No boil Macaroni Mac & cheese

[swechef]

Alright here's another believer. 2 hours on the RFS while smoking a ham. It was gone before I managed to snap any pics! Thanks for a great base recipe! This goes into the favourite file!

Cheers /Wes

 

[roadkill cafe]

 

[amper]

Im just curious how to place the stick of buter on this. Just lay a stick down and hope it spreads evenly or chop butter into pieces and lay it over mac evenly? Or melt it and pourit over mac evenly?

 

[roadkill cafe]

Cut into pieces and place evenly. At least that's what I do. I've cut back on the amount that I use also. I use about 1/2 to 2/3 of a stick. Don't forget to stir it up about an hour into the cook.

 

[bgaviator]

I made this recipe exactly following the directions last night to go with our smoked turkey legs.  The taste was good, but the texture was not quite right.  It seems like we ended up with a gob of melted cheese on top, with just buttered noodles on the bottom layer, because the elbow pasta was just basically in a pool of butter on the bottom, with the cheese melted on top.  I didn't stir the dish during the cook....maybe stirring halfway through to mix the cheese in?

I used a whole stick of real butter.  I used a grated block of cojack cheese, and a block of medium cheddar. 

It tasted good, but just didn't come out like I had hoped. Thanks. 
 

 

[gmosmoke]

I stir at least three times during the smoke.

I like to add a cup of pulled pork after the first hour (about time of first stir)

-Gmo

 

[greg b]

I'll be making a couple batches tomorrow for church fish fry and to go with the pulled pork I'm doing for dinner at Granny's! Can't wait!

 

[usmcrob]

This is sooooooo going on the pit tomorrow!!! Got a big ole beautiful packer that's starting here in a couple hours, and I think the mac n' cheese will go great!!!!

 

[goodbeer]

I love how easy this recipe is and if you already have the smoker going why not throw some mac n cheese on!

I made a few small changes to the recipe:

Basic recipe:

2  1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

1/2  stick butter (cut into thin slices)

12 ounces yellow cheddar cheese (Buy a brick and shred it yourself it seems to melt better than the pre-shredded)

4 Ozs. mozzarella cheese (I used Velveeta instead, I'm not a huge fan of Velveeta but it helps with making it creamy)

5 cups milk

 salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

I need to get better at snapping before and after pics!

 

[tomnt369]

Cooked this Saturday and it was great. Now I'm gonna have to try every recipe on here. lol  I did add some real bacon bits and broccoli.

 

[redwood carlos]

This is great!!! Just made another batch everyone loves it.

Mac
Butter
4oz cheddar
8oz mozzerella
4oz cream cheese
1 cup heavy cream
4 milk

Stir at 30 mins and add:
8oz cooked chopped bacon
Half a bunch asparagus cut to 1"

Stir at 45 mins

55mins added jalepeno slices and panko bread crumbs.

Broil to color.

20131019_145109.jpg

• redwood carlos
• Oct 19, 2013

 

[rokems]

I recently made a version of this for a lady-friend I had over and we were very pleased with the results.  Here's the recipe as I saved it on my computer:

One-Dish, No-Boil Mac & Cheese

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

1 stick butter (cut into thin pats or shredded)

16 oz sharp cheddar (chunk is less greasy)

4 oz mozzarella cheese

4 oz sharp cheddar Velveeta (cut into thin squares)

4 cups milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

Salt and pepper

Real bacon bits (1 lb pre-cooked)

Pre-heat oven to 350º

Layer macaroni, butter, cheeses (sans half the cheddar), and spices, in that order, in a 13x9" dish

Pour milk/cream over the top layer

Bake half hour, stir

Bake another half hour, stir again

Top with bacon, and then the remaining cheddar

Broil until golden brown

It's a great dish to make ahead of time.  Just get everything ready to go, but leave the milk/cream out.  When you're ready to cook, pour it over the top and pop it in the oven.  It couldn't be much simpler!

With the bacon, it wasn't truly a one-dish side, but if you were to buy pre-cooked bacon, it would be.  

 

[swartzster]

This sounds good. I'm gonna try it tonight with some ribs

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Time for another thread revival. I finally found an excuse to try this recipe (modified) in my Weber 26.75" Kettle, using a 1/2 size stainless steel steam table pan and indirect heat with fires on both sides using the Weber charcoal baskets. My (almost) 2 year-old grandson is addicted to mac & cheese...talked to my daughter about making this yesterday for a trial-run before his birthday. Well, it's now a must-do for his birthday, and I'm sure for other occasions, as well.

I made a double-batch, cut the butter to 1.5 sticks instead of 2, used 1lb shredded cheddar, 2 cups mozz, double the milk (2% milk fat) and mac, but used large elbow. Smoked with hickory and cherry, fired with KB. Started at ~250* for about the first hour, then increased to ~350* over about 15-20 minutes for a total cooking time of 2.25 hours. I added fried bacon chips the last 10 minutes and lightly folded into the dish. Thinkin' next time I'll add the bacon at 1 hour, fold it in, then toss on some seasoned bread crumbs for the topping and let it ride to the finish. Anyway, the pasta was just getting tender when I removed it and built the fire up for searing meats.

I'm my own worst critic, and thought I used too much milk for a deeper pan, but, to my surprise (because it's been a l--o--n--g time since I've made any cheese dishes), once it started to cool before serving, the cheese set-up a bit and thickened nicely. It wasn't a creamy texture because of the mozz, with very small crumbs mingled throughout the dish, but everyone raved about it. I must say, with a little more modifications for this cooking method it should be perfect. I like the idea of adding some cream cheese, but also, the use of a bit less fats seemed to make a good impact as well. There was a bit of butter in the bottom of the pan after we started serving it, but nothing serious. I think the layering might work better for my pan if I just smear the butter inside the pan, then layer the rest, as I waited too long to check it, and the mac was starting to stick to the bottom...easily lifted it away with a stainless spoon when I added the bacon, though. Overall, very easy, and with a little forethought, the blends of cheeses you can use for this is virtually endless. Oh, and the smoke flavor? Yeah baby, it's in there, and not too strong, either...a nice, mellow smoke flavor in every bite.

Thumbs up here!!! My daughter said she wants me to make it for his birthday party in early September, so I take that as a big, HUGE approval. Everyone else who stopped by had samples and gave me the thumbs-up. I'm sure it will be a requested side dish for many years to come!!!

Thanks for posting this recipe!!! And thanks to everyone for their input on modifying it to suit their wants and needs...gave me some insight on where to start!!!

Eric

 

[daveomak]

Good job Eric.....

 

[buzzard]

I looked and did not see the answer to my question. Waht is meant by 2 cups of elbow macaroni? are we saying 16oz? or pouring the noodles on a measuring cup and actuially using two measued cupsw?

 

[daveomak]

Use a measuring cup.... The volume of noodles has a direct effect on the amount of cheese, milk etc.

 

[tumbleweed1]

I made this in the smoker yesterday to go with some Faux Burnt Ends (chuck roast).

I tweaked it a little- very good!

Thanks.

TW

 

[bpopovitz]

Good to see this thread / recipe is still alive... I've used and modified this recipe probably 30 -40 different times since I originally posted it. Mac & cheese is so much up to individual taste but this is a good blank canvas and so easy.

 

[bpopovitz]

Good to see this thread / recipe is still alive... I've used and modified this recipe probably 30 -40 different times since I originally posted it. Mac & cheese is so much up to individual taste but this is a good blank canvas and so easy.