Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Panko Topping

Hi , I'm Jessica Gavin .

And today I'm gonna show you how to make the most creamy macaroni and cheese .

Mac and cheese is a childhood favorite that all kids love and adults devour .

My version has a super crispy panco crust and I'm gonna show you my top tips for making the cheese sauce super smooth and creamy .

So let's get started .

Macaroni and cheese is a really simple dish to make , but that means it's really important to choose the right ingredients .

So you get the most smooth and creamiest sauce .

So what we have for this recipe is elbow noodles .

Um I like the elbows because they actually hold their shape really well for mixing and you get a little bit of sauce stuck inside which I love .

And then I choose sharp cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack because they're a little bit higher in moisture and have good flavor .

So it's going to give that nice melty consistency and then you always want to make sure that you add a roux , which is usually about equal parts of butter and flour and that's gonna help thicken up the sauce alongside with some whole milk to add some creaminess and richness to the mac and cheese sauce to make the pasta noodles .

I have four quarts of water boiling and I always add about a tablespoon of salt to the water so that the noodles get a little bit more flavor even before they get mixed in with the cheese sauce .

And then we're gonna add the noodles and then just cook until they're al dente .

So let's check the pasta , but the noodles are nice and tender .

So we're gonna drain that and make the sauce .

So there's actually a lot of science that goes into making the sauce because if you want to have a really smooth and creamy consistency , you're gonna want to make a root base .

So what you're gonna add to the pan is your butter and you're gonna allow that to melt down and then you're gonna add your flour .

And the reason why we add flour is that there's starches inside the flour that is going to help the sauce thicken up as it starts to heat up and swell and absorb all of the moisture from the milk , add that to the pan .

And what you're gonna do is you're gonna whisk it together and you just want the paste that's going to form to be kind of like a , a light um blonde color .

So about 1 to 2 minutes to make the roux .

And the reason why you add the butter is that the fat in the butter is actually going to coat the starch Granules .

Mm Hi , everybody , everybody .

I'm back , everybody .

Jeanie Young is back and I'm back with yet another amazing recipe .

I am so excited yet another day because today at the Young's house , Jeanie Young is gonna share with you all how easy it is to make a dish .

Delicious , baked macaroni and cheese .

This baked macaroni and cheese right here .

It is pretty much bomb .

It's so easy to make .

It doesn't require a lot of ingredients and you know , make a Jeanie Young .

It's gonna be so tasty .

Y'all never have my big macaroni and cheese before gonna make you some .

Here are the lovely ingredients you will need .

The first thing that you will need is like around about a pound and a half of elbow macaroni .

And so that's what we have here and I have precooked it .

Once you've incorporated all the milk into the sauce , you're gonna turn the heat down to a low simmer and whisk occasionally for about seven minutes until the sauce gets nice and thicken .

The sauce is nice and thickened and one quick and easy way to test for if it's done is I'll take a spoon and you just dip it in the sauce and if it coats the back and you can run your finger through and it doesn't come back together , then it's definitely ready .

Now that the sauce is ready , you're gonna turn off the heat and add the cheese in with the sauce until the cheese is combined and incorporated into the sauce .

You're gonna need some black pepper , some garlic powder , onion powder and salt .

Make sure your hands are impeccably clean .

Let's get started with this really quick and simple yet .

So tasty recipe .

The holiday is right around the corner .

You all are looking for that perfect side dish to put on your loved ones table .

This baked macaroni and cheese .

It's really gonna wow your family and friends .

They're gonna be begging for more .

They might even try to take the whole , they might try to take the whole fan home .

You better watch them after making this recipe .

So now here's what I'm gonna do .

We're gonna take some of our cheeses and get started , you know , um shredding it .

Now , listen , here it is possible that you could go out and purchase the cheeses that's in the bag that's already shredded .

But I do find , if you have the time now , listen to me closely .

If you have the time to shred it yourself .

I would definitely say it tastes better .

But do I make macaroni and cheese with pre shredded cheese ?

I do , I do a lot and that's delicious as well .

So it , it's kind of like a toss up , you know , how do you want to do it ?

Do you want to shred it ?

You know , do you have the time or like I said , go out and get it out of the bag and it's already shredded for you .

So , you know that , but when it's the holiday time , I like to shred it myself .

Put some more love into it when it's the holiday .

Ok ?

So now we're gonna get this nice and shredded .

We're gonna do the same thing with everything else .

And now as far as our Velveeta cheese , we're gonna chop it up into cubes and then we'll get it nice and melty .

So let me show you what our cheese is looking like .

Beautiful cheese right there .

Ok .

So now what we'll do is we'll get started shredding up the other cheeses and then I'll be back to show you all what you need to do next .