Smoked Chipotle Mac and Cheese
Meat’s best friends
Corn bread is the best friend of any Southern BBQ. Mac and Cheese is easily the second best friend to any Southern BBQ. Add the kick of chipotle pepper and get that thing smoked… what other two best friends could any meat have?
Jump to RecipeI started playing around with mac and cheese sauce several years ago (bachelor life, am I right?). On the other hand, I’ve been only been smoking meat for the last 3-4 years, as smoking meat was something “other people did” and always seemed very daunting. Earlier this year, on a whim, using someone else’s cheese sauce recipe, I finally broke the smoked mac and cheese barrier. This feat seemed, until then, like something that was above my skill level, but believe me: my taste buds have thanked me for it ever since.
You will not regret trying this smoked chipotle mac and cheese recipe. After all, as the saying goes: if I can cook it, so can you!
Sorry, not dairy-free
I absolutely love cheese. Hard cheese, soft cheese, nice cheese, processed cheese… unless you’re lactose intolerant or allergic to whey, do yourself a favour and don’t short yourself on the cheese.
I haven’t found many cheese recipes calling for chipotle, but it’s a great pairing. Growing up, I always found the urge to seriously spice up simple mac, like Kraft Dinner, and chipotle mac and cheese (from scratch) is basically just an adult version of that.
I started with red chilis to kick it up from a spice perspective, but chipotle in itself is also smokey, so once then put in literal smoke for 60-90 minutes, it’s the kind of smoke flavour that perfectly complements the smooth creamy texture and taste of an all-dairy mixture.
The perfect side, or toss in some bacon bits or chorizo chunks and you’ve got yourself a complete meal!
Smoked Chipotle Mac and Cheese
Equipment
- Smoker
Ingredients
- 1 lb favorite macaroni-type pasta (elbows, swirls, wagon wheels, etc)
- 1 cup buttermilk (cream works too)
- 2 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1 cup cream cheese
- ½ cup butter
- 1 tsp chipotle powder
- 1½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp finely chopped onion white, red or sweet
- ½ cup diced tomato and/or bell pepper (optional)
- ¼ cup bacon bits (optional)
- ½ cup baguette crumbs, panko or cracker crumbs
- crushed red chilis (to taste/look)
- black pepper (to taste)
- chives, cilantro, parsley, diced jalapeno for garnish (optional, to taste)
Instructions
Pasta
- Bring water to boil and lightly salt water. Add pasta of choice and cook to package specifications 8-12 minutes until well cooked.
- Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
Cheese Sauce
- In a medium sized sauce pan, starting with buttermilk, slowly add in butter, cheddar and cream cheese together, keeping a smooth consistency throughout.
- At any time, add salt, finely chopped onions, black pepper and chipotle powder and stir thoroughly. At this time, add any other optional ingredients you wish to have in the sauce (tomato, peppers, bacon bits)
- Once sufficiently melted, remove from heat to avoid burning the sauce.
Smoker
- Preheat smoker to 225°F. Any hotter, you risk drying out your now-perfect mac. If you already have meat in at a different temperature, adjust smoking time accordingly. The idea will be to have maximum smoke-penetration without drying out the pasta.
- In a cast-iron or oven-ready, open-top pan/skillet, mix pasta and cheese sauces together. Ensure all pasta is covered in the sauce.
- Layer-in cheddar cheese and sprinkle/cover with panko/baguette/cracker crumbs across the top of the pasta mixture.
- Smoke for approximately 90 minutes. If possible, keep furthest away from element in order to minimize extra pasta cooking and maximize smoke exposure. I put mine on the top shelf of a 4-rack system.
- Once smoking is done, remove and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
- Enjoy!
Notes
I cook in the smoker whenever I can. If space allowed, I would even have a larger one! Get your smoker through my affiliate link here:
Notes and hints:
- Just don’t dry it out. 225°F is the best temp for balancing an abundance of smoke in the box and not drying out your cooked pasta. I mention in the recipe that if you do already have meat in the smoker at a temp (for example, I like to finish off my ribs for the last hour (once they are sauced), at 250-275°F, which, unfortunately, is also the time when I want my mac and cheese in that smoke too. Either sacrifice your meat temp, or risk drying out your pasta.
- More or less veg: As far as ingredients, this is about the same as any other dish I recommend. More or fewer veggies are always a delight and while I love a complex cheese sauce with fresh tomato or peppers to accompany the rich flavour of chipotle, somedays I also love the simplicity of straight cheese. I would always urge anyone to make sure to include onion in the sauce, but if you don’t have a taste for anything else, you can stop right there.
- Pasta choice: In this photo cooking session, I used wagon wheel pasta. I haven’t had this since my childhood, so thought I would give a go. Great success! With the extra surface area on each pasta piece, the smoke flavour really came through and I actually needed less sauce (for equal overall coverage).
- Sauce notes: As far as tasting notes, my sauce is admittedly still a bit of a trial and error/work in progress. Next time, I’ll try with more cream cheese (probably double).
- Don’t skimp on is buttermilk! Buttermilk adds an extra dimension of tangy sharpness when compared to heavy cream or [non-butter] milk but either way, those are easy substitutions… You should have buttermilk on hand from when we made those cornbread muffins earlier today!
Part of your next #HomeCookedFeast!
Try these recipes alongside your smoked chipotle mac and cheese!
- Maple Soy Smoked Ribs
- Smoked Gochujang Ribs
- Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread Muffins
- Coleslaw
- Spicy Kimchi Coleslaw
- Sriracha Green bean sweet onion salad
- Watermelon cucumber salad
I obviously love southern BBQ, but I’m from Canada, so I need more tricks! Any family secrets? Any stories?
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Enjoy food; enjoy life. – HCF