Beer Macaroni and Cheese

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Bacon Beer Macaroni and Cheese is bowtie pasta that’s tossed with a creamy beer cheese sauce and then baked until golden brown and bubbly.

This recipe was originally posted on September 7th, 2011, Post and photos were updated on February 24th, 2016.

Do you ever do stuff just because you know that it’s going to make you feel good? Like I know that it’s not really something I should be spending my money on but I love to get my nail done. It’s just something that I’ve always loved, well I take that back…I don’t love getting them done, I love it once they’re done. haha. I actually hate sitting there and waiting on my nails to be finished but I love the final results.

Yesterday I took some time for me, it’s something that I rarely do. I always end up feeling guilty for taking the time or spending the money on things that make me feel good. What an odd way to be, right? However yesterday I powered through my normal guilt and I went out and got my nails done. After that I had my eye brows waxed so that my eyebrows looks like eyebrows instead of little caterpillars and I invested in a $10 box of hair dye.

My super dark hair is now a redish brown, my nails are greenish teal and silver and my eyebrows look fabulous. haha. I still have guilt today over pampering myself yesterday but I have to admit that I feel a lot better about myself today than I did the day before yesterday.

Isn’t it amazing how a few simple beauty steps can make you feel so much better about yourself?

You know what else had been making be feel better? Re-doing a lot of the old photos on BigBearsWife.com. I’ve been posting recipe on this site since 2009 and I’ll be the first to admit that my photos at the beginning were awful! Now I know that my current photos aren’t the best in the world but they’re so much better than the first recipe photos on the blog.

So I’ve been going back and re-doing photos of some pretty popular recipes on the site and this Beer Macaroni and Cheese is one of them.

Back in 2011 I was a member of the CRAZY COOKING CHALLENGE that Tina from Moms Crazy Cooking hosted. In September of 2011 the theme of the cooking challenge was Macaroni & Cheese. We went on the hunt for the best mac and cheese recipes and that’s when I found a Beer Macaroni and Cheese Recipe on Jessica’s Super Sweet Blog, How Sweet It Is!

If You’ve read this blog before, you know I am all about finding the perfect Comfort Food for hubby AKA BigBear. So yeah.. Beer… Macaroni and Cheese…Beer Macaroni and Cheese. What more could a country boy ask for 😉

I loved this just as much as he did. It is not your average blue box Macaroni and Cheese (not that I don’t love boxed mac and cheese because I do haha) , creamy and cheesy, with the perfect crunch from the bread crumbs but not overload with fake cheesy taste. ooo It was Good…. Goooood and yes that last Good did need all of those “ooo’s”

So here we have Beer Macaroni and Cheese. and yes I did add bacon to mine 😉

Ps. Here’s the old photo haha

Created by Angie on February 23, 2016

Bowtie Pasta that's tossed with a creamy beer cheese sauce and then baked until golden brown and bubbly.

Prep Time: 10m
Cook Time: 45m
Total Time: 55m

Yield: fills a 9x13 baking dish
Category: Entree, Pasta

Ingredients

4 cups uncooked pasta (I used Tiny Tiny Bow Pasta)
14 pieces of cooked bacon, chopped into bacon bits
1/2 cup italian bread crumbs
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
24 ounces shredded cheddar cheese or Colby jack cheese
12 ounces of bud light (or your favorite beer)
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons butter
Dried Parsley for sprinkling on top if desired

Instructions

Cook Bacon, Drain Bacon Fat, and Chop into bacon Bits. Set Aside.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Cook pasta according to directions on box until just al dente. Drain and Set aside. (Pasta will finish cooking in the oven)
In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat.
Once the butter is melted whisk in flour
Cook until the mixture is bubbly and golden in color, should take about 2-3 minutes.
Add milk and beer into the saucepan. Whisk the mixture while adding the milk and beer.
Add the cheese and stir until melted.
To thicken the cheese sauce a bit, I let the mixture come to a low boil and while stirring it every so often, I let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
Stir in pepper & paprika.
Add the cooked noodles to a casserole dish.
Pour cheese over the noodles and stir to combine.
Once all noodles are coated, sprinkle in the bacon and stir.
Top the cheesy noodles with bread crumbs.
Bake for 30 minutes at 375F.
Once Cooked, Remove from oven, Sprinkle Top of the Beer Macaroni and Cheese with any leftover bacon and sprinkle with dried parsley.

Carb Lover? Pasta Lover? My top 3 favorites pasta recipes on BigBearsWife.com

Comments

Renee - Kudos Kitchen says

July 10, 2016 at 10:07 am

This looks so flippin’ flavorful! I love how you re-did this recipe with new photos. I really need to do this with a zillion of my older posts. Your new photos make me so hungry!

- Angie says
  
  July 12, 2016 at 1:32 pm
  
  YAY! I’m so glad that you liked the photos! I need to re-do a lot of them but whoo wee it takes forever haha