This quick and easy mac and cheese recipe makes a classic macaroni and cheese with crispy bacon and caramelised shallots for texture, umami and sweetness. This mac and cheese is nothing if not versatile. Ground paprika adds gentle spice, but add a kick of heat with chilli flakes, use mature cheddar or whatever combination of cheeses you have on hand.
There are few pasta dishes as comforting as mac and cheese. The dish of pasta and cheese originated in Ancient Rome, was first documented in 14th century Latin and English cookbooks, taken to the Americas and Australia with European settlers, and evolved as it travelled the globe. Macaroni cheese recipes appeared in Australia’s oldest cookbooks.
Another of our best Italian pasta recipes, our mac and cheese recipe makes a classic stovetop macaroni cheese that’s addictively delicious and super versatile. You can use mature cheddar cheese or whatever combination of cheeses you have in the fridge, add even more crunch with pangrattato or some fragrance and zing with gremolata.
This mac and cheese recipe is next in our series of speedy pastas that includes recipes for a creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi, my penne Bolognese for a ‘cheat’s Bol’, an asparagus, mushrooms and bacon gnocchi, a cherry tomato feta pasta recipe, a spaghetti pangrattato, sardine pasta with caper gremolata and pangrattato, tuna pasta with scallions, capers and fresh herbs, and pesto pasta with green beans and potatoes.
If you’re looking for more cooking inspiration, we have many hundreds of recipes you can browse in our archives, and you can click on the heart on the right of every post to save your favourite recipes and stories in your private account.
Mac and Cheese Recipe with Crispy Bacon and Caramelised Shallots
My mac and cheese recipe makes a very moreish macaroni cheese that isn’t too far removed from a classic macaroni cheese, but my mac and cheese with crunchy bacon and caramelised shallots has become one of my mum’s favourite pastas since I’ve been making it for her, so I thought I’d share it here.
Who doesn’t love a homemade mac and cheese? Not many culinary cultures, it seems, as macaroni cheese has long been made right around the world. A macaroni cheese recipe was first published in an English cookbook in the 1390s not so long after Italian recipes were published in cookbooks in Latin – which explains the ubiquity of mac and cheese across Europe.
There are English, Scottish and Irish macaroni cheese recipes; a mac and cheese in Germany, where it’s called käsespätzle or kaese spaetzle, and is made with Emmentaler cheese and onion; and in France, where, along with béchamel sauce, a French mac and cheese typically includes crème fraiche and Gruyère.
Australia’s first mac and cheese recipe was published in one of the oldest Australian cookbooks, published in 1864, The English and Australian Cookery Book: Cookery for the Many, as well as the Upper Ten Thousand by Tasmanian Edward Abbott.The recipe is listed under ‘Macaroni and Vermicelli’ where macaroni is described as a “tubicular” or pipe-shaped pasta.
That recipe calls for the macaroni to be cooked in milk or water with salt in a pot over fire; transferred to a tin dish; grated cheese or small pieces of cheese, butter and breadcrumbs placed on the macaroni, with grated cheese on top; before it’s browned “before the fire” and served hot. The advice is to: “let the consumer use either pepper or cayenne, according to fancy; put none in the dish”.
Australian mac and cheese was to get much more interesting in the following century. There’s a recipe in New Australian Cookery Illustrated by Wynwode Reid, published in 1950. for ‘Oyster Macaroni Cheese’. That recipe calls for shredded cheese and 2 dozen oysters, which are placed on top of the mac and cheese.
The recipe also calls for making a sauce from oyster brine, a beaten egg, milk, tomato sauce, minced onion, and salt and pepper, which is poured over the oysters, before being topped with more grated cheese, breadcrumbs and butter, and being baked for 40 minutes.
In the same book there’s another ‘Macaroni and Bacon Casserole’ that calls for diced bacon and onion to be browned in a fry pan, layered with the macaroni and crumbled sharp cheese in a greased casserole dish, milk and condensed tomato soup are poured on top, more breadcrumbs, and it’s baked again.
As curious as I am about that one, I’ve given the tomato soup sauce a miss! My quick and easy mac and cheese is also made on the stove-top and while my recipe doesn’t call for breadcrumbs, I often sprinkle pangrattato on top. Just a few quick tips to making this macaroni cheese recipe, as it’s super easy.
Tips to Making this Mac and Cheese Recipe with Crispy Bacon and Caramelised Shallots
I only have a few tips to making this recipe for a stovetop mac and cheese with crispy bacon and caramelised shallots, as it’s super easy and comes together quickly. This recipe makes two very generous bowls of macaroni cheese, with some leftovers, but you can easily scale the recipe, below.
You could use a traditional macaroni, but I like to use liscio piccolo or elbow pasta, as it’s larger so holds more cheesy sauce. Make sure to cook the pasta in plenty of salted water and only until it’s just under al dente, as it will keep cooking in the pan.
While the pasta is boiling, you can fry the diced shallots until diced bacon in a big deep frying pan or skillet. I use purple shallots, as they’re sweeter, but you could use red onion or any onion. I like to fry the shallots until they’re brown and sweet and the bacon until crispy, but cook them to your liking.
Next, you’ll make a roux from butter and flour, taking care not to over-cook it, then you’ll add the milk to create a white sauce or what the French call a béchamel sauce, one of the classic mother sauces of French cuisine. Use a small whisk if you’re making the small amount that my mac and cheese recipe calls for, but a wooden spoon will also do the job.
I use grated mature cheddar cheese, but if I have other small cheese ends in the fridge I’ll toss those in, too. In recent months I’ve added vintage cheddar, Leicester red, mozzarella, brie, and even blue cheese. I season this mac and cheese with ground paprika and salt, but if making it for myself I’d use chilli flakes.
I’m not a fan of ultra-gooey cheese sauces, which is why I like to loosen the sauce with a little cooking water, as the Italians do with pasta sauces, but you could add milk if needed for a richer sauce.
I like to sprinkle on more fried shallots, crispy bacon and ground paprika at the end, drizzle on a little quality extra virgin olive oil, and serve immediately with a dish of grated Parmigiano Reggiano (or even Grana Padano or Pecorino Romano), good sea salt, cracked black pepper, and a simple side salad on the table.
Mac and Cheese Recipe with Crispy Bacon and Caramelised Shallots
Classic Mac and Cheese Recipe with Crispy Bacon and Caramelised Shallots
This easy mac and cheese recipe makes a classic macaroni and cheese with crispy bacon and caramelised shallots for texture, umami and sweetness. This mac and cheese is nothing if not versatile. Ground paprika adds gentle spice, but you could give it a kick of heat with chilli flakes. Use mature cheddar or a combination of cheeses.
- 110 g macaroni – or liscio piccolo or elbow pasta
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 60 g purple shallots – diced
- 2 bacon rashers – rindless, diced
- 1 ½ tbsp butter
- 1 ½ tbsp plain flour
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tsp ground paprika – or to taste
- ½ tsp salt – or to taste
- 110 g mature cheddar – grated, divided
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Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. When the water is on a rolling ball, add the macaroni, give it a stir to separate, and cook the pasta until just under al dente, probably a minute under the packet instructions, usually around 7-9 minutes for macaroni.
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While the pasta is cooking, in a large deep fry pan over low-medium, heat the olive oil and fry the diced shallots until soft, push them to one side of the pan to continue to caramelise; turn the heat to high, add the diced bacon and fry until crispy (or to your liking). Transfer the fried shallots and bacon to a dish. Reduce the heat to low and remove the pan.
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To a small pot over medium heat, add the butter and flour and whisk together until the butter melts and mixture starts to bubble, then whisk for a minute to create the roux; keep whisking, adding the milk, and whisking it into the mixture until you get a thick, creamy, smooth white sauce.
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Remove the pot from the heat, add the paprika and salt, and gradually add half the grated cheese little by little, whisking it into the sauce, allowing the cheese to melt before adding more. If the sauce thickens too much and isn’t easily incorporating the cheese, return the pot to the heat briefly, continuing to whisk until you’ve used half the cheese. Remove the pot from the heat to a cool surface.
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The macaroni should be ready, so use a large slotted spoon to scoop the pasta into the deep pan (saving the pasta water); return half the fried shallots and bacon and pour the cheesy sauce into the pan, stirring it all through the pasta. If the sauce is too thick, scoop out a tablespoon or two of cooking water and add it to the pan to loosen the sauce. Add the remaining grated cheese, and another tablespoon or two of pasta water if needed, and stir it through.
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Taste and adjust the seasoning to suit your palate, distribute the mac and cheese between bowls, sprinkle on the remaining fried shallots and crispy bacon, and serve immediately with grated parmesan and a simple side salad.
Calories: 806kcalCarbohydrates: 56gProtein: 26gFat: 53gSaturated Fat: 22gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 21gTrans Fat: 0.4gCholesterol: 100mgSodium: 1196mgPotassium: 437mgFiber: 3gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 1431IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 498mgIron: 2mg
Please do let us know in the Comments section below if you make this easy mac and cheese recipe as we love to hear how our recipes turn out for our readers.
