Spicy Jalapeño Mac and Cheese

4.78 from 9 votes

This Spicy Mac and Cheese is loaded with Fresh Jalapeños, 3 different types of Cheese and plenty of Crispy Bacon!

Prep Time10

Cook Time45

Total Time55

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Author: Chris Collins

Cost: £3 / $4

Equipment

12" Oven-Safe Skillet, or Large Regular Skillet + Baking Tray
Large Pot & Colander (for boiling pasta)
Jug (for milk)
Wooden Spoon
Cheese Grater
Sharp Knife & Chopping Board

Ingredients

14oz / 400g Elbow/Spiral Pasta (or of course macaroni)
9oz / 250g Streaky Bacon, diced
4 Fresh Jalapeños, (3 deseeded finely diced & 1 sliced into rounds)
4 cups / 1 litre Milk, at room temp
2.5 cups / 250g freshly grated Cheddar
1.5 cups / 150g freshly shredded Mozzarella
1 cup / 80g freshly grated Parmesan (save half for top)
3/4 cup / 45g Panko Breadcrumbs, or enough to lightly cover everything
3 heaped tbsp Flour (2oz/60g)
3 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Hot Sauce, or to spice preference
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Oil Spray, as needed

Instructions

Fry bacon in a large oven-safe skillet over medium heat until crispy with the fat rendered (or regular pan then transfer to baking dish later). Add 3 diced and deseeded jalapeños and fry for a couple of minutes until soft.
Melt in the butter then stir in the flour to form a roux. Very gradually add in the milk, stirring as you go to avoid lumps (can use a whisk if required). Add mustard, hot sauce, onion & garlic powder and a good pinch of salt & black pepper. Allow to gently simmer for around 5 mins until the sauce thickens and begins bubbling.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200C/390F and cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente (take a few mins off the packet instruction, you want it still a little hard).
Turn off the heat for the sauce and stir in all of the cheddar & mozzarella and half of the parmesan. It will be quite stringy at this point, but it smooths out once the pasta is tossed through and everything has baked. Taste for seasoning/spice and adjust if needed.
Drain pasta and stir through the sauce. If you're using a baking dish transfer everything now. Top with parmesan, followed by breadcrumbs and a very liberal spray of oil. Place in the oven for 10mins, then swiftly remove and sprinkle over the sliced jalapeños. Place back in the oven for another 10-15mins, or until golden, bubbly and visibly crisp on top. Serve with more hot sauce if desired!

Video

Notes

a) How spicy is this Mac and Cheese? - Really difficult to say as everyone has different spice thresholds. As it is, with the measurements given, I'd put it at a 'medium'. But it's all down to preference and completely in your control. If you find it spicy enough already with just the jalapeños then you can omit the hot sauce. With the same token feel free to increase the amount of hot sauce. Personally, I tend to use around a tbsp of hot sauce and drizzle over more when serving.

b) Can I use pickled/jarred Jalapeños? - I actually tend not to for two reasons: first if they're already quite soft and tend to go a little mushy when baked. Second is sometimes some of the vinegary taste lingers around in the sauce. It's not a total deal breaker if you've only got jarred jalapeños but do try and find fresh if you can!

c) Can I use other chillies? - Flavour-wise jalapeños are definitely best to take on cheesy flavours. Also difficult to know how spicy certain chillis are going to be. But if you're confident with your chilli picking then go for it!

d) Cheese - Make sure you use fresh cheese (not the pre-grated packet stuff) otherwise it may come out grainy. Also important to take the pan off the heat when stirring in the cheese for the same reason.

e) Updated Recipes - Updated on 27th Oct '22 with a few tweaks. Omitted cayenne pepper and increased hot sauce to 1 tbsp instead of 1 tsp. Decreased the mozzarella from 200g to 150g and increased the cheddar from 200g to 250g. Very minor tweaks, still delicious as it was before. Oh, and a new video above!

f) Calories - based on the above measurements divided by 6 people.

Nutrition