Smoked Mac & Cheese

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word comfort food? For me, it’s Mac & Cheese. Something about the warm and cheesy, flavorful combination, and flexibility of what makes up Mac & Cheese, that brings me there to Mac & Cheese being my go-to comfort food.

One of my favorite things to make on our smoker, when we’re not smoking meat, is none other than Mac & Cheese! A good hashbrown casserole is a close second, but we’ll leave that for another day.

Smoked Mac & Cheese Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 lb Dry Macaroni Pasta

• 1 quart Half and Half

• 1 cup Whole Milk

• 8-oz Cream Cheese block

• 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter

• 8-oz Sharp Cheddar block + 6-oz Gruyere block 

• 1 tbsp Kinder’s Brown Sugar Rub

• 8-oz Parmesan or Parmesano Riggiano block

Instructions

1. FRESHLY grate all your cheese except the cream cheese. Next, combine your cheddar and Gruyere. Keep your Parmesan separate from the other cheese in this step. (My electric grater is longer available — this one is similar)

2. Preheat your pellet smoker to 225° (if using a Traeger with Super Smoke, USE IT — believe me).

3. In a 13×9 foil roasting pan or grill safe baking dish, combine half and half, milk, dry macaroni, and cheddar/Gruyere mix (keep 8 oz cheddar and Gruyere mix aside for topping later).

4. Cube 4 tablespoons of butter as well as your cream cheese and add on top of your Mac and milk mix, then sprinkle in your brown sugar rub (or any desired BBQ rub), give all ingredients a good mix.

5. Smoke at 225°F for 60-90 minutes. You’ll know you’re about done when all your milk has been soaked up. At which time you’ll want to give a good mix.