Mac and Cheese Recipe

The best and easiest mac and cheese you'll ever make. These garlic cheese sauce and crunchy bread topping are simply out of this world!

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Total Time 35

Servings

Calories 549kcal

Author Dina

In a small bowl combine 1 cup of panko bread crumbs with 2 Tbsp melted butter and 1 clove of pressed garlic. Then set aside.
Cook the macaroni according to the package, making sure to salt the pasta water. After the macaroni is cooked al dente, drain the water out and pour it into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Shred the extra sharp cheddar, sharp cheddar, and Swiss cheese and set aside for the sauce.
In a saucepan, melt 6 Tbsp of butter with 6 Tbsp of flour over low heat. Then add the salt, garlic powder, and white pepper.
Slowly pour the milk into the saucepan, making sure to stir constantly. Keep it over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes.
Remove the saucepan from the heat then add in the shredded cheeses.
Once the cheese is all melted, pour the sauce over the macaroni.
Mix the macaroni around with a spoon to distribute the sauce evenly. Then spread the buttery bread crumbs over the top. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 25 minutes. To brown the bread crumbs even more, broil for the last few minutes.

Cook the macaroni al dente- Cook the pasta a little bit under the first time so it does not get mushy while baking.
Don't use pre-shredded cheese- When you use the shredded packaged stuff, it tends to come with a starchy filler that can cause your sauce to separate. Always buy cheese by the block and shred it yourself. It tastes so much better, too!
Avoid high heat- The main reason your sauce might curdle or separate is that the heat was too high. In order to avoid this, turn the heat off before adding cheese into the sauce.
Pre-mix the macaroni and cheese sauce- Combine the cheese sauce and macaroni pasta before adding it to the baking dish to avoid any pasta sticking together and getting hard while it bakes.