Macaroni cheese help. Why does it always do this?!

[workatemylife]

LOs have acquired a taste for macaroni cheese recently, and I've been making batches of it for family consumption. I've tried a traditional cheese sauce recipe, and the microwave cheese sauce recipe praised by some MNetters. I've also tried a cream cheese based sauce. It looks fine in the pan. It looks okay when I mix it with the pasta. Then I put it in the over and top with grated cheese to bubble for about 20 mins. It comes out with pasta okay, sauce tasting okay, but basically reduced to a think sticky coating on the pasta rather than the cheesy, gloopy comfort food that I dream about. I've tried making more sauce (1.5 time the recipes for the quantity of pasta), but still the same. What am I doing wrong? Do I need even more sauce? Do I need the sauce to be runnier than it is (lob some more milk in before adding pasta and baking). I can, usually, cook reasonably well but for some reason this is defeating me!

if it is thickening up when cooking then yes, it may be worth making the cheese sauce runnier to start with.

Have you tried adding an egg to the sauce before you combine it with the pasta? Beat an egg and stir it through the sauce while it's off the heat.

More sauce with less flour in it.

Egg will make it firmer,not runnier,

I use this recipe, which is gorgeous. Putting breadcrumbs on top of the macaroni cheese may stop liquid evaporating.

Maybe don't put it in the oven at all? I don't always bother as I like it runnier. I use toast to make 'cooked' breadcrumbs, mix with very finely grated cheese and sprinkle over the top once you've plated up, it'll melt.

Thank you for all the advice. I like the look of that recipe link, not least because it confirms that more liquid might be needed. But I might also try the grilling rather than baking method which would might stop the thickening as well. Yum!