Do you love easy cheesy recipes oh and bacon? Then this Pepper Jack Bacon Mac and Cheese is the perfect comfort dinner meal for you!

Mac and Cheese has always been my go-to comfort food for ages, well pasta in general, ever since I was a little girl. It was something I grew up on and have loved my whole life.

Now I grew up on the blue box, but my mom would occasionally make homemade which I preferred. So when she did that, you knew I was running to the table.

Now my kids do the same, they absolutely love homemade Mac and Cheese, especially this Pepper Jack Bacon Mac and Cheese! I think it’s the bacon they love most.

I mean who doesn’t love bacon? Bacon and cheese make everything right in the world, and they go together like peanut butter and jelly, just so good,

Some of my favorite Mac and Cheese recipes we have on our site include Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese, Creamy Stovetop Mac and Cheese and Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese.

We have many others but these are some of our basic favorites that our family absolutely loves! I mean Mac and Cheese is just nostalgic.

Technically my husband calls this the “mans meal” because of the bacon and pepper jack cheese in this recipe, I’m not going to argue but it’s an everyones meal.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

Easily available grocery store ingredients help this dish whip up in no time.
You can cut this recipe down if only serving a few people.
You can customize this recipe with whatever cheese you like.

The beauty with Mac and Cheese recipes is that you can customize them. I love mixing my cheese flavors together alot and not just using one type, it really gives it a new flavor.

You can also add other things like diced jalapeño to make a it a little bit spicier if you want, we do this sometimes and it’s amazing if you like a bit of heat.

HOW TO MAKE PEPPER JACK MAC AND CHEESE, STEP BY STEP:

Melt 8 tbsp butter in a pan over medium heat. When butter is melted, whisk in flour until a uniform paste forms.
Stir in salt and pepper.
While still over heat, slowly pour in milk and heavy whipping cream, stirring continuously. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat.
Place prepared pasta into a greased 9×13 baking dish and pour the milk/flour mixture over top of the pasta.
Evenly sprinkle shredded Colby jack cheese, pepper jack cheese and bacon on top.
Stir contents until everything is mixed well.
In a small mixing bowl, melt the remaining 2 oz of butter. Stir in breadcrumbs. This will resemble wet sand. Evenly distribute breadcrumbs overtop of pasta mixture.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the breadcrumbs begin to brown. Broil for an additional 3 minutes

WHAT CHEESE SHOULD I USE?

This is a debatable question, as there are so many! Some of our favorites include:

Cheddar (the traditional cheese, sharp, medium or milk work)
Colby
Montery Jack
Mozzarella
Gruyere
Gouda
Pepper Jack

These are just some of the ones that we have tried that have made it delicious, some are stringy cheeses and we love that in our Mac and cheese to make it really cheesy and some just really melt well.

Essentially you can use any mixture of cheeses that you want, some go well together some don’t. It is one of those things you need to play around with to get the right flavor.

Look at all that cheesy goodness, plus add bacon? I mean how can you have a better mean than this Bacon Mac and Cheese? Seriously it is so delicious.

Like I said I might be a little bit biased here since I’ve experimented with lots of mac and cheese recipes over the years, this one has become one of favorites ever.

The Pepper Jack cheese doesn’t overpower it with any heat as it is calmed down by the Colby cheese and the sauce. It really just has the perfect combination of flavor that you will adore it.

HOW TO STORE:

Since this Bacon Mac and Cheese contains milk products you will absolutely need to refrigerate this recipe.

If you have leftovers place in an airtight container such as a Tupperware container of a ziptop bag and place in the refrigerator, it should last 3-5 days.

If you want to freeze this you can do it as well, I recommend freezing after baked, you can place leftovers in a freezer bag and it should keep for about 2-3 months.

You can make this ahead of time and freeze I would do it in a tin pan and bake as directed and cover and freeze until ready to use.

Defrost in the refrigerator and then you can heat back in the oven on a low setting until it is heated trough, or you can scoop out some of your portions and microwave.

This Bacon Mac and Cheese really does make the perfect dinner time meal. Kid’s love Mac and Cheese and with the Pepper Jack in here it will not throw it over the top where it is too spicy.

Our kids eat it no problem and that includes a really picky 7 year old girl, so if it’s approved by her then I know that it must be good, it’s always hard to appease everyone but this dish does it.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

You can use any pasta you like, but we like to use raditore the most as it holds the sauce and cheese best.
You can use any mixture of cheese that you like.
This recipe can be frozen, see my tips above.
Feel free to add more bacon, there is always room for more bacon.
The breadcrumb topping is not necessary but we love it, if you do not use it you do not need to broil.
Make sure you mix everything together well in the pan so it get’s evenly distributed.

This is a comforting family meal then you need to whip up this Pepper Jack Bacon Mac and Cheese as soon as you can, it will be a staple on your menu rotation.

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