Carolina Reaper Bacon Mac n Cheese
A fun way of dressing up a classic favorite, perfect for the spice lovers in your family, or tamed down for the herb and flavor lovers, reminiscent of the comfort food from Grandma’s kitchen!
Not for the faint of heart! This was an unplanned discovery-I was exploring a local butcher shop and they had shredded Carolina Reaper cheese on sale. Not only have I never had a Carolina Reaper pepper, but I’ve never even heard of cheese made from it-of course I had to try it! After sharing this discovery through Facebook, a few suggestions were provided-one being Mac n Cheese-challenge accepted! In an attempt to not have this just be, well…..hot, I added some fresh herbs and shallots to also give it some dimension and flavor to create a tasty dish as well as spicy. The cheese was exactly what I expected (have milk on hand!), and I slowly added it into the sauce bit by bit to make sure I could handle the heat! What made this dish successful was the combination of the spice level in the sauce with a dairy base, creating an overall spicy dish, but not one that lingered too long on your tongue!
Crisp it up! When I think of the nostalgic macaroni from my childhood, I usually envision a bowl of straight mush. Don’t get me wrong, delicious mush, but not much going on texturally. To take this dish to an adult level, I mixed up the type of noodle to give a bit more of a pasta feel than the hot dish version, and by adding bacon and breadcrumbs on top, there is a delicious crisp that forms, giving that crunch that so perfectly complements the creamy cheese! Mixing in the shallots and bacon with noodles also helps break up the monotony of the cheese and provide the dimensions that makes the dish complete!
Bought the Carolina cheese and looking for other uses? Try out:
Tortilla-less Kale and Black Bean Breakfast Burrito (a very similar recipe to the cheese sauce here, but I used this for a queso dip with enchiladas, and the leftovers as a drizzle over this breakfast burrito-both excellent!)
If you’ve tried this out, I’d love to hear from you! Post below!!
Check back often as new recipes are posted frequently, and jump over to Facebook to Like and Follow Goddess of Garlic to receive updates!
You can also follow along on Instagram or Pinterest!
Carolina Reaper Bacon Mac n Cheese
Equipment
- Stock Pot
- Deep Skillet
- Baking Dish
- Kitchen knife
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 medium Shallot
- 2 sprigs Fresh Thyme
- 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 tbsp Flour
- 1/2-3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream Depending on desired consistency, maybe a little more
- 1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese
- 2 tbsp Carolina Reaper Cheese Could also use pepper jack, or simply more cheddar with a tbsp of red pepper flakes
- 1/2 pkg Noodles I used penne
- 4 strips Bacon
- 1/4 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. In the stockpot, bring water to a boil and add noodles.
- In skillet, cook the strips of bacon as directed and set aside.
- Using the same skillet (it's ok to leave a little bacon grease in there!), warm the butter and oil, adding in chopped shallot and minced garlic. Sautee until fragrant and add one sprig of the fresh thyme to cook slightly, along with the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
- Once fragrant, stir in the flour and stir constantly until a thickened paste starts to form. Turn the heat lower and slowly add in the heavy cream, stirring until it starts to thicken from the paste.
- Gradually fold in the cheeses and stir until desired consistency forms. This is a good time to adjust spice level with more or less Carolina Reaper cheese (hint: start with a much smaller amount than you think and gradually add in-it sneaks up on you!).
- Straining the noodles, add them to the skillet along with two strips of the bacon chopped finely. Stir well and pour into your baking dish.
- Sprinkle with additional bacon pieces and breadcrumbs and bake until slightly browned (about 8 minutes), or place under the broiler for a few minutes for a more crunchy texture.
- Serve with additional sprinkles of fresh thyme and enjoy!
