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This homemade mac and cheese casserole is one of our favorite dinner ideas for two! It’s decadent, rich, creamy, loaded with melty cheese, and sprinkled with crispy bacon.
The Ultimate Baked Mac and Cheese for Two
I know, I know, it’s July and you may not want to turn on that oven. But after you hear what’s in this recipe, you’ll want to crank up that oven and whip up this ultimate mac and cheese casserole for you and your special someone!
It can be tricky to create a pasta casserole for two, but I’ve done the hard work for ya ;) This easy, cheesy baked mac and cheese is full of all the good stuff: Gruyere. White cheddar. Bacon. Lots and lots of bacon. Need I say more?!
Plus, it bakes up in just 30 minutes, and you don’t really need a whole lot of prep, either. So not only is it the perfect mini casserole for you and your sweetie, but it’s fast to the table, too!
I know we have a long way to go until Valentine’s Day, but if you need an excuse to have a date night at home, this incredible mac and cheese casserole is a good enough reason. This easy dinner recipe is made from tender pasta tossed with the best combination of melty cheese, sprinkled with crumbled crispy bacon. So delicious!
Easy Mac and Cheese Casserole for Two
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups (150 g) orecchiette pasta
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup (237 ml) milk
- 1 cup (113 g) shredded Gruyère cheese
- 1 cup (113 g) sharp white cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 8 slices of crispy bacon, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 °F (191 °C) and lightly grease a 2-quart ovensafe casserole dish. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente, following the directions on the pasta package. You’ll want it to still have a bite to it because it will finish cooking in the oven.
- In the meantime, in a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes while whisking vigorously so it doesn’t burn. Continue to whisk as you add the milk, then let the mixture gently come to a simmer and thicken, about 5 minutes.
- Add the Gruyere and white cheddar cheeses to the skillet and stir together with a spatula until all the cheese has melted. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Remove the skillet from the heat.
- At this point, the pasta should be done cooking. Drain well and add to the cheese sauce. Gently toss the pasta with the cheese sauce until everything is covered. Sprinkle half the bacon mixture into the skillet and toss to incorporate.
- Pour pasta mixture into prepared casserole dish. Top with remaining bacon pieces, and then place, uncovered, in oven to bake for 30 minutes, or until mixture is bubbly and pasta is cooked through.
- Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Do I need to pre-cook the bacon?
yes!
I have a question. The two cups of pasta, it that before or after cooking it?
Thanks!
before cooking! so 2 cups dry pasta
Made this tonight and it was delicious! Thanks for the smaller portioned recipe 👍
Yummy! Thanks for sharing!
I don’t mean to be a smarty pants but, it would be nice if the whole recipe was shown.
I tried clicking on the ”grab the whole recipe here” deal and nothing happened. When I clicked in the box it crossed out the ”get the whole recipe here” deal.
Help.
I’ve made mac & cheese kind of like this before but, I would still like the whole recipe just to be on the safe side.
Thanks
Hi, sorry. I had to do that when I was working with Food Network but it has been several years now so I brought the recipe over to my site. If you refresh the page, it will be there now.
Must try this recipe. I love Mac and cheese.
Would love to make the Mac and cheese casserole but why can’t I get the method??
You have to click the link in the recipe to get to it. This was a recipe I developed for Food Network and they wanted to host the recipe on their site.
How about Ground Turkey Recipes …. more versatile than chicken
here are a bunch: https://www.tablefortwoblog.com/?s=ground+turkey
This says for two, I need to make it for 15 what do I do?
I would say to multiply all the ingredients by 8 so it makes 16 servings or honestly, find another recipe that serves more since I made this recipe intended for two.