Easy Baked Mac and Cheese

Baked mac and cheese lives in two camps: the dry, sliceable kind that tastes like a school cafeteria, and the creamy kind where the sauce stays silky even after the oven. This recipe is firmly in the second camp, with one non-negotiable extra — a proper golden top. The pasta bakes in a three-cheese sauce that starts as a simple butter-and-flour roux, and it comes out bubbling at the edges with a crust that crackles under the spoon.

It sits in our Easy Dinners collection because it behaves like one: one pot for the pasta, one pan for the sauce, one dish for the oven, and dinner is handled. If you like the cheese-sauce logic here, our Easy Baked Chicken Alfredo uses the same make-a-sauce, bake-until-bubbly rhythm for a chicken night. The mac is the vegetarian anchor of the week — serve it as the main with a green salad, or as the side that quietly upstages grilled chicken, meatloaf or holiday ham.

Two decisions keep the sauce creamy instead of grainy. First, the pasta cooks two minutes shy of the box directions, because it finishes in the oven and drinks up sauce as it goes. Second, the cheese comes off the heat before it melts in, in handfuls, so it stays glossy. Skip either one and you still get dinner — just not the dinner people ask you to make again.

Why three cheeses, and which three

Sharp cheddar brings the flavor, mozzarella brings the pull, and a little Parmesan brings the salty depth that makes the top taste toasted rather than just browned. All three melt predictably, which matters more than novelty here. If you swap, keep the proportions and choose cheeses that melt smoothly — Gruyère, Monterey Jack and Fontina all behave. What does not behave is pre-shredded cheese from a bag: the anti-caking starch on the shreds is the single most common cause of a grainy sauce, so grate a block yourself. It takes four minutes and it is the whole recipe, really.

Getting the golden top without drying it out

The top colors because the dish bakes uncovered at a moderately high heat for a short time — long enough to toast the cheese, short enough that the sauce underneath stays loose. A handful of extra cheddar scattered over the surface, plus an optional shower of buttered panko, gives you both color and crunch. If your top is browning too fast, move the dish down a rack; if it is pale at the 25-minute mark, give it two minutes under the broiler and watch it the whole time — cheese goes from golden to scorched in about ninety seconds.

Ingredients

• 1 lb elbow macaroni (454 g)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (56 g)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (30 g)
• 3 cups whole milk (720 ml), warmed
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (6 g)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (1.5 g)
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder (1.5 g)
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (0.75 g), plus more for the top
• 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (340 g), divided
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (112 g)
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan (45 g)
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs (30 g), optional, tossed with 1 tablespoon melted butter (14 g)

Amounts are for the yield below. US customary measures first, grams in brackets for scale users.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Cook the pasta shy of done. Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and butter a 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm) baking dish. Cook the macaroni in well-salted boiling water for 2 minutes less than the package directs for al dente — it should still have real bite in the center. Drain it and set it aside; do not rinse, because the surface starch helps the sauce cling.
2. Make the roux. In a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for about 1 minute, until the mixture smells faintly nutty and looks like wet sand. This cooks out the raw flour taste without browning the roux — you want pale, not toasted.
3. Build the sauce. Pour in the warm milk a splash at a time, whisking hard after each addition so no lumps form, then add the rest in a steady stream. Simmer gently for 4 to 5 minutes, whisking often, until the sauce thickly coats the back of a spoon. Season with the salt, pepper, mustard powder and paprika. The mustard will not make it taste like mustard — it sharpens the cheese flavor.
4. Melt in the cheese, off the heat. Take the pot off the heat. Add 2 1/2 cups (283 g) of the cheddar, the mozzarella and the Parmesan a handful at a time, stirring until each addition melts before adding the next. The sauce should look glossy and pourable. If it ever boils with the cheese in, it can split — patience here is the difference between silky and grainy.
5. Combine and top. Fold the drained macaroni into the sauce until every tube is coated, then scrape it all into the prepared dish and level the top. Scatter the remaining 1/2 cup (57 g) of cheddar over the surface, followed by the buttered panko if you are using it, and a pinch more paprika for color.
6. Bake until golden and bubbling. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the edges are bubbling and the top is deep golden in spots. Rest the dish for 10 minutes before serving — the sauce thickens as it sits, and the first spoonful will hold together instead of flooding the plate.

Nutrition estimate

Nutrition figures are estimates calculated from standard ingredient data for the yield stated. Your actual values will vary with brands, substitutions and portion sizes — treat them as a guide, not a guarantee.

Storage & reheating

Leftovers keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat individual portions in the microwave with a splash of milk stirred in to loosen the sauce, or reheat the whole dish, covered with foil, at 350°F (177°C) for about 20 minutes. Mac and cheese freezes acceptably for up to 2 months; thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating and expect the sauce to be slightly less silky than fresh.

Easy Baked Mac and Cheese

Recipe by Ahsan ul Haq, FryDaily editor · Published 19 October 2026

Creamy three-cheese sauce, golden top — the bake that empties the dish.

Yield: 8 servings  ·  Scale: 1x2x3x

Prep15 minutes

Cook30 minutes

Total45 minutes

Servings8 servings

Calories512 kcal

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Ingredients

• 1 lb elbow macaroni (454 g)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (56 g)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (30 g)
• 3 cups whole milk (720 ml), warmed
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (6 g)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (1.5 g)
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder (1.5 g)
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (0.75 g), plus more for the top
• 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (340 g), divided
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (112 g)
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan (45 g)
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs (30 g), optional, tossed with 1 tablespoon melted butter (14 g)

Tick ingredients off as you prep, and tap a step below to mark it done as you cook. Scaling adjusts the listed amounts - seasoning to taste stays your call.

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta shy of done. Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and butter a 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm) baking dish. Cook the macaroni in well-salted boiling water for 2 minutes less than the package directs for al dente — it should still have real bite in the center. Drain it and set it aside; do not rinse, because the surface starch helps the sauce cling.
2. Make the roux. In a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for about 1 minute, until the mixture smells faintly nutty and looks like wet sand. This cooks out the raw flour taste without browning the roux — you want pale, not toasted.
3. Build the sauce. Pour in the warm milk a splash at a time, whisking hard after each addition so no lumps form, then add the rest in a steady stream. Simmer gently for 4 to 5 minutes, whisking often, until the sauce thickly coats the back of a spoon. Season with the salt, pepper, mustard powder and paprika. The mustard will not make it taste like mustard — it sharpens the cheese flavor.
4. Melt in the cheese, off the heat. Take the pot off the heat. Add 2 1/2 cups (283 g) of the cheddar, the mozzarella and the Parmesan a handful at a time, stirring until each addition melts before adding the next. The sauce should look glossy and pourable. If it ever boils with the cheese in, it can split — patience here is the difference between silky and grainy.
5. Combine and top. Fold the drained macaroni into the sauce until every tube is coated, then scrape it all into the prepared dish and level the top. Scatter the remaining 1/2 cup (57 g) of cheddar over the surface, followed by the buttered panko if you are using it, and a pinch more paprika for color.
6. Bake until golden and bubbling. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the edges are bubbling and the top is deep golden in spots. Rest the dish for 10 minutes before serving — the sauce thickens as it sits, and the first spoonful will hold together instead of flooding the plate.

Calories: 512 kcalProtein: 21 gCarbohydrates: 48 gFat: 26 gSaturated fat: 15 gSodium: 640 mgFiber: 2 gSugar: 7 g

Recipe by Ahsan ul Haq · FryDaily. Printing? This card is designed to print cleanly on its own.

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