Super creamy and rich macaroni is cooked in a cheesy béchamel sauce and sprinkled with bacon. This dish gets extra smoky flavor by finishing cooking on your grill or smoker. It makes a perfect side dish to BBQ meat, or serve it on its own as the main course.
It is a robust recipe that can absorb changes such as the type of cheese and style of pasta. As such different varieties of cheddar cheese can be used including smoked cheddar. Rotini, penne, farfallem and shell pasta all become options.
The mac and cheese can be cooked in the barbecue while the main meat is resting, meaning it smoothly fits into any big meal cooking schedule with ease.
The macoroni is surounded by a rich and moist cheese sauce making a rich and filling side dish.
The rich top crusts includes the more flavorsome pepper jack cheese and diced bacon which is added before baking.
The cooked pasta of choice is added to the becemel sauce to create the foundation of this mac and cheese.
This is just one sample recipe from BBQ Brain Misko’s cookbook Grilling With House of Q. The photos are Copyright Figure 1 Publishing. All rights reserved.
Smoked Mac ‘N’ Cheese Recipe
Super creamy and rich macaroni is cooked in a cheesy béchamel sauce and sprinkled with bacon. Great reviews and a crowd pleaser!
Preparation 20 minutes
Cook 40 minutes
Ready in 1 hour
Servings 8 Servings
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound bacon chopped
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 onion finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- salt and black pepper
- 3 cups grated aged cheddar cheese
- 2 pounds macaroni or your favourite small curly pasta
- 2 cups grated pepper Jack cheese
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Equipment
- smoker or grill
Directions
- Line a plate with paper towels. Place the bacon in a sauté pan, and cook on medium-low heat until crisp but not overcooked. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon bits to the plate to drain. Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of bacon fat into a clean sauté pan, and reserve the rest for another use.
- Heat the bacon fat over medium heat. Add the butter and onions, and cook, stirring often, until the onions are soft but not brown. Add the garlic and stir until it releases its flavor. Add the flour, stirring the mixture until it comes together. Cook the roux for a couple of minutes so your mac ’n’ cheese does not taste like raw flour.
- Slowly add the milk to the roux, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition so there are no chunks of flour and the mixture is creamy. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Once the liquid is warm, mix in the cheddar cheese. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook according to package directions, slightly undercooking so it will absorb some of the cheese sauce and make the dish extra tasty. Drain the pasta and mix it into the cheese sauce. Stir well.
- Prepare your smoker or your grill for smoking, to medium heat.
- Pour half of the mac ’n’ cheese into a large baking dish. Smother it with half of the Pepper Jack cheese, and then cover it with the remaining mac ’n’ cheese. Top with the remaining Pepper Jack cheese, Parmesan, and bacon bits.
- Smoke on the indirect side of your grill with the lid closed for 20 to 30 minutes, until the mixture is bubbly and the top is slightly browned.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before serving, if you can make it that long! Serve this dish family-style from the baking dish.
Nutritional Information
Calories: 1040kcalCarbohydrates: 95gProtein: 42gFat: 54gSaturated Fat: 29gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 139mgSodium: 986mgPotassium: 543mgFiber: 4gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 1263IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 765mgIron: 2mg
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Well, I’m not sure where this recipe started… maybe it was for our daughter or simply because it’s mac n cheese! Who doesn’t love mac n cheese? Especially a good one!
I crafted this recipe for my cookbook called Grilling With House of Q and it is probably one of the most popular recipes from the book. It’s delicious, uses a ridiculous amount of cheese and is a crowd pleaser. Add your own flair by adding things to it, use different pasta shapes or changing the “crumble” on top as you bake or smoke it. In any way, make the recipe!
I’m just going to start and say that this dish is absolute fire! We skipped on the onion and it was just incredible. Made to large pans for a cookout…..it was the first thing gone. This is now a staple side dish for my family.
Absolutely fantastic, always a huge hit with friends and family. I’ve made it at scout camp for 150, and for my family of 4, and it’s consistently the first dish I run out of!