Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

20 Comments

5 from 7 votes
12 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
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Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese is a loaded cheesy Super Bowl side dish with chunks of cream cheese, crispy bacon and spicy jalapenos in every bite!

No Super Bowl Party would be complete without a creamy, indulgent side dish like Baked Mac and Cheese. Score big with your guests with this next level version and serve alongside with the other winning Appetizer Recipes!

Scoop of Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese

JALAPENO POPPER MAC AND CHEESE

If you had a bot study the best Game Day side dishes for a full football season then had it create a mega dish that summed up all of them, it would be this recipe. This baked Mac and Cheese has it all – cream cheese, bacon, more cheese (like 3 more kinds of cheese), and spicy jalapeño peppers.

We love the fall and winter because of all the parties, and more importantly party food! Wings, potato skins, finger foods galore. Then there’s main dishes so the party can last all night (or day) like pulled meat and briskets plus endless sides to tie everything together.

Just when you think the festivities are over, we get one last hurrah, a final celebration to splurge on all your favorite party foods (until BBQ season hits): The Super Bowl. And this Jalapeño Popper Mac is the dish you’ve been waiting for all year. It’s bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers that you can eat as a side dish or even as dinner with little guilt. After all, there is pasta so it totally counts as a meal, right?

Make this ahead of time so you can spend more time partying with your guests and you don’t miss a single commercial or game play. Follow the instructions below and pop in the oven right before you guests arrive.

Make Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese Ahead:

Follow the recipe up until it’s time to bake in the oven. Cover with plastic wrap and then foil before storing (this will seal it tighter). Your mac and cheese will stay good for 4 days in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer. If you freeze, thaw in the refrigerator overnight. You will need to add 5-10 minutes to the baking time.

MORE AWESOME MAC AND CHEESE RECIPES:

HOW TO MAKE JALAPEÑO POPPER MAC AND CHEESE

  • Cook your pasta: To prevent the pasta from soaking up too much cheese sauce, let it sit in the pasta water for an additional 10 minutes after it’s done cooking.
  • Prep work: Shred the cheese, cube the cream cheese, dice jalapeños, and cook and crumble the bacon.
  • Make your sauce: Using some bacon fat, make a roux with the flour, mustard, cayenne and paprika. Add to dry ingredients to pan and whisk together then slowly add in the milk.
  • Adding eggs: Your eggs will cook if you add them directly to the hot sauce. Instead, chill 1 cup of the sauce in the fridge for 10 minutes. Whisk eggs into the cooled sauce before slowly stirring it into the warm sauce.
  • Combine everything: Mix the pasta, sauce, shredded cheese, cream cheese with half of the bacon and diced jalapeños. Pour into the baking dish. 
  • Bake: Bake for 30 minutes, uncovered and in the last 10 minutes top it with the remaining bacon and jalapeños.

Bacon Jalapeño Popper Mac and Cheese in baking dish

VARIATIONS ON JALAPEÑO POPPER MAC AND CHEESE

  • Smoked Jalapeños: Give this dish a smoky flavor, as well as tame the spiciness of the peppers, by roasting or smoking your jalapeños. Broil your peppers until charred, or if you have a gas stovetop, hold over flames until blackened. Dice and deseed as usual.
  • Chicken: Top this dish with some Crispy Chicken Tenders or Grilled Chicken, sliced up into bite sized pieces, to make it into a hearty meal. 
  • Mac and Cheese Bites: Instead of baking in a casserole dish, divide your mac and cheese mixture into 2 mini 24 cup muffin tins. Reduce baking time to 22-24 minutes. For a fried version (hello super jalapeño popper vibes!), follow our instructions below.

FRIED JALAPEÑO POPPER MAC AND CHEESE BITES:

This is a great way to use leftovers or prep ahead as party appetizers.

  • Make recipe as usual, including baking. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or freeze for at least 1 hour. You want the noodle mix to be solid enough to hold as you are shaping it.
  • Shape chilled mac and cheese into 2 inch balls and roll in Italian or Panko breadcrumbs.
  • In separate bowl, whisk 1 egg and 1 cup milk. Dip Mac and Cheese Ball into egg mixture and then back into breadcrumbs, giving a thick coating. 
  • Fry balls in a deep fryer until golden brown.
  • Air Fryer Instructions: Place in the freezer and freeze for 30 minutes before frying. Preheat air fryer to 360 degrees. Place Mac Balls in a single layer in air fryer basket, not touching. Air fry for 8-10 minutes, until golden on the outside.

Jalapeno Popper Mac & Cheese with bacon in spoon

MORE GAME DAY RECIPES

HOW TO STORE JALAPEÑO POPPER MAC AND CHEESE

  • Serve: This dish can be kept for up to 2 hours at room temperature.
  • Store: Place your Mac and Cheese in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
  • Freeze: Baked or unbaked Mac and Cheese can be frozen for up to 3 months in a sealed container.

Jalapeno Popper Macaroni and Cheese in baking dish with scoop removed

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Dinner, then Dessert

Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese

Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese is yummy cheesy Super Bowl side dish with chunks of cream cheese, crispy bacon and spicy jalapenos in every bite!
Yield 12 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 8  ounces bacon  , cooked and crumbled
  • 1  pound elbow macaroni
  • 1/2   cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2   cup flour
  • 2   teaspoons mustard powder
  • 1/2   teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1   teaspoon paprika
  • 6  cups whole milk
  • 2  teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2  teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 1   large egg
  • 4   ounces Monterey jack cheese
  • 4   ounces mozzarella
  • 12  ounces sharp cheddar  , divided
  • 1 package cream cheese , 8 ounces
  • 2 jalapenos , diced

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Shred the cheeses, keeping 2 cups of the cheddar off to the side for the topping.
  • Cut cream cheese in to small cubes. Dice jalapenos, discard seeds.
  • Cook the pasta then let it sit in the water an extra 10 minutes (this will help it avoid soaking up the cheese sauce) before draining and rinsing gently.
  • Place the bacon in a large pan over medium heat. Cook until crispy, about 4-5 minutes.
  • Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on paper towels.
  • Leave 2 tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan; discard the rest of the fat.
  • Add the butter, flour, mustard, cayenne and paprika and whisk together until fully combined, cook for an additional 15 seconds.
  • Add the milk slowly while whisking to keep the mixture well combined.
  • Add in the salt and pepper and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat.
  • Remove 1 cup of the milk mixture and let cool for a 3-5 minutes in the refrigerator in a larger glass measuring cup or bowl.
  • Add the egg to the cooled milk and whisk it well until fully combined.
  • Turn the heat on the pot back on to medium-low.
  • Slowly pour the egg and milk mixture into the rest of the milk while whisking very well.
  • Add in the Monterey jack, mozzarella and 1 cup of the sharp cheddar and whisk until combined.
  • Add the rinsed macaroni and half of the bacon pieces back into the pot and toss with the cheese sauce. Stir in cream cheese chunks and half of the diced jalapenos.
  • Pour into a 9x13 baking dish and top with the remaining 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, bacon, and jalapenos.
  • Bake for 30 minutes, uncovered.

Nutrition

Calories: 630kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Cholesterol: 120mg | Sodium: 851mg | Potassium: 409mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1491IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 508mg | Iron: 2mg

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Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Have a ? about the pasta. You say to leave it sit in the water, after it’s finished cooking. Is that the water you cooked the pasta in? If, so wouldn’t it get mushy. Or do you rinse the pasta and let it sit in cold water?

    Reply

    1. I let it sit in the water it cooked in for 10 minutes. Then I drain and rinse. When I tested it this led to the sauce not getting sucked up so much in the mac and cheese.

      Reply

  2. Followed recipe exactly. Just the right amount of heat in my opinion as I prefer a slight heat so the taste of the jalapeños come thru. Sooo creamy and cheesy. Would highly recommend. Served it with a BBQ’d Smoked Beef Brisket and cornmeal buttermilk biscuits!! Yummy!!

    Reply

  3. I cheat, I’ve made this several times. I do 5 cups of milk…because the 6c made it over flow from my casserole dish, still a hit and delicious!

    Reply

  5. Loved this pasta dish! Made half a recipe and still have many days
    of leftovers. Served with honey wheat bushman bread. YUM
    I was a bit confused as you had butter as an ingredient but not in the directions.
    I used both bacon grease and butter for the white sauce.

    Reply

    1. Thank you for catching that! You were correct in adding it where you did. I’ve edited the recipe card to include it now. So glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply

  6. This jalapeno popper mac and cheese is sure to be a hit at our upcoming super bowl party! Hopefully, I don’t eat it all before I put it out for my friends.

    Reply

      1. It’s a good start. The sauce needs more salt and pepper along with other seasonings. As it stands it’s pretty bland if you don’t get a bite with cheese crust. Will try it again, but with some additional seasoning tweaks. The amount of cheddar on top also makes for quite a bit of oil sitting on it once it’s finished, so that needs to be mopped up.

        Reply