Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese

The creamiest baked mac and cheese recipe made with a four cheese blend! 

The holidays are hands down my favorite time of year to cook and entertain. I love that it’s a season of gathering and comfort foods. More importantly, I love that it’s the season that I get to make family favorites like my Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese!

How Do You Make Mac and Cheese That Everyone Will Love?

Mac and cheese is an insanely personal dish. Don’t believe me? Just take a quick look on TikTok and you’ll see that people have very strong opinions as to what makes a good mac & cheese.

Personally, I think that a good mac and cheese starts with a strong roux or custard base and then evolves into what you prefer. This means incorporating your favorite spices which can be garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and more!

I’ve had Mac & Cheese that even incorporates shallots and roasted tomatoes over top. Truly, the key is to add the little bits that you personally love so that you can be as excited and passionate about this cheesy casserole! 

What Are The Best Cheeses to Use in Mac and Cheese? 

Deciding on your blend of cheeses for Mac and Cheese is where you can personalize the dish the most. Since I’m a major fan of creamy baked Mac & Cheese, I like cheeses that melt beautifully together.

It also means that American Cheese is a must in my recipe. American cheese melts perfectly and combines other cheeses extremely well. 

In my four cheese Mac & Cheese here are the cheeses that I like to use: 

• New York Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Yellow) 
• Vermont Extra Sharp Cheese (White) 
• Fontina Cheese 
• American Cheese (fresh from the deli) 

Every now and again, I’ll experiment with a new cheese, but these four cheeses have been my go-to for some time. 

One thing to keep in mind when making this dish is that you definitely want to shred your own cheese. This is a non-negotiable.

Shredding your cheese means that it will melt and blend perfectly. Store bought shredded cheese has a coating on it that sometimes makes it difficult to melt.

I use my Ninja Food Processor to shred my cheese in minutes! It cuts my prep time in half, and I can’t recommend it enough. You can see it in action for yourself in my YouTube Video! 

How Do You Make a Roux? 

Every baked Mac and Cheese needs a cheese sauce. You can make a custard base or a roux base. For me, the roux based cheese sauce sets up and reheats the nicest.

Now if you’re worried about making a roux, no worries. Follow these few tips and you’ll get it perfect every time! 

Tip 1: Melt your butter over medium heat and keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t burn 

Tip 2: Fully mix in the flour into the melted butter and toast the flour for 2-3 minutes. This allows for any pasty flour taste to cook out. You definitely don’t want that in your dish! 

Tip 3: Warm up your milk beforehand so that it blends effortlessly into butter and flour. Whisk continuously. If clumps form, just remain patient. The added heat, warm milk, and whisking will do the trick. 

Tip 4: Lastly, once your roux has fully formed, slowly add in the cheese in batches making sure that the cheese has fully melted before adding the next batch 

Frequently Asked Questions for Macaroni and Cheese!

Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese | Chef Zee Cooks

Serves: 8-10 Prep Time: 45 Mins Cooking Time: 1 Hour 1 Hour

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

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Ingredients

• 1 lbs Elbow Pasta
• 4 cups Evaporated Milk
• 1 cup Regular Milk
• 3 ½ tbs Flour
• 4 tbs Salted Butter
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• ½ tsp Paprika
• 1 cup White Cheddar Cheese
• 1 cup Yellow Cheddar Cheese
• 1 cup Fontina Cheese
• 1 cup American Cheese
• 1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs or Seasoned Breadcrumbs
• Chives or Parsely for garnish
• ½ cup Gouda Cheese *optional
• ½ tsp White Pepper *optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F and grease casserole dish with butter. Set aside
2. Shred cheeses and place into a large mixing bowl. Mix cheeses so that they're all evenly distributed. Set bowl aside
3. In a large dutch oven, bring water to boil and add kosher salt. Add enough salt so that water becomes salt. Once water boils, add elbow pasta and cook 2 minutes shy of al dente. (Follow instructions on pasta box). Drain pasta and shock with cold water. Set aside
4. In a medium frying pan, toast breadcrumbs over medium heat. Stir breadcrumbs every 30 seconds so that they toast evenly. Once breadcrumbs are light to medium brown in color, remove from heat and set aside
5. Warm up 4 cups of evaporated milk over medium low heat.  In a separate pot (dutch oven) over medium heat, add butter. Once the butter melts, add onion powder, garlic powder, regular paprika, kosher salt, and black pepper. Mix and toast spices for 2 minutes
6. Afterwards, add flour and mix into butter and spices. Toast the flour paste for 3 minutes. Then slowly add warm evaporated milk little-by-little making sure to whisk in between. The roux will thicken and eventually loosen as you add more and more warm milk.  Start off by adding 1/4 cup of milk at a time. If clumps form, continue to whisk until the clump break apart while adding the warm milk.
7. Once all of the milk as been mixed into the roux, start adding shredded cheeses. In total you're going to add 60-70% of the cheese. However, you want to add the cheese into the sauce in batches making that each batch of cheese has melted into the sauce before adding the next batch. Don't forget to alternate between the shredded cheese and the American cheese. Note: add all of your American Cheese into the cheese sauce
8. When all of the cheese has melted, turn off the flame and add the drained pasta to the sauce. Mix together until well combined. Note that the sauce and pasta will thicken as it sits.
9. Start building mac and cheese casserole by adding half of the cheesy elbow pasta into the baking dish. Then add the majority of the reserved (80% of leftover) shredded cheese. Now add the 2nd layer of the cheesy pasta. Lastly, add the rest of the shredded to the top of the baking dish along with toasted breadcrumbs.
10. Place Mac and Cheese in the oven and bake for 12-15minutes until the top is light brown and toasted. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before enjoying. Garnish with fresh chives or parsley.

Notes

You can make Mac and Cheese ahead of time and let sit in the fridge until you're ready for it to bake. If baking from the fridge, allow for additional cook time so that the mac and cheese warms up throughout.