omg it was so good! So happy i came across this recipe, healthy, tasty, and easy! I loved it!
Hi Nova,
Awe thank you! I am so glad you liked it!
Tasted great when hot but when it cooled as I was eating it, the cheese had a weird consistency, may have been because I didn’t cook it long enough after. I also thought it was too cheesy, but I’m not sure. Any ideas/suggestions? Will try and make again in the future!
Hi Anessa,
I am sorry I am not sure what weird consistency it could be without seeing it. But it could be the brand of cheese they sometimes melt differently or if you used a grated cheese those don’t melt as well. You don’t want to cook it too long or the cheese will separate. I hope this helps, but if you can give me some more details I may be able to help more.
Followed recipe, was going great until I added the pasta to the cheese sauce. Lots of cheese solidified and separated. Very disappointed.
Hi Laura,
Sorry it didn’t workout for you. I am not sure what happened because that’s never happened to me before. It’s possible that you overheated/scalded the cheese. Cheese sauce shouldn’t boil. Try to take take the pot off the heat once it melted and smooth and then add the pasta. Let it sit a little or return to very low heat for a few minutes
I msfe this 3 times twice perfect. The third time my cheese separated as well. Could be the noodles were too cool going in to the sauce. I had them sitting in a colander wait on the sauce. Other than that I can’t think of another reason.
Second time using recipe. Had been looking for a tasty Mac & cheese and this fits the bill perfectly
Thank you, Kathleen!
Thanks for taking the time to rate and comment on my recipe! I am so glad you liked it! 🙂
Hello!
Can I make this day ahead and reheat in the oven the next day?
Also can I use a combo on Cheddar, Gouda, and Cream cheese?
Hoping to make it day ahead for Christmas dinner.
Please let me know.
Thank you 🙂
I think it has a better texture when you eat it right away. And you can use whichever cheese is your favorite 🙂
How does this old up in a crock pot?
I have never tried it, but I think you could keep it on warm/low for awhile if you stir it occasionally to help keep it from drying out.
What do you mean by “block it melts faster”? Do you mean not to shred it first and just put in big blocks of cheese? That would save me time but seems too easy lol
Never mind I read your recipe more closely – please delete!
No, Problem! Hope you liked it 🙂
This is wonderfu!!!! Great flavor and easy to make I added some bacon…Yum!! Honestly only second time I’ve made mac and cheese from scratch wanted a recipe that didn’t need to be baked and take forever. Thank you will definitely use the again.
I am so glad you liked it, Wendy! The bacon sounds amazing with it! 🙂
Could I make the sauce and put it in the fridge for a day or so till I am ready for the elbow mac?
Hi, Susan! Yes, I think that would be fine but I have not tried it,
This is amazing! Usually I make a Mac and cheese recipe that goes in the oven but this is perfect for when that’s just too long to wait to eat some good macaroni and cheese! At this point my husband and I are using this recipe more and more because we’re just that impatient. It’s now one of our go to’s!
Hi, I am so glad you both like it so much!!! 🙂
Mine came out just a bit too thin. More like noodles in a cheese soup! How can I thicken it ?
Hi, Carol! Did you add the flour? It’s the thickener in this mac and cheese.
Mine had very little flavor. I used all Colby jack instead of the sharp cheddar, so that might have made all the difference. Also, don’t use mozzarella. Way too stringy. Lol!
Hi, Tonya! I hope you will make it again using the sharp cheddar as it gives it more flavor! 🙂
Try using apple smoked Gruyere and extra sharp cheddar. I made it Christmas day and my family of 10 went crazy for it.
Sounds so yummy! 🙂