CARIBBEAN SPICED BAKED MAC & CHEESE RECIPE

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🔥 Caribbean-Spiced Baked Mac & Cheese

With Scotch Bonnet, Allspice, Scallion & Mexican Blend Cheese

🧀 Ingredients:

For the pasta:
• 1 lb elbow macaroni (or pasta of choice)
• Salt (for boiling water)

For the cheese sauce:
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk (warm)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 scallions, finely chopped
• 1–2 tsp ground allspice (to taste)
• 1 Scotch bonnet pepper, deseeded and finely minced (use gloves)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 3 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese (plus more for topping)

Optional add-ins:
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika (for topping)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (for topping crunch)
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (optional)

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👩🏾‍🍳 Directions:
1. Boil the Pasta:
• Cook macaroni in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Make the Spiced Cheese Sauce:
• In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for 1–2 minutes to make a roux (don’t brown it).
• Slowly whisk in warm milk and cream. Continue whisking until thickened (about 4–5 minutes).
• Stir in scallions, Scotch bonnet, garlic powder, ground allspice, black pepper, and a pinch of salt.
• Once the sauce is smooth and bubbling, reduce the heat to low. Stir in the shredded Mexican blend cheese until melted and smooth.
3. Combine:
• Mix the drained macaroni into the cheese sauce. Stir until fully coated.
4. Bake:
• Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
• Pour the mac and cheese into a greased 9×13 baking dish.
• Top with extra shredded cheese, smoked paprika, and Parmesan (if using).
• Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until bubbling and golden on top.
5. Serve:
• Let it rest 5–10 minutes before serving. Garnish with more chopped scallions or thyme if desired.

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🔥 Tips:
• Adjust the Scotch bonnet amount based on your heat tolerance. Even ½ a pepper adds a punch.
• You can use a mix of cheeses if desired (e.g., sharp cheddar + pepper jack).
• For extra Caribbean flavor, stir in a little jerk seasoning or grated nutmeg.

Hey beautiful souls. Welcome to Annex TV where flavor meets soul. My name is Annie B and you read the caption. In today’s video we are making Caribbean spiced baked mac and cheese. OMG. When I say this was so creamy, had a nice balance of Caribbean flavor. This was a Caribbeanized baked mac and cheese. Okay, so ain’t nothing to it but to get into it. So let’s get into the recipe now. Um you want to cook your macaroni in salted boil water. Drain and set aside. Then here I’m making my cheese sauce. In a large saucepan, you’re going to melt some butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for about one to two minutes to make a r. But you don’t want to brown your r. All right. So, you’re going to keep adding the flour. Whisk it in. 1 to 2 minutes. When it’s all when all the flour is absorbed into the butter, that’s when you’re going to slowly whisk in your warm milk and cream. All right. Yes. We’re getting this nice and thick. Okay. We want our cheese sauce to be nice and thick. You can buy cheese sauce if you want to, but I love making my cheese sauce from scratch. All right. You’re going to continue whisking this until it is nice and thick for about 4 to 5 minutes. I will leave the recipe down in the description box for you all. Okay, so it’ll have all the measurements. Now, now here I’m stirring in my scallions, some scotch bonnet, then I have some garlic powder, ground allspice, black pepper, and some salt. You want to make sure you season to taste as well. Right, you’re going to whisk that in. And then once smooth and bubbling, you’re going to reduce the heat to low. And then you’re going to start adding in your Mexican blend cheese. That is what I used. Okay, you use what cheese you like in your baked mac and cheese, but the Mexican blend cheese, I feel like, is just the perfect variety of cheeses. It gives a very nice consistency for the cheese sauce. Whisk that in. And here I am tasting it. You see how it coats the spoon? That’s a good cheese sauce. That ensures that your baked mac and cheese is going to be nice and creamy. All right, so I’m making sure to taste it as I go to see if I want to add anything else. I added a little bit more salt. And then I’m adding a little bit more allspice. I’m adding some red pepper flakes. I wanted to have a little extra kick. Okay. A little extra kick kick. And then you’re going to go ahead and give that a good mix. Love making my cheese sauce. Um it just comes out great every single time. And it’s fun cuz you can do a variety of different flavors with your cheese sauce. Now here I’m adding in my pasta. And I actually used um bow tie pasta. I didn’t have macaroni, elbow macaroni. So, I used this and it it it’s just fine. It was just fine cuz it’s about the same size. So, you’re going to mix in your drain macaroni to your cheese sauce. Stir until fully coated. Make sure you preheat your oven to 375°. Now, what I like to do with my baked mac and cheese is I add a layer of um the the pasta with the cheese. And then I then I add some shredded cheese over that. And then I add the rest as you saw me do here. Okay. And then of course I’m going with some extra cheese over the top. I’m keeping it the topping very simple. I’m doing cheese and a sprinkle of paprika. That’s it. That’s all. You can add breadcrumbs if you like. Boom. Bada boom. Okay. It’s in a 9 by13 pan. I baked this for about 25 to 30 minutes until it was nice and bubbling. And I did two of these cuz I I made a lot. So I wind up doing two of them. But it came out so good. good. And I don’t usually make baked mac and cheese during the July 4th holiday, but I had to. I had to for the barbecue platter collab. And I was so happy I did cuz this had such a nice flavor. The cheese sauce was earthy, salty, had a little umami. Yes. It was just so good. Nice and cheesy. Look at that. Yum, yum, yum, yum. So good. Excellent. Baked mac and cheese. The recipe will be down in the description box for you all. Thank you all for tuning in. And I appreciate every single one of you. God bless and peace. [Music]