Roasted Garlic and Thyme Mac n' Cheese (2024)

Jump to Recipe

Roasted Garlic and Thyme Mac n’ Cheese is every bit as creamy and decadent as a good mac n’ cheese should be. With the added deliciousness of sweet roasted garlic and peppery thyme.

If you love creamy, cheesy, herby, garlicky goodness you are going to fall head over heels in love with this macaroni and cheese. I did. And it happened again and again with each and every bite.

This Roasted Garlic and Thyme Mac n’ Cheese is probably one of the best I have had. There is so much flavor happening. Sweetroasted garlic. Peppery thyme. Pepper jack and cheddar cheeses. My mouth is watering just telling you about it.

The idea of putting an egg into macaroni n’cheese is one that I’ve heard many times before. Adding egg makes the sauce a bit richer. Until this Roasted Garlic and Thyme Mac n’ Cheese,I had never tried it. Now, I am a convert. I add an egg to my macaroni and cheese now whenever I make it.

It is glorious. The egggives the cheese sauce an ultra creamy texture. There is one thing you have to be careful of. The key is to temper the egg with the hot milk mixture before you add it to the sauce. Tempering prevents the egg from curdling and becoming an eggy mess when you add it to the cheese sauce.

An eggy mess is not what I was going for with this Roasted Garlic and Thyme Mac n’ Cheese. No, no, Iwant creamy, smooth, cheesy goodness.

That is exactly what you get with this Roasted Garlic n’ Thyme Mac n’ Cheese. I just know that it is going to become a family favorite for you, just as it is for us.

Roasted Garlic and Thyme Mac n' Cheese is every bit as creamy and decadent as a good mac n' cheese should be.

5 from 6 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 1 hr 5 mins

Total Time 1 hr 20 mins

Course Main Dishes

Cuisine American

Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients

Mac n' Cheese Ingredients:

▢ 2 cups dried macaroni
▢ 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
▢ 4 tablespoons flour
▢ 2 1/2 cups whole milk
▢ 1 egg beaten
▢ 3 cups shredded medium cheddar
▢ 2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
▢ 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
▢ 2 teaspoons fresh cracked black pepper
▢ 1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Roasted Garlic Ingredients

▢ 1 head garlic
▢ 1 tablespoon butter
▢ 1 teaspoon oil
▢ salt

Instructions

▢
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
▢
Cut 1/4 inch off the top of the bulb of garlic to expose the cloves beneath, but do not peel the garlic, you want to roast it in the skin. Place bulb on a piece of aluminum foil, place butter on top, pour lemon juice over the garlic and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bring up all sides of aluminum foil and twist together to close. Cook for 45 minutes or until garlic cloves are soft and golden in color. Allow to cool. Once cool, use a fork to remove the garlic cloves. Mash. Set aside.
▢
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
▢
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Allow to cook for one minute. Slowly whisk in the milk. Heat to a simmer but do not boil.
▢
Slowly whisk a couple tablespoons of the heated milk mixture into the egg to temper it. Pour into the milk mixture.
▢
Whisk in the cheese and allow to melt. Whisk in the mashed roasted garlic, fresh thyme, black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Stir in the pasta. Mix well. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes so sauce can thicken.
▢
Stir. Adjust seasoning if desired. Serve immediately.

Notes

Enjoy!

Tried this recipe?Mention @lifesambrosia or tag #lifesambrosia!

Keywords: cheese, entree, Food, mac n' cheese, Macaroni and cheese, Recipe, roasted garlic, side dish, stove top mac and cheese, stove top macaroni and cheese

Taylor W.

February 6, 2019 at 1:11 pm

Loving the flavor in this mac and cheese! It looks so creamy and delicious!

Catalina

February 6, 2019 at 2:46 am

Mac and Cheese is a favorite around here. I should try your recipe soon!

Dorothy Reinhold

February 5, 2019 at 6:06 pm

Steph

February 5, 2019 at 3:26 pm

My kids are mac and cheese snobs and they absolutely loved this recipe! Love the garlic flavor!

Cheryl- TidyMom

February 5, 2019 at 12:28 pm

my mouth is water just looking at these photos!! love the flavors!

Chrissie Baker

February 5, 2019 at 12:02 pm

This looks amazing! Mac & cheese is one of my favorite dishes!

Mahy Elamin

February 5, 2019 at 12:01 pm

Oh my this look so sinfully delish..I love macroni and cheese..I cant eat it much ..gluten intolerant and the gluten free noodles are yucl…ha

Thanks for sharing..so yum!

Lindsay @ the Live-In Kitchen

August 11, 2014 at 12:01 pm

What a great flavor combo!

Monica

April 17, 2013 at 6:21 pm

Yummmmm, this looks so delicious.

Luna

November 13, 2012 at 12:28 pm

I made this, just with a “regular” mac & cheese as the base for the roasted garlic instead of adding the egg. It was amazing mac & cheese, but the garlic flavor got kind of lost. It’s amazing that a whole head of garlic can almost disappear. It was really really good, just more subtle than I was expecting. I still love the idea and may just try it with more garlic…?

Laura

October 8, 2012 at 8:48 pm

Looks awesome; pinned!

Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious

October 5, 2012 at 3:33 pm

What an awesome marriage of flavors! I’m definitely bookmarking this, and when I make it, I will eat every last bit of pasta piece – no sharing on this one!

Deeli

October 4, 2012 at 8:40 am

This sounds delicious, Des! Going to give it a try but switch out the pepper jack with smoked gouda – Yum!

Shut Up and Cook

October 3, 2012 at 8:53 pm

While I like to pretend I’m a sophisticated foodie, I love, love, love mac and cheese. Haven’t ever tried the egg angle, but it works for carbonara, so why not here…excited to give this a go!

StephenC

October 3, 2012 at 4:46 pm

This is the kind of recipe that makes a person hungry when he has just finished dinner. That would be me.

Aly

October 3, 2012 at 9:52 am

I’d never heard of adding an egg! Interesting idea. :) I also love the roasted garlic. Mmm.