I am *in love* with this simple, no-frills mac and cheese. :) My granny used to make this all the time- she knew it was my favorite and always had it ready whenever I came to visit. :) It’s a delicious quick-and-easy side dish- no fancy or unnecessary ingredients, just pure, unadulterated mac and cheese. :D It’s definitely one of my go-to meals- I almost always have all the ingredients on hand- and the baking time / temp isn’t too picky so I can usually just pop it in the oven with whatever my main dish is. :)
The ingredients: noodles, butter, salt, shredded cheese and milk
Boil and drain noodles in salted water. Since it’s just the two of us, I boiled 2 cups of penne pasta. That’s enough for 2-3 servings as a side dish. Spray a baking dish with Pam and make layers of noodles, a healthy pinch of salt, and pats of butter.
Top with plenty of the good stuff- shredded cheese. My absolute favorite to use is colby jack.
Repeat layers of noodles, salt, butter and cheese until you run out of noodles. In my case I usually only make 2 layers. :)
Now the milk. The milk is very important, you don’t want to skip this step. :D Pour in the milk, about 1/2 cup at a time until your dish is about 1/3 full with milk. The reason why you want to do it a 1/2 cup at a time is because you want to give the milk a sec to settle before you pour more in so you don’t flood the mac and cheese with milk. Not that I’ve ever done that before. Tonight I poured in about 3/4 cup, and as you can see in the pic, the dish is about 1/4 full. I could’ve just gone ahead and poured in a full cup, but that’s ok. It was still good. :D
Bake, uncovered, in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes. If I were making this just by itself, I would do 400 for 30 mins. But usually I have something else occupying my oven so I just pop it in with whatever else I have cooking at the time. :) Anywhere from 350 – 400 degrees is just fine. :)
Oh, man, it’s so good. :) The perfect complement to any main dish. :D And in case you’re wondering, that’s Pioneer Woman’s Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs in the background. We both absolutely love them, they are so juicy and flavorful!! I make mine a bit different- I leave out the lemon and use a different seasoning than she does (I experiment every time!). I also cook mine for 20 mins on each side.
Speaking of seasonings, I love them. Tonight on the chicken, I tried 5, yes 5 different seasonings. I was going to do a taste test and see which one I liked best.
Montreal chicken, seasoned chicken, Greek chicken, chicken creole, spicy chicken… Guess what. I liked them all. I couldn’t decide. :P
Cheesy Mac & Cheesy
2 cups penne pasta, boiled and drained
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3-4 tbsp butter
2 cups shredded colby jack cheese
3/4 – 1 cup milk
Spray a small baking dish with pam & preheat oven to 400. In the baking dish, make a layer of half the noodles, sprinkle on half the salt and top with pats of butter and 1 cup cheese. Repeat to make another layer of noodles, butter, salt and cheese. Pour in milk until the dish is about 1/3 full of milk. Bake at 400 for 30 mins, uncovered.
Make for: Side Dishes
Tags: cheese, pasta
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53 Comments
This recipe looks great! I love that you’ve used a different kind of pasta rather than the standard elbow macaroni.
Thank you for this recipe, I am planning on making it this weekend to have with baked chicken.. Your recipes are fantastic, thanks for sharing them..
I “stumbled upon” your website and I love it! I have a file in my email for recipes, and I have added so many of yours! Thanks for the time you spend sharing them with us! God Bless You!
Yum! This will be a great surprise for my kids tonight!
Your food photos are so beautiful! So suggestive! Thanks for the fun recipes!
Just found your website couple days ago… Thank you for sharing your life and recipes! I just made your Mac & Cheese and it tated really nice~ Simplicity is the reason why I fell in love with it! Please keep posting~
Amanda,
All the recipes look FABULOUS!! I’m not a big cook but I’ve given them to my hubby to try out…. YUMMY!! Do you have any low-fat recipes that you could share? My office is doing a Biggest Loser Competition right now and I need all the help I can get!!!
Thanks :)
Nikki
Wow! I just discovered your website, and I must say, I love everything about it!
I just tried this recipe a few hours ago, and WOW. I’m a huuuge pasta fan, and sometimes hard to please. I like quality- delicious!
Thank you so much, and keep it up! I’m going to try the Nacho dip next!
I made this tonight and I added crushed Ritz crackers on the top. It turned out great and was a big hit. Thanks for an easy recipe on a busy night!
Great recipe – thanks so much! Your photos are terrific as well.
I have made an commitment to try NEW recipes this year. With your website, this should be fun and easy to make happen. Thanks for the time put in to making such a great website. I can’t wait to try this Mac & Cheese recipe. Thanks again!
This looks delicious and ridiculously easy. Have you made the Pioneer Woman’s spicy mac n cheese? That one is great too, especially because it sneaks veggies in. I love all your recipies– my fav. is the Bacon Cheeseburger Chicken– I ate that almost every night last week!
I have a huge collection of well-proven recipes but so far none of a good mac-cheese. Yours look yummy, yet simple and good enough to try. Thanks.
Check out my latest (Nov/08). It’s already getting great reviews:
Tried and True Recipes from a Caterer’s Kitchen—Secrets of Making Great Foods
http://www.howfoodswork.blogspot.com
Now available on many internet booksellers’ websites.
This looks divine. Thank you so much for sharing! I’ll definitely be making this soon. =)
all i can say is, “wow”. im a college student and its always noodles and grilled cheese because thats all im willing to make by the time im home…but i actually “stumbled upon” your site too, and i love it! ive always loved cooking, but i haven’t really had the time lately…but your site is awesome! haha, my boyfriend is definitely thankful too :) very creative, very easy, thanks alot for helping out a couple flavor starved students, ;) haha
I made the mac and cheese recipe and it turned out just like it looks on your blog. I made a few small changes: instead of bits of butter, I think it’s easier to drizzle melted butter over the noodles. Also generous sprinkling of fresh-ground pepper is a good flavor addition.
Check out my latest (Nov/08). It’s already getting great reviews:
Tried and True Recipes from a Caterer’s Kitchen—Secrets of Making Great Foods
http://www.howfoodswork.blogspot.com
Now available on many internet booksellers’ websites.
images r quite mouth watering
I made the mac and cheese tonight and the whole family loved it! It was really nice that I had all the ingredients on hand and it was so easy to make. Thank you so much for all of the hard work and effort you put into your website! I am always looking for new recipes and your website is the one I check first. :)
I’m making this as a surprise for my hubby tonight. I had my wisdom teeth pulled Friday (day before Valentine’s Day) and he’s taken care of me all weekend! I’m not sure if I can eat solid foods yet but even if I can’t he loves mac and cheese and will totally be surprised when he gets home. (he told me not to cook or anything until I’m all better!)
thanks for posting this!
Yum! Great recipe. try with some Gruyere cheese and bacon or perhaps some Jalapenos and Monterrey Jack for some more “grown up” tastes. Cheers!
I cooked this tonight..I must say it was awesome!
Love all the stuff you have on your website.
Thanks for posting this recipe Amanda! My 10 year old could eat mac and cheese every night and never tire of it. I bought the ingredients today and I’m about to go into my kitchen and make it for him!
Mmm…macaroni & cheese is always a favorite around here and I love to try new recipes.
Thanks so much! I knew mac and cheese could be easy but have never tried it myself. I’ll have to work this in soon…it looks amazing, thanks again!
OHHH This mac n cheese recipe looks so good!!!
Gabby
recipebuddys.com
Eating mac n cheese leftovers and I comment. Soooo good! I’ll be making this again, for sure!
My mom and I tried this today.
We put Ground Beef in it though.
It was Homemade Hamburger Helper.
But It wasn’t as cheesy as yours Because, I only bought one Cheese. D:
I still like it, My little sister can’t stop eating it.
<333
For the past few weeks I’ve been working myself ragged nearly every day of the week. Tonight I was determined to take a break and actually prepare a decent meal, but I was too brain-dead to come up with any good ideas.
I was surfing around for ideas something really delicious but quick and easy to make for dinner, and happened upon your blog and this recipe for mac n cheese via a Google search. The photograph of the finished dish looked so incredibly delicious I had to try it, and it came out unbelievably good. It went fabulously well with a nice romaine salad, some steamed veggies, and my pollo asado.
Thank you SO much! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’ll be a regular visitor!
It looks gorgeous! I love mac and cheese.
Macaroni & Cheese is one of my favorite foods and I’m glad I saw your recipe because being a SAHM of 2 it can be difficult to find something quick that we all can eat and your version does that THANKS ; o)
YUM! I’m starting out my journey learning to cook. (Well, this isn’t the very beginning.. but it is the beginning of my blog! Plus I’ve had no success yet anyway.) :) I can’t wait to give this a try! Looks easy enough.. fingers crossed!
Man, I am excited about this Mac and Cheese! Looks yummy! : ) And there’s something about using other kinds of pasta (like penne) instead of plain ‘ole elbows that makes it seem more “grown up!” Haha!
Also, Montral Steak seasoning is my absolute favorite thing ever… on ASPARAGUS! : ) I satuee asparagus in EVOO with some Montreal Steak seasoning… it is the best flavor combo! You should give it a try sometime! (If you like asparagus, that is!)
LOVELY! I wonder how it will turn out with gluten free noodles…I will have to try and see! Simple and delicious looking love it thanks!
This was delicious. This was the first Non-Box Mac and Cheese that turned out for me. OThers turn out oily and runny. I am going to make this ALL the time!!!
Thank you!!! I have cheese, milk and noodles (and a box of the popular mac ‘n cheese.) I am craving a more substantial mac ‘n cheese than the boxed stuff and I am so happy that I came across your grandma’s recipe. Grandma knows best!
We had this as a main dish and just added onions and bacon to it. So yummy. The leftovers were just as good.
I made this with paramsan, romano, asiago, mozzarella and a little cheddar cheese. It was amazing :D Also made it with baked chicken.
Oh my goodness!!! I “stumbled upon” your site, and my life has officially been changed! All your recipes are so wonderful, I now have a folder dedicated to you in my bookmarks.
You are out of control, and I LOVE it! Keep it up ;)
I looooved this recipe! I added some fresh broccoli to it before I stuck it in the oven to pretend I was being healthy, and it was beyond delicious. Thanks for sharing this one!
I really enjoy your website this mac and cheese is very good and easy to make
I made this and needless to say it was delicious but I have one question…it came out a little milky. Does this mean I didn’t have enough cheese? or enough noodles?
I would probably bake it just a little longer… 400 for 30 mins works for my oven, but it did take some experimenting! :)
thanks the for the tip! i’ll be trying that out this week, love this recipe :)
I’ve signed up to do a blog challenge, we were to find a mac & cheese recipe on a blog, blog about it ourselves, give credit back to where we found it and let them know that we blogged about it. I just wanted you to know I chose yours. It will post on 9/7/11 :)
Hi!
I made this recipe last night. And it turned out like all macaroni I make. It’s delicious, but I can’t seem to get a creamy middle. In the picture you show with the macaroni on the plate with the chicken, it looks so creamy and delicious. I don’t know what I am doing wrong, but I can’t ever seem to get that! Any ideas? Besides that, this will be the recipe I use for my macaroni from now on. Thanks a bunch!
I LOVE your site and your recipes are amazing! I was wondering…I drink soy and/or almond milk. Do you know if this will affect the consistency? Thanks!
Thank you for this..
now i am hungry
and you hav changed my love for mac n cheese forever!!
This mac-n-cheese was delicious! I love the taste of real cheese. However, we had too much milk left in the bottom so I just remember to put less in next time.
I just discovered your site, it is so wonderful. I have to say one of the better ones. Your recipes look wonderful and are simple to make. Do you have a cookbook, if not you sure should think about it. Thanks I will have to try some of the recipes.
I just discovered your site a few days ago while looking for a mac and cheese receipe I have had no luck in the past making it. Last night I made your receipe and it was sooooo good I used mini bowties I did add some smokey paprika, and cut up some left over hamsteak and put it in. So delicious.
I love your site. Can’t wait to try the mini lasanga.