United States · cheese · baked
Best pasta for mac and cheese
A cheddar or American cheese sauce, often baked. Elbows are traditional. Shells and cavatappi hold more sauce.
- Region
- United States
- Base
- Cheese
- Texture
- Baked
- Shapes that hold it
- 10
- Classic plates
- 5
What it asks of a shape
Mac and cheese is a baked cheese-based sauce. It wants a tube, so the sauce rides inside as well as outside, a cup or a shell, to scoop the pieces, ridges, because the sauce has body and needs a grip, and a small shape that sits on a spoon. The ranking below scores every profiled shape on those traits, then the shape's own sauce notes break the ties.
What it is
- Main ingredients
- Macaroni, cheese, milk, butter
- Place of origin
- England
- Also called
- Mac and cheese, macaroni cheese
Macaroni and cheese is a pasta dish of macaroni covered in cheese sauce, most commonly cheddar sauce. Its origins trace back to cheese and pasta casseroles in medieval England. The traditional macaroni and cheese is put in a casserole dish and baked in the oven; however, it may be prepared in a sauce pan on top of the stove, sometimes using a packaged mix such as became popular in the mid-20th century. The cheese is often included as a Mornay sauce added to the pasta. It has been described as "comfort food".
10 shapes that hold it
Cavatappi
Tubes · All of Italy
Three ways to hold sauce at once, so it takes cheese sauces, cream, pesto, dressings, and a light ragu.
Chifferi
Tubes · All of Italy
Curved and ridged, it holds a cheese sauce or a dressing in the bend and on the grooves.
Conchiglie
Short shapes · All of Italy
A cup fills with whatever is in the pan: cheese sauce, cream with peas, a sausage crumble, a chunky tomato.
Macaroni
Tubes · Campania
A small smooth tube with a curve, so it holds a cheese sauce inside and a dressing in the bend.
Radiatori
Short shapes · All of Italy
Deep fins trap everything.
Campanelle
Short shapes · All of Italy
A hollow cone with a frilled edge, so it carries thick creamy and chunky sauces: cheese sauce, sausage and cream, a vegetable ragu, a thick tomato.
Cascatelli
Short shapes · United States
Designed for sauce: the trough holds it, the ruffle grips it, and the curve keeps it on the fork.
Rotelle
Short shapes · All of Italy
The spokes catch small pieces and a light sauce.
Rotini
Short shapes · United States
As fusilli: sauces and dressings with pieces that catch in the twist.
Creste di gallo
Short shapes · All of Italy
Tube, ridges, and a ruffle, so it takes cream, cheese, a sausage sauce, and a thick tomato.
Classic plates with mac and cheese
Every dish in the shape profiles that names this sauce, with the shape it is made on.
- Campanelle mac and cheeseCampanelle
- Cascatelli mac and cheeseCascatelli
- Cavatappi mac and cheeseCavatappi
- Macaroni and cheeseChifferi, Macaroni
- Radiatori mac and cheeseRadiatori
Sources
- The ranking and the sauce notes are our editorial judgement, from the traits in each shape record. See the method.
- Macaroni and cheese, Wikipedia (summary, ingredients, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata Q378341.