Caribbean macaroni pie is a comfort food staple in the West Indies. This cheesy baked pasta dish is delicious with stewed or barbecued chicken. This recipe is a bit sweet and very plain, making it a kid-friendly version of this classic dish. If you're looking for a more traditional savoury macaroni pie, check out my Trinidad Macaroni Pie post.
As much as I enjoy a big bowl of creamy mac and cheese, it will never replace my love for Caribbean macaroni pie.
Cheesy and baked until golden, this hearty side dish is was a weekend dinner staple at my house all through my childhood. My mom always made our macaroni pie a bit sweeter than most people do. She also left out a lot of the traditional seasonings (onions, herbs, mustard etc.), probably because I was such a picky eater. After making it that way for so many years for me, and then for my brother, this sweet version eventually became our preferred recipe.
Every Caribbean household seems to have their own macaroni pie recipe, to be honest. Some people like theirs to be spicy, some people use a lot of herbs. It's one of those recipes that you can easily customize to suit your own family.
As I mentioned earlier, if you're looking for a classic savoury macaroni pie recipe, you'll want to check out my Trinidad Macaroni Pie post. That recipe has savoury ingredients like onion, garlic, thyme, etc.
Regardless of how you flavour your macaroni pie, it will always be delicious with a saucy main course. We enjoy eating it with stewed or barbecued chicken, but I've heard that some people serve it with fish. I personally love eating it with stewed chicken, because I can use the pie to mop up all of that delicious sauce.
Macaroni pie might be a bit strange to you if you've never eaten it before - especially if you're used to eating creamy macaroni and cheese. The texture is different, because the cheese isn't melted into the sauce. For macaroni pie, you just shred the cheese and mix it into the cold egg and milk mixture before baking. This gives you chunks of cheese, instead of a creamy cheese sauce. Don't let this deter you from trying the recipe though - it's tasty!
There are many ways you can make this dish your own. You can try using a different type of cheese, top it with fresh herbs and breadcrumbs or play around with the seasonings. My aunt makes a delicious macaroni pie with powdered ginger in it! Once you make the dish a few times, you'll figure out what flavours you enjoy best. Again, if you prefer a classic macaroni pie, like the one in the Naparima Girls' cookbook, you'll want to take a look at my Trinidad Macaroni Pie recipe instead of this one.
I love the combination of cheddar or marble cheese, white pepper and brown sugar, because those are the flavours that I grew up with. This is the mac and cheese of my childhood, and I'm not about to mess around with it.
Caribbean Macaroni Pie
Ingredients
- 2 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
- 2 eggs
- 2 ⅔ cups evaporated milk, (measure from 2 cans of Carnation milk)
- 3 ½ cups cheddar cheese, grated, reserve ½ cup for topping
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Boil macaroni in salted water approximately 8 minutes, or according to package instructions. Once cooked, drain and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs until fluffy.
- Add milk, pepper, sugar and salt and stir until combined.
- Stir in 3 cups of cheese, and the cooked macaroni.
- Pour into a greased, 9x11 baking dish and top with reserved ½ cup of cheese.
- Bake until firm, 35-40 minutes.
- Allow pie to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Cold cheese is easier to shred than warm cheese
- In Trinidad, people use New Zealand cheddar cheese but you can use whatever you have available
- If the cheese on top begins to brown too quickly, cover it with tin foil for the remaining baking time.
Please read the blog post for detailed tips and explanations.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer: please note that the nutritional information for this recipe is only an estimate, and has been calculated using a plugin.
Dave
Is this to be eaten alone or as a side
Shareba
You can eat it alone if you want to, but it is often served as a side with stewed chicken, or BBQ chicken. This mac pie is pretty sweet, so if you're new to the dish you might want to try the savoury version instead: https://insearchofyummyness.com/trinidad-macaroni-pie/. It has more mass appeal.
George R Alexander
I've made this dish several times, and my entire family love it. Since I grew up in Grenada, and was used to my mom's delicious savory version of 'Macaroni Pie', I really appreciate 'your kid friendly' version, which our 3 grandgirls 10,7 & 3 love. The American adults love it also. One important fact that one can't over-stress; What you have here is 'Macaroni Pie', which is way different to 'Macaroni & Cheese'. Thank you!
Shareba
Hi George, thanks so much for your comment. I'm so glad that your grandchildren enjoy this version! Honestly, I was a little anxious about sharing it because I thought people would think it's too sweet. It does seem popular with the little ones though. And yes, Mac Pie is definitely far different than Mac and Cheese!
George R Alexander
Fantastic and delicious.
Jessica
Oh man, I'm so excited to have found this! My best friend of 28 years is the daughter of a Jamaican immigrant. Her grandparents eventually immigrated too (we're Canadian) and we grew up with her Nana making mac and cheese like this for us! For years we've been wishing we had Nana's receipe, but we didn't know it was a Caribbean thing! I'm so excited to try this now and maybe even porch drop some down the street to my friend 🥰 Thanks so much for sharing!
Shareba
I'm happy to be able to help! This one is the sweeter kid-friendly version. If you grew up eating the more savoury one, I've got that recipe here: https://insearchofyummyness.com/trinidad-macaroni-pie/. I hope one of them works out for you! And I'm sure your friend would appreciate a porch drop - that's such a nice idea 🙂 Stay safe!
Breann
Trying this tonight, my husband is Jamaican and loves Mac Pie. I always try to be fancy with a roux and it never comes out quite how he likes it. I'll try this recipe and see if simple is better.
Shareba
I hope you both enjoy it!
Meagan
Easy to make, tastes like my mother in law's. I didn’t add enough salt the first time I made it, so I’m upping the salt this time. I wish there was an approximate salt measurement to use, but other than that it’s a great recipe.
Shareba
Hi Meagan, thanks for your feedback. I'm glad the recipe worked for you, but I apologize for not having a salt measurement. I don't generally add a measurement for salt because it depends on what kind of salt you use. I use sea salt at home, but 1 tsp of sea salt and 1 tsp of iodized salt don't taste the same. That being said, I'll revisit the recipe and see if I can make a suggestion for the salt quantity moving forward. Thanks again.
Ali
Do you make a rue with the milk mixture?
Shareba
Hi Ali, no you don't make a roux. There isn't any flour in this recipe.
Jen
This tastes great! Thanks for the recipe!
Shareba
I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it!
Emily
Can’t wait to make this tonight!! Is it big or small cans of evaporated milk?
Shareba
Hi Emily, I hope you enjoy the recipe! I've only seen one can size at my grocery, but the ones I use are 354 ml each. I hope this helps!
Louise Flowers-Coburn
Although I lived the taste my mac cheese pie curdled. I'm not a fan of evaporated milk so used a mixture of this with cows. Could this have been the problem? What can I use instead evaporated milk?
Shareba
Hey Louise, I'm sorry to hear that your mac pie became curdled! I suspect it's because you used regular cow's milk, which can easily curdle when cooked at high temperatures. I've only ever made this recipe with evaporated milk, which can be cooked at high temperatures without curdling.
I'm not sure what would be a decent substitute for the evaporated milk...
If you want to use cow's milk, you'd have to make a cheese sauce on the stovetop first so you could gradually warm up the milk, but the texture will not be macaroni pie. It would be more like baked mac and cheese.
If you don't like the flavour of evaporated milk, you could try making this version of Macaroni Pie instead. It has more seasoning, you so may not taste the evaporated milk at all: https://insearchofyummyness.com/trinidad-macaroni-pie/. I hope this helps!