Experimenting with macaroni and cheese on the grill

Several of my friends said they didn’t know you could make macaroni and cheese on the grill or even in your smoker grill. I replied, “Yes, you can!” and I have a recipe for just that.

Since I have a combination smoker, charcoal, gas grill, I decided to divide this recipe between two bread pans and cook one on the gas grill section and the other by burning oak in the firebox to smoke and heat that section of the grill.

Since I have a temperature gauge on both sections, I could monitor the heat. Both were at 450 degrees, but you can use medium high heat or anything 350 degrees and above. Each grill is a bit different so you may have to find what works best for you.

I liked both methods, but the oak smoked one was the best for me. You could achieve the smoke flavoring by using your gas grill and burning wet smoker chips in a separate pan while cooking. You could also use smoked cheese and grate it yourself to use in this recipe. There are so many other options you could try to this basic recipe such as adding jalapenos, using different cheeses, adding bacon or different meats. Try this great recipe and find out how good mac and cheese tastes when made on the grill. Enjoy!

Grill Baked Mac and Cheese

Prep Time: 30 min

Ready in: 50 min

 

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz.) box of elbow macaroni

½ tsp. salt

¾ c. salted butter, softened at room temp, divided (1/2 c. and ¼ c.)

1 c. sour cream

1 tbs. cream cheese, softened at room temp

8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 egg yolk

2 tbs. flour

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)

1 c. whole milk

8 oz. shredded mild cheddar cheese

6-8 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled (optional)

 

Directions:

1). Cook the macaroni in a large pot of boiling water for 7 minutes, drain and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the ½ c. of butter and sprinkle ½ tsp. salt, mix well until the butter is melted.

2). Mix together ¼ c. butter, sour cream, cream cheese, the egg yolk and sharp cheddar cheese in a separate bowl. Add the flour, ½ tsp. salt, cayenne pepper, and milk into the sour cream mix and hand mix well.

3). You can use any metal baking sheet, but I used 2 metal bread loaf pans. Pour and spread out about ¼ c. of the sour cream mixture in the bottom of each pan. Add the remaining sour cream mixture to the macaroni and mix well until fully coated. You can stir in the prepared bacon during this step, if you use that option. Evenly divide the macaroni between the 2 baking pans and then sprinkle 4 oz. of the mild cheddar cheese over both.

4). Heat your grill up to a minimum of 350 degrees and bake with the lid closed for 15 minutes. The cheese will melt and you should see it bubbling around the edges of the pan.

5). Remove from heat and allow it to rest for about 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy!