Baked Mac and Cheese
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Everyone’s favorite classic mac and cheese! Super simple, super easy and super quick. You’ll never want the boxed stuff ever again!
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Greetings from Chicago!
We did it. We finally moved to the Midwest after 20 years of living in California.
It almost feels a bit surreal as we cope with the 22 degree weather. I mean, it was 65 degrees when we left LA!
But honestly, it feels like home. Except home is filled with 17 unopened boxes filled with my kitchen stuff.
So I need to unpack as fast as possible so I can never leave my Chicago house and instead, nest inside with my new electric blanket and the coziest homemade mac and cheese ever.
This is your classic mac and cheese – there are no surprises here and there’s no fuss at all. It’s simple, it’s quick, and it’s completely made from scratch.
It’s perfectly cheesy without being too gummy, and the crunchy tops are just to die for before you get into that creamy heaven underneath.
You can of course choose to bake these in individual ramekins to avoid any kind of sharing or you can dump the entire mixture into a 2-qt baking dish.
Either works. It’s just that sharing can be a bit difficult on this one.
Baked Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 ounces elbow pasta
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 2 (12-ounce) cans evaporated milk
- 12 ounces shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, about 3 cups, divided
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Whisk in flour, paprika and onion powder until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Gradually whisk in evaporated milk until slightly thickened, about 4-5 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Stir in 2 cups cheddar cheese and Parmesan. Stir in pasta; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Divide pasta mixture into 5 (10-ounce) or 6 (8-ounce) ramekins or ovenproof bowls.* Place onto a baking sheet; sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheddar cheese.
- Place into oven and bake until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with chives, if desired.
Video
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Super cheesy and delicious. The only thing I added was nutritional yeast but it was really good. I doubled the recipe for the next day. So glad I did.
You can never go wrong with doubling the recipe, right? 🙂
Hi there! First thank you for all your great recipes. I’d like to make this a day in advance to help with my prep for a big BBQ I’m hosting. Any advice on how to make this the day before- should I do all steps and just save the baking step for the next day?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
When I make things like this ahead of time, I save the add the topping step for right before baking. I tried your recipe here today and did that by saving the extra cheese until ready to bake. It was very good. Next time I’m going to give the half and half a try instead of the evaporated milk to compare. This was a good base recipe to get away from the old Velveeta version though. Thanks!
It definitely is! And saving the toppings for later is key. 🙂
I made this today for New Year’s day to go along with my pulled pork. I made this exactly as specified, only I took the advice of other bloggers and used a whole box of noodles and used smoked paprika for a more smoked flavor. It turned our really good. I was expecting it to be more cheesy, considering most of the reviews stated it was plenty cheesy even using entire box of noodles. I did not see there being more sauce or too much sauce. It was just right for entire box of noodles. I also used an extra cup of cheese in the milk mix… So maybe that asorbed more of the extra sauce. Thank you for posting. This recipe taste really homemade!
Looks amazing! Just wondering when you substitute the evaporated milk is it with cooking cream or baking cream?
You can substitute half and half. While you won’t get the same slightly caramelized flavor that evaporated milk has, the creamy consistency of half and half mimics that of evaporated milk.
Mmmm! So damn delicious. I used extra sharp aged white cheddar, McCormick smoked paprika and one pound of the small elbow pasta instead. Also buy the real fresh parmesan in cold the section, may be little pricey but it’s worth. I’m definitely going to make this again and keep as a staple dish. This is a crowd pleaser
Hi Charmin, the recipe called for 1/2 elbow pasta, 2 cans (12 oz.) evaporated milk. When you used 1 full pound small elbow pasta did you need to increase the milk, or cheeses? Thank you!
Prepared this for our family Easter dinner and it was a smash hit!! Love the cream sauce! I improvised with milk and medium cheddar. I love how easy this is and how decadent and delicious it tasted! This ain’t your grandma’s Mac n cheese!
Thank you so much for sharing your feedback, Hydie! We love that your family enjoyed these. We hope you all had a great Easter weekend!
These look absolutely delicious! You have amazing food photography too :] Thank You So Much for this awesome sharing!
Thank you, Maria!
Such a great recipe. I love the presentation in those little baking pots. My way of making Mac and Cheese is very similar to yours. The only thing I do differently is that I add some breadcrumbs on top. Thanks for sharing such great content!
That sounds like a great addition!
What is the nutritional value? I’m looking for the caloric count. Thank you
Nutritional information is provided only for select recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information. Hope that helps!
Mac n cheese is my daughter’s favorite! We’re always looking for new recipes. She never seems to think they’re cheesy enough. Making this next week for sure!
WELCOME TO CHICAGO!
@Grace – I found a 3 pack of the bowls, with kids, for $7 at Target
Help. I can’t get evaporated milk where I live. What can replace it.
Thank you for your early reply
Regards Judy
Hi Judy! You can try to substitute 1 1/2 cups of cream or half and half (or a combination of the two) for the evaporated milk. Hope that helps!
Can I use a cup of regular milk (8oz) to replace the one 12oz evaporated milk?
Thanks for sharing this recipe, could you share where you get those ovenproof bowls? Thank you!
Staub. 🙂
I believe this is delicious however, I used condensed milk by mistake. Don’t be me, the one request for my wife’s birthday dinner and..FAIL.
this was great i made this with elbow pasta but i only have rotini now will it work the same?