Amy Ever After

by Amy Oztan

  • Shop
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
  • Work With Amy
  • Videos
  • Podcasts
  • Recipes
  • Categories
    • Amy’s Blog
    • Around NYC
    • Blogging and Social Media
    • Entertainment
    • Food
    • Gift Guides
    • Health & Beauty
    • Household
    • How-To
    • Parenting
    • Shopping
    • Tech
    • Travel

How to make baked spaghetti mac and cheese

June 8, 2015 By Amy Oztan 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links.
If you buy something from one of the linked sites you won’t pay anything more, but I might make a commission.

Have a question about this recipe? I may have answered it here.

Have you ever wondered if you could make baked mac and cheese with spaghetti instead of elbows or some other kind of short pasta? You absolutely can! In fact, it’s one of my favorite ways to use spaghetti.

Baked spaghetti mac and cheese on a fork

Cooking with my grandmother

One of my favorite memories from my childhood is helping my grandmother make mac and cheese. She was not a good cook, at all. But somehow she’d mastered making baked macaroni and cheese, and she was asked to bring it to every family gathering. She took a lot of pride in it.

My job was to sit at her kitchen table and tear the American cheese slices into small pieces. (Actually, my job was also to go to the store and buy the cheese, even when I was really little. You could send a six-year-old grandchild to the store in those days and not risk getting arrested.) I would try not to eat too much of the cheese as I turned the neat stack of deli slices into a big pile of orange pieces.

When the sauce was done and she was mixing it with the elbow macaroni, she would always take out a little juice glass and pour some sauce out for me. Yup, I used to drink a glass of hot cheese sauce when I was little. (I also used to eat peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches on squishy white bread. My eating habits have gotten slightly better.)

She would then pour the whole thing into her biggest casserole dish, the square white one with the blue flowers on it. She’d put the glass lid on and slide it into the oven. It would emerge about an hour later, hot and bubbly and ready to go to whatever baby shower or birthday dinner we were getting ready for. She would wrap it in towels to keep it hot, and keep from burning her fingers. (Now you can just use one of these insulated hot/cold carriers.)

My mom’s version

Ingredients for Baked Spaghetti Mac and Cheese

At my own house growing up it was a little different. My own mom used my grandmother’s cheese sauce recipe, but she never ever had elbow macaroni on hand. But we always had spaghetti, so she’d use that instead! What? Craziness, I know. But it gave the mac and cheese a totally different texture. We called it spaghetti mac, which was kind of redundant, but that was its name.

She also used to put breadcrumbs on top, which I love. But my kids don’t, so sometimes I just put them on half.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, just writing this down is making me crave some!

Yield: 6 servings

Baked Spaghetti Mac and Cheese

Spaghetti Mac on fork.

This is my grandmother's creamy cheese sauce, which my mother always paired with spaghetti because she never had elbow macaroni on hand.

Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Additional Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 pound spaghetti, uncooked
  • 1 stick salted butter, divided
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3 cups milk
  • 8 oz American cheese slices, torn into 1-inch pieces
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp Italian seasoning
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F
  2. In a large pot, cook spaghetti in salted, boiling water for 8 minutes; drain and return to the pot
  3. Toss spaghetti with 2 tbsp of butter; cover and set aside
  4. In a medium saucepan, melt remaining 6 tablespoons of butter over low heat
  5. When butter is completely melted, add flour and stir to combine
  6. Add milk 1/4 cup at a time, stirring after each addition until milk is completely absorbed; do not rush this part or sauce will be lumpy
  7. Once all of the milk is added and mixture is completely smooth, add the cheese, stirring until melted
  8. Add the bay leaves, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper
  9. Cook sauce for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure that bottom doesn’t burn
  10. Remove and discard the bay leaves
  11. Pour the sauce into the large pot of spaghetti and stir until coated
  12. Pour mixture into 13x9x2 glass dish and spread spaghetti out until level
  13. Sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly on top (if using)
  14. Cover with aluminum foil and place in oven on middle rack
  15. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes
  16. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving

Notes

If you want to speed up the sauce a little, you can warm the milk in the microwave; it will absorb into the flour mixture faster.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases (but you won't pay anything extra!)

  • Pyrex Measuring Cup Set, 4 Pack
    Pyrex Measuring Cup Set, 4 Pack
  • Lucky Plus Stainless Steel Measuring Cups and Spoons - 17-piece set
    Lucky Plus Stainless Steel Measuring Cups and Spoons - 17-piece set
  • Farberware Classic Stainless Steel 15-Piece Cookware Set
    Farberware Classic Stainless Steel 15-Piece Cookware Set
  • Rachael Ray Wooden 3-Tier Stacking Salt Box
    Rachael Ray Wooden 3-Tier Stacking Salt Box
  • OXO Spaghetti Server
    OXO Spaghetti Server
  • OXO Good Grips Wooden Corner Spoon
    OXO Good Grips Wooden Corner Spoon
  • Pyrex Portables Baking Dish Set
    Pyrex Portables Baking Dish Set
  • Pyrex Portables Glass Bakeware and Food Storage Set
    Pyrex Portables Glass Bakeware and Food Storage Set
  • ChicWrap Foil Dispenser with Slide Cutter (includes foil)
    ChicWrap Foil Dispenser with Slide Cutter (includes foil)

Did you make this recipe? I'd love to see it!

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

© Amy Oztan
Cuisine: American / Category: Pasta

Sharing is caring!

58shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Yummly
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Reddit
  • Pocket
  • Buffer
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard

Filed Under: Food, Pasta Tagged With: family, recipe, vegetarian

« Teen Confidence and What You Can Do About It
A Very Special Father’s Day Episode »

Comments

  1. jude says

    June 12, 2015 at 3:20 am

    hmm. Cant just wait to have a good taste of that. A lovely and nicely coded post

    Reply
  2. Sailaja says

    August 7, 2015 at 1:09 am

    I am a huge fan of Pyrex too and have a collection. My son is a huge fan of Mac and Cheese. I like to grate some nutmeg which adds oodles of flavor. :)

    Reply
    • Amy Oztan says

      August 7, 2015 at 7:47 am

      Ooh, I’ve never added nutmeg to mine – I’m going to try that!!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags are not allowed.

122,157 Spambots Blocked by Simple Comments

About Amy

Amy Oztan, blogger at AmyEverAfter.com

Amy is a blogger, podcaster, freelance writer, baker, and singer living in Brooklyn.[Read more…]

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Contact ~ Privacy Policy ~ Full Disclosure ~ Giveaway Rules ~ Advertising ~ Disclaimer
~ Copyright © 2021 Amy Ever After ~

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program
designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

58shares