Slow Cooker Bacon Mac and Cheese

5 from 3 votes

Slow Cooker Bacon Mac and Cheese

This Crockpot Bacon Mac and Cheese is the best, easy, creamy, cheesy, comfort food! It requires minimal effort for a terrific side dish for meals or the ultimate comforting main course for weeknight dinners.

Prep Time30

Cook Time2

Total Time2 30

Servings: people

Calories: 626kcal

Author: Karin and Ken

Ingredients

½-1 pound bacon chopped
1 medium onions diced or sliced
1 large sweet pepper chopped or sliced
1 pound elbow macaroni
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups boiling water plus extra as needed
2 cans (12 oz) evaporated milk
2 cans (11 oz) condensed cheddar cheese soup
2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese shredded
2 teaspoons dry mustard
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1-2 jalapenos seeded and minced optional

Instructions

Fry your bacon until crisp, remove from pan and drain on paper towel. Once drained, crumble it and place on another paper towel until needed.
Leave a few tablespoons of bacon grease and add your chopped onion. Stir until onions are tender. Add peppers for a minute or so and then remove from heat and set aside.
Line your slow cooker with an aluminum foil collar and coat with cooking spray. If you need to take a moment to watch the video to see how to do this. Otherwise, you are basically just lining your slow cooker with tin foil until it comes up over the edge of your slow cooker. Your lid will sit inside the tin foil.
Microwave macaroni and oil in bowl at 50 percent power, stirring every minute, until macaroni begin to look toasted and blistered, 5 to 8 minutes.
Prepare your boiling water while you are microwaving the pasta.
Transfer hot macaroni to prepared slow cooker and immediately stir in 2¾ cups boiling water.
Stir in evaporated milk, condensed soup, cheddar, Monterey Jack, mustard, 1 teaspoon pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt.
Add bacon, onions and peppers. Give everything a good stir trying not to puncture the tinfoil.
Cover and cook until macaroni are tender, 1 to 2 hours on high. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Video

Notes

Stirring Together. Before cooking make sure your macaroni and cheese is stirred well.
Use an Oval Slow Cooker. A larger-sized slow cooker works best when making this creamy mac and cheese with evaporated milk.
Timing. Just use the time in the recipe as a guide. If you use a different type of pasta you may need to extend the cooking time. Also, some slow cookers run hot, so it's a good idea to check it at the 1 hour mark to prevent your pasta from becoming overcooked and mushy.
For Crisp Bacon. The bacon cooked inside the mac and cheese isn't crisp but adds so much flavor. Add some on top for a crispy finish.
Toasting the Macaroni. This technique prevents excessive swelling so don't skip it! Really.

Nutrition