This Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese recipe is a fun new take on traditional mac ‘n cheese! Ready your taste buds for this insanely good dinner recipe!
Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese
Homemade macaroni and cheese is one of our most favorite meals to make here at home! I mean, who doesn’t love a really good mac ‘n cheese recipe? Here, we’ve made Baked Bacon Macaroni and Cheese that’s out of this world! We’ve also made Chicken Nugget Macaroni and Cheese Casserole, as well as Taco Macaroni, Macaroni and Cheese with Corkscrews, and Pizza Mac and Cheese Muffins! But this Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese recipe takes it up a notch AGAIN with tremendous flavor!
Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese
I don’t know about you, but jalapeño poppers are my jam, man! If I could eat them all day everyday and never gain weight, I probably would! Haha! Made homemade with fresh jalapeños, too? Totally a dream. In fact, I’ve made Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Chicken Breasts before that were to DIE for! That’s how serious my love for jalapeño poppers is, I find new and inventive ways to bring that flavor to other popular dishes, just like this one!
Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese with Fresh Jalapeños
Jarred or fresh jalapeños, which do you choose? It all depends on the level of hotness you can stand. Fresh will always be the hotter of the two choices, which is why I like to mix ’em with my dishes! It’s easier to use jarred within the meal and garnish or top the dish with fresh, but you could easily go either way depending upon the desired heat level you wish to achieve!
Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon
Bacon isn’t traditionally part of the jalapeño popper but it is with mine! We love taking fresh jalapeños and making them into poppers by hulling them, stuffing them with a cream cheese mixture, and then wrapping them in bacon to be grilled, smoked, or baked. It tastes pretty incredible, and as a nod to that delicious bacony jalapeño popper taste, I incorporated baked bacon into this dish. It really elevates this recipe to another level!
Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese with Fresh Baked Croutons
Another unbelievably tasty aspect of this recipe that really adds something magical to this recipe is the incorporation of homemade croutons as a topping. I’m a huge fan of making croutons from scratch, and topping this recipe with something like that tastes incredible and amazing! Especially should you choose to serve it with a side salad, you can use extra croutons for that! Once you’ve made these croutons, save ’em to use for other dishes! Once you make them homemade, you’ll never want for storebought again!
Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
This Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese dish is delightfully cheesy and creamy made with cream cheese and heavy whipping cream. Talk about a rich cheese sauce! Making the cheese sauce this way is yet another nod to the deliciousness of the jalapeño popper with the usage of cream cheese!
Simple Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese
This Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese recipe is packed full of flavor but the steps are uncomplicated, making it easy to replicate and duplicate again and again for your family. So much so you can easily double or triple should you have a large gathering or guests to entertain! This is a great football recie to serve during the big game, a great dish to bring to a party or get together with family and friends!
Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese for Dinner
If you’re looking for a recipe that you can make for dinner any night of the week that’ll please everyone in your family, then look no further! Our entire family loves jalapeño poppers, macaroni and cheese, and fusing these two delicious dishes together into one like this? Magic. I think I said magic before a couple times, but really and truly, that is what this recipe is – absolute magic. You need this dinner recipe in your life like yesterday!
Easy Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
It doesn’t have to be complicated to taste incredible, and this Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese recipe proves that point! A few, necessary ingredients to make up the rich cheese sauce, baked bacon well crumbled, fresh homemade croutons using an uncomplicated and easy replicable recipe, and you’ve got this easy dinner dish for any night of the week!
How to Make Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese
To make this incredibly delicious Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese, you will need the following ingredients:
- Day old bread cut into cubes
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Garlic powder
- Oregano
- Elbow macaroni
- Butter
- Cream cheese
- Heavy whipping cream
- Jarred jalapeños, diced
- Bacon
- Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
- Colby jack cheese (marble), shredded
You will also need the following tools:
- 2 Baking sheets
- Parchment paper or reusable silicone baking mats for both baking sheets
- Pot to cook macaroni
- Large baking dish, greased
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Grease your baking dish and set it aside. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper (or a reusable silicone baking mat) and add your uncooked bacon. On a separate baking sheet, add bread cubes, toss in olive oil. Add salt, garlic powder, and oregano and toss again.
Bake bread cubes for 15 minutes, or until golden brown and toasty. These are homemade croutons to use for the dish.
Bake the bacon strips until crispy, about 20 minutes.
Chop your jalapeños and set aside.
Also coarsely chop the cooled bacon. Prepare your macaroni al denté as directed on the package. Drain the macaroni then return it to the pan and add your cream cheese and butter. Mix until butter and cream cheese are melted thoroughly. Mix in the whipping cream and shredded cheese. Continue to stir until cheese is fully melted. Fold in chopped jalapeños and bacon.
Add macaroni mixture to a greased baking dish and top with your freshly baked croutons. Top with more cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes, until mixture is bubbly, cheese is fully melted.
Let it cool slightly before serving.
Full recipe with measurements is located below! What do you think of this new take on the traditional macaroni and cheese dish? Is your family going to love it as much as we do? Be sure to check out our other macaroni and cheese recipes, as well as our other delicious dinner recipes, too!
Jalapeño Popper Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- 4 cups day old bread cut into cubes
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 lb elbow macaroni
- ½ stick butter
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup jarred jalapeños diced
- 1 pound bacon
- 12 ounces Monterey Jack cheese shredded
- 6 ounces Colby jack cheese marble, shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Grease your baking dish and set it aside.
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper (or a reusable silicone baking mat) and add your uncooked bacon.
- On a separate baking sheet, add bread cubes, toss in olive oil. Add salt, garlic powder, and oregano and toss again.
- Bake your bread cubes for 15 minutes, or until golden brown and toasty. These are homemade croutons to use for the dish.
- Bake the bacon strips until crispy, about 20 minutes.
- Chop your jalapeños and set aside.
- Also coarsely chop the cooled bacon.
- Prepare your macaroni al denté as directed on the package.
- Drain the macaroni then return it to the pot and add your cream cheese and butter.
- Mix until butter and cream cheese are melted thoroughly.
- Mix in the whipping cream and shredded cheese. Continue to stir until cheese is fully melted.
- Fold in chopped jalapeños and coarsely chopped bacon.
- Add macaroni mixture to a greased baking dish and top with your freshly baked croutons. Top with more cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes, until mixture is bubbly, cheese is fully melted.