In our household, mac and cheese is a sacred food. While we also love the occasional KD (don’t get me wrong, I still find the processed cheese delicious in this), you can’t compare it to a real homemade mac and cheese dish. I for one love stovetop mac and cheese, but there is something to be said about this baked gem! It’s incredibly creamy, silky smooth, not too heavy, but also has an amazing crunch to the outside. When we make this, it’s gone then and there!
This recipe is not only scrumptious, but also SO easy to make!
To start off, I recommend setting your oven to preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and setting a pot of salted water to boil. Obviously we can’t make our mac and cheese without some delicious pasta!
Now, the only thing here that’s important to remember is to not overcook the pasta (as it will continue cooking in the casserole dish later on). You will want it to be al-dente, with just a bit more bite than normal.
When the water boils, just follow the instructions for your pasta as per usual (you can use bowtie, elbow macaroni, or really any small to medium sized pasta).
While that’s happening, I like to pop my pre-diced bacon into a small frying pan and cook it until it just renders off most of the fat and starts to get a tiny bit crispy (if you like more of a chewy bite, I would say cook it even more until almost crunchy – the bacon will absorb some of the cream later and become more soft as it cooks in the oven).
Once done, you’ll want to drain your pasta, and add a small splash of oil or a bit of butter to the pasta to prevent it from sticking, and combine with the bacon. Set aside.
Now, if you’re good at multitasking you can obviously do this at the same time as the bacon cooks and pasta boils, but to make it simple (since it only takes 5 minutes) I like to do this near the end.
In a small saucepan, combine the butter, salt, and flour and stir vigorously until a paste forms. This paste is called a roux and will be the foundation to your sauce! It tastes horribly bland and boring, but that’s OK! Because the real flavour starts after we add our star ingredients to the mac and cheese.
One the paste forms, continue cooking it for just about a minute or two, on medium heat and start adding 1 cup of milk into the mixture at a time. I typically switch to a whisk to incorporate these two together and eliminate clumps. As you can see in the photo, I still had just a couple tiny lumps to whisk out, but the overall consistency should be that of a thick cream or mushroom soup. You want to add your spices in now and remove from heat.
Now comes the most exciting part! The actual assembly!
Add your grated cheese (I would suggest avoiding pre-shredded cheese, since it has caking agents in it that often make a mac and cheesy gritty). Just mix until combined, don’t worry that the cheese isn’t melted in.
Into the same pot where you have your macaroni and bacon, add your cheese mixture, and just stir until everything is evenly covered.
Transfer to a casserole dish (I’m using a 9″ square one by Jamie Oliver) and top with a generous heaping 1/3 cup of panko crumbs (or breadcrumbs of choice). If you like your mac and cheesy a little more stringy, I’d also suggest adding some extra cheese on the top, but that’s entirely optional.
Pop this sucker into the oven, and bake for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown on the edgess and the panko starts to get some colour.
Remove from oven and garnish with some fresh parsley (or parsley flakes in my case), and serve immediately! ENJOY!
I hope you enjoy this scrumptious and hearty, but also silky smooth mac and cheese recipe! If you decide to make it or have any questions, don’t hesitate to tag me and I’d be happy to get back to you or see what you made!
Creamy & Delicious | Southern Baked Bacon Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 3 cups bow-tie pasta (or any small sized pasta)
- 3 cups milk (1% or more)
- ¼ cup butter
- ⅓ cup flour
- 2 cups Gruyere or Jarlsberg cheese (or any high-melting cheese of preference)
- 1 cup Mozzarella cheese (do not use pre-shredded)
- 1 cup bacon (about 6 slices diced)
- ¼ tbsp garlic powder
- ¼ tbsp onion powder
- ¼ tbsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp parsley flakes (optional)
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs (or italian breadcrumbs)
Instructions
- Begin by preheating the oven to 350° and filling a pot with salted water to boil.
- Cook your choice of pasta for the recommended cooking time, minus 1-2 minutes (you want these to be al-dente as they will continue cooking in the oven). Once cooked, remove from heat and add a small splash of butter/vegetable or olive oil to prevent pasta from sticking,
- In the meantime, fry the bacon until crisp edges form and most of the fat has been cooked off.
- In a separate saucepan combine butter and flour and stir constantly, until roux forms.
- Add 1 cup of milk at a time to the roux and continue mixing with a whisk to make sure no clumps remain – about 5 minutes. You want the consistency to be reminiscent of mushroom soup – cream should be thick, but still run. Add the spices now. Remove from heat.
- Add the shredded cheese to the milk mixture to make the cheese sauce. Mix just until combined.
- Add the bacon to the pasta, and then pour in and mix in the cheese sauce.
- Transfer to a casserole dish and sprinkle with panko breadcrumbs and garnish with black pepper before setting to bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown crust forms. Do not overbake.
- Sprinkle with parsley flakes. Serve immediately!
Notes
- Make sure not to overcook the pasta, as it will continue cooking in the sauce when in the oven.
- You can use Italian breadcrumbs instead of panko, but panko are more crumbly and large and give a better crunch to the dish.
- If you like extra cheesy, stringy mac and cheese, sprinkle an additional cup of grated mozzarella on top of the casserole in addition to the panko.
