Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese

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This creamy gouda mac and cheese uses a blend of smoked gouda and sharp white cheddar cheeses. Serve it right from the stovetop or add buttery breadcrumbs and bake for a casserole style dish.

For homemade mac and cheese that feels rich and elegant, look no further than smoked gouda. This buttery, smoky cheese adds a ton of depth to a simple cheese sauce for pasta that tastes like it's straight from a restaurant.

We'll show you how to add a quick breadcrumb topping and turn this recipe into a baked mac and cheese, but it's totally optional: Skip the breadcrumbs and serve this side dish as a stovetop pasta if you're short on time.

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Ingredients overview
Substitutions
Step by step photos
FAQs
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments & Reviews

Ingredients overview

Scroll to the recipe card below for a full ingredients list with exact quantities. Not pictured: Ingredients for an optional toasted bread crumb topping.

Before you jump in, there are a few things we want to highlight:

Smoked gouda cheese is the MVP here. Trim off the tough rind, then shred normally. We tested this recipe with several different brands of gouda: Some varieties melt more smoothly than others. Beemster Smoked Gouda was our favorite.
Sharp white cheddar cheese helps balance the richness of the gouda and adds some depth to the sauce.
We chose large shell noodles here, but use whatever pasta you like! (Need some inspo? Check out our full breakdown of the best noodles for mac and cheese.)
Garlic powder adds important complexity to this cheese sauce. If you don't have any, you can achieve a similar result with ground mustard or a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
Milk. We recommend 1% or 2%, but you can also use whole milk.

Shred your own cheese

Store bought shredded cheeses are often coated with preservatives and anti-caking agents that prevent them from melting smoothly. For best results, buy blocks of cheese and shred it yourself.

Substitutions

This recipe is fairly forgiving: It's easy to customize with whatever you have on hand! A few of our favorite riffs:

Add protein. Crispy bacon or pancetta, chicken (we love this Dutch oven pulled chicken), ham, or sausage are tasty additions here.
Add veggies. Stir spinach, kale, broccoli, peas, or caramelized onions into this pasta.
Extra spices. Add a dash of garlic powder, paprika, or cayenne pepper if you'd like more spice or smoky flavors (similar to our spicy mac and cheese!) This sauce is also good with a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg.

Step by step photos

Cook the pasta

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a generous pinch of kosher salt, then add your pasta and give it a stir.

If you're baking this mac and cheese, cook the pasta until it's a few minutes less than al dente - it will continue to cook in the oven!

Timing Tip: Put the water on to boil, then start the sauce in a separate pan while you wait. Drop the pasta into the boiling water to cook while the sauce thickens (after you whisk in the milk). When the pasta's done, the cheese sauce will be ready to go!

Make the sauce

Whisking a roux together and adding milk.

Melt butter in a large saucepan; add all purpose flour (Image 1, above) and whisk to form a roux (2). Let this cook for a minute or so, until the roux is bubbly and fragrant (3). Add milk a little at a time, whisking constantly to work out any lumps (4).

Keep the sauce just below a simmer, whisking frequently, until the milk has thickened. Turn off the heat, then add cheeses and spices (5). Stir until cheese has fully melted (6).

Cheese not melting? Some smoked goudas melt better than others. This is likely due to differences in each brand's process: Smoking can alter the texture of and reduce the moisture in a cheese, which affects the way it melts. If the sauce is too grainy, you can smooth it out with an immersion blender (although in our testing, we really didn't notice any lingering clumps once the mac and cheese was baked).

Stirring cooked pasta into gouda cheese sauce.

Transfer cooked pasta to the cheese sauce (7). Stir until noodles are evenly coated, then taste and add salt or pepper as needed (8).

Pro Tip: We like to use a spider strainer or slotted spoon to transfer pasta directly from the boiling water to the cheese sauce. This lets some starchy pasta water drip into the sauce, which helps it cling to the noodles.

Assemble and bake (optional)

Toasting breadcrumbs in a large skillet with butter.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat, then add panko breadcrumbs along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper (9). Stir to combine. Toast, stirring frequently, until golden brown (10). Learn more about this technique: Garlic Toasted Bread Crumbs

Pouring mac and cheese into a baking dish and topping with bread crumbs.

Butter a large baking dish; add the mac and cheese (11). Spread toasted breadcrumbs over the top in an even layer (12).

Equipment note: We used an 8x10" ceramic baking dish (similar to this casserole dish) in these photos.

Transfer prepared mac and cheese (13) to a preheated 350° F oven. Bake until the cheese bubbles and the breadcrumbs are a deep golden brown - about 30 minutes (14).

A quick note about mac and cheese

While the "right" way to make mac and cheese is different for everyone, most recipes tend to follow one of two main styles. French-inspired versions start with a basic stovetop béchamel sauce (a flour-and-butter base - called a roux - with lots of milk). Southern mac and cheese is typically baked, and sometimes features eggs or evaporated milk in addition to a blend of cheeses and seasonings. Our mac and cheese recipes lean towards the French style.

Lifting a spoonful of mac and cheese out of the casserole dish.

FAQs

Can I use 100% smoked gouda cheese?

We tested this recipe with 100% smoked gouda cheese (no white cheddar) and honestly didn't like it as much. The smoked-gouda-only sauce was overpowering, and it lacked depth and complexity. It was just kind of one-note and blah. Using smoked gouda alone also increased the likelihood that some cheese would clump instead of melting smoothly (adding white cheddar seemed to solve this problem).

Adding some sharp white cheddar balances the richness of the gouda and gives this cheese sauce a more interesting flavor. Our tasters unanimously agreed that the addition of white cheddar (and, later in the process, a pinch of garlic powder) made this recipe much better.

PS - For another gourmet cheese blend, check out our three cheese mac and cheese recipe!

Can I use heavy cream or half and half instead of milk?

You can use half and half or heavy cream if you like, although we really don't find it's necessary to use such heavy dairy products here. If you do use heavy cream for this gouda mac n cheese, just keep in mind that the béchamel will thicken more quickly, and you'll end up with a VERY rich sauce.

Why didn't my cheese melt?

Pre-shredded cheese is often coated with preservatives and anti-caking agents that prevent it from melting smoothly. For best results, buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself.

Because every brand uses their own unique smoking process, different varieties of smoked gouda cheese may melt more smoothly than others. Smoking a cheese can alter its texture and reduce the moisture content, which impacts how well it will melt into a sauce.

We've tested this recipe with several different varieties of smoked gouda: they all tasted good (regardless of texture!) It's also worth noting that even poorly-melted cheeses tended to smooth out in the oven, so don't worry too much about getting a perfectly smooth sauce. Once it's baked, any gouda clumps are much less noticeable.

If you ever have a cheese sauce that is grainy or clumpy, you can also zap it with an immersion blender for a few seconds to smooth it out (Learn more: immersion blender uses).