Fresh Flavorful‘s Bacon Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese recipe is made with Golden Glen Creamery ‘s Jalapeno Cheddar and Medium Gouda cheeses as well as Boldly Grown Farm‘s jalapenos and dried pepper powder.
Golden Glen Creamery features all-natural, handcrafted cheese, butter, and dairy from the herd of Holstein, Guernsey, and Jersey cows. Golden Glen’s dairy, creamery and farm store owned and operated by Norma Ruiz and family in Bow, Washington. Read more about the Ruiz family, how they make their cheese, and their new farm store in Bow here on the GSV Blog.
Boldly Grown Farm is a certified organic family farm specializing in fall and winter produce. They offer a winter Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in addition to a fully-stocked farm stand year round. The are located in Bow, Washington off of Chuckanut Drive. Learn more about Boldly Grown farm here on the GSV Blog.
Flavorful with a nice heat and dimension, we hope you’ll give this recipe a try.
Bacon Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese
8-10
servings30
minutes30
minutesRecipe by Tristin Rieken, Fresh Flavorful
Ingredients
1 pound elbow macaroni
½ pound sliced bacon, about 5 slices
2 tablespoons salted butter
¼ cup all purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
2 medium jalapenos, 1 sliced and 1 diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 large scallions, sliced, white and greens separated
16 ounces jalapeno cheddar cheese
4 ounces medium gouda
¼ cup cream cheese, or labneh
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg powder
Preparation
- Bring a medium pan of heavily salted water to boil over high heat. Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Then drain but do not rinse. Set aside pasta aside.
- Meanwhile preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
- To make the bacon jalapeno cheddar cheese sauce, shred 3 cups of cheddar cheese and cube remaining cup of cheese. Shred gouda. Chop bacon into roughly ¼” pieces and cook until evenly browned in a large saucepan over medium heat. Once browned remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate and remove all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease.
- Add butter to bacon grease in pan and melt over medium low heat. Add jalapenos, scallion whites and chopped garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, over medium low heat until flour is lightly golden, about 3 minutes. Then increase heat to medium and slowly whisk in milk. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until sauce is thick. Then remove from heat and stir in cream cheese, gouda and 1 cup of the shredded jalapeno cheddar cheese. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne.
- Toss drained, but not rinsed, al dente macaroni in the jalapeno cheddar cheese sauce with scallion greens and most of the sliced bacon bits, reserving a handful of bacon for garnish.
- Stir in cubed cheddar cheese. Then pour mixture evenly into a buttered shallow baking dish. Top with remaining shredded cheddar cheese, reserved bacon bit and cream cheese stuffed halved jalapenos, if desired.
- Bake in preheated oven until cheesy topping is browned and cheese sauce is bubbling up around the macaroni.
- Remove and cool slightly before serving.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- For a jalapeno mac and cheese recipe with less heat, simply remove jalapeno ribs and seeds and omit the extra jalapeno pepper topping. For extra heat, add cream cheese stuffed jalapenos to the top before baking and sprinkle with even more chopped fresh jalapenos before serving.