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More Pasta Recipes
Bacon Mac and Cheese
My mac and cheese with bacon is everything I want in comfort food. It’s rich, creamy, and loaded with crispy bacon for that perfect salty crunch. I use a simple roux-based cheese sauce, plenty of sharp pecorino and gouda, and just the right pasta shape to hold all that gooey goodness. It’s quick to make, endlessly satisfying, and ideal for weeknights, weekend cravings, or feeding a hungry crowd. If you love easy baked pasta recipes, this one’s an absolute keeper.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 100g bacon bits (diced bacon, or bacon lardons)
- 50g butter
- 50g plain flour
- 1 1/2 cups full cream milk
- 1 tsp chicken stock paste
- 1/4 tsp garlic salt
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 75g Gouda, grated
- 50g Pecorino, grated
- Cracked black pepper to taste
- 400g macaroni
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and fry until golden and crispy, about 10-15 minutes. Set aside.
- In a pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk continuously until bubbling, then continue to whisk for another 2-3 minutes until the roux just starts to color.
- Increase the heat to medium and slowly whisk in the milk until the sauce is smooth and creamy.
- Whisk in the chicken stock paste, garlic salt, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Add the bacon bits, Gouda, and Pecorino. Stir until the cheese is fully melted and the mixture is well combined. Season with a generous amount cracked black pepper.
- Cook the macaroni according to the packet instructions, then drain and stir through the sauce.
- Serve hot!
Notes
- Feel free to use your favorite type of cheese or a combination of cheeses for a different flavor.
- For a vegetarian version, omit the bacon and use vegetable stock paste instead of chicken stock paste.
- You can add cooked vegetables such as peas, broccoli, or spinach to the macaroni and cheese for added nutrition and flavor.
- This dish can be baked in the oven for a crispy top. Simply transfer the macaroni and cheese to a baking dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and extra cheese, and bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes or until golden and bubbly.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave or oven until heated through.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 595Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 70mgSodium: 1078mgCarbohydrates: 53gFiber: 5gSugar: 6gProtein: 27g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
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Bacon Mac and Cheese recipe
When Inspiration Hits
Ever had one of those mornings where, despite being really tired and achey, inspiration hits? And not inspired by anything new, per se. But the inspiration to cook something you’ve been meaning to for a long time? That’s me with this Stove-top Bacon Mac and Cheese recipe. It had been sitting in the back of my mind for weeks, maybe even months, and it finally demanded my attention. You know that feeling, right? When a dish you’ve made many times suddenly calls to you with new purpose. I wanted it to be better than it’s ever been, and it finally is.
Now, I have of course made this many times before (just like most recipes from The Archives), but it was always missing that certain je ne sais quoi. It was always ok, but never great. However, when I found the beef stock paste I used for my red wine ragu, I knew that the chicken stock paste would turn my bacon mac and cheese recipe from eh to excellent. It’s the kind of simple but deeply flavourful change that completely transforms a dish without altering its essence.
And you know what? It is all the difference in this mac and cheese recipe. In the past, I have experimented with chicken stock pots, but the flavour was never quite there. And stock pots tend to have dehydrated veggie bits in them, which we do not want in a creamy pasta sauce! Honestly, stock paste is one hundred percent changing my recipe game. If you can find it in your local supermarket, get some! And if you want, just use 1/3 of a stock pot in this recipe and ignore the dehydrated veggie bits and my complaining.
Officially Autumn and a Little Bit Home-sick
Australia follows the meteorological, rather than an astrological, calendar when it comes to the seasons, meaning we are officially in Autumn! Something I am very grateful for. I am not a fan of Aussie summers! And given my love of comfort food, we all know this means lots of cosy and comforting recipes are on their way. With the heat easing off and the mornings turning crisp, I find myself reaching for dishes like this Stove-top Bacon Mac and Cheese more than ever. It feels like a hug in a bowl, and lately, I’ve needed those more than I care to admit.
You may have noticed from my past few posts that I am tremendously homesick for the UK. I miss the sense of community! I miss how friendly everyone is. And I miss the weather, the cosy pubs! Yeah, there are cosy pubs here in Adelaide, but I think Adelaide has shown me everything I am missing about home – all the things I took for granted. There’s something about sitting with a plate of cheesy pasta that brings those memories flooding back. It’s not even the food itself, but the act of preparing it and the sense of ritual it brings.
Adelaide is like little England, but only in hints. So it’s a subtle reminder of everything I left behind, and rather than making me feel comfortable, it just gives me the drive and passion to get back home. So, the plan over the next wee while is to save as much money as possible in every way I can. And with winter approaching here, and my first real winter back in Australia (thanks Brisbane…) it’ll at least be nice to cosy up and play make-believe that I am snuggled up somewhere in the UK. I of course wouldn’t be moving back to Scotland. I never got to spend as much time in England as I wanted to, so that will definitely be the goal… But let’s just wait and see how we go.
Uh, What About This Recipe?
Oh yes! I suppose I should talk about this bacon mac and cheese recipe a little bit more. Um, there’s not really much to say! I use Gouda because I feel like it really compliments the bacon bits the best. And, the Worcestershire sauce is a cheeky little addition that adds a hint of umami to the sauce. The Worcestershire sauce along with the chicken stock paste is what really elevates this mac and cheese sauce. It’s the kind of combination that makes your tastebuds do a little dance without overpowering the comforting base.
And of course, don’t feel like you need to use macaroni in this recipe – use whatever pasta you love the most! In fact, this would probably be really good with a fettuccine or pappardelle! I should have thought of that myself, truth be told. I do love a pappardelle! It’s wide and flat and absolutely clings to sauce in a way that just makes sense. I’m already planning to test it again with a new pasta just to see how the flavour holds up. That’s the beauty of recipes like this – there’s room to play.
You know those people who think all pasta is the same? I am not one of those people! For example, I am not a fan of penne. Never have been, never will be. But, I love rigatoni! And macaroni! I love conchiglie, but will only use that in pasta dishes with seafood, because that’s how my brain works. I mean, you can’t have seashell-shaped pasta with beef or chicken! Anyway, as we all know though I am a celiac (yes, all my recipes are made using gluten-free ingredients) so I am limited in my pasta options. But this bacon macaroni cheese? Absolutely perfection no matter what pasta you use.
Ingredient Breakdown
So, let’s get to the heart of this recipe and break down what actually goes into it. At its core, this Stove-top Bacon Mac and Cheese recipe is a gloriously creamy, salty, rich pasta dish that doesn’t skimp on flavour. I start with diced bacon, pan-fried until golden and just crisp. You want it cooked through, but not too crunchy – that little bit of chew is what makes it nestle into the sauce just right. The bacon also gives off just enough fat to use as a base for the roux, which is where the magic starts.
For the cheese sauce, I use a simple roux of butter and flour (gluten-free for me, obviously) and whisk in milk to create a silky white sauce. To that, I add a good spoon of chicken stock paste – not cubes or pots – and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. The cheese? Gouda, all the way. It melts beautifully and pairs perfectly with the saltiness of the bacon. I find that cheddar is too sharp for this particular recipe, but feel free to mix cheeses if that’s your thing. A touch of pecorino on top at the very end doesn’t hurt either.
Then there’s the pasta. Yes, traditionally you’d use macaroni, but this recipe is flexible. I’ve made it with rigatoni, fusilli, and even gluten-free pappardelle once and it turned out divine. The pasta is cooked just shy of al dente before being folded into the sauce, allowing it to absorb some of that cheesy goodness without turning to mush. The final texture should be creamy, not runny, and every piece of pasta should be cloaked in sauce. It’s comfort food done properly.
