Every good BBQ needs some good sides. This smoked mac and cheese is unreal and you can add in any toppings you want!
**Post written by The BBQ Brothers. For all meat prep, grill set up, temperature and humidity control, recommended tools, and techniques for The BBQ Brothers recipes, check out The BBQ Brothers Beginner's Guide To Grilling first, then get to cookin!
So you have your whole BBQ weekend planned out. You've got your meat rubbed and prepped and on the smoker, the beers are cold and the game is going to be on a few hours.
But what are you supposed to do for that friend of yours with the new vegetarian girlfriend??? First, you tell him to rethink his life choices and the types of people he associates with. If that doesn't work, we have a ton of different sides that will fit for the meat averse people that you let into your life for whatever reason. The first is a guaranteed crowd pleaser for even the pickiest of eaters.
SMOKED MAC AND CHEESE
The first thing we want to do is get our cheese sauce ready for our macaroni. To start we want to make a roux, which is a fancy French way of saying we're going to combine some flour and butter and cook them gently. We do this to act as a thickening agent for our cheese sauce. 
So add your ¼ C butter to a medium saucepan and melt, then whisk in your ¼ C flour and cook for about 2 minutes until it starts to get bubbly and you'll notice it has turned a bit brown. Once you've reached this stage whisk in your 3 C milk and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes until it starts to thicken. After it has thickened add in your 8 oz of cream cheese cut in small chunks and stir until it's smooth.
In a large heat-resistant bowl, add all of your 24 oz of cheese. I hand grated mine because pre-shredded cheese has a bunch of weird additives that we don't need in our lives, and just as importantly it will save you some money which is never bad. Freshly grated cheese also creates a creamier mac and cheese. Plus this site has diet stuff and a little arm workout while you're grating will help burn off some of the mass amount of calories we're about to enjoy! And as you can see above....it's a lot. (Although this was for a double batch so don't be scared of this cheese mountain.)
Once you have your cheese grated (or dumped out of the bag like a dirty heathen) combine with the cream sauce we made earlier and mix until the cheese is melted and evenly distributed.
If you haven't done so already, cook your 1 lb of macaroni according to the box instructions. Once done drain and combine with your cheese sauce. All of these steps can actually be done in advance of a few hours to even a full day ahead.
At this point you can get more frisky and add anything that sounds good. If you want to add some heat you can add fresh jalapeños or hot sauce. If you want to add some crunch you can add bacon or breadcrumbs. If you want something more savory you can go with garlic and herbs. Go crazy!! You've made a great canvas, now it's time to paint on it! Or you can even go plain Jane and it will still taste delicious.
Once you have everything mixed together to your liking spray your aluminum tray with cooking spray and spoon in your mixture and even it out. Cheap aluminum trays are fantastic for recipes like this that you want to toss on the smoker since you won't want to stain a nice pan with smoke.
Throw it on the smoker over indirect heat at 225 F for about 2 hours until its crisped on top but still nice and gooey on the inside. Another thing that's so nice about this recipe is that since everything is already cooked you don't have to be exact on times or temperatures and you can pretty much just use whatever temp you're cooking any other foods at, and you can adjust the time for how smokey you want it to taste.
Are you wondering what that marvelous meat log is on the grill with the mac and cheese? That's our bacon explosion and the recipe can be found here. If you're looking for some crazy variations check out the pizza bacon explosion and the Thanksgiving bacon explosion, too!
So that's it! Once it's done dish it out and enjoy.
Smoked Mac and Cheese
- Cook Time: 2-3 hours
- Total Time: 55 minute
Description
Every good BBQ needs some good sides. This smoked mac and cheese is unreal and you can add in any toppings you want!
Ingredients
1lb (16 oz) Elbow Macaroni.
¼ cup flour
¼ cup butter
3 cups milk
8 oz cream cheese
24 oz of hand shredded cheese ( I like to use a mix of cheeses. One that is sharp and one that is a bit softer and will get extra gooey. I used 12 oz Colby Jack and 12 oz of Sharp Cheddar. But go crazy it's hard to mess up your cheese choices!)
Pepper to taste. (We already have loads of salt from the cheese so we don't want to add any more.)
Cooking spray
Feel free to add in any other ingredients you'd like, such as jalapeños, bread crumbs, bacon, hot sauce, garlic, herbs, etc. Go crazy!
Instructions
- First, add your ¼ C butter to a medium saucepan and melt, then whisk in your ¼ C flour and cook for about 2 minutes until it starts to get bubbly and you'll notice it has turned a bit brown. Once you've reached this stage whisk in your 3 C milk and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes until it starts to thicken. After it has thickened add in your 8 oz of cream cheese cut in small chunks and stir until it's smooth.
- In a large heat-resistant bowl, add all of your 24 oz of cheese. Combine with the cream sauce we made earlier and mix until the cheese is melted and evenly distributed.
- If you haven't done so already, cook your 1 lb of macaroni according to the box instructions. Once done drain and combine with your cheese sauce. (All of these steps can actually be done in advance of a few hours to even a full day ahead.)
- At this point you can get more frisky and add anything that sounds good. If you want to add some heat you can add fresh jalapeños or hot sauce. If you want to add some crunch you can add bacon or breadcrumbs. If you want something more savory you can go with garlic and herbs. Go crazy!!
- Once you have everything mixed together to your liking spray an 8x8 aluminum tray with cooking spray and spoon in your mixture and even it out. Cheap aluminum trays are fantastic for recipes like this that you want to toss on the smoker since you won't want to stain a nice pan with smoke.
- Throw it on the smoker on indirect heat at 225 F for about 2 hours until its crisped on top but still nice and gooey on the inside.
- So that's it! Once it's done dish it out and enjoy.
Notes
One thing that's so nice about this recipe is that since everything is already cooked you don't have to be exact on times or temperatures and you can pretty much just use whatever temp you're cooking any other foods at, and you can adjust the time for how smokey you want it to taste.
So let us know what you think....did this recipe smoke the competition or go up in flames?
I've now made this recipe 4 times, each time trying something different for flavor. I've also smoked it, put it on the bbq and baked in the oven, so far all have come out awesome...I'm not an experienced individual at trying a lot of online recipes, but you can be really good at trying recipes from the internet but just not that talented at the actual cooking part, cause I see someone trashed the recipe a bit in the review column and I've had no issues....AT ALL 🤔
★★★★
Thanks for the positive comment and review, Mike!! So glad this has become a regular for you, would love to hear some of the best add-ins you’ve liked best! 🙂
Love this recipe , especially while smoking various meats. I've minced bacon, jalapeno (cored) and sprinkle in some salt , pepper, onion powder and garlic or garlic powder. Hickory wood chips for the flavor.
Thanks for the feedback, Randy! So happy you love it! 🙂
We have made this delicious dish several times, and served it at a couple of family gatherings... it is A PHENOMENAL recipe!
You can’t go wrong with this one.
★★★★★
Wow, THANK YOU Ashley!!! So happy you love it, thanks for the great review! 🙂
Made it with 2 lbs of fresh dungeness crab, a pound of scallops and a pound of halibut. Mmmmm. Topped with Salt of the Gods and Frank's Red hot sauce.
★★★★★
Wow, this sounds amazing!!
Does this freeze well?
★★★★★
Hi Kimberly! Yes! Allow it to fully cool then add to freezable containers in desired serving sizes. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge then add a little milk before covering with plastic wrap and microwaving for 1 minute at a time until warm. (Be sure to stir every minute!)
You can also reheat on the grill on in the oven. Just add a little milk to the thawed macaroni, cover with foil and bake for 15-20 mins at 350 degrees F.
Hope you love it! 🙂
Can I do this on a gas grill with a smoker box
Hi Joanna! Yes you can, just make sure you keep your temperature low enough. Hope you enjoy!
I have made this several times and each time has been wonderful!! I was wondering how you would recommend reheating this? I am making several pans for a party and will have to reheat them.
Glad you like it, Lauren!! You can reheat the mac and cheese by adding a little milk to it, covering it with foil, and reheating at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. If you want, you can then add a little extra cheese and bake uncovered for another 5-10 minutes (until melted). Enjoy your party!
Sounds delish!! I may have missed this in your description, so my apologies if I did.....How many people would you estimate one pan will feed as a side?
Hi Heather! This will serve about 7-10 people depending on how hungry they are 🙂 I hope you enjoy it!
Made it today as a side dish to a smoked chicken. Added finely chopped jalapeño and bacon. It became the main course!
★★★★★
It has a tendency to do that! Glad you enjoyed it!
I made this and sprinkled Pablo on top Yum
I must try this recipe. Dry mustard powder, chopped pimento, chives, rotel tomatoes would be good additions. Garlic Herb cheese spread substituted for some of the cream cheese would work great. I would even try hummus to lighten the sauce & reduce calories. Of course, not all of these together.
I hope you enjoyed your rendition, Karyn! Thanks for sharing!
Can this prepped ahead of time, like the night before and smoked the next day?
Hi Brian! Absolutely. I wouldn’t cook the pasta past al dente and I’d rinse it with cold water as soon as it is done. I’d also allow the cheese mixture to cool before mixing it with the pasta. Once you do those two things you can finish prepping it, put it in a foil pan and cover and refeigerate for up to 2 days before smoking. Those steps should help prevent it from getting mushy. Let us know how it turns out!
My problem I cooked noodles past al dente and so I think it was a little dry. Will try again less noodles and not cook past al dente.
Prepared this recipe today for my family. I added 1 cup of crumbled bacon into the printed recipe. I doubled the printed recipe for my family and made two 8X8 pans. I smoked them both at the same time in my Traeger Pro 780 @ 225 degrees for two hours using Traeger Hickory pellets. The texture of this dish was perfect! It was not dry and was not runny but it WAS extremely creamy and cheesy. We served 20 people and had plenty of left overs to send home with our family. The comment from everyone was that it was the BEST mac & cheese they had ever had!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for the review! So happy your family loved it! 🙂
Making this as I type. Best mac and cheese we have ever had. Only recipe my husband will eat now. Instead of putting it in the smoker I add a couple of drops of liquid smoke to the cheese mixture and bake at 350° for approximately 30 minutes covered and then uncover and bake until til brown on top. YUM!! THANKS for sharing this wonderful recipe!!`
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★★★★★
Thank you so much for the review! Love the idea of using liquid smoke!
So you can prep ahead and it would be fine
Hi Shannon, yes you can! I wouldn’t cook the pasta past al dente and I’d rinse it with cold water as soon as it is done. I’d also allow the cheese mixture to cool before mixing it with the pasta. Once you do those two things you can finish prepping it, put it in a foil pan and cover and refeigerate for up to 2 days before smoking. Those steps should help prevent it from getting mushy. Let us know how it turns out!