We Tested the Internet's Best Smoked Mac and Cheese Recipes to Make Our Own Ultimate Version

We tested five of the most popular recipes we could find for smoked mac and cheese to find our favorite and attempt to make our own ultimate version ( • Our Ultimate Smoked Ma... ).
The five recipes we tested:
Recipe 1- Malcom Reed (How to BBQ Right): • Smoked Mac and Cheese ...
Recipe 2 - Traeger Smoked Mac & Triple Cheese: www.traeger.com/recipes/smoky...
Recipe 3 - Matt Pittman (Meat Church): • Holiday Recipes | Smok...
Recipe 4 - Million Dollar Smoked Mac and Cheese: bbqingwiththenolands.com/mill...
Recipe 5 - Hey Grill Hey: heygrillhey.com/smoked-mac-an...
We tested all the recipes on a Traeger Ironwood with Traeger Signature Pellets (hickory, maple, cherry).

[@michaelclary971]

This video is perfect for someone who’s indecisive. Good stuff!

[@DRV-mt5dd]

Thanks for the review. Even though it sounds like you didn't really follow the recipes carefully; I still got some good useful info!
Now you can feed the neighborhood, lol.

[@mason_woodruff]

Appreciate you taking the time to watch! This was our first time doing one of these with video. Still working out all the logistics.

[@RonOnTheGrill]

What a great video! Being able to compare 5 different recipes in one video rather than running all over youtube (which I still did anyway, lol) was very cool. So I've done smoked mac and cheese a few times, just trying to get my own recipe perfected. The thing I always struggle with is the texture. You're the only channel I've seen talk about the difference in "creamy" cheese vs "pully" cheese. Creamy is what I'm usually going for, but "pully" is what I usually get.
I'll watch again, but what would you say is the main factor that determines which one of those textures you end up getting? Oh, and call me crazy but I actually like making the roux. makes me feel all "chef-like", lol! I tried another recipe that used cheddar soup. It was delicious, but my sauce broke and I ended up with oily mac and cheese. Looking back at the video I think my heat was too high as I was making the sauce. Anyway, thanks again for making 5 different popular recipes in one video! This video should have a lot more views! Maybe play around with the title and thumb. See you around guys!

[@mason_woodruff]

Appreciate it, Ron! I think cheese selection is a big factor but as long as you’re using primarily soft, melting cheeses, you should be fine. Hard and low moisture cheeses like low moisture mozzarella or Parmesan nearly always end up with cheese pulls in my experience. Hydration seems to make a big difference (milk, cream, stock, etc.), and a roux definitely helps bring the cheese and liquids together. Or if you can get some of the starchy pasta water incorporated, that really seems to help with a smooth sauce. I’m guessing that’s how some of the recipes where everything smokes together the whole time work out.
Hope that helps. 🤜🤛