Kentucky Hot Brown Mac and Cheese – THE BEST!!! We ate this two weeks in a row. Seriously DELICIOUS! Macaroni, flour, butter, onion, salt, pepper, milk, gruyere cheese, turkey, bacon, tomatoes. All the flavors of a Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwich in pasta. Everyone cleaned their plate and went back for seconds. This is a new favorite. GREAT macaroni and cheese recipe!
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Pin This RecipeTurkey, Bacon & Tomato Macaroni & Cheese
The Kentucky Derby is coming up. Now, I’m not a horse racing fan, but we always seem to watch the derby. I find the Derby more of an excuse to eat and drink with friends! There is nothing better than sipping a Mint Julep and eating some Kentucky Hot Browns. I have several variations of the original on the blog, but this Kentucky Hot Brown Mac & Cheese might be my favorite. Pasta loaded with turkey and bacon and tossed in a Gruyere cheese sauce. O-M-G! SO decadent!
How to Make Kentucky Hot Brown Mac & Cheese
This casserole is very easy to make. Start with cooking some macaroni. While the pasta cooks, make the cheese sauce. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add some flour and slowly whisk in milk, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Bring the pot to a simmer. Cook until sauce is thick, about 5 – 6 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in shredded cheese until melted. Add cooked pasta. Stir in chopped turkey and cooked bacon. Spread the mixture into a baking dish and top with more cheese. Bake until bubbly and top with chopped tomatoes before serving.
- For this recipe, I used some really thick-sliced turkey deli meat. I wanted to have nice bites of turkey throughout the mac and cheese.
- I used Gruyere cheese in the cheese sauce. Gruyere can be expensive, so feel free to substitute Swiss cheese if you don’t want to splurge on the Gruyere. I think it is totally worth the splurge!
What to Serve with Macaroni & Cheese Casserole
We topped this casserole with some fresh diced tomatoes. This has all the flavors of a hot brown but tossed with pasta. We loved this pasta! I cannot wait to make it again for the Derby! Serve this with a salad and a Mint Julep and you are set!
Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this casserole:
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Kentucky Hot Brown Mac and Cheese
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 8- oz elbow macaroni, uncooked
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2½ cups whole milk
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 2 cups shredded gruyere cheese, divided (can use swiss cheese)
- 8- oz cooked turkey chopped
- 6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
- 1 tomato, chopped
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly spray a 9×9-inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Melt butter in a large sauce pot over medium heat. Add flour and cook 1 – 2 minutes, but do not brown. Slowly whisk in milk, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
- Bring pot to a simmer. Cook until sauce is thick, about 5 – 6 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1½ cups shredded cheese into sauce until melted. Add cooked pasta. Stir in chopped turkey and cooked bacon.
- Pour pasta mixture into a 9-inch square baking dish. Top with remaining ½ cup of shredded cheese. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with chopped tomatoes before serving.
Steph
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Hello. I just have a quick question. In your recipe, Kentucky hot brown mac and cheese I notice on the picture there’s some tiny chopped green leaves on top. Is that chopped parsley.? And what kind of parsley? I’m planning to make it today. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks.
It is dried parsley. It is just for some color in the photos.
Any chance the flour can be substituted with almond flour? I'd like to make this Keto friendly
I have never tried this recipe with almond flour so I can't say with certainty.
Can you double it and bake in a 13 x 9 for more people or just make two ???
Sure! You can double it in a 9×13 pan. Enjoy!
We enjoy hot browns a lot when we have leftover turkey. I tried this recipe today using chicken and sharp cheddar cheese. It came out really well. Delicious idea. Thanks.
so glad you enjoyed it!
Super idea Steph and looks delicious. We just had Hot Browns a couple of weeks ago and I see this as a must try.
Hope you enjoy it, Larry!