{"id":6807,"date":"2026-07-25T18:05:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T18:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/?p=6807"},"modified":"2026-07-25T18:05:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T18:05:28","slug":"baked-macaroni-and-cheese-with-seasoned-butter-sauce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/25\/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-with-seasoned-butter-sauce\/","title":{"rendered":"Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Seasoned Butter Sauce"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Seasoned Butter Sauce<\/h2>\n<h3>Ingredients<\/h3>\n<p><strong>For the Mac and Cheese:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 lb (450 g) elbow macaroni<\/li>\n<li>4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese<\/li>\n<li>2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese<\/li>\n<li>3 cups whole milk<\/li>\n<li>1 cup heavy cream<\/li>\n<li>4 tablespoons butter<\/li>\n<li>3 tablespoons all-purpose flour<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon garlic powder<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon onion powder<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd teaspoon smoked paprika<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd teaspoon black pepper<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon salt, or to taste<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>For the Seasoned Butter Topping:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00bd cup melted butter<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon Italian seasoning<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon garlic powder<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd teaspoon smoked paprika<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd teaspoon dried parsley<\/li>\n<li>\u00bc teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Instructions<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Preheat your oven to <strong>375\u00b0F (190\u00b0C)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Cook the macaroni in salted boiling water until just al dente. Drain well.<\/li>\n<li>In a large saucepan, melt the <strong>4 tablespoons of butter<\/strong> over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute.<\/li>\n<li>Slowly pour in the milk and heavy cream, whisking constantly until smooth and slightly thickened.<\/li>\n<li>Add garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, black pepper, and salt.<\/li>\n<li>Reduce the heat to low and gradually stir in the cheddar and mozzarella until completely melted and creamy.<\/li>\n<li>Add the cooked macaroni and mix until every piece is coated in the cheese sauce.<\/li>\n<li>Transfer the macaroni to a greased baking dish and spread evenly.<\/li>\n<li>Mix the melted butter with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, smoked paprika, parsley, and red pepper flakes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pour the seasoned butter mixture over the macaroni<\/strong>, as shown in the picture.<\/li>\n<li>Bake uncovered for <strong>20\u201325 minutes<\/strong>, until bubbly and golden on top.<\/li>\n<li>Let it rest for <strong>5\u201310 minutes<\/strong> before serving.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Tip:<\/strong> For an extra cheesy crust, sprinkle another \u00bd cup of cheddar and a little Parmesan over the top before baking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Seasoned Butter Sauce Ingredients For the Mac and Cheese: 1 lb (450 g) elbow macaroni&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6809,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807\/revisions\/6809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}