This baked mac and cheese recipe is our Platonic ideal of the comfort food classic: It is creamy and deeply cheesy, has a crunchy crust, and is impressive enough to serve at a dinner party. (Yes, macaroni and cheese is appropriate dinner party fare, and yes, this recipe can be doubled if you expect an extra-large crowd.) It\u2019s also bound to make an annual appearance on your buffet of Thanksgiving side dishes.<\/p>\n
B\u00e9chamel, a roux enriched with whole milk, keeps the sauce in our homemade mac and cheese creamy and shouldn\u2019t be rushed. Allow a minute for the raw flour taste to cook off before adding the warm milk gradually. Don\u2019t be alarmed if the sauce looks thin at first; it will continue to thicken as it bakes with the noodles. A word on those noodles: While elbow macaroni or any short pasta will work, we recommend something with ridges, such as cavatappi, which will grip nicely onto the sauce.<\/p>\n
4 servings<\/p>\n
4<\/p>\n
\u00be<\/p>\n
\u00bc<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
8<\/p>\n
2\u00bd<\/p>\n
\u00bd<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
4<\/p>\n
4<\/p>\n
4<\/p>\n
\u00bd<\/p>\n
Preheat oven to 350\u00b0. Melt 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter<\/strong> in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add \u00be cup panko<\/strong> and cook, stirring, until crumbs are golden brown, 6\u20138 minutes (make sure to get them toasty brown; they won\u2019t darken much during baking). Transfer to a small bowl and toss with \u00bc oz. Parmesan, finely grated (about \u00bc cup)<\/strong>, 2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves<\/strong>, and \u00bc tsp. Diamond Crystal or Morton kosher salt<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Cook 8 oz. cavatappi or other short curly pasta<\/strong> in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente (the noodles will continue to cook in the cheese sauce, so take them out a minute or two before you think they\u2019re actually done). Drain pasta; let cool while you make the sauce.<\/p>\n Bring 2\u00bd cups whole milk<\/strong> to a bare simmer in a small saucepan; keep warm over very low heat. Melt remaining 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter<\/strong> in a medium saucepan over medium-high. Add \u00bd small onion, grated<\/strong>, and 1 garlic clove, finely grated<\/strong>, to the melted butter and cook, stirring, until onions are fragrant and beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour<\/strong> over and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to stick to bottom of saucepan, about 1 minute. Add warm milk in a few additions, whisking to combine after each addition.<\/p>\n Bring b\u00e9chamel sauce to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring, until sauce is thickened and doesn\u2019t feel grainy when a little bit is rubbed between your fingers, 6\u20138 minutes (cooking the flour thoroughly at this stage ensures a creamy sauce). Add 4 oz. Fontina cheese, grated (about 1 cup)<\/strong>, 4 oz. Gruy\u00e8re, grated (about 1 cup)<\/strong>, 4 oz. sharp white cheddar, grated (about 1 cup)<\/strong>, \u00bd tsp. English mustard powder<\/strong>, pinch of cayenne pepper<\/strong>, and remaining \u00be tsp. Diamond Crystal or \u00bc tsp. Morton kosher salt<\/strong> and stir until cheeses are melted and sauce is smooth. Remove from heat and mix in pasta; transfer to a 2-qt. baking dish.<\/p>\n Bake 10 minutes. Top with Parmesan breadcrumbs and bake until sauce is bubbling around the edges, 8\u201310 minutes longer. Let cool in pan 15 minutes before serving.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This baked mac and cheese recipe is our Platonic ideal of the comfort food classic: It is creamy and deeply cheesy, has a crunchy crust, and is impressive enough to serve at a dinner party. (Yes, macaroni and cheese is appropriate dinner party fare, and yes, this recipe can be doubled if you expect an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-veggielicious-eats"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5157,"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277\/revisions\/5157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homekitchennotes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Step 2<\/h4>\n
Step 3<\/h4>\n
Step 4<\/h4>\n
Step 5<\/h4>\n