When you’re making baked pastas, it’s hard to keep pasta from turning mushy. You probably already know that most cooks will tell you to cook your pasta to “al dente,” which just means that the pasta is tender with a little bite (instead of being mushy). The ingredient list for our mac and cheese recipe isn’t a long one and as you can imagine the type of pasta and cheese you use makes a big difference.

The sauce should be well seasoned - not with lots of extra spices and ingredients, just simply with salt, pepper, and maybe a tiny bit of mustard to add a touch of tang.

No mushy pasta! We prevent this two ways (I’ve shared them below).

After baking there needs to still be enough sauce that’s not absorbed into the pasta so every bite is a creamy one.

The sauce to pasta ratio is important to get right.

That said, I do think there are a few key elements for the best mac and cheese. There are lots of recipes for macaroni and cheese in the world and to be completely honest, I’d probably love most of them.

How to make mac n cheese less watery