Greedy Girl : BBQ Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

I love Pasta

This is a simple and easy recipe I make all the time at home. Especially if I want a quick one pot go to meal. It’s creamy cheesy slightly sweet from the BBQ sauce and has bits of chicken, onion and peppers all thorough. No way could pasta month go by without me sharing my little secret BBQ chicken macaroni and cheese.

This has to be dedicated posthumously to Wade. He was my college sweetheart who died in 2009 from cancer. He loooovvveeeed macaroni and cheese! Once I made BBQ wings and mac and cheese we were talking and he said “it would be a great idea to add BBQ sauce to this” and I was like, ok next time I’ll try it. We made it several times, adding BBQ sauce, onions, peppers, sausages, bacon and chicken.

This recipe is the perfected version; years of trial and error and tastings and additions and subtractions. It extremely delicious, the combination of bbq sauce and cheese is smokey, cheesy, sweet, hearty and filling. The garlic panko bread crust topping just adds the extra level of yum to the dish. It’s your standard macaroni and cheese on steroids.

Ingredients (Printable recipe)

For the bbq chicken

2 CB chicken breast (boneless skinless)

3 pinch salt

1 ¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

3 tablespoon oil

½ cup onion chopped

¼ cup sweet pepper

2 garlic clove minced

1 ¼ cup hickory BBQ sauce

For the cheese sauce

3 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoon flour

2 cup heavy cream or milk

8 oz pepper jack cheese

5 oz sharp cheddar cheese

1 onion (blended)

1 pinch of salt

Other

1 box elbow macaroni

For the topping

4 tablespoon butter

2 garlic cloves shredded

1 cup panko bread crumbles

Instructions

First place a pot of salted water to boil
Preheat your oven to 475 degrees
Cut (washed and dried) chicken breast into strips and season with the salt black pepper, smoked paprika and 1 teaspoon of the oil
On a hot grill cook the strips on both sides until fully cooked. Approximately 3 minutes per side.
Remove from the heat and set aside. Chop into bite sized pieces
In a sauté pan with 2 teaspoon of oil sauté the onions, peppers and garlic for 1 minute
Add the grilled chicken to the mix and stir for another minute before adding the bbq sauce
Stir to incorporate and warm the sauce, then remove it from the heat.
By this the water should be boiling, add the pasta to the hot water

For the cheese sauce and to finish the dish

In a clean pot melt the butter add the flour and cook for a few seconds
Add the heavy cream to the flour mixture and whisk until the flour and butter has dissolved
Add all the cheese and allow it to melt and the sauce to become very thick
Shred or puree the small onion and add it to the cheese sauce along with a pinch of salt
Once the sauce is thick stir in the BBQ chicken sauce
Strain the elbows completely and stir the cheesy chicken BBQ sauce with the elbows
Pour into a large baking pan

Optional garlic panko breadcrumb topping

To make the topping, Melt the butter, stir in the shredded garlic and panko bread crumbs
Sprinkle evenly on top of the elbows and cheese
Bake until golden brown on top

Greedy Tips

If you don’t have a grill you can sauté the chicken in a hot pan with a little oil
if you don't do the panko topping you can cover it with shredded cheese
And you may use any BBQ sauce you choose

Update: Sept,24, 2015

Can you believe I found on my external hard drive, the pic of the first bbq mac n cheese we made from 2008??? And today is his birthday too :) Had to share it with yall.