Serve Our Delicious BBQ Pork Mac and Cheese Recipe to Impress a Crowd

There are few meals more comforting than good mac and cheese. While mac and cheese as we know it now is considered to be a quintessential American pasta dish, it actually boasts a long and rich history with somewhat contested beginnings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it seems the earliest mentions of pasta with cheese stem back to Italy in the 1300s. Regardless of the genius ultimately responsible for the creation, chefs and home cooks alike have come up with an abundance of ways to tweak or upgrade this classic pasta dish over the years.

This BBQ pulled pork mac and cheese recipe from the kitchen of recipe developer Jennine Rye takes possibly two of the best dishes known to man — mac and cheese and barbecue pulled pork — and combines them into the ultimate dinnertime feast. The mac and cheese is made using a three cheese combination of cheddar, Gruyère, and mozzarella for a rich, sharp, ultra-stringy, and oozy sauce. To keep things simple, ready-made pulled pork is combined with barbecue sauce and then spread on top of the creamy, cheesy pasta before being baked in the oven until golden and bubbling. Guaranteed to be your new favorite mac and cheese, read on to find out how to whip up this BBQ pulled pork mac and cheese.

To begin this BBQ pulled pork mac and cheese recipe, you will first need to gather the ingredients. For the mac and cheese, you will want macaroni, butter, flour, milk, garlic powder, mustard powder, and Worcestershire sauce. To give the sauce plenty of cheesy flavor, you will need cheddar, Gruyère, and mozzarella cheese. To top the mac and cheese, you will want shredded pork and barbecue sauce, along with more shredded cheddar and mozzarella.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

To prepare the pulled pork, mix the shredded pork with the barbecue sauce. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Cook the macaroni until al dente, a minute or two less than what the package instructions call for.

Drain the macaroni.

To make the sauce, add the butter to a large saucepan over medium heat.

Once the butter has melted, whisk in the flour.

Add the milk in increments, whisking continuously, until it has all been incorporated.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the garlic powder, mustard powder, and Worcestershire sauce.

Add 1 cup grated cheddar, the Gruyère, and ½ cup mozzarella and mix until melted. Remove from the heat.

Add the pasta to a large, oven-proof dish.

Pour the cheese sauce over the top and mix well.

Spread the barbecue pulled pork over the top of the macaroni and cheese.

Add the remaining ½ cup cheddar and ½ cup mozzarella to the top.

Bake for 20 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the top is golden.

Serve.

There really is no end to the adaptions available to you when it comes to mac and cheese, and this recipe is no exception. The most simple way to mix up a mac and cheese dish is by switching out the cheeses you use; here, the world is your oyster. You can try adding blue cheese, cream cheese, smoked cheese, Brie, or Parmesan to find your favorite combinations. 

For further flavor additions, mixing in caramelized onions or roasted garlic will require a little bit more work but will also add plenty of decadence to the resulting dish. It’s also possible to add your choice of vegetables to the mac and cheese, from broccoli to cauliflower or butternut squash, meaning that there are plenty of ways to add a few more vitamins and minerals to this recipe.

If you want to switch up your toppings a little, why not add some breadcrumbs or some crispy onions to the top of the dish for added crunch? If you want to add a little heat to the dish, mix some chile sauce into the pulled pork mixture or add a few jalapeños. If you have a little time on your hands and want to make this dish extra special, cook up your own pulled pork from scratch.

If you would prefer to make your own pulled pork for this recipe but have never given it a go before, rest assured that you’ll find it pretty fool-proof with a few simple tips. The first thing to note is that there are a few different ways to cook pulled pork. You can use an oven, a smoker, or a slow cooker to achieve that mouthwatering, falling-off-the-bone pork, so use whichever best suits you. Pork butt is typically used to make pulled pork, but pork shoulder works well if you can’t find the former. Despite its name, pork butt actually comes from the shoulder area of the pig as well, but it’s more marbled and fatty than the pork shoulder cut.

The key to making great pulled pork is to cook it low and slow. All good things take time, and pulled pork is no exception. If you want to add more flavor to your pulled pork, marinating the meat in brine or adding a rub are simple ways to pack in more taste. One key ingredient to add during this stage is vinegar, which works particularly well with pork. This will help create wonderfully tender, soft, and succulent meat that will work perfectly in this BBQ pulled pork mac and cheese recipe.