Today I'm re-posting this baked macaroni and cheese recipe in honor of my Mom, who passed away recently. When cleaning out her house we came across the hand-written version that she sent me when I originally posted it:
My Mom is asked to make this baked macaroni and cheese recipe everywhere she goes, she's a great cook, unlike myself, I have to really work at it! She originally got the recipe from my Grandma (her mother-in-law), and adults and kids both love it. I make this for meatless Fridays during Lent and it turns out GREAT. I often make a huge pan and freeze one for later–it reheats well. See the crockpot option in the recipe notes!
Mona Lou's Famous Homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
This is a great main OR side dish that everyone loves! See below in the recipe notes for the amounts to fill a crock pot or roaster.
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil or Avocado oil-- remember the olive oil you buy matters
- 3 1/2 cups Kroger elbow macaroni-- Mom said Grandma always insisted that it had to be Kroger brand…??? *These days I love Einkorn pasta and it always turns out just fine! (FYI: 1 pound macaroni = 4 cups uncooked, so I just make this recipe with 1 pound pasta and add a bit more of everything else, nothing has to be exact anyway.)
- 1 Tablespoon sea salt to go into the pasta water.
- Cold butter for greasing your dish, Mom uses a can of no-stick spray, but a cold stick of butter is just as easy and without the chemicals…Oh and pastured butter is always best… (Update, now there is a good no-stick spray option!)
- Sea salt & pepper to your taste.
- 16 ounces shredded sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese (I often use regular cheddar if that's what I have). FYI: 16 ounces cheese=4 cups shredded.
- 1-2 cups Milk, preferably whole milk or cream for extra yumminess.
- Few slices of colby cheese for the top or more shredded cheese.
- 6 pats of butter for the top.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375*.
- Boil water in a large pot, add oil and salt. Add macaroni and stir well several times during the cooking time (timing based on package directions). Strain well in a colander, running hot water over the macaroni. (Later Mom said she would strain it but not all the way, to leave just a little of the starch water in with the macaroni, and not rinse it, so that's how I do it now and it always turns out!)
- Use a cold stick of butter to grease a large 4 quart glass bowl or spray with baking spray. Sometimes I'll bake it in a big 10×14 stainless steel baking pan, because my favorite part is the browned cheese on top, and this way there is a lot more of the yummy cheese and browned bits in each serving.
- Put the macaroni into your baking dish and add sea salt, pepper, and the cheese, stir well. Add milk just until you can barely see it coming up the sides of the macaroni. Put more cheese and butter on top.
- Another way I do it is to put the macaroni back into the pan it cooked in, then add the salt, pepper, and cheese and about 1/2 cup cream or milk. Stir it in good and add more milk or cream for extra creaminess. This way you can get it just how you want it and THEN transfer to your baking dish. Add more cheese and butter on top.
- Bake for about 1 1/4 hours, depending on how hot your oven is – it should be nicely browned on top.
Notes
Crock pot option!
This works great for a crowd and it stays nice and hot...
I've tweaked Mom's recipe, and here are my amounts and directions for filling a 7 quart crock pot about 2/3 full, which was enough for about 24 people (we had lots of other food too) and many people also took home leftovers:
- 2# macaroni or pasta of choice (cooked in salty water)
- 2 sticks butter
- 2.5 cups whole milk, little at a time (part cream if you have it)
- 1/8 cup palm sugar (dissolved in the milk--you can omit but it's just a bit that I think kicks the taste up)
- 1# shredded sharp cheddar
- 1# shredded mild cheddar
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- 7# macaroni or pasta of choice (cooked in salty water, note to self: 3# fit in my 2nd biggest pot and 4# fit in my very biggest pot)
- 6 sticks butter/1.5#
- 8 cups whole milk (half-gallon), add a little at a time, you may need a bit less or a bit more so it's creamy but not too liquidy.
- 1/4 cup palm sugar (dissolved in the milk--again, you can omit but it's just a bit that I think kicks the taste up)
- 2.5# shredded sharp cheddar + 2 cups more (some for the top)
- 2.5# cheddar jack + 3 cups more (some for the top)
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
THANKS MOM!!! 
More you might like:
- Here's an easy stovetop mac & cheese recipe, it's faster and still tasty, but FYI: our family still prefers Mom's baked macaroni and cheese recipe!
- Healthy snack ideas
- All about cod liver oil
- My “food conversion” story
- School lunches – healthy alternatives
jackie says
i have always made a roux first…maybe kroegers pasta makes it thicker without that step..
i use trader joes brown rice pastas and they are excellent
jmr says
I have so many hand-written recipes from my aunt and grandmothers who are no longer living. Each time I pull out one of those recipe cards, I am able to spend some time remembering my grandma/aunt and thinking about times when she made the recipe, times we spent together. Because my family was never particularly close, those recipes are the things that now bind us closest together, the thing that most says, “we are one family and have one tradition”.
Julie says
This hand written recipe deserves to be framed and hung in your kitchen.
KitchenKop says
I love that idea, Julie, thank you so much, I’m going to do it!!!
Kel
Jackie says
Okay, I am sitting in my home office working. It is quite chilly and very rainy outside. I am thinking about what to fix for dinner. I’m thinking some cold weather comfort food would be perfect, but what? Then Kelly posted this recipe. Guess what is for dinner tonight!!!
KitchenKop says
Let me know how it turns out for you, Jackie!
Kel
Leah G says
WE just got our order of cheese from Azure and I was in need of something different for lunch. Made this with rice noodles, slightly under cooked them, surplus raw cream in place of milk (2cups was perfect). Cooked at 400 for 45 min and it was gorgeous. Everyone loved it!
kelsey cearley says
This is by far the best mac n cheese recipe I have came across and I have been trying for over a year to get it right. I think the trick is in the colby cheese. My noodles didn’t get as cheesy as I would have liked and it could have been the liquid ratio, however, next time I will try adding some shredded colby jack. Also, I measured the milk and didn’t quite use the 2 cups, but will next time. Great recipe! Thanks!
Kelly says
Kathy,
I know what you mean, sometimes I don’t feel like ww either, but I think that the white pasta or white flour is just plain ol’ not good for us, so the less the better. (It’s so refined, denatured, whatever – no nutrients in it, just a carb filler.) Having said that, I do still compromise with white pasta sometimes, or actually I just cook much less pasta dishes than I used to. I don’t mind the ww pasta in tomato based dishes at all, though. White flour I haven’t gotten totally away from, either. I usually use half white, half ww in cookies and breads. It’s my goal to use less all the time.
You mentioned wheat being bad for us, did you see my post about alternative grains? https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/10/gluten-allergy-or-wheat-sensitivity.html
Jamie says
We are not fans of ww pasta either, but we really like brown rice pasta. It seems to be much closer to white in taste and texture. And it’s not wheat!
KitchenKop says
I have friends who also love the brown rice pasta, but I don’t know if I’m cooking too long or what but I can’t seem to get it to taste right!
Kathy says
I have my grandmother’s 1st editon of the Betty Crocker Cookbook. I use it for basice recipes like these because there are many traditional recipes still in there. I may have to convert a thing or two but that is okay. So if you see one of these cookbooks at a garage sale grab it up.
Also I have a question for the readers, how much pasta or other things made of white flour do you feel is okay to eat now and then and how often do you eat them? I am not always in the mood for whole wheat pasta. PLUS I keep reading about how bad wheat is for us also. I think I read to many of these blogs. LOL
Kelly says
Hi Margaret,
1. The heat from the oven doesn’t kill “everything”, there are still some nutrients there, but no enzymes.
2. 1/4 gallon? Wow, that is a lot, I should re-word the recipe – I think Mom always says to pour in the milk until you can just see it coming up around the sides of the macaroni. Sorry about that. I think when I do it it ends up being more like 1 1/2 to 2 cups, but that’s just a guess. I should keep better track next time I make it.
Margaret Merkel says
I made Mona Lou’s Mac and Cheese and I have two issues
1.) I used my raw cow milk and the heat from the oven kills everything in it right?
2.) It was very milky – very runny – my Husband almost had a heart attack when he saw all of that hot milk – I poured the milk in so it was even with the mac and cheese like the recipe directions stated – which ended up being about 1/4 gallon. Next time I will use much less milk.
It was quite yummy though – the kids loved it. 🙂
Kelly says
Hi Amber,
Yes, I froze it before baking, let it thaw on the counter for an afternoon (or longer), then baked like normal. 🙂
Kelly
Amber says
When you freeze this, do you just prepare it as directed without baking it and freeze it, then thawing it and cooking it as directed when needed?