Baked One Pot Mac and Cheese – yep, all made in the one pot (no separate pot for pasta cooking)! If you hate washing up and like your Mac and Cheese with plenty of cheesy, creamy sauce then this is the recipe for you. Oh, did I mention there’s not a drop of cream in this??!!
“A great Mac and Cheese comes down to personal taste. I like mine extra saucy, creamy and cheesy. And it just so happens that it’s made one pot – WITHOUT cream!”
There are so many Mac and Cheese recipes “out there” that it’s mind boggling. I have made it various ways. I particularly like to try “chef” versions.
When I came to choose one that I wanted to share with you, I didn’t know which to go with. I don’t think there is such thing as the “perfect” or “best” Mac and Cheese. Restaurants around the world have put their own spin on it, with everything from making it with truffles, six types of cheese and goats milk, to name a few.
A great Mac and Cheese comes down to personal taste. For me, extra saucy and creamy is what does it for me. Cheesy goes without saying. 🙂
Don’t you just want to do a face plant in this? Look how creamy and sauce it looks!
To make a Mac and Cheese as saucy as this with cream would require several cartons of cream. My arteries clog up just at the thought. 🙂 Happy thoughts, but realistically, it would be so insanely rich that you wouldn’t be able to eat very much of it!
So instead, I make my creamy sauce using a simple roux of butter and flour. Don’t let that fancy word “roux” deter you, it is really simple and takes minutes to make.
The trick to making this in one pot is making the cooking liquid thin enough for the pasta to absorb and rehydrate WITHOUT going mushy but reduces down enough in the time it takes for the pasta to cook so you end up with the perfect amount of rich, creamy sauce. And that sauce needs to have the right seasoning and flavour which is always tricky when making sauces that reduce alot as it is hard to guess how intense the flavour will be once reduced.
One thing about any creamy pastas is that you really need to eat it straight away. Even after 30 minutes, the sauce continues to get absorbed into the pasta and thickens quite a bit so you lose the sauciness. Plus the pasta gets soft. So when it’s ready, holler for your family to get to the dinner table so they can have their grub while it’s fresh out of the oven when it’s at its absolute peak. 🙂
Anyway, I’d be disappointed if you have any leftover. Whether you’re making this for 2 or 6!
– Nagi
THE MAC & CHEESE COLLECTION
- Baked Mac and Cheese – huge reader favourite!
-
Shrimp Mac and Cheese – outrageously delicious!
-
Stovetop Mac and Cheese – one pot, 20 minutes
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Baked One Pot Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 6 tbsp flour
- 3 cups of milk (full or low fat - I used low fat)
- 2 cups of water
- 1 tsp salt (Note 1)
- Black pepper
- 1/2 lb / 250g dried macaroni (elbow pasta) (Note 2)
- 2 cups (150g / 5oz) grated tasty or cheddar cheese (or any sharp, flavoured cheese that melts well)
- 1 cup (75g / 2.5 oz) grated provolone dolce cheese (or mozzarella or other mild flavoured good melting cheese) (Note 3)
Topping
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (or ordinary breadcrumbs)
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese , grated
- 1/2 tbsp fresh parsley , finely chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Melt the butter in a deep fry pan or skillet (Note 4) over medium heat. (Note 5)
- Add the flour and stir until combined so a thick paste forms ("roux"). Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
- Add half the milk and use a whisk to dissolve the roux into the milk. It will thicken quickly, then add the remaining milk. Whisk in small circles, rotating around the pan, to dissolve all the roux into the milk.
- Add the water, salt and 5 grinds of pepper, then turn the heat up to medium high. Whisk leisurely so the bottom doesn't stick to the pan. When the white sauce starts to steam and thickens such that you can see it coating the edges of the pan (around 2 to 3 minutes), add the macaroni.
- Turn the heat down to medium and stir gently with a wooden spoon to mix the macaroni through and ensure the bottom doesn't stick. Cook it for 1 minute. Be sure not to cook it for longer than this after adding the macaroni - this really impacts the "sauciness" of the dish and ensuring the macaroni isn't overcooked.
- Cover the fry pan (Note 6), then transfer it immediately to the oven on the middle shelf.
- Bake for 12 minutes, then remove from the oven. It will seem like there is too much sauce but it reduces and thickens in the next steps. The pasta should be just cooked (al dente). It will continue cooking from the residual heat.
- Turn the oven off and turn the grill/broiler on high.
- Stir through the cheese, just enough to disperse it through the macaroni. As you stir, this will melt the cheese and thicken the sauce. Don't stir too much because otherwise the sauce will thicken too much due to the evaporation.
- Sprinkle over the panko and parmesan cheese, then place under the grill/broiler for a few minutes to brown.
- Remove from the grill/broiler and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Notes for Food Nerds (like myself!) – Why this recipe works without ending up with mushy pasta and curdled sauce:
* Pasta takes a LONG time to cook in a thick sauce and turns very mushy. Thinning the sauce alot at the beginning allows the pasta to cook in almost the same time as it would in boiling water.
* The key to this recipe is getting the amount of liquid right so that the sauce is initially thin enough for the pasta to cook but then by the end of the cooking time for the pasta, the sauce reduces down to be a thick, creamy sauce. That’s why you can’t simply sub the macaroni with any other pasta you want without adjusting the quantity of liquid required – because different pastas cook in different times.
* The cheese is stirred through at the end because if it is added before the pasta it cooked, it thickens the sauce and it takes much longer for the pasta to cook. Plus the sauce has a tendency to curdle so you need to stir it a few times.
* When you stir the cheese through at the end, the residual heat melts it very quickly. Also, as you stir it, the sauce thickens even more.
* The panko topping is added at the very end because otherwise it will sink in the liquid.
SaveSave
One pot pasta?. Perfect. Looks creamy and ever so crunchy on top. I just might have to give this to my son for Thursday night cooking
Thanks Tania!!
How delicious does this look?! Amazing. One pot wonders, and no cream! Whenever I think of cream, I always think of Jennifer Garner. She said in an interview once that she would never eat a drop of cream, not even one, not ever. I guess that’s why she’s so lithe and I am… well… 🙂 But I digress. I have no pregnancy cravings, but I’m craving this!!!
I cannot imagine a life without a drop of cream. It makes me sad for her, thinking she’ll never enjoy all the fabulous things with cream in it!! 🙂
I’m with you, I like mine extra creamy, cheesy and saucy. Great recipe, I can’t wait to try it.
Thanks Janette!! 🙂
This post has reminded me that I’ve never actually made ANY macaroni cheese. Can you believe that? Not a classic one anyway.
When I’m ready to make one, I know where to come now!
It’s WINTER over there Helen! This is PERFECT comfort food of you!! 🙂
This Mac & Cheese looks fantastic! It’s been so png since last time I made some! Will test this recipe soon!
What a great GIVEAWAY !!!
Thanks Mira!! I know, I don’t make it often either, because I make a pig of myself when I do 🙂
This recipe sounds and looks totally delicious and I’m so glad someone finally figured out how to make a giveaway easy to enter, thank you so much, ladies! (There does seem to be something wrong with the pinterest address of hapa nom nom though, it directed me to “Whoops! We couldn’t find that page.” Maybe just a temporary hickup).
Thanks so much Nicole! I’m glad you found it so easy to enter 🙂 Let me know if you have any questions for how to run a giveaway using this, more than happy to help! 🙂
Oh…My….Gawd….! Mac n’ Cheese is like my all-time comfort food! I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I am guilty of sitting on the couch with a giant spoon and just enjoying the cheesy goodness! Of course that was before the holiday weight-gain occurred, so I really appreciate this recipe and being able to still enjoy my favorite comfort food without all that heavy cream! Brilliant idea to make a roux and add milk!
And what a great giveaway! 😉
Thanks Kathleen!! And isn’t that the best way to enjoy Mac N Cheese? Big bowl, in your comfort clothes in front of the TV?? 🙂
For sure adding this to my one pot pasta recipe list =^.^= Sounds delish!
(Who doesn’t spend the whole rest of January (at least!) in stretchy jeans? ( Jeggings + oversized sweaters ftw) )
I’m with you Mary!! Very fond of everything stretchy in my wardrobe…. 🙂