Southern Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Layers of elbow macaroni, cheddar and Jack bound with beaten eggs, evaporated milk, sour cream and butter, then baked until it sets firm enough to cut, with a crusty, browned top.
Soul food historian Adrian Miller, author of the book Soul Food, told the Gastropod podcast that he almost left mac and cheese out because of its clear European roots, until friends insisted (transcript, 2018:). He found it was one of the constants of Black American cooking across the country, with the richest, multi-cheese versions saved for Sunday dinner, a family reunion or a funeral. He traces it from the tables of the wealthy, where enslaved African Americans did the cooking, to everyday food once wheat and cheese got cheaper and cheddar replaced Parmesan, and says school lunch helped make it weekly fare.
This version comes from Toni Tipton-Martin's Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking (Clarkson Potter, 2019), which won the 2020 James Beard Award for American cooking and draws on her collection of about 300 cookbooks by African American authors. Her recipe skips the flour sauce: eggs, evaporated milk and sour cream set around the pasta in the oven.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Layers of elbow macaroni, cheddar and Jack bound with beaten eggs, evaporated milk, sour cream and butter, then baked until it sets firm enough to cut, with a crusty, browned top.
🇺🇸 The original
The oldest American recipe we could read, from 1824, is simple: boiled macaroni layered with butter and grated cheese and baked until it browns. No cheese sauce, no box. See the Virginia House-Wife Baked Macaroni (1824) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Eggs make it sliceable
The beaten eggs set as they bake, so the dish holds a clean square instead of slumping, the texture people mean by "baked" mac and cheese.
Evaporated milk won't break
Its concentrated milk proteins keep the cheese smooth in a long, hot bake where fresh milk can curdle (Serious Eats explains the same effect in our 20-Minute One-Pot Mac and Cheese recipe).
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350°F and generously butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.
- Step 2
Cook the macaroni in well-salted boiling water until al dente, about 7 minutes, and drain.
- Step 3
Toss the cheddar and Jack together and set 1 cup aside for the top.
- Step 4
Layer the macaroni and the rest of the cheese in the dish, starting and ending with macaroni.
- Step 5
Whisk the melted butter, sour cream, eggs, evaporated milk, salt, white pepper and cayenne until smooth and pour it evenly over the macaroni. Scatter the reserved cheese on top and dust with paprika.
- Step 6
Set the dish on a rimmed baking sheet to catch drips and bake 30 to 45 minutes, until bubbling, browned and set. The center should read at least 160°F.
- Step 7
Let it stand 10 minutes so the custard firms up, then cut into squares.
Southern Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Serves 8 (8 to 10 as a side) · one 13 by 9-inch pan · 1 hr 20 min total
Pasta and cheese
- Softened butter, for the dish
- 1 lb elbow macaroni
- 2 cups shredded cheddar (8 oz)
- 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack (8 oz)
Custard
- 1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, melted
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 large eggs, well beaten
- 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
- 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1/8 tsp cayenne
Top
- Paprika, for dusting
Method
- Heat the oven to 350°F and generously butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.
- Cook the macaroni in well-salted boiling water until al dente, about 7 minutes, and drain.
- Toss the cheddar and Jack together and set 1 cup aside for the top.
- Layer the macaroni and the rest of the cheese in the dish, starting and ending with macaroni.
- Whisk the melted butter, sour cream, eggs, evaporated milk, salt, white pepper and cayenne until smooth and pour it evenly over the macaroni. Scatter the reserved cheese on top and dust with paprika.
- Set the dish on a rimmed baking sheet to catch drips and bake 30 to 45 minutes, until bubbling, browned and set. The center should read at least 160°F.
- Let it stand 10 minutes so the custard firms up, then cut into squares.
Adapted from Toni Tipton-Martin, "Baked Macaroni and Cheese", Jubilee (2019), as published by WBUR Here and Now (December 11, 2019). Amounts and oven temperature are hers; the 160°F center check is from the USDA chart (see Food safety baseline). wbur.org. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Shred your own cheese; pre-shredded cheese is coated with starch that can make the custard grainy.
- Corners are prized. A metal pan browns the edges more than glass.
- Leftover squares reheat well covered in a 350°F oven until the center reaches 165°F.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Eggs belong in mac and cheese. Disputed: Tipton-Martin's Jubilee recipe and the Caribbean pies (our Trinidad Macaroni Pie and Barbados Macaroni Pie recipes) set it with eggs; Allison Arevalo, who ran Oakland's Homeroom mac and cheese restaurant for seven years, defines mac and cheese as béchamel, cheese and elbow macaroni (Gastropod transcript). Both are traditions.
- A Sunday dinner, reunion and funeral dish. Documented (Adrian Miller, Gastropod).
- Black cooks invented mac and cheese. Folklore: Miller says some African Americans believe this, but he calls the dish's provenance clearly European. The documented part is how central enslaved and free Black cooks were in making it an American dish.
- Velveeta or cheddar. Folklore: a house preference. This recipe uses only cheddar and Jack.
Every other mac and cheese
Virginia House-Wife Baked Macaroni (1824)
The earliest known printed American mac and cheese: macaroni boiled in milk and water, layered with sliced cheese and butter, and baked in a hot oven.
Älplermagronen (Swiss Alpine Macaroni)
Macaroni and potatoes boiled together, layered with grated Alpine cheese and a little cream, crowned with crispy onions and eaten with warm applesauce.
Creamy Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese
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Lobster Mac and Cheese
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New Mexico Green Chile Mac and Cheese
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Trinidad Macaroni Pie
Macaroni bound with eggs, evaporated milk and cheddar, seasoned with onion, dry mustard and a little Scotch bonnet, then baked firm under a paprika-dusted top and cut into squares.
Barbados Macaroni Pie
Tube macaroni baked firm with a lot of cheddar, evaporated milk, an egg, grated onion and the Bajan signature, ketchup and yellow mustard, under a golden cheese top.
20-Minute One-Pot Mac and Cheese
Three ingredients and one pot: elbows simmered in just enough water to cover, then turned into a silky cheddar sauce with a can of evaporated milk.
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