An orange bell pepper — carved and ready for Halloween — becomes an edible bowl for creamy mac and cheese.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 40 min |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 6 medium orange bell peppers
- 8 ounces elbow macaroni
- 1 1/4 cups half-and-half
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 4 ounces mild Cheddar, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice water.
- Cut the tops off the peppers and reserve. Remove the seeds and membranes. Put the peppers and the tops in the boiling water and cook until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Plunge the peppers into the ice bath. Once cool, remove them and use a sharp knife to carve a jack-o-lantern face into one side of each pepper.
- Return the water to a boil, add the macaroni and cook until al dente, about 6 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water and drain (don’t rinse the pasta).
- Heat the half-and-half in a large saucepan over medium heat until it just comes to a simmer. Continue simmering until reduced to about 3/4 cup, about 10 minutes. Add the cream cheese and stir until melted. Whisk in the Cheddar until all the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.
- Off the heat, add the macaroni to the saucepan and stir to combine. Stir in some of the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce if needed. Season with salt if needed. Let sit for 10 minutes, then divide the mac and cheese among the peppers and cap each with a pepper top.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 483 |
| Total Fat | 29 g |
| Saturated Fat | 17 g |
| Carbohydrates | 41 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 10 g |
| Protein | 16 g |
| Cholesterol | 84 mg |
| Sodium | 635 mg |
Reviews
Great
Deliciously clever treat! Spruced up the M&C w/ green Tabasco. Our home detests cooked peppers, so I left raw; turned out fragrant & delicious!
Happy Trick or Eating!
Happy Trick or Eating!
Cute, but even if I substituted my best mac&cheese recipe the bell pepper part doesn’t work for anyone at my end except as a decoration.
Fun and yummy, must eat quickly- it gets cold easily
A bit too much cream cheese for my liking so I added more cheese. You could also use less cream cheese to avoid the consistency. Otherwise nice recipe
Very fun and kids loved the Mac and cheese.
Love it, very creative!!
That seems like a super bland cheese sauce.
Delighted the whole gang …
Not the easiest recipe The cream cheese made the Mac and cheese taste weird and then the Mac a cheese keeper coming out of the mouth would not recommend