Smoked Mac and Cheese
The smoke goes with the cheesiness like it was just meant to happen and you seriously will not believe your taste buds when you taste it.
Ingredients
- 16 oz Elbow noodles medium or large
- ¼ lb Butter 1 stick
- ½ cup All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon Salt regular table salt
- ⅓ teaspoon Paprika McCormick's, sweet or smoked will all work just fine
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper course grind
- 4 cups Cheddar cheese grated (I used sharp cheddar)
- 5 cups Half & Half
- 3 cups 4-cheese mix Mexican works great
- 1 lb Bacon crumbled
- ¼ cup Jeff's original rub
- 2 lbs Pulled pork Optional
- 2 TBS Jeff's barbecue sauce Optional
Instructions
- Follow directions on noodles bag/box to cook them. Cook them to partially done (al dente is perfect). Once the noodles are finished, quickly pour into a colander and run cold water over it to stop the cooking process. Set aside.
- Fry ALL of the bacon and crumble it up. Set aside.
- Make the cheese sauce by adding a stick of butter to a large sauce pot over medium heat. Once melted add flour, pepper, salt, paprika and mustard. Stir well to combine.
- Add the half-and-half and continue stirring until the sauce thickens (about 8-10 minutes).
- Place the 4 cups of cheddar into a large mixing bowl and pour the thickened sauce over the cheese. Stir until all of the cheese is melted and distributed throughout.
- Pour the cheese sauce over the noodles and combine well.
- Pour about half of the saucy noodles into the foil pan then sprinkle on about half of the 4-cheese mix (about 1.5 cups). Add about 2 TBS of Jeff's original rub evenly over the top of this layer.
- Repeat this layer again with the other half of the noodles, the other half of the 4-cheese mixture and 2 more TBS of Jeff's original rub.
- Sprinkle the crumbled bacon over the top evenly and it's ready to smoke!
- Preheat the smoker to 225°F (107°C) using indirect heat and pecan or apple wood for smoke. If your smoker uses a water pan, fill it up.
- Once the smoker is ready, place the pan of Mac n' cheese into the smoker and cook for 2-3 hours or until it reaches a good golden brown color on top.
- Once its done smoking, serve it up immediately.
Notes
Alternatives
- Try adding chopped fresh jalapeños to the noodles before layering them into the pan. I use about 4-5 but it really just depends on what heat level you are looking for.
- Instead of layering the Mac n' cheese, just add everything to the pan including the bacon and stir it all together. Stir every 20 minutes while it cooks to work the smoker into the mixture.
- The Mac n' cheese goes great with pulled pork, by adding a big dollop of pulled pork to the top of a big helping of Mac n' cheese then add some barbecue sauce to the top. It's good stuff!