Bake up the cheesiest white cheddar mac and cheese for the ultimate comfort food
Looking for the best baked macaroni and cheese? This dish is made with a creamy, rich béchamel sauce, Gouda, and white cheddar cheese, all topped with a pretzel crust. Make this mac and cheese for an outdoor BBQ, a cozy weekend in, or family dinner on Sunday night.
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There's not much better than a big bowl of hot, ooey-gooey macaroni and cheese.
The great thing about mac and cheese is how versatile it is! It's one of my favorite comfort foods during the cold winter months, but also a great side dish for summer BBQs.
While all mac and cheese is delicious, you're going to especially love this homemade version. It's an easy recipe to follow that has a delicious rich white sauce all over the noodles. Trust me, you won't even want the boxed version anymore!
What You'll Learn In This Recipe
I love teaching you a new thing or two in the kitchen while you're making a recipe on my site. By cooking this recipe you'll learn:
- Tips for making the best homemade mac and cheese, including what cheese melts well.
- The French mother sauce that can be transformed into a creamy cheese sauce for macaroni.
- How to customize this recipe to make it your own with various mix-ins or toppings.
To learn even more kitchen lessons like these, sign up for my free 5-day email series with helpful tips to become a better home chef.
Ingredients You'll Need
Let's talk about the ingredients you'll need to make homemade macaroni and cheese:
- Fusilli pasta: Something about spiral fusilli pasta makes this white cheddar mac and cheese so much more fun! Another type of pasta such as elbow macaroni, cavatappi, or rotini would also be great noodles for this dish.
- Unsalted butter: The butter is used as part of the base for the béchamel sauce as well as the pretzel topping. If you prefer a saltier dish, you can substitute salted butter.
- All purpose flour: Flour is key to creating a thick and creamy sauce. A gluten free 1:1 flour substitute will also work in this recipe.
- Whole milk: The additional fat in whole milk is so important in the béchamel cheese sauce. Don't try to use a lower fat content or plant-based milk for this recipe.
- Gouda cheese: The key to good mac and cheese is a high-quality cheese. Be sure it's freshly grated. The pre-shredded cheese at the grocery store has an anti-caking agent that doesn't allow it to melt as easily as freshly grated cheese.
- Sharp white cheddar cheese: A white sharp cheddar provides some of the best flavor. However, if you'd prefer, you can substitute for yellow cheddar cheese.
- Pretzels: This is the base for the mac and cheese topping. The pretzels add the perfect salty bite.
- Garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and onion powder: All of these spices go into the pretzel topping. It adds a great flavor to the entire dish.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
For the best results, you'll want to use these kitchen tools:
- Heavy bottom saucepan: To avoid any burning or scorching of the ingredients, especially while making the cheese sauce, it's best to use a heavy bottom saucepan. I prefer to use a large saucepan so I can cook the noodles in the pan and then immediately use it to make the cheese sauce.
- Whisk: This is a very necessary tool while making the cheese sauce! Be sure you have a whisk on hand!
- 9" x 13" baking dish: This size pan perfectly holds the baked mac and cheese. Be sure to have a baking dish with a lid if you're planning on making the recipe ahead of time.
- Silicone spatula: A useful tool for transferring the mac and cheese from the saucepan to the baking dish.
- Food processor: This is a helpful tool to make the mac and cheese topping. You could also use a high-powered blender, or just break the pretzels up in a plastic bag with a rolling pin.
How To Make Homemade Mac & Cheese
Mise En Place
Mise en place is a French word that roughly translates to 'put in place.' Before you begin cooking this recipe, you should get all of your ingredients prepared and 'put in place' on the counter so you're ready to cook. These preparation tasks include:
- Grating the cheese
- Measuring out all of the ingredients
- Cooking the pasta to al dente
Make The Cheese Sauce
The base of any macaroni and cheese is a classic French mother sauce called béchamel. It's one of the most basic sauces to master. With some practice, you'll be making delicious homemade mac and cheese in no time!
A properly made mac and cheese sauce is rich, creamy, and doesn't contain any lumps or graininess. In order to achieve this, we're going to make a béchamel sauce and add some cheese. Technically this means we made a Mornay sauce, which is the French term for cheese sauce.
To make a béchamel sauce, we'll need to first melt butter in a saucepan. This whole process should be done over low to medium heat. Low and slow is important for making béchamel.
Once melted (make sure the butter doesn't brown), add in the flour and whisk together for a few minutes. We want to ensure the butter and flour are incorporated, and the raw flour taste can cook off.
From there, add in cold milk, and continue to whisk until the milk is steaming, but not boiling. Remove the saucepan from the heat, then slowly add the freshly grated cheese. It takes some patience, but nothing about this process is hard - I promise!
Make The Topping
This baked cheddar mac and cheese is topped with a unique crust that's made with pretzels. It adds a nice crust and texture to the dish.
To make the topping, simply pulse the pretzels, some spices, and butter in a food processor. Sprinkle that on top of the mac and cheese and then it's ready to bake!
Homemade Macaroni & Cheese Tips
Homemade macaroni & cheese is so rewarding. It takes some love and a little bit of work, but it's so worth the effort. Here are some tips for the best mac and cheese:
Be sure not to overcook the pasta. It should cook to al dente (still slightly stiff in the middle). The pasta will finish cooking in the oven. Overdone pasta will turn mushy when it absorbs the cheese sauce, so don't over-boil the noodles.
In order to avoid gritty macaroni and cheese, you'll want to make sure you are adding cold milk to your hot roux (flour and butter mixture). Also equally as important, make sure you are continuously whisking the béchamel sauce throughout the whole cooking process.
Keep a careful eye on the milk to ensure it doesn't start to boil. Milk boils really quickly compared to other liquids. To avoid a burnt, overcooked flavor, keep an eye on the milk the whole time.
Remember to remove the saucepan from the heat before adding cheese. We want the cheese to melt nice and slow.
Recipe Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, this recipe can be made ahead of time. Simply store the macaroni and cheese in a 9x13 baking dish in the refrigerator after step six in the recipe below. Then, when you're ready to eat, finish baking the macaroni in the oven.
Yes, you can absolutely use yellow cheddar instead of white. Just make sure it's freshly grated!
Sure, you can definitely add in your favorite mix-ins to customize this mac and cheese recipe to your taste. Try adding blanched broccoli, peas, or crispy bacon. You could also add your favorite hot sauce on top for a little kick!
When making macaroni and cheese, it's really important to find a cheese that can easily melt. Cheddar cheese, gouda, Colby jack, fontina, and Monterey jack cheese are all great options!
Yes! I've made this recipe gluten free several times. Simply swap out the pasta, flour, and pretzels for a gluten free alternative. I like using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free One to One Baking Flour.
What To Serve With Mac and Cheese
Looking for some easy recipes to eat alongside macaroni and cheese? Try these out:
- Mac and cheese is the perfect side dish to serve alongside these Pesto Mozzarella Turkey Burgers
- If mac and cheese is your main dish, you could eat it with Green Goddess Salad or Roasted Brussel Sprouts
- Chicken Cordon Bleu is the perfect addition of protein
- For a weeknight dinner, trying pairing with Herb Crusted Salmon
Baked White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 pound fusilli pasta
- 6 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter divided
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 3 ½ cups whole milk
- 2 cups gouda cheese freshly grated
- 2 cups sharp white cheddar cheese freshly grated
- 2 ½ cups pretzels
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375°F.
- Cook the fusilli pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain completely.
- Meanwhile, in a heavy bottom saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter over low heat. Once completely melted, whisk in flour and cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn heat to medium, and add in the milk, while continuing to whisk. Allow milk to heat, but not boil (about 7 minutes).
- Once the milk is very hot (steaming, but not boiling), remove pot from heat. Slowly add in the shredded cheese one handful at a time, continuing to stir. Once all the cheese is melted, add in cooked fusilli and stir together.
- Transfer macaroni and cheese to a greased 9" x 13" pan.
- Pulse the pretzels, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and onion powder in a food processor until they are a fine powder. Add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and pulse until well combined. Sprinkle on top of macaroni and cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly.
Kyle Manera
This recipe was amazing and so easy to make! It’s so simple and once i saw the picture i knew i had to try it.
Maddie
This recipe makes my heart and stomach happy! Such a great cozy meal for winter (or anytime). I used gluten free pretzels and it turned out great!