This recipe for the Best Mac & Cheese Ever is super creamy – not dry like some homemade mac and cheese can get. It’s cheesy. Oh yes. Verrrry cheesy. It’s rich, ooey and gooey, with a brown and bubbling top and gloriously creamy interior.
And, yeah – in my humble opinion, it’s the best mac and cheese recipe EVER. Seriously.
There are loads of mac and cheese recipes out there, with fancy embellishments and uber creative spins. But his isn’t one of those – it’s a classic baked mac and cheese that’s simple enough to appeal to everyone. Readers report entire families devouring this stuff on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter!
Table of Contents
- The Story Behind the Recipe
- Macaroni and Cheese Ingredients
- Recipe Variations & Substitutions
- How to Make Baked Mac & Cheese
- Tips for the Best Mac and Cheese
- What to Serve with Mac and Cheese
- Make-Ahead Notes
- Can You Freeze Mac and Cheese?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Mac & Cheese Recipes
The Story Behind the Recipe
I say it’s the best macaroni and cheese recipe ever not because I have tried every single mac and cheese recipe in the world (though I have tried many) (and wouldn’t it be an incredibly noble cause to try every single one?!)
Rather, it’s because whenever I take a glorious melty bite, I simply cannot imagine a better classic mac and cheese.
I can also say it’s the best macaroni and cheese recipe ever because this one is tweaked from someone else’s recipe – I adapted this macaroni and cheese recipe from someone named Bev, who shared her recipe on Food.com. Thank you eternally, Bev!
Macaroni and Cheese Ingredients
- Pasta: First, you pick your pasta. Elbow macaroni is a the classic choice, of course, but shells, penne, or rotini are delicious too.
- Cheese: I use classic medium cheddar for a cheddar mac and cheese that is divine!
- Milk: I use 2% dairy milk. Whole milk works fine. I’ve even used unsweetened oat milk in a pinch!
- Butter & flour: To make the roux (read on for more about that).
- Dry mustard, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper: Mac and cheese is all about the cheese, after all, so I chose this combination of seasonings to really enhance and highlight the cheddar. Dry mustard powder has a sharp flavor that pairs so well with the cheese, and smoked paprika lends an irresistibly smoky note.
Recipe Variations & Substitutions
This classic macaroni and cheese recipe is a great jumping-off point if you want to make it your own by mixing up the cheeses or trying a different pasta.
- Get adventurous with the cheese. The best cheese for mac and cheese is really an individual thing! Readers report using smoked cheese for tons of sultry goodness (one reader reported using smoked cheddar, smoked gouda, AND smoked gruyere. Yum.) Other readers have added mozzarella or jack for some stretchy goodness, creamy havarti, Swiss, Parmesan (loads of flavor!), or prefer to go with extra-sharp cheddar.
- Try a different medium tubular pasta. I’ve made this with penne, shells, and, of course, elbows. All amazing.
- Get crumby by topping with crispy Panko breadcrumbs or, as one reader reports, crushed Ritz crackers.
How to Make Baked Mac & Cheese
You make your cheese sauce by first making a roux – cooking flour, seasonings, and butter together. Then, drizzle in the milk. The flour thickens the milk into a glorious béchamel sauce – a classic French sauce made from butter, flour, and milk. And theeennnnn … remove from heat and add the cheese.
Again, some people like to top their baked mac and cheese with breadcrumbs, but for this recipe, I love how it forms a brown and bubbling top in the oven without bread crumbs. Feel free to add if you prefer! Make it your own!
First, you start with a roux. A roux is simply a mixture of fat (butter here) and flour, usually in equal measures, which is cooked together in order to remove the raw, floury flavor. For macaroni and cheese, you make a fairly light roux by cooking it for about three minutes. Then, milk is added to the roux to make the béchamel (or white) sauce.
First, start by melting the butter.
Then add the flour and seasonings and …
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon in a figure-8 motion, for three minutes. This one looks a bit darker than a classic roux might because of the smoked paprika.
Then, to make your white sauce (or béchamel), add the milk slowly, whisking the entire time, and cook until bubbly and thick.
Aaaand then add your cheese for your glorious macaroni and cheese situation.
There’s your base for the best baked mac and cheese recipe ever!
Tips for the Best Mac and Cheese
Don’t add more pasta. Resist the urge to add more pasta to stretch the recipe. You need a lot of sauce with that pasta because the pasta soaks so much and it otherwise cooks down. Over-dry mac and cheese is such a disappointment – don’t do it!
Resist the urge to add more cheese to the sauce. This can do weird things. Sprinkle more in between and on top if you must have more cheese.
Shred your own cheese. Pre-shredded cheeses have anti-caking agents and might not melt as well.
Remove the sauce from the heat before adding cheese. For the smoothest, most luxurious mac and cheese sauce, you don’t want the sauce to be cooking, still, when you stir in the cheese.
What to Serve with Mac and Cheese
Add bacon. Being a mixed carnivore-and-veggie household, sometimes I like to serve this baked mac and cheese with some crumbled bacon that the carnivores can drop over the top.
Serve with salad. A simple green salad, kale salad, or quinoa chickpea salad are perfect accompaniments to mac and cheese!
Make-Ahead Notes
I often assemble it up to the point of baking and refrigerate for up to 48 hours before it’s time to bake it. However! Your mac and cheese might not be quite as creamy as if it had gone straight into the oven. It will still be delicious, but that’s a downside.
Can You Freeze Mac and Cheese?
Yes, I have frozen it with success! I make it up to the point of baking, cover well, and freeze right in the pan. Then I bring it out and let it thaw at room temp for an hour or so, and then into the oven. Just like making it ahead and refrigerating it, the result isn’t quite as saucy. But still delish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you use bags of shredded cheese or freshly grated?
I definitely prefer freshly grated, as pre-shredded cheese can result in a grainier sauce. That said, the convenience of pre-shredded cheese can’t be denied! And a mac and cheese with pre-shredded cheese is better than no mac and cheese at all. So do what works best for you!
What can I add to mac and cheese for flavor?
I love adding seasonings to the roux to amp up my mac and cheese. This one has smoked paprika for – yep – a smoky note. And I love how dry mustard powder helps emphasize the cheesy flavor. Some readers like to add a hefty pinch of onion powder, others love a bit of nutmeg. If you like heat, adding jalapeños is delicious (get my Jalapeño Mac & Cheese recipe here).
Do I have to use 2% milk?
No! Whole milk will do just fine; the result may be a bit thicker though.
Can I double this recipe?
Yes. I (and many others) have doubled this recipe with success – no changes needed other than a bigger pan!
More Mac & Cheese Recipes
- If you’re vegan, this Ridiculously Creamy Vegan Shells & Cheese or Super Creamy Vegan Stovetop Mac & “Cheese” will totally hit the spot.
- Veggie Lover’s Stovetop Mac & Cheese makes it a full-meal deal with broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.
- Stovetop Butternut Mac & Cheese with pureed butternut squash and heavy whipping cream makes the most decadently creamy mac and cheese you may ever have.
- Jalapeno Mac & Cheese and Southwest Mac & Cheese lend a spicy spin!
If you try and love this recipe for mac and cheese, please leave a review! Even if you don’t absolutely love it, I welcome any and all feedback and I share all legit reviews. I test my recipes multiple times in my home kitchen, but I really appreciate knowing how they’re working for others; your reviews help me make tweaks until my recipes are just right! And they’re so valuable for other readers, too. Thank you! ❤️
The Best Baked Mac & Cheese Recipe Ever
Ingredients
- 8 ounces macaroni ( or other medium tubular pasta (like penne or conchiglie)* (1/2 pound or about 1 and 3/4 cups)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika (plus more for sprinkling on top)
- 2 1/2 cups 2% milk
- 3 cups shredded medium cheddar cheese (approx. 12 ounces **)
Instructions
- Boil the pasta JUST until al dente, according to package directions. Drain and return to the pan you boiled it in. Set aside. (Mix in a little butter to keep the noodles from sticking if it’s going to be awhile before you make the sauce)
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- To a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the butter. When the butter has melted, add the flour, salt, dry mustard, pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika. With a wooden spoon or whisk, stir constantly for three minutes.
- Add the milk in a thin stream, stirring constantly with a whisk. Continue to stir constantly until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5-8 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add 2 cups of the cheese, stirring until melted. You'll reserve the last cup of cheese for topping. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and toss gently until all of the pasta is coated.
- Add half the pasta to a 2-quart casserole dish (I like a tall 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish). Sprinkle on half the cheese. Add the rest of the pasta. Sprinkle on the rest of the cheese, then dust lightly with the smoked paprika.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the mac and cheese is bubbling and browning on top.
I need tha carb count and serving size. My 6 year old granddaughter has diabetes and loves mac and cheese. She can have anything but we must have the carb count. If anyone posts recipies please keep this in mind. Carbs and serving size Thanks
This one lives up to its name. I made this for Christmas dinner, and several people commented that it was the best macaroni and cheese they ever had. We all laughed when I showed them the printed recipe entitled, “The Best Macaroni and Cheese Recipe Ever.”
Hi Karen! What about small chunks of cheese, instead of shredded, will that turn out fine? Thanx. Merry Christmas!
I made this (doubled the recipe, but only added 3 cups of milk because I felt that after adding it in half cup increments it was more than enough sauce for the pasta! 5 cups – because the original called for 2.5 cups – would definitely have been too much) for the pre-Christmas dinner party I host every year (that happened 2 nights ago)! It was phenomenal! This was my first time making mac and cheese and everyone loved it.. So much so that they were asking for seconds before they’d finished their firsts! This will definitely be my go-to recipe! And the funniest thing is I’m lactose intolerant so I couldn’t even try it for myself.. But it looked and smelt amazing and the silence and fighting over the last piece spoke volumes! Thank you for such an incredible flawless recipe! Going to try more of yours more often!
just to confirm, when doubling recipe you doubled everything except for milk in which case you used a total of 3 c, correct?.
thanks, can’t wait to try!
My family is Lactose intolerant and I used Lactose free milk with no issues. Everyone enjoyed it.
Sorry, I doubled the recipe and also doubled the milk. It turned out fine.
This is soooooooooooooo good. As the recipe reads, it’s delicious. Don’t even try to change it.
I made it for my family’s Christmas dinner and everyone loved it! I didn’t add the bacon because we have a vegetarian in our family, but it turned out really good anyway. I also reheated all of the leftovers in the oven days later for the same amount of time and temperature as stated in the recipe, and it still tasted amazing. 🙂
So, I asked my husband what he wanted me to make with the ham I purchased. He emailed me this recipe and I made it last night. I have to tell you, we LOVED it! My husband is not (in my opinion)an easy person to cook for and he said, “This was the best meal you’ve made in a LONG time.” No easily won praise here! His review more often than not is, “It’s okay, but I don’t need to eat it again.” lol He’s a challenge for sure! Thanks for sharing this recipe. You can bet it will be made many times in our house! 🙂
I want to make this for a potluck at work, but need to use a crockpot to keep warm. Should I bake it the night before and re-heat next day in crockpot, or make it and cook in crockpot next day at work?
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Wow! This recipe was absolutely delicious 🙂 Although I did not use the dry mustard or smoked paprika – I’m sure it would have been even better. My husband LOVED it and wants it again soon! Thanks for the recipe, this definitely is the best macaroni & cheese EVER !!
Hi Cara, so glad you liked it! I think readers will appreciate knowing it can still turn out fantastic without the mustard or paprika, so thank you for sharing that! 🙂
YES! I was just wondering if this would still be good without the mustard (my 2-year-old is allergic), or if I should find another recipe altogether. I’m thrilled to hear you found it delicious even without. Thank you!
Congratulations on a winner. My hubbie wants me to make this all the time; it is his new ‘all seasons’ (esp winter) comfort food. I kept it pure for the first few times; now experimenting with onions, ham and jalapenos. It is still awesome but with a bite. A regular on my table; gets requested all the time. Thanks for the great tips on measuring the pasta and cheese; this stuff is fantastic! Thanks
Hi Lynn! So glad you and your hubby love it! I’ve been working on new version with jalapenos, too. Love the heat!
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Hello! Is there anything I can substitute out for the smoked paprika? I’m having difficult locating it and was hoping for something easier to find.
Hi Rae, I’d say just leave it out. It adds a nice little smoky touch but it certainly isn’t mandatory. For what it’s worth, sometimes I’ll actually grab hard-to-find food items from Amazon – amazing how you can find everything under the sun on that site.
This looks so good. I tried to stay true to the recipe but I accidentally added double the paprika. But the sauce still tasted great. It is in the oven now! excited to try 🙂
Hee – I’ve done that before too (both the accidental doubling and, of course, the sauce-tasting). 🙂 Hope you loved it!
I made this tonite & I found it had a flour-y taste. I made it as directed. Anyone else have this problem? Maybe I didn’t cook the butter flour mixture long enough?
Hi Char, if you don’t cook the roux for the full three minutes, that can definitely cause a floury taste in the final product. Or does your stove happen to run a little cold? Maybe try cooking the roux over higher heat next time? I’m sorry to hear you were disappointed but I do hope you try again and the result is a better one!
I actually did cook it for 5 mins over my gas range, because to me the butter flour ratio looked off. I doubled the recipe and maybe when doubling, it doesn’t need 1/2 cup flour in the roux? I’ll try again with a smaller batch. With so many good reviews, I must have made a mistake somewhere.
I made this tonight for my very fussy daughter and my Gluten free husband. Used GF Barilla pasta, King Arthur GF flour, a pinch of xanthum gum to modify the recipe for GF diet. Excellent recipe. Complete hit. New Favorite!!
Thanks
Hi Tracey, I’m so glad you and your family liked it! Those are great tips for keeping it gluten free – thank you so much for sharing your modifications, maybe that will help another GF family that wants to try it.
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I made this last night, with gluten-free Barilla pasta. It was INSANE. My husband and I loved the smokiness from the paprika, and consumed entirely too much of it. Thank you!
Made this tonight exactly except I used spicy brown mustard in place of dried and added about 5 slices of bacon on top and it was PERFECTION. Huge hit.
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When I make this I sometimes add pepperjack and smoked paprika and to make it spicy and with regular cheeses I add just a tiny bit of white truffle oil which is fabulous! Sometimes I also use a bit of crushed Stove Top dressing for the topping mixed with parm. cheese if I run out of bread crumbs.
This was DELICIOUS! The only thing different I did was added some minced onions when I added the milk, and I put bread crumbs on top, DELICIOUS!!!
O.K., I believe I’ve finally found it! This is the best mac and cheese ever! I live in Indiana (the big ‘deep freeze’) and was thinking about mac and cheese all day. I only changed the recipe because I didn’t have the exact ingredients on hand. I just couldn’t force myself out into the snow/slush/zero temps. I used 2c. 1% milk and 1/2 c. heavy cream. I also used 2c. mild cheddar cheese, and used 1 c. of “seriously sharp” cheddar (because that’s what I had) for the middle and the top. Fabulous!!!
Sounds good to me! So glad you liked it. Stay warm! 🙂
WIll the taste or creaminess vary if you buy pre-shredded cheese instead of block cheese and shredding it yourself? Thanks!
Just made this for 15 hungry high school scoccer players.
They loved it. I made two double batches. One with bacon one without. The bacon one was more popular.
Very creamy and good – made a nice amount, but we still had half left over. I substituted whole wheat penne, used white whole wheat flour, used reduced fat shredded SHARP cheddar cheese, used about 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika, and used 1 cup skim milk and 1 can fat free evaporated milk. Was great – think next time I will just use skim milk for all of it and lower the calories. I figured out it was about 262 calories for 1/9th of a recipe. I followed all amounts exactly. I’m not a big mac and cheese fan, but it was VERY CREAMY and proportions were right on.
Hi Laurie, thanks so much for sharing your adjustments to make a much lighter (but still delicious) mac and cheese!
Could this be made to the point of just before baking? I’m thinking of making this for the Super bowl. I would like to prep the day ahead and then just pull it out of the fridge to bake. Thoughts? Thank you!
This is almost identical to my mom’s recipe but she also added a small finely diced onion to cook in the butter before adding the flour and she added a teaspoon of worshester sauce and breadcrumbs/parmesan cheese to the top. I was looking for a similar recipe because the recipe I have in my head is missing measurements. This recipe looks pretty close, and I am going to try to reconstruct her recipe. She died three years ago and never got the measurements-We had made it many times together before. Your recipe has all the other ingredients and it looks “right” :). Will try tonight. Thank-you for posting this!!
Hi-I made the recipe and ALSO discovered the grainy flour taste. I am well practiced home cook who likes to experiment with complex recipes so I was careful with the rue and used good quality “Sharp” cheddar. It then occurred to me the possible source of the problem. When I normally make white sauce-I heat the milk first to almost boil before adding to the rue and do not keep the sauce on the burner for very long, as it thickens quickly-I wonder if the cold milk and the length of time on the burner effects the break down of the flour? The onion was a definite plus for flavor as was a teaspoon of worshester sauce to the milk mixture. Will try with bacon next time as my hubbie is a bacon lover. We served last night’s meal with simple broccoli on the side.
Hi Colleen, hmmm – maybe that’s it! I’ve been wondering also if it depends on the type of stove (gas vs. electric, etc.) or even if people are using pre-shredded cheese instead of shredding it themselves. Did you happen to use the cheese out of the bag? I’m assuming not if it was good quality. I make the sauce using the cold milk and have not had the flour taste problem, but maybe starting with warm milk would eliminate the risk altogether. It can be so tough to troubleshoot issues when I’m not right there!
Hi Colleen, I hope it was at least close! We had something similar happen with my Grandma. So many of her incredible recipes were made from sight and feel … we did have her write down the recipe for her famous dinner rolls but when one of us has tried to make them, they’re just never quite the same. Maybe there is something to that whole theory that “love” can make a recipe. 🙂 All the best to you!
Hi Melanie, yes it can! It might be a *tad* dryer than if you went straight to the oven with it, but still delicious. Make sure your pasta is al dente.
Just curious, if I’m using rotini (all I have), am I still only using 1 3/4 cups? I’m at the point where I’ve just mixed the sauce into the noodles and it looks like soup…. Last time I used macaroni and it came out perfect, just seems like I have way more liquid this time?
Hi Patty, different pastas have different volume measurements – to the point where I’m wondering if I should even list the cups as a guideline in the recipe. I would go with weight first. Do you have a kitchen scale? Maybe use that to make sure you have 8 ounces. Or, if you have a 16-ounce bag of pasta, use half. 🙂 Hope it turned out for you.
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Haven’t tried the recipe yet, but I must say, I love the crunchy top on Mac & Cheese. When we were kids , we always fought for the crust on top. Creamy is nice, but I’m thinking I’m going to bake this on a cookie sheet so I get nothing but crust. We like BAKED, crunchy make and Cheese at our house, not Mac and Cheese soup.
This mac n’ cheese is so darn good that I don’t care if I can’t poop for days. Make it. Make it now. Don’t change a thing about the recipe; it’s perfect.
lol – this might be one of my favorite comments ever! 🙂
Haven’t made it yet. Sure it will be great but even if I somehow ruin it; your pre recipe blog and humor were well worth it. Thanks for making me chuckle.
Ha, thanks so much, Leslie! I do hope you love the recipe too though! 🙂
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This is awesome. I have tried many Mac and cheese recipes and found them akin to wallpaper paste. This is fabulous. The paprika and mustard make it. Love love love it and a fave of my wife and daughters too.
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Recipe was perfect! I added diced tomatoes and ham to mix it up a bit. Absolutely love it!
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I found this recipe a few months ago and have been making it at least once a week for family and friends ever since. Like others, I’ve tweaked it here and there using different types of cheese, pastas & smoked paprika (sweet or hot) and have had excellent results all the way around. I’ve got a pound of blue cheese I’m trying tonight (fingers crossed).
Here are some other ideas that have worked well for me:
Bake in an iron skillet; add CHIPOTLE Tabasco sauce to individual servings; use bacon drippings/grease instead of butter – gives it a mild smoky taste; before baking, slice up & put veggies at the bottom of the pan, then layer in mac n cheese mixture. My family liked yellow squash & zucchini the best, but broccoli (flowerets AND the stem, sliced) and carrots work well too.
Thank you for sharing this recipe and thank you to all the commenters with the recipe tweak ideas – they motivated me to try some new things!
And oh ya – FIVE stars for sure. *****
Woke up this morning craving macaroni cheese despite not eating it since primary school!! I looked online for recipes and this jumped out at me because it had such a high rating with lots of reviews. I chose to make this one and ignore the BBC versions etc and it was the best decision I could’ve made! It was absolutely lovely, I chose to add bacon to the top too 🙂 As a university student this recipe is great in it’s simplicity because I can’t afford to have loads of different ingredients but also so so tasty! Only issue I had was that some of the measurements were in cups and I don’t have any to measure with, took me a while to find out all the conversions online cos it’s different for different food but in case anyone else has the same problem these are the ingredients I used:
• 8 oz macaroni pasta
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon paprika plus more for sprinkling
• 200g cheese
• 42g butter
• 32g flour
• 625ml milk
(Left out the mustard and black pepper just because I don’t like them)
Thank you for a delicious and simple recipe! It’s going to be a firm favourite in my student house!
A delicious mac and cheese! I too am a veggo shacked up with an omni and it’s always an interesting kitchen puzzle coming up with meals for us both 🙂
“Kitchen puzzle” is such an great way to describe it! I love that. Glad you liked the mac and cheese!
Was wondering if anyone had cooked this mac n cheese in a muffin tin? Have an event and want to do “small plate” food and thought mac n cheese cups may work? Would appreciate any tips. Thanks
I haven’t tried it, but I bet it would be delicious! Lots of nice crispy bits. If you try it, please come back and report!
Mac and cheese is my ALL time favorite dish, and i have been looking high and low for the perfect recipe, but every time there has been something not quite right. But this is hands down, the best mac and cheese i have ever eaten. I cannot believe how good this was! Me and my best friend made this together, and she is also a huge mac and cheese fan. We highfived eachother after having the first bite. The only things we changed was that we used whole wheat flour instead of regular, and we added a tiny bit of nutmeg to the sauce. We also used a couple of different cheeses (Cheddar and Edam cheese mainly, plus a little bit of parmesan.) And on top we added some panko (Japanese bread crumbs). It was the best thing ever. My mouth is seriously watering just thinking about it!:) Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Yeah! So glad you two liked it! LOVE hearing that it works with whole wheat flour; thank you for sharing that.
My teenage daughter loves macaroni and cheese so I want to teach her how to make it from scratch rather than a box. She has a problem with textures (moderate OCD), though, and doesn’t like the idea of baking this and having a crunchy top. Will this recipe work without baking it? Thanks
Hi there, yes, it works without baking! It will seem a little soupy at first, but it should still be plenty tasty. There are also some terrific-looking stovetop mac and cheese recipes out there that might work better; Google “stovetop mac and cheese” and you’ll see tons of possibilities! Good luck!
A delicious mac and cheese! I too am a veggo shacked up with an omni and it’s always an interesting kitchen puzzle coming up with meals for us both 🙂
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have searched high and low for a good mac n’ cheese recipe for a child’s birthday party for days now. I had a go-to, but it has disappeared (I cried a little). This recipe is the only one I found that had similar ingredients and no weird add-ins. I’ll come back and let you know how it turned out. Thanks again!
Karen,
I’m in the middle of making this and feel sure I’ve done something wrong. Help? My problem is in making the sauce: it’s not thickening. I checked the quantities three times, and the only substitution I made was to use 0% milk (it’s all I had). Would this make the difference? I stirred for three minutes, added the milk, whisked on medium heat for ten minutes… and it’s still as, well, milky as when I started. No thickening. I took it off the stove and added the cheese, which helped slightly, but it looks like too much quantity for a half-pound of pasts and, like I said: it’s liquid, not sauce-like.
Thoughts?
Remove from heat, and stir in 2 cups of the cheese, stirring until melted.
Hi Brian, probably the sauce just needed to cook a little longer, possibly due to the non-fat milk. But because you’ve already put the cheese in, I’m hoping you just stirred the pasta in and baked it. The sauce might still be a little thin after baking but hopefully still delicious! Even when the sauce thickens well, it still seems like a lot of sauce for the pasta, but it turns out great. Anyway – I hope this turned out for you. Maybe next time try increasing the flour a smidge and cooking the sauce a little longer. Hope that helps at least a little. :/