Trinidad Macaroni Pie Recipe

Name: Trinidad Macaroni Pie
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked); 1 tablespoon salted butter; ¼ cup onion (finely chopped); 2 large eggs; 2 2/3 cups evaporated milk ((measure from 2 cans of Carnation milk)); ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon white pepper; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder; 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme; a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional); 3½ cups grated aged cheddar cheese (reserve ½ cup for topping)

Jump to Recipe ↓ Support My Work 💟

1 hour

Trinidad macaroni pie is a Caribbean comfort food classic.

The dish is similar to a baked macaroni and cheese casserole, but the cheese isn't melted down into a sauce before baking.

A slice of cheesy macaroni pie sitting on a blue plate next to a purple napkin.

Macaroni pie is a staple dish in Caribbean cuisine, and one that I grew up eating a lot in my Trinidadian household.

My mom has always made a sweet (kid-friendly) macaroni pie for me and my brother, which is essentially a basic macaroni pie recipe with the addition of 2 tablespoons of brown sugar (or condensed milk).

I love how the sweet pie pairs with stewed chicken, and no matter how many other versions I try, I will always prefer my mom's pie over everyone else's.

I shared that recipe on my blog about six years ago, and it's one of my most popular recipes today. However, I recently realized that no one else I know makes their macaroni pie sweet...

Jump to:

🥣 What Goes In Trinidadian Macaroni Pie?
📖 Recipe Variations
🍽 My Best Macaroni Pie Recipe
🙋🏽 Frequently Asked Questions
🖨 Printable Recipe

🥣 What Goes In Trinidadian Macaroni Pie?

"Traditional" Trinidad macaroni pie is a baked dish made with macaroni, eggs, grated cheese, evaporated milk, salt and white pepper.

Optional add-ins include grated onion or carrot, chopped herbs and tomato.

At least, those are the ingredients that are listed in the 2002 edition of the Naparima Girls's High School Cookbook (officially titled The Multi-Cultural Cuisine of Trinidad & Tobago & the Caribbean).

This is the quintessential book on Trinidadian cuisine, and every Trinidadian family seems to have a copy of the book in their home.

The first edition, published in 1988, lists only macaroni, eggs, cheese and carnation milk as the ingredients for the recipe. Salt, black pepper and grated onion are optional.

Personally, I can see why they altered the recipe in the second edition of the book... I can't imagine that the original recipe would be very tasty!

📖 Recipe Variations

An overhead photo of a slice of Trinidadian macaroni pie on a blue plate.

I asked my friends and family to share what they put in their macaroni pies, since every family has their own twist on this classic recipe.

Everyone said their pies are savoury, and everyone said they use milk and eggs. Some people use a combination of cheddar and mozzarella cheese, while others prefer just aged cheddar cheese.

Some people add herbs, others add ketchup and mustard, and I have one aunt who makes a really tasty version with powdered ginger.

My friend Heather from Heather's Eats shared a Bajan (meaning from Barbados) macaroni cheese pie recipe with me too. That one was heavy on the mustard, using both hot English mustard and regular yellow mustard. It also included ketchup, onion and red pepper sauce, with optional sweet bell peppers, butter and breadcrumbs.

The recipe really varies from family to family, which makes me wonder who gets to decide which version of Trinidad macaroni pie is authentic?

I'm Trinidadian-born, my parents are also Trinidadian, as are my grandparents on both sides. My mom has always made our macaroni pie sweet, and no one else seems to. I often worry that the versions of Trinidadian recipes that I grew up with aren't "authentic" enough to publish on my blog.

But lately, I've been wondering who gets to decide which recipes are the gold standard and which are not?

There are so many variations in recipes, from country to country, village to village, even person to person, that it's a bit ridiculous to think that certain recipes should be made one way and one way alone in order to be "authentic".

🍽 My Best Macaroni Pie Recipe

A slice of macaroni pie sitting on a blue plate.

After a lot of trial and error, I've come up with a savoury Trinidad macaroni pie recipe that my friends and family seem to enjoy.

My mac pie combines the sweetness of cooked onions with white pepper, garlic, mustard, thyme and cayenne.

I tried making one with raw grated onion added in, just a quarter cup of it, and I really disliked it. So I've opted to cook my onions down so they become a bit sweeter before adding them to the pie.

If you want the onion flavour without the work, you could substitute a teaspoon of onion powder instead.

I went with white pepper just because I didn't want to see any black flecks in my pie. If you don't have white pepper (or don't like it), you can use black pepper instead.

I've also used dry mustard powder instead of prepared mustard, but you can use whatever you have on hand. I've made this with yellow mustard, dried mustard, Dijon mustard, and all of those taste great in this recipe.

For the cheese, you can use any cheddar that you like. I used a blend of white and orange aged cheddar cheese, but I've also used marble cheese in the past and it works out great (although the flavour is milder).

My mom told me that when we lived in Trinidad, she would make her macaroni pie with New Zealand cheddar cheese, so if you can find that it might be a good option.

If you try making this recipe, I'd love for you to leave a comment and let me know if you enjoyed it. Or, if you usually make macaroni pie at home, let me know what you like to add to yours!

🙋🏽 Frequently Asked Questions

What side dish goes well with mac and cheese?

Macaroni pie pairs well with anything stewed or grilled, so long as it has sauce. The pie itself isn't creamy like mac and cheese, so it's best to pair it with something saucy. The strong flavours of stewed chicken or saucy barbecue chicken pairs very well with the subtle sweetness of the pie.

Do you put eggs in macaroni pie?

Trinidadian macaroni pie always has an egg or two in it, which binds the filling together. If you prefer a lighter/less eggy flavour, just use one. You can also try omitting it all together, but I haven't tested that myself.

Can I make this recipe with regular cow's milk instead of evaporated milk?

I do not recommend using cow's milk in this recipe. Cow's milk can easily curdle when cooked at high temperatures, whereas evaporated milk remains stable even when cooked at high temperatures.

What size of baking dish should I make this in?

I used a 9" x 11" enamelled cast iron baking dish to test this recipe. If you don't have that size, a 10" x 10" baking dish will also work. You can use a standard 9" x 13" baking dish, but your pie may turn out a little bit thinner than mine.

🖨 Printable Recipe