For the 18th century English fashion, see macaroni (fashion).

For Macaroni Latin, see Macaronic.

Macaroni is typically machine-made dry commercial pasta, used in contrast to fresh pasta made at home or in small local businesses. Macaroni technically must not contain eggs. Although usually commercially made some more advanced home machines do allow for the fresh creation of macaroni pasta. It is a corruption of the Italian word maccherone and its plural maccheroni.

Thomas Jefferson is credited with bringing the first macaroni machine to the United States in 1789 when he returned home after serving as ambassador to France. Jefferson credits Mr. Daniel Paese with teaching him all he learned about this machine.

In the United States and Canada, the name macaroni is customarily given to a specific shape of pasta: small pasta tubes cut into short pieces. Macaroni is also sometimes labelled as elbow macaroni, or more simply elbows, due to the slight bend in the shape of the pasta noodle. This pasta is usually prepared by baking it with Cheddar cheese or American cheese; the resulting dish is called macaroni and cheese (or macaroni cheese in Britain).

Among some Italian-Americans in the mid-Atlantic region (particularly in Philadelphia and New Jersey), macaroni is used as a generic term for any type of pasta. However, those Italian-Americans who are educated in the Italian language are careful to use the word properly, to refer only to small pasta tubes cut into short pieces.

In Canada the Kraft company makes a very popular packaged product known widely as Kraft Dinner. Kraft Dinner is an inexpensive and easy to prepare macaroni and cheese dish.