Best homemade macaroni and cheese can be made at home in 30 minutes from start to finish. And it’s as good as from restaurants and you’ll save food money. A box of pasta and cheese slices can be under $5.
And for this $5 meal (or side dish), I have served over and over again as easy comfort food. It’s not healthy or unhealthy. It is satisfying and on celebration weekends, I like to make it on occasion. It’s also great for kids who will love it too!
For this recipe, I was inspired by the type of macaroni and cheese I ate when I was a child that my mom made, cooked, and baked. But she also added another step. And that extra step made delicious Mac-n-cheese, extra special! It had a slight burnt layer of bubbly cheese at the top.
And how she did it, and how you and I can do it in our ovens today is all in the recipe below. And then this is what you can end up with…
Which btw, note I used a glass safe baking pan in the oven that’s NOT the thing to do learning from my lessons, as metal pans are actually safer (or aluminum foil) for higher broiling heat. But this turned out okay… and I dare say is the best homemade macaroni and cheese!
You can also learn about how to broil any melty cheese on any shape of pasta in your oven with a broil-safe piece of aluminum foil. Click on the play button to see how to Foil and Broil to get the nice and delicious browned cheese spots.
If you love this idea, you’ll love cheesy bread that’s just as simple and delicious to make. And you’ll love cheeses, then you’ll love all the cheese recipes you can search for on this blog site, including a healthy cottage cheese dip for Fish & Chips.
Best Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- 12 oz Cellentani pasta, rigatoni or macaroni (tubed pastas)
- 6 ounces cheddar cheese block of slices
- 1 tsp salt
- white pepper (optional)
- 1 tsp panko bread crumbs
Instructions
- Cook pasta al dente (or soft to preference), usually about 20 minutes on medium heat.
- Drain and pour 1/3 cooked pasta into baking pan.
- Add a layer of cheese.
- Do steps 2 and 3 two more times on the top 1/3 layer and at the top layer of the pan. Add bread crumbs to top if adding.
- Set on top oven shelf leaving top of pan about 4-6 inches away from the top of the oven broil heating element.
- Close oven door. Turn on broil setting and oven light and watch for a couple minutes. When the top layer starts to have burnt spots, watch for a few more seconds and then turn the oven off. Wait until oven heat cools down for about a minute or more before pulling out of the oven, as broiling heat is very hot (e.g. 525°F).
- Optional: For a healthy, low-calorie and dairy-free version of this recipe with a bit of a umami taste: use nutritional yeast healthy "cheese" flavoring that's high in fiber (helpful for losing weight), some essential B-vitamins and minerals that affect metabolism, growth, and so much more. It has a umami cheese taste that's perfect. Note: the cheese won't melt like regular cheese you would buy at the store. It has a powdery, slightly melted texture. For the burnt top cheese effect, use just one layer of regular cheese.