Old Fashioned Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Old fashioned baked macaroni and cheese is a creamy luscious blend of six kinds of cheese, milk, and eggs baked to gooey, bubbly golden brown perfection. This classic side dish is a family staple and perfect for every occasion.
Want another cheesy recipe? Try our Cheesy Pan Seared Chicken next.
Old Fashioned Baked Mac and Cheese
Baked macaroni and cheese is the comfort food that everyone loves so it’s no surprise that it’s a family favorite in my household. It tastes like a southern grandmother made it but I may shake the table with some of my inclusions.
This wouldn’t be a southern classic without some Velveeta and eggs. This combination ensures you get the gooiest, creamiest, old fashioned baked macaroni and cheese. So stop searching for the best mac and cheese recipe because this is it! Now grab a plate and get ready for the ultimate cheese pull!
Why You’ll Love This Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
- Easy to Make! Put down the Kraft box because it’s so simple to make homemade baked macaroni and cheese. There’s no roux or bechamel necessary so this recipe is made without flour or any complicated steps.
- Customizable! Everyone has their own way of making macaroni and cheese. This recipe is my own but can be tweaked to match your family’s taste buds. I even provide some suggestions!
- Perfect for Any Occasion! This crowd-pleasing dish is always a good choice. Serve it as a side during the holidays, at the family cookout, or on a casual Wednesday night.
Old Fashioned Baked Macaroni and Cheese Ingredients
- Elbow Macaroni: I keep it classic with elbow macaroni but cavatappi, with all its ridges, would be perfect for the cheese to cling to.
- Milk: I used a combination of whole milk and evaporated milk.
- Sour Cream: Keep it creamy with this inclusion.
- Eggs: Lightly beat the eggs.
- Unsalted Butter: The cheeses contain enough sodium so I use unsalted butter.
- Cheese: I use equal parts cubed Velveeta cheese and shredded Colby jack cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, and mild Cheddar cheese. I use a little less of the smoked gouda and gruyere.
- Seasoning: With all of the cheeses, this casserole dish is super flavorful so I keep it simple with seasoning salt and black pepper.
How to Make Old Fashioned Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Boil Pasta
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously. Add in your elbow macaroni and cook until just al dente.
Shred Cheeses
Shred all of your cheeses and set aside. Freeze for 30 min to harden before shredding. Do not place it back in fridge while you wait, you want it to begin to melt when adding to your noodles.
Combine Eggs, Seasoning & Milk
In a separate bowl whisk together your eggs, seasonings, 1 cup of evaporated milk, and one cup of whole milk.
Drain Pasta, Add Butter & Sour Cream
Drain your noodles and add them to a large bowl or pot. Mix in your butter and sour cream to coat the noodles.
Build Cheese Sauce
Begin to add some of your shredded cheese and mix, making sure not to break your noodles. Slowly, add your milk and egg mixture and mix some more. Slowly alternate adding in more cheese and more milk.
Bake & Serve
Once combined well, add your macaroni to a large baking dish and top with your remaining cheeses. Preferably sharp cheddar on top.
Cover with foil and place in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until bubbly and browned to your liking.
Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before cutting into.
Variations
- Cream Cheese: This can replace sour cream or be used with it. Both provide a slightly tangy flavor and creamy texture.
- Bread Crumbs: For a crispy finish, sprinkle some breadcrumbs over the top of unbaked mac and cheese. Panko breadcrumbs or crumbled ritz crackers would be delicious.
- Add-Ins: For added texture and flavor, consider throwing something extra in the mix. I suggest bacon bits, lump crab meat, or jalapenos.
- Spicy: Want to kick the heat up a notch? Try adding cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, mustard, or hot sauce.
- More Cheese: Want to switch up the cheese blend? Try parmesan or pepper jack cheese.
Tips for the Best Old Fashioned Baked Macaroni and Cheese
- Undercook the pasta because it will continue to cook in the oven.
- Use room temperature milk for easier mixing.
- Do not use pre-shredded cheese. Hand-grate fresh blocks of cheese. It takes more effort but it’s worth it. Freshly grated cheese melts so much better.
- Continuously stir as you combine all of the ingredients with the milk or the mixture could curdle.
What to Serve with Old Fashioned Baked Macaroni and Cheese
The only way this could possibly be better is if you pair it with a delicious main dish. Here are my top suggestions:
- Fish: Baked mac and cheese would pair perfectly with crispy fried catfish.
- Chicken: Making this for a casual weeknight dinner? Enjoy it with some baked chicken.
- Turkey: For a super rich meal, pair this with Smothered Turkey Wings.
- Other Sides: I love mac and cheese with some protein but this would make a delicious meatless meal. Try eating it with collard greens and sweet potatoes for the ultimate vegetarian soul food plate.
Can Macaroni and Cheese be made ahead of time?
Absolutely! Prepare the macaroni and cheese just before the oven step. Cover it with aluminum foil and place it in the fridge until one hour before baking. If you end up cooking it from frozen, cook it for an extra 30 minutes.
Storing & Reheating Leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. For longer storage, place it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
When you want to reheat old fashioned baked macaroni and cheese, warm it up in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes.
FAQ
Why add egg to macaroni and cheese?
Eggs enrich the flavor and texture of old-fashioned baked macaroni and cheese. It also makes a delicious custard that holds the casserole together.
Should you cover macaroni and cheese when baking in the oven?
It’s not a necessary step but I like to keep my mac and cheese moist while it bakes so I cover it with aluminum foil for the first 25 minutes. Then I remove it so the top of the mac and cheese can develop a nice crust before I take it out of the oven.
How do I make baked macaroni and cheese not dry?
Coat macaroni and cheese with an even layer of shredded cheese or bread crumbs in order to prevent it from drying out.
I hope you enjoy making this Southern Baked Mac n Cheese recipe!
If you try the recipe, don’t forget to rate the recipe, and let me know what you think in the comments. Leave a quick review & star rating ★ below! Take pictures, tag #onestopchop, and share them with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest! I love seeing my recipes come to life in your kitchen.
More Recipes To Try!
Old Fashioned Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- 24 oz Elbow Macaroni
- 1 cups Whole Milk
- 1 cups Evaporated Milk
- ¼ cup Sour Cream
- 3 Eggs lightly beaten
- 1 stick Unsalted Butter
- 8 oz Velveeta Cheese cubed
- 8 oz Colby Jack Cheese
- 8 oz Sharp Cheddar
- 8 oz Mild Cheddar
- 6 oz Smoked Gouda
- 4 oz Gruyere
- 2 tbsp Seasoning Salt
- 1½ tsp Black Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bring large pot of water to a boil and salt generously. Add in your elbow macaroni and cook until just al dente.
- Shred all of your cheeses and set aside. Freeze for 30 min to harden before shredding. Do not place it back in fridge while you wait, you want it to begin to melt when adding to your noodles.
- In a separate bowl whisk together your eggs, seasonings, evaporated milk, and whole milk.
- Drain your noodles and add them to a large bowl or pot. Mix in your butter and sour cream to coat the noodles.
- Begin to add some of your shredded cheeses and mix, making sure not to break your noodles. Slowly, add your milk and egg mixture and mix some more. Slowly alternate adding in more cheese and more milk.
- Once combined well, add your macaroni to a large baking dish and top with your remaining cheeses. Preferably sharp cheddar on top.
- Cover with foil and place in oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until bubbly and browned to your liking.
- Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before cutting into.
Hey, how do i get your recipe for the beer batter lobster tail
This recipe is available on my Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cq36fU1gahe/. I hope you enjoy it!
Y’all, this dish is so divine, don’t try anyone else’s recipe. This is the holy grail of M&C. PERFECTION!!
Okay, soooo I have never been a mac n cheese lover person, I didn’t get the passion for this dish. However, the people in my family are mac and cheese fanatics. Over the years, I have tried to make this dish other ways with other recipes, and while they were good, they weren’t anything to write home or slap someone’s mama about, lol!
Today, I needed to make a half tray of mac n cheese as part of a varsity football pregame dinner for the players. I was under pressure to not mess this up. I had already been following you on IG so I immediately went to your page for guidance and found this recipe. I doubled it and it made two perfect half tray portions. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t a mac n cheese person, but this converted me. Came out perfectly and now I get why everyone loves this dish!!! Thank you for sharing this with us!!!
The best! I L-O-V-E this dish!
Where does the other half cup of whole milk come in and is it one can of evaporated milk or one cup only? I guessed my way through with the milk but curious for future reference.
It depends on how thick you like the cheese sauce on your macaroni and cheese. If you prefer it a bit looser you can add more milk, but I start with 1 cup and build it as needed. I hope you enjoyed it!
I see that this recipe serves 12. Can I assume that if I only want to feed my house of 6 people that I can cut everything in half? Your FB reel with this recipe gives different ingredient sizes so I’m slightly confused on which way to go. I really want to try this recipe but not sure where to start exactly. Thanks for a response!
Yes, you can definitely cut the recipe in half. This recipe is a family favorite and I do update it from time to time. That is why there may be slight differences in this recipe on social media, but this is my staple recipe!
this is probably a stupid question but, do you make a rue or do you just mix in dairies with pasta once the pasta is done?
Thank you for your question! For this recipe, you can add the dairy to the pasta slowly and while stirring. A rue will normally thicken up the milk to form the base of the sauce but since this recipe has eggs in it you don’t need to do this.
Is this the recipe from your recent IG video? I think some of the ingredients are different.
Like the ground mustard and mozzarella cheese..
Yes, this recipe is slightly different from those I have shown on social media. My recipes are constantly evolving as I try different things but this version is the one I make the most often. I hope you enjoy it!
Your video on Insta says you use 1 egg in custard, but the recipes says, 3 eggs. Which one is it?
Yes, this recipe is different from the one I have shown on social media. My recipes are constantly evolving as I try different things but this version is the one I make the most often. I hope you enjoy it!
The ingredients call for 2 cups of evaporated milk & 1 1/2 cups of whole milk, but under #3. under the instructions it only mentions 1 cup of each. We should be using what the ingredients calls for at this step correct?
Yes, and I made sure to correct this. I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Hii, so do I only use 1 cup of evaporated milk and 1 cup of whole milk ? Or follow the insta video- 2 cups evaporated milk 1 whole milk ??
This is a great question! The recipe has been updated to use 1 cup of whole milk and 1 cup of evaporated milk. If you find the cheese sauce is too thick then you can add more milk as needed. The Instagram video shows another variation of the recipe.
Can I make in a crockpot?
You can definitely make mac and cheese in the crock pot! You will still want to boil the pasta before adding it to the crock pot, but you can add everything in the crock pot on low. I would definitely keep an eye on it because it shouldn’t need more than 2-3 hours on low.
We made this for Thanksgiving, what a great recipe. Everyone loved it and wanted to take home leftovers. This recipe is a keeper!
Thank you.
Hi! I’m hoping to try this before Friendsgiving, if you halve the recipe would you recommend 1 egg or 2? Thank you!! Excited to try this one!
You should only need 1 egg if you are halving it. I hope you enjoy your Friendsgiving!
Hi! This looks amazing! The recipe doesn’t say when to add the Velveta cubes. I saw the IG video that was slightly different and read your comments that you change it up sometimes, but is the Velveta supposed to go in when you put the shredded cheese in with the noodles. This feels like a silly question, but I don’t really use Velveta cheese, so just checking! 😇Thank you!
This is not a silly question at all! You will add the Velveta in step 5. The Velveta should melt easily but I like to cut them down into 1-2 inch cubes so that they melt quicker into the mix. I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Hi! Planning to make this tomorrow for thanksgiving! What size baking dish would you use? Either dimensions or like quart size would be perfect 🙂
A 9×13 baking dish should work well but you can also divide into into two 8×8 baking dishes depending on what you have. The baking time may vary depending on the size of the dish so if you use two small baking dishes just keep an eye on it.
I don’t have velveeta what can I sub it with?
This is a great question! You can increase the amounts of the other cheeses by 2-3 oz to make up for the 8 oz of Velveeta.
Hi! Do you think I can substitute the Velveeta for a mild cheddar?
Absolutely! You may need to add a bit more milk to get the desired consistency of the cheese but it will taste great!
What in the WORLD!!!!! I followed this recipe STEP BY STEP!!!! Do you know I’m shocked to say….
😩 this turned out so perfect and so delicious. It was the highlight of Thanksgiving! Everyone kept saying how good the Mac & cheese was. I tried two other well known Internet Chefs in the past but sir….. this was the best hands down!! Thank you for sharing online for free! I bought Yall cookbook the next day during the BF sale. 🥳
Do you have any tips for if I wanted to make this ahead of time?
You can make up the dish ahead of time (as directed through step 6) and store it in the fridge or freezer. When you are ready to bake it, be sure to allow enough time for it to defrost (if it was frozen), and put it in the oven. You may need to leave it in the oven a bit longer than directed since the cheese will be cold but it should only alter the cooking time by 5-10 minutes.
A hit! Never had Mac and cheese like this and the recipe makes taste and texture consistent. Made if for thanksgiving and Christmas this year
I finally made this recipe after seeing your video a couple of months ago. I know people hate to read “I loved it – here’s what I changed”, but I’d bought all the cheeses and then didn’t make the recipe for 6 weeks. My family ate some of the cheese and I had to make some adjustments. We had no sour cream but I wish I’d been able to include it for a little extra creaminess. My gruyere and colbyjack were all gone so I substituted pepperjack and used the entire 12 oz package of Velveeta. I threw in about 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes for a bit more heat and used salted butter because that’s all I use. It was NOT too salty. This was a huge hit and I will definitely make it again – the right way!
Velveeta?? I think my family and ancestors would disown me if I used Velveeta! lol But it’s nice to know it can be used as a good substitute in a pinch. May have to try it one day!
The BEST macaroni recipe. Macaroni has been my favorite comfort food since childhood, and this is the only recipe that I have found to fully live up to my standard.
Hi,
if I want to make this in a 9×13 pan should I double the ingredients?
Thank you for your question! A 9×13 pan should be fine with the recipe as is.
Looking forward to making this for Thanksgiving. I have a question on measurements for getting the spicy kick. I didn’t see how much of cayenne pepper, crushed pepper red pepper and mustard needs to be added? Would it also be 2tbsp? The instagram post that included these ingredients I believe is the one I am going for. Thank you!
I would start by adding 1/2 TSP at a time of each spice to see how you like it. 2 TBSP might be a lot to start with but once you make it to your liking you can adjust the recipe from then on!
I’m trying this recipe tonight! I’m just confused because you said in the comments to use a 9×13 baking dish and 24 oz. of macaroni is A LOT and won’t fit in a dish that size.
Depending on the brand of macaroni noodle that you purchase, it may come in a 16 oz or 24 oz package. With a 24 oz package you may need to split it into a couple casserole dishes. This is also a great dish to freeze so if you make a full batch and there is leftover you can always put the extra in a disposable casserole dish and cover with a layer of aluminum foil.
Looks amazing! I am making this next weekend. Can I ask where you got your large casserole dish? Mine doesn’t seem big enough and its 9 x 13
I do use a very deep 9×13 baking dish that fills out with the recipe that I have. However, if you have a shallower dish I would recommend keeping the recipe the same and adding any leftover into a smaller aluminum foil pan so that you can freeze the overage.
Do you mix the sharp cheddar with the other cheese or save it for the top?
It depends on the preference of your family. I like to mix all the cheese together and reserve some for the top. However, you can also add sharp cheddar to the top instead of the mix if you prefer the taste.
Dave, I find that making the recipe as written here is a good base but my results have the cheese slightly grainy and dry and some additional Umame flavor would be welcome. was considering using egg yolks alone for the custard and chicken bullion in the macaroni boil. Any thoughts? best base recipe ive tried and want to make it more memorable.
Thank you for such a great question! You can absolutely use the egg yolks alone for the custard to make it a lot creamier. For a different flavor you can try adding some miso paste to give it a deep umami flavor. You can also try adding parmesan cheese for more of a savory flavor. Or, even adding sautéed mushrooms can bring in an umami flavor that will complement the cheese. This is such a fun recipe to play around with and I hope you enjoy!