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Creamy Buffalo Sauce Bacon Mac and Cheese

Diagonally placed 9x13 white baking dish with Creamy Buffalo Sauce Bacon Mac and Cheese, fully baked and garnished with chopped spring onion greens. In the back left is a stack of white plates with a silver spoon on top.
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This Creamy Buffalo Sauce Bacon Mac and Cheese is ultra rich, cozy, and super comforting! It’s made with plenty of cheese, and loaded with crispy bacon, corn, and baby spinach leaves! Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or as a side!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 8 ounces uncooked Galletti n°44 Pasta (feel free to use macaroni or any other short cut pasta)
  • 2 cups Baby Spinach, loosely packed (if using frozen, you’ll need just 1 & 1/2 cups instead)
  • 1 cup Corn Kernels (sweet or regular and either frozen or fresh)
  • 6 slices Bacon – chopped into bite sized strips (I used Oscar Mayer’s Naturally Hardwood Smoked Bacon)
  • 2 TBSP Unsalted Butter
  • ½ medium White Onion – chopped small
  • 6 cloves Garlic – minced
  • 2 TBSP All-Purpose Flour
  • 3 cups Whole Milk
  • 1 TSP Kosher Salt, to taste
  • 1.5 TSP freshly cracked Black Pepper, to taste
  • 1 TSP ground Cayenne, to taste
  • 4 TBLS Buffalo Sauce (I use Wing Time’s Buffalo Wing Hot Sauce)
  • 1 + ¼ cup freshly grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
  • 5 slices / 4 ounces Colby Jack Cheese – broken up into pieces (I use Sara Lee’s custom slices and used 10 x half slices in total)
  • 2 Spring Onions (scallions/green onions, green parts only) – chopped

Instructions

  1. Cook pasta and blanch spinach: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and corn and cook until al dente according to package instructions. In the last minute of cooking, add the baby spinach. Drain and set aside.
  2. Preheat oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.
  3. Cook the bacon: Meanwhile, in a large deep sauté pan, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp and cooked through. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain off the excess grease and set aside.
  4. Sauté aromatics: In the same pan with the bacon drippings, add the unsalted butter. On the butter has melted and is nice and bubbly, add the onion and garlic and sauté until fragrant – about 2 minutes.
  5. Add flour: Next, whisk in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.
  6. Pour in milk: Lower the heat to medium-low and gradually pour in the milk while continuing to whisk until thickened.
  7. Season and add Buffalo sauce: Season with kosher salt, black pepper, and ground cayenne to taste, and pour in the Buffalo sauce. Continue whisking until combined well.
  8. Add cheese: Sprinkle in 1 cup of the freshly grated cheddar cheese and add 3 slices of the Colby Jack cheese and continue whisking until the sauce has thickened – about 4-6 minutes.
  9. Add everything else: Add the pasta, corn, spinach, and bacon and mix until fully coated in the sauce.
  10. Assemble: Transfer to a large 9×13 baking dish and scatter the remaining grated cheddar cheese and colby jack cheese pieces on top.
  11. Bake: Bake for 13-15 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the pasta has heated through.
  12. To Serve: Garnish with the spring onion green parts and serve immediately!

Equipment

Notes

  1. Baking time may vary depending on your oven. But you’ll know to remove the dish from the oven once the cheese has melted and is nice and bubbly.
  2. To make this vegetarian: Eliminate the bacon and cook the dish in unsalted butter and olive oil. You can add a plant or soy based protein, or your favorite mushrooms to make the mac and cheese more substantial.
  3. To make this vegan: Eliminate the bacon like above and cook the dish in unsalted vegan butter and olive oil. In addition, use almond milk in place of the whole milk and vegan cheese.
  4. To make this gluten-free: Use gluten-free flour such as Bob’s Red Mill Sweet White Rice Flour, and ensure that the cheese you are using is GF certified. Also, be sure to use gluten-free pasta.

Nutrition

Find it online: https://thatspicychick.com/creamy-buffalo-sauce-bacon-mac-and-cheese/