🧀 Mac and cheese
Mac and cheese is elbow macaroni bound in a rich sauce of melted cheese, cream and butter, then baked until bubbling with a golden top. The pasta stays tender while the sauce is thick, stretchy and salty. It is served as a comfort-food main or as a side with roasts and barbecue, and baked versions develop a crisp, browned crust.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 g elbow macaroni
- 250 ml cream
- 200 g cheddar, grated
- 50 g Parmesan-style hard cheese, grated
- 30 g butter
- ½ tsp mustard powder
- Salt and black pepper
Method
- Cook the macaroni in salted water 2 minutes less than the packet says and drain.
- Warm the cream with the butter and mustard powder, then stir in most of the cheddar until melted and smooth.
- Mix the pasta into the sauce, season and tip into a baking dish.
- Scatter the rest of the cheddar and the hard cheese on top.
- Bake at 200 °C for 15–20 minutes until golden and bubbling.
How to make it lighter
- Serve a 200 g portion with a big green salad instead of a full bowl.
- Use a strongly flavoured mature cheese so less of it gives the same taste.
- Stir steamed broccoli or cauliflower into the pasta to bulk up the dish.
History
Baked macaroni with cheese was known in European cookbooks long before it became an American staple. It spread widely in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries, and today it is a classic of home cooking, soul food and holiday tables.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →