What's up guys it's Susie Bulloch from HeyGrillHey.com and if you're
watching this video that means we probably already have one of the most
important things in common we both love barbecue which is perfect because here
at Hey Grill Hey my whole goal is to help you make better barbecue so you can
feed the people you love and become a backyard barbecue hero today I'm going
to show you how to make my jalapeno popper mac and cheese
traditionally you cook mac and cheese on the stove but we're adding and a Susie twist today
we're taking it outside putting it on the smoker to infuse it with some smoked
flavor and we're cranking the heat up at the end to give us a nice crispy crunchy
topping for this dish you need an hour and five minutes 20 minutes to prep and
45 minutes to cook all right guys let's get started for this recipe you'll need
a half a pound of bacon cut pieces a link of pork bratwurst with the casing
removed 8 ounces of cream cheese 2 jalapeno peppers that have been seeded
and finely diced 8 ounces of uncooked macaroni noodles a cup of water a cup of
whole milk a cup of heavy cream a teaspoon of garlic powder a teaspoon of
salt a teaspoon of black pepper 2 cups of shredded marble cheddar cheese a
quarter cup of butter crackers that have been crumbled and 1 sliced jalapeno
you're also gonna need about a teaspoon of your favorite barbecue seasoning I'm
using my sweet rub before we make our mac and cheese inside we're gonna
preheat our smoker outside we're looking for 225 degrees Fahrenheit I usually use
a mild wood like a hickory an apple or a cherry all of them work great with
this recipe it's also important to be using a pellet smoker because I can
increase the temperature at the very end to 400 degrees which we need to crisp
the mac and cheese if your smoker doesn't get up to 400 degrees you can
pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and finish the last step inside let's go
ahead and make our mac and cheese you want to pre-heat a 12-inch cast-iron
skillet over medium heat we're gonna add a half a pound of bacon
cut into pieces spread out your bacon so it cooks evenly and then add in your
bratwurst break that up with your wooden spoon and we want these to start to
brown and really render out that fat browning your sausage and bacon will
take about two or three minutes our bacon is softened our sausage is
rendering down and starting to get some nice brown crispy edges it's time to add
our diced jalapenos those in the pan let them cook with the bacon and the sausage
for another two to three minutes this is already smelling so good I mean it's
hard to go wrong with bacon sausage and jalapenos though all right
my jalapenos have softened the bacon and the sausage are both cooked through
we're not really looking for crispy bacon here because it's gonna be cooking
in with the mac and cheese so you just want to really start to render out that
fat to this we're gonna add 8 ounces of softened cream cheese you're just gonna
break this up with your spoon and stir until the mixture is creamy now I put
cream cheese in all of my mac and cheese recipes but especially this one because
if you think about the traditional flavors of a jalapeno popper they're
always stuffed with cream cheese and that bright tangy creamy cheese just the
perfect complement to the spicy jalapenos and the fatty bacon our cream
cheese is softened and melted all the way through the meat time to add in our
macaroni noodle we also need to add our liquid so that
this mac and cheese can cook in the skillet it's a nice little one pan dish
our water
our whole milk we're gonna cook and stir this until the noodles have absorbed a
majority of the liquid it's gonna take about 8 to 10 minutes we all love the
comfort food classics in our house and mac and cheese is no different but we're
also huge fans of the classic jalapeno popper and there are a few things I love
more in the world than a good mashup dish so I decided to put those two
worlds together jalapeno poppers mac and cheese just makes sense
you can smell every layer of flavor that we have put into this mac and cheese
it's got the bacon it's got the sausage it's got the jalapenos and then to take
it to an even higher level we're actually cooking the noodles in the
heavy cream in the milk so even the noodles are creamy and delicious this is
about ready for our next step you can see that the noodles have absorbed most
of the liquid not quite all of it so we still want it to be a little bit creamy
what we're gonna do is turn off the heat and then we're gonna stir in our garlic
powder our salt and our black pepper there's still liquid in the bottom this
is gonna make sure our mac and cheese stays creamy but the noodles have
absorbed a lot of it then we need to add in our shredded marbled cheddar cheese
just incorporate all of that shredded cheese into our noodle mixture mmm
one of those dishes that's worth the arm workout maybe you feel a little bit
better about eating it after you're done it's turn in our cheese smooth the top
of your noodles and then we're gonna sprinkle with just a little bit of that
sweet rub seasoning this is gonna add color and a nice bump of barbecue flavor
now last but not least is that crunchy crumb topping we're going to be using
crumbled up butter crackers smells so good
then we place our jalapeno slices this might look done and it almost is but we
need to take it out to the smoker give it that smoky barbecue kick we're gonna
have it on the grill for 30 minutes
grills preheated to 225 degrees we're gonna get our mac and cheese directly on
the grill grates in our skillet close the lid and let this smoke for 30
minutes mac and cheese has been smoking for 30 minutes we're gonna take a quick
peek it's coming along beautifully you can start to see the smoky color on the
top the noodles have absorbed more of that mac and cheese cooking liquid and
the jalapenos have started to shrivel on the corners and cook down a little bit
that means we are ready for the next step we're gonna increase the heat on
our grill to 400 degrees we really want to crisp up the top that butter cracker
topping our mac and cheese has been cooking at the higher 400 degree
temperature for the last 10 minutes let's take a look
it is perfect those butter crackers are nice and golden-brown that means we're
gonna have a super crispy crunchy texture right on the top
Todd is inside putting the kids in bed right now I'm gonna bring this in the
house and then the adults get to eat their mac and cheese
this mac and cheese smells amazing I'm getting those jalapenos I'm getting the
buttery crunchy golden brown crackers but even more than that I'm getting just
that little hint of smoke I'm real excited to eat this one
oh I don't think there's anything more attractive than a cheese pull when it
comes to mac and cheese hey kids in bed yeah good because I made
grown-up mac and cheese mmm yeah jalapeno popper mac and cheese it's my
baby I'm happy
Cheers Todd and I are gonna go enjoy this mac and cheese maybe watch a couple
murder mystery shows know what mmm I hope you guys give this recipe a try if
you do leave a comment let us know how it turned out for you better yet snap a
photo post it online use the hashtag #HeyGrillHey that way
we can see your barbecue success cheer you on on your way to becoming a
backyard barbecue hero yeah see you next time
bye