Homemade mac and cheese is one of those things that I will never say no to, but then when you go and put bacon in it… I’m helpless! But I like to keep everything in balance, so I added some broccoli florets to this one pot bacon mac and cheese so I could have all of my food groups in one delicious bowl. 😋 This mac and cheese is absolute meal perfection!
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Evaporated Milk Cheese Sauce Magic
I first tried this evaporated milk cheese sauce method a few weeks ago when making the skillet macaroni and cheese recipe from Daniel Shumski’s book, Will It Skillet? This super fast, easy, and absolutely fool-proof method of creating a smooth and silky cheese sauce is my new favorite. So this time, I swapped out the butter for bacon fat, changed up the seasoning, and added broccoli and crumbled bacon. The result was fantastic. But do I really need to even say that? BACON.
One Pot Bacon Broccoli Mac and Cheese
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. frozen broccoli florets ($1.05)
- 4 oz. bacon ($1.43)
- 8 oz. medium cheddar ($2.50)
- 1/2 lb. pasta ($0.50)
- 1 cup evaporated milk ($1.19)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp hot sauce ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients before beginning because the process goes quickly once it’s begun. Thaw the broccoli florets and chop them into small bite-sized pieces. Slice the bacon into small pieces. Shred the cheddar cheese.
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions (boil 7-10 minutes, or until al dente). Drain the pasta in a colander and set it aside.
- Return the pot to the stove, add the bacon, and cook over medium to medium-low heat until the bacon is brown and crispy (about 5 minutes). Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon from the pot, leaving the grease behind.
- Add the evaporated milk, smoked paprika, Dijon, hot sauce, and salt to the pot with the bacon grease. Stir to combine and allow it to heat through (it should heat quickly as the pot will be very hot from cooking the bacon).
- Once the evaporated milk is hot, turn the heat to low and begin whisking in the shredded cheddar, one handful at a time, waiting until the cheese is fully melted before adding the next handful. Once all of the cheese has been melted into the sauce, taste the cheese sauce and adjust the salt or hot sauce if desired. If the sauce becomes too thick, simply stir in one to two tablespoons of the remaining evaporated milk in the can.
- Return the cooked pasta, crispy bacon (crumble into smaller pieces if desired), and chopped broccoli to the pot with the cheese sauce. Stir to combine. Serve immediately.
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Bacon Broccoli Mac and Cheese – Step by Step Photos
Prepare the ingredients for the mac and cheese before you begin, because the process goes quickly once started. Thaw and chop 1/2 lb. frozen broccoli florets into small bite-sized pieces. Next time I’ll even chop them a bit smaller than in the photo above.
Shred 8oz. medium cheddar cheese.
Slice 4 oz. bacon into small strips. I generally only use a small amount of bacon in a recipe (enough to give flavor, but not enough to make the recipe super expensive). So, if I buy a 12oz. package like this, I’ll divide it into three sections, use one, and freeze the other two for later.
Cook 1/2 lb. pasta according to the package directions, then drain it in a colander and set it aside (this is a one pound bag, so I used half of it).
Return the pot to the stove, turn the heat down to medium or medium-low, add the bacon, and sauté it until it is brown and crispy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon pieces from the pot, leaving the bacon grease behind.
To the bacon grease add 1 cup evaporated milk, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp hot sauce, and 1/4 tsp salt. Stir to combine and dissolve the browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Allow the evaporated milk to heat through. It should heat very quickly as there isn’t much in the pot and the pot should be rather hot from cooking the bacon.
Once the evaporated milk is very hot, turn the heat down to low and begin to whisk in the shredded cheddar, one handful at a time. Make sure the cheese is fully melted in before adding the next handful. If the sauce gets too thick, add a tablespoon or two of the remaining evaporated milk from the can (there should be about 1/2 cup left in the can).
Once all the cheddar is melted into the sauce, you can taste it and adjust the salt or hot sauce to your liking.
Finally, return the cooked and drained pasta, crispy bacon, and chopped broccoli to the pot with the cheese sauce. You may want to crumble the bacon a little further before adding it back in.
Stir until everything is coated in cheesy bacony goodness!!
And that’s it. The most delicious One Pot Bacon Broccoli Mac and Cheese EVER.
I love all your recipes!! No exotic ingredients. Almost all items I already have. Favorites: cheeseburger meatloaf, red enchilada sauce and ranch dressing mix. I made a copy of my
favorite recipes for my youngest son when he went off to college. easy and YUMMY!!!
I see this is not a new recipe but making tomorrow 8/’21
I just want to confirm that there is no flour added to the bacon fat to make a roux with the milk?
Correct. When you use evaporated milk you don’t need to make a roux. The low moisture, high protein nature of the evaporated milk allows the cheese to emulsify without using a roux.
Tasty! I used whole wheat pasta and I did pour out the bacon grease after cooking. I may have lot a bit of flavor that way, but it’s really good. Added onion powder and black pepper, left out the mustard.
Hi, this looks really good but do you have any suggestions for bacon substitutes for a Jewish vegetarian?
I’d probably just do a regular broccoli mac and not try to sub the bacon. :) You can use some butter in the pot in place of the bacon grease. If you still want a little bit of a smoky flavor, you can add a sprinkle of smoked paprika!
Absolutely delicious, doubled the recipe and it came out great besides being a tad bit too thick (so I added a bit more evap milk). I also used buffalo sauce instead of hot sauce because I had none and it was delicious. The only reason this isn’t a 5 star is the trip to the bathroom after.
mmmm delicous!
Really liked this, it was delicious. The only thing keeping it from 5 stars is that there’s no part where it says to actually cook the broccoli. I took the recipe literally when it said “thaw the broccoli.” So I defrosted it and left it at that until the end. The broccoli ended up being too cold because it was just defrosted and not warmed up. Granted, I should’ve realized this at the beginning, but I’d suggest tweaking the wording for dummies like me.
Still loved it. Great recipe!
I’m going to try this! I think chopped ham, ground beef or even chicken could be used instead of bacon if you don’t have it! I keep a little bacon fat on hand, so a Tbsp. of it would flavor it up nicely if you chose to use a different protein source.
Everything was going well until I added my hot sauce – then my cheese sauce curdled horribly. It’s completely inedible now. I was really looking forward to this, but pretty disappointed, especially since I followed this recipe as part of the purchased meal plan. Clearly, it must be down to type of hot sauce used, so I guess check the ingredients beforehand!
I’d say that this recipe was more like inspiration for my version than a true following of the whole thing to the letter, since I didn’t have evaporated milk. I made a roux for the cheese sauce instead, using bacon drippings. I also had fresh broccoli on hand instead of frozen, so I tossed in the broccoli with the noodles for the last minute or two of cooking, and drained it all together. Overall, it wasn’t as glossy/velvety looking as the pictures in the post, because of the different cooking method, but was still very tasty!
Has anyone tried making this like a one-pot meal? Just cooking the pasta in the evaporated milk (probably using the whole can in that case)? Super easy and tasty already, obviously, but having one less pot to wash never sucks.
Pinned this to make again. Nice simple tasty recipe. Thank you.
Listen to your Auntie Beth… use evaporated milk. I even tried to evaporate my own milk, this did not go well. Dinner will be salad with bacon on top 😹.
Ha! Thanks for sharing Sarah.
This is it. This is the perfect mac and cheese. We can stop trying to innovate this dish because nothing will ever beat this.
And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.
Ha thank you Joseph!
Easy and super delicious!
I doubled the recipe for company and had no issues. Did have more bacon fat in the pan than I’d have wanted in the recipe, but that’s a discretionary thing – drain some if it’s too much.
I did lose a little emulsion because I didn’t cook the noodles far enough in advance. This was my fault and if I’d had them drained and set aside from the start it wouldn’t have been an issue. Very minor hitch in the overall recipe thanks to the evaporated milk. Flavor and texture were fantastic and for the finished result I couldn’t ask for a faster recipe.
This has surpassed One Pot Sausage & Mushroom Pasta as our favorite Budget Bytes dish.
Can’t wait to make again. 10/10