Baked Mac & Cheese With Garlic Confit
Nov 21, 2025
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This is not your regular mac and cheese. It’s mac and cheese for the garlic lover. My famous garlic confit is melted into the roux creating a rich and garlicky base. I have used a trio of cheeses, gruyere, cheddar and jarlsberg, that results in the creamiest, silkiest, most irresistible mac and cheese that will steal the show at your Thanksgiving dinner table!
Why you’ll love this family favorite recipe!
I love a good mac and cheese. So much so, that I even have a lobster mac and cheese recipe on my website! What makes this mac and cheese so special is the garlic confit. It melts into the roux, giving the sauce the most beautiful buttery garlic flavour before the trio of cheeses are stirred through for a creamy and rich sauce. And then the best part… it’s baked until the top is ooey, gooey, golden and irresistibly cheesy.
It has that nostalgic, cosy feel but with a little garlic-girl glow up. It’s the perfect dish to serve at Thanksgiving, alongside BBQ meat or grilled seafood or at your next dinner party!
Ingredients For Baked Mac & Cheese
A simple mix of my garlic confit, a trio of melty cheeses (gruyere, cheddar and jarlsberg) and a short, twisty pasta like macaroni or cavatappi.
- Garlic confit: While I love to use my garlic confit as much as I can, this can be replaced with 2 cloves of raw garlic.
- Cheese: I like to use a mix of gruyere, cheddar and jarlsberg but a lovely Colby Jack, some grated parmesan or Velveeta would work well too. Just make sure you freshly grate your cheese and don’t buy pre-grated as it does make a difference!
- Pasta: Short, twisty shapes work best like macaroni, cavatappi, small shells or fusilli to catch all that creamy sauce.
A full list of ingredients can be found in the recipe card below.
How To Make Baked Mac & Cheese
A smooth, creamy roux is essential for great mac and cheese. Cook the flour to remove any raw taste, season it however you like and slowly whisk in the milk over low heat until silky.
Step 1: Combine the butter and olive oil and cook until melted. Add the flour and garlic to the pan and whisk to form a roux. Add the milk to the roux, one cup at a time and whisk until combined and lump free. Repeat this step 2 more times until you have used up all the milk. Take off the heat and stir through the cheese with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Stir through the pasta.
Step 2: Sprinkle 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese all over.
Step 3: Bake for 15 minutes at 180°C / 350°F or until golden on top.
Step 4: Serve immediately!
FAQ’s
Yes! Garlic confit gives a deep, buttery garlic flavour, but raw garlic works beautifully too. Just cook it gently in the butter when making the roux so it softens and sweetens.
Short, twisty shapes like macaroni, cavatappi, shells or rigatoni are perfect. They hold onto the creamy sauce and give you those dreamy cheesy pockets in every bite.
Absolutely. Gruyere, cheddar and jarlsberg make the creamiest combo, but you can mix and match with other melty cheeses like mozzarella, gouda or fontina.
A grainy sauce usually means the roux wasn’t cooked long enough or the milk was added too quickly. Add the milk slowly over low heat and whisk until silky.
Yes! Assemble it, cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Bake when ready but you may need a few extra minutes in the oven.
How To Serve
This baked mac & cheese is best served straight from the oven while the cheese is still bubbling away! I love to serve it alongside a roast chicken, grilled meat, a pan seared steak or some garlic butter prawns!
How To Store
Once you have baked your mac and cheese I do find that it is hard to bring back to life! I like to keep my leftovers in the dish it was baked in and wrap the cover with alfoil. I will then simply reheat this in the oven with the alfoil on top to keep the mac and cheese as moist as possible!
More Pasta Dishes to Love!
If you make this Bake mac and cheese with garlic confit recipe, please tag me on Instagram, Tik Tok or Pinterest so I can see your wonderful creations from Daen’s Kitchen!
If you have any questions or would like to leave a review, please do so here! I always love answering your food and recipe related questions and hearing your feedback on my recipes.
Baked Mac and Cheese with Garlic Confit
Ingredients
- 8 oz macaroni pasta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 6 tbsp butter, salted
- 1/2 cup white all purpose flour
- 1 garlic bulb, or 2 garlic cloves finely diced
- 3 cups milk
- 1 cup red or white cheddar, grated + 1/4 cup extra
- 1/2 cup Jarlsberg cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup gruyere, grated
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.
- Bake garlic: Using a sharp knife, slice the top off the garlic bulb, about 2 – 3 cm down from the top to expose the raw cloves. Place the bulb of garlic into the centre of an oven proof dish, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 1 hour.
- Remove garlic cloves: Allow the garlic to slightly cool until you are able to handle it. Using your fingers, squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skin. Set to the side.
- Boil pasta: Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to the boil. Follow the instructions on the back of the pasta packet for al dente pasta and drain your pasta 2 minutes before the suggested cooking time. Stir through a teaspoon of butter through the drained pasta and leave to slightly cool.
- Make roux: In an oven proof pot on a medium heat, combine the butter and olive oil and cook until melted. Add the flour and garlic to the pan and whisk to form a roux. Stir constantly for 1 – 2 minutes.
- Add milk: Add the milk to the roux, one cup at a time and whisk until combined and lump free. Repeat this step 2 more times until you have used up all the milk. Whisk the sauce for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.
- Add cheese: Take off the heat and stir through the cheese with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Season to taste. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir through.
- Bake: Sprinkle 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese all over and bake for 15 minutes or until golden on top. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- Garlic confit: While I love to use my garlic confit as much as I can, this can be replaced with 2 cloves of raw garlic.
- Cheese: I like to use a mix of gruyere, cheddar and jarlsberg but a lovely Colby Jack, some grated parmesan or Velveeta would work well too. Just make sure you freshly grate your cheese and don’t buy pre-grated as it does make a difference!
- Pasta: Short, twisty shapes work best like macaroni, cavatappi, small shells or fusilli to catch all that creamy sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Hi! I am going to use this recipe for Thanksgiving and will tag you on Instagram 🙂 We will have about 20 guests for Thanksgiving. Would it work to just multiply the recipe by 4?
Wanting to do this recipe but I’m wondering about the Gruyère as taste and texture can vary significantly with age and such. The cheddars can very a great deal as well. I personally prefer a very sharp white cheddar but that may not be ideal for this recipe. What is recommended for this recipe, or does a change in one type/grade of cheese need to be paired with a more complimentary choice in the other cheeses?
You can use whatever cheese you like! This is my favourite combination. Just make sure to test the seasoning if playing around the types of cheeses.