Baked Mac and Cheese, No Roux
Recipes developed and tested by the ChefnFood editorial team, with chef-informed notes for real home kitchens.
Creamier than the boxed stuff and barely more work than it. There is no roux — no flour, no lumps, no standing over a whisk — because evaporated milk and eggs do the job instead. It is the version of this dish that's hardest to get wrong.
Ingredients
- 1 lb elbow macaroni or cavatappi
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 2 cans (12 oz each) evaporated milk
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground mustard
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp cayenne
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 12 oz sharp cheddar, shredded from a block
- 8 oz Gruyère or Monterey Jack, shredded from a block
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 375°F. Butter a 9×13 baking dish.
- Cook the pasta 2 minutes short of al dente in well-salted water. Drain and return to the pot with 2 tbsp of the butter, tossing to coat.
- Whisk the evaporated milk, whole milk, eggs, salt, ground mustard, garlic powder, cayenne, and pepper together until fully combined and no streaks of egg remain.
- Combine the shredded cheeses in a bowl. Set aside 1½ cups for the top.
- Add the remaining cheese to the hot pasta along with the milk mixture. Stir until the cheese begins to melt into a loose sauce. It will look thin. It is supposed to look thin.
- Pour into the baking dish and top with the reserved cheese.
- Melt the remaining 2 tbsp butter and toss with the panko. Scatter over the top.
- Bake 30–35 minutes until set at the center and golden on top. Rest 10 minutes before serving.
Chef’s Take
A roux is a fine technique, but it’s also the step where home mac and cheese goes wrong — lumps, a floury aftertaste, or a sauce that breaks in the oven. Evaporated milk skips all of it. It’s milk with most of the water removed, so the proteins are concentrated and far more stable under heat, and the eggs set it into a custard as it bakes. The result is silkier than a flour-thickened sauce and much harder to break.
The one rule: shred the cheese yourself. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in cellulose and potato starch to stop it clumping in the bag, and that coating is exactly what makes a cheese sauce grainy. Ten minutes with a box grater is the single biggest quality difference in this recipe.
Substitutions
- Cheese blend: sharp cheddar is the backbone. The second cheese can be Gruyère, fontina, Monterey Jack, or smoked gouda. Avoid pre-shredded anything.
- No evaporated milk: 3 cups half-and-half works, though it's less foolproof.
- Stovetop only: stop after step 5 and serve immediately, skipping the eggs.
- Add-ins: cooked bacon, caramelized onion, roasted broccoli, or diced jalapeño all work stirred in at step 5.
- Gluten-free: GF pasta undercooked by 3 minutes, and GF panko or crushed crackers on top.
Storage and reheating
Refrigerate up to 4 days. Reheat covered at 350°F for 20 minutes with a splash of milk poured over first — this is important, since it firms up considerably when cold. Assemble ahead through step 7 and refrigerate up to 24 hours, adding 10 minutes to the bake. Freezes for 2 months but loses some of its silkiness.
Serving suggestions
Something acidic across from it: a sharp green salad, pickles, or hot sauce. Excellent alongside pulled pork or roast chicken. This is a side dish that regularly becomes the main.
More weeknight dinners like this one
The Weekly Meal Plan — five dinners and a grocery list, every Thursday.
