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Smoking Chimney

Recipes from a working kitchen · Cape Town

Macaroni Cheese

By Marna Ross Updated 12 August 2026 4.67 from 24 ratings
Most of us grew up with macaroni cheese and it is really a delicious meal for a weekday evening. Macaroni cheese does not require a long list of ingredients and it is very tasty and delicious. There are a lot of different recipes out there for macaroni cheese, but this one I can guarantee you are really good. My mom used to make this for us when I was a child and I have great memories of it. This variation contains bacon and onion, with the cheese on top with slices of tomatoes (my favourite part!).If you don't like onion and bacon, feel free to leave it out and just add some grated cheddar into the white sauce, as well as a pinch of mixed dried herbs to make it a more cheesy variation. I used to make a kiddies variation for children meals while I was employed at Augusta Kleinbosch. It was the white sauce with grated cheese and a small pinch of mixed dried herbs together with the cooked macaroni noodles. Then all just mixed together. The kids just loved it! And it made me happy because I have no children of my own, I am not the best at kiddies’ meals! So this is really a lovely meal to make for a weekday menu if you are tired from work. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.The white sauce should be a runny white sauce to ensure after baking the macaroni cheese is still moist and not a dry baked macaroni.If you love pasta dishes, give Bacon and Butternut Pasta a try.
A comforting dish of baked macaroni cheese with a bubbling, golden brown crust.
Prep 30 min
Cook 20 min
Total 30 min
Serves 4

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Ingredients

  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 200-120 g back bacon, finely chopped into pieces
  • 250 g macaroni noodles
  • 4 Tablespoons flour
  • 3 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 litre milk
  • 1 teaspoon mixed dried herbs
  • 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
  • 1 tomato, sliced into halves
  • 1-2 Tablespoons oil for frying

Method

Bacon And Onion

  1. Fry the bacon and the chopped onion until the bacon are quite crispy. Keep aside

White Sauce

  1. In a sauce pan, melt the butter and add the flour.Cook slightly

  2. Add the milk, 1 cup at a time and stir continuously to form a white sauce without lumps

  3. Season lightly with salt(follow this step as bacon is very salty already) and pepper. Keep aside

For The Macaroni Noodles

  1. In a separate sauce pot, fill the pot with hot water, add little salt and oil and cook the macaroni noodles until al dente

To Assemble

  1. In a large mixing bowl: Add the white sauce to the fried bacon and onion and mix well

  2. Add the mixed dried herbs

  3. Strain the cooked macaroni noodles and add to the white sauce mixture

  4. It is important that the mixture is quite runny. I found if you would like to eat the following evening some left overs of the macaroni cheese the 'runnier' white sauce adds to the fact that the macaroni cheese is also after the baked time in the oven and standing overnight, not setting too much and still moist and not too dry

  5. Add the macaroni mixture into a sprayed baked dish of your choice and make the top even with a spatula

  6. Add the grated cheese and pack the sliced tomatoes neatly around and in the middle

  7. Season lightly with black pepper turnings and a little bit of mixed dried herbs

  8. Bake for about 15-20 minutes in a heated oven at 180° Celsius until the cheese is crispy

  9. Serve with a lovely side salad or a lovely piece of ciabatta roll on the side

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