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Mac and Cheese – plated and served
PastaLunchDinnerVegetarianAmerican

Mac and Cheese

Creamy cheese sauce coating short pasta, baked in the oven with a golden-brown crust.

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Preparation
15 min
Cook/bake time
30 min
Total
45 min
Difficulty
Easy
Calories
1117 kcal
Servings
4
Prep
15 min
Cooking & baking
30 min

Creamy cheese sauce coating short pasta, baked in the oven with a golden-brown crust. The key is a classic béchamel base, as this is the only way the cheese stays creamy and doesn't become grainy or oily. The ultimate soul food of American cuisine that reliably makes children and adults alike happy.

Why this works

Cheese alone doesn't bind; it separates into fat and protein when heated. The béchamel provides what's missing: the swollen starch wraps around the fat droplets and keeps the emulsion stable, even in the hot oven. Pre-grated cheese contains starch or cellulose as an anti-caking agent, which disrupts exactly this binding and makes the sauce sandy, which is why grating by hand is really worth it here.

Step-by-step instructions

Conventional · 200 °Cor Fan 180 °C

  1. Precook the pasta

    Bring plenty of salted water to a boil and cook the macaroni two minutes less than indicated on the package. They should be distinctly too firm to the bite, because they will draw more liquid from the sauce in the oven and continue cooking. Drain them, but do not rinse them with cold water; the starch on the surface will help the sauce adhere later.

  2. Start the béchamel

    Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat and sprinkle the flour over it. Whisk the mixture for two minutes until it foams slightly and smells like pastry, but hasn't taken on any color yet. Now pour in the lukewarm milk in small portions, whisking until smooth after each addition before pouring more. This guarantees you won't get any lumps.

  3. Let the sauce thicken

    Let the sauce simmer over low heat for five minutes, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened significantly and evenly coats the back of a spoon. Season it with mustard, paprika, nutmeg, salt, and white pepper. It can taste a bit too strong right now, because the pasta will absorb a lot of seasoning later.

  4. Stir in the cheese

    Remove the pot from the heat and let it stand for a minute. Only now do you stir in the cheddar and Gruyère in portions, letting each portion melt completely before adding the next. If the heat is too high, the fat will separate from the cheese and the sauce will become oily, so taking it off the heat is crucial here. Then fold in the pasta.

  5. Bake

    Preheat the oven to 200 °C top/bottom heat. Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish. Mix the panko with the melted butter and grated cheddar, and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top. Bake the casserole for 18 to 20 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the sauce is bubbling at the edges. Let it rest for five minutes, then it will be easier to portion.

Our best tips

  • Always grate the cheese yourself. Pre-grated cheese is treated with anti-caking agents that make the sauce grainy.
  • Add the milk lukewarm, then it combines faster with the roux and there are fewer lumps.
  • For extra creaminess, stir in 100 g of cream cheese with the cheddar; this additionally stabilizes the sauce.

Tasty variations

With bacon

Render 150 g of diced bacon until crispy and fold it in before baking.

Without the oven

Skip the baking and serve directly from the pot, then the dish is ready in 20 minutes.

Nutrition facts

Per serving (1 portion)
Calories1117 kcal
Protein47 g
Carbohydrates107 g
– of which sugar13 g
Fat55 g
Fiber4 g

Where the 1,117 kcal come from

per serving
Calculated from the ingredients – how we do it

We add up reference values for every ingredient and divide by the number of servings. These assumptions are baked in:

  • Reference values per 100 g – for the raw ingredient, exactly as listed.
  • Tinned goods count at drained weight, bone-in meat at purchase weight: you eat about 70 per cent of a chicken thigh and leave the rest.
  • Water evaporates as you cook. The energy stays in the pot, the weight does not – so the figure is per serving, not per 100 g of finished dish.
  • Anything listed without a quantity – “salt and pepper” – is not counted.

A guide value, not a lab measurement: no two onions weigh the same, and fat content varies from pack to pack.

How we calculate nutrition →

Frequently asked questions

Why is my cheese sauce grainy?

Almost always, the sauce was too hot when the cheese was added. Remove the pot from the heat and stir the cheese in portions into the hot, but no longer boiling, béchamel.

Which cheese is best?

Aged cheddar for flavor, Gruyère or young Gouda for melting. A mixture of both yields the best result.

Can I prepare Mac and Cheese in advance?

Yes. Prepare it up to the point before baking, cover and place in the fridge, and bake for 30 minutes later. Expect it to take a little more time because the dish is cold.

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