Ingredients
serves 4
Lesson Plan
Step 1
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until a little less than al dente. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain the pasta again.
Step 2
Cook the bacon in a frying pan over high heat until crispy, about 8 minutes. Remove extra grease by patting the strips with a paper towel, and then cut into bite-size pieces.
Step 3
Add the sauce and both cheeses to a large, heavy-bottomed pot and cook over medium heat. Stir until the cheese is barely melted, about 3 minutes. Add the bacon and stir to combine. Slowly add the cooked pasta, stir, and continue cooking while stirring continuously until the dish is nice and hot, another 5 minutes.
Step 4
Spoon into bowls and serve hot.
Beer Pairing: Red Ale
Wine Pairing: Cabernet Sauvignon
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Reviews (9)
Back to TopThis was good. I had my doubts about the amount it was going to make, so I doubled the recipe lol. Mistake! It made a whole dutch oven full doubled LOL. Anyway, I'll be making this again without the bacon and with other cheeses. Don't get me wrong...the bacon and smoky cheese were great. I just think this recipe screams "experiment with me!" About the bacon though, the recipe didn't say to do this, but I think it's necessary...cut up the bacon into pieces! I don't know how they think it will work with whole slices up bacon in there unless you cook it to a crisp making it easily broken. However, next time I will use turkey bacon. I heart bacon, but I don't really enjoy the fatty pieces, and sometimes I just got a whole mouth full of fatty bacon. Blech!!
Jes2G
Smyrna, GA
1/19/2014
This was just too heavy of a meal for me. I feel like the bacon was the only saving grace because my cheese mixture just had a different texture--too thick and only reheated well once. This recipe was boring.
Bglenn
Austin, Tx
10/22/2013
i made this for a vfw get together and everyone loved it! it was the first dish to go, my family raved about it at home too. i think the real trick is making a point to create the 'mac sauce' recipe. it gives a great thickness that cannot otherwise be acheived, when heating the mac and cheese may need a slight bit of thinning from milk or water
slrose
pa
10/16/2013
Stovetop Mac & Cheese with bacon? Boring and uninspired. I expect this from The grocery store demo or Hormel, not Epicurious. Please don't waste our time with recipes from the 70s.
DMelch
San Francisco, CA
9/30/2013
Absolutely no mushrooms! Parsnips yes!
Fradie
Detroit
9/30/2013
What about canadian bacon?
Colleendf
9/30/2013
I'm interested in trying this. My wife is not a big fan of bacon. What would be a suitable vegetable substitute for the bacon? Possibly mushrooms ?
photosbydean
9/30/2013
Agree with previous reviewer - also snipped the bacon to cut into little pieces before frying. Also put in oven (I think at 350F) for about 30 mins to brown the top. Family really loved it. I liked it - not the best mac and cheese I've ever had, but decent. Also used regular cheddar in place of the smoked because I couldn't find that.
jennyfeldmanlarocque
9/24/2013
Once again, picture does not match discription. The directions do not say anything about bread crumb topping and baking in the oven or even browning under the broiler, but the picture shows a casserole with browned toppings. I might try this recipe with a couple of changes. First I would halve the amount of bacon, that is over-kill. I would also snip the bacon into 1/2" pieces with the scissors before frying as that would give me the pieces wanted without having to break them up after cooking. I don't know why more chefs don't use this idea as it just makes more sense to me. If you want whole slices, cook it that way, if you want it in pieces cut them up before hand. I think I would also use my own cheese sauce recipe as it has dry mustard & worchestershire sauce added to the white sauce and gives it more punch.
butterfly6283
Portland, OR
9/6/2013
