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Easy Baked Mac and Cheese

Our absolute FAVORITE mac and cheese recipe! Delicious and creamy with 5 different cheeses! Check out this Easy Baked Mac and Cheese recipe – it’s sure to become a family favorite.

5 years ago we hosted our first Christmas dinner in years. Our kitchen renovations were almost entirely wrapped up and we found ourselves hosting meal after holiday meal to celebrate the end of almost an entire year without a fully functional kitchen. I knew that I was going to make ham for Christmas dinner and had a good idea of the usual sides I would include on the menu. Then for some reason I became completely stuck on the idea of having some good ‘ol fashion from-scratch mac and cheese.

This recipe is from Oprah via Patti LaBelle – “Over-the-Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese.”

These days I am using Instant Pot recipes for several dinners each week, however big dishes of baked comfort foods certainly still find their way to our table! I followed this recipe exactly – though I want to point out that their recipe states that this will yield 4-6 servings. Well, we had 6 adults and 4 kids for dinner and STILL had enough mac and cheese to send some home with our guests and enough for 2 dinners’ worth of sides for us. So unless you’re enjoying HOLY HUGE HEAPING PORTIONS, I think this recipe will EASILY provide enough for 8-10 servings.

Easy Baked Mac and Cheese Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound elbow macaroni
8 tablespoons (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Muenster cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded mild Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup (8 ounces) Velveeta , cut into small cubes
2 large eggs , lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

How to make Easy Baked Mac and Cheese:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a deep casserole dish. (I used my Rachael Ray Large Bubble and Brown Baker <– GAH, I LOVE that thing!)
In a large pot, bring water and a dash of salt to a boil. Add the oil and then the macaroni.
Cook macaroni until just tender – do not over cook.
As your macaroni cooks, melt eight tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan.
Drain macaroni and return to cooking pot.
Stir melted butter into macaroni.
In a large bowl, mix all of your cheese except the cubed Velveeta.
Add half-and-half to macaroni along with 1 and 1/2 cups of the shredded cheese, the cubed Velveeta and the eggs.
Season with salt and pepper.
Stir everything until just mixed and transfer to the buttered casserole dish.
Sprinkle top with remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and dot with remaining one tablespoon of butter.
Bake uncovered until bubbling around the edges (approximately 35 minutes).
Serve hot.

YUM!!

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