Bacon Jalapeño Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
A creamy, cheesy side dish made in a slow cooker, Bacon Jalapeno Cauliflower Mac and Cheese has all the flavors of a jalapeno popper!
Today’s recipe is one of my favorites – it’s such a great, low effort side dish made in the slow cooker. And since I’m usually just feeding Kevin and I, we have leftovers to go with meals all week.
To make this recipe, all you have to do is dump everything but the salt, pepper, pepper jack and bacon in a slow cooker, cook, dump the rest, cook and serve!
Because this is a slow cooker recipe, if you’re making this on a weeknight the 3+ hour cook time may not be ideal. I like to make it on Sundays and meal prep the rest. I’ve also successfully doubled this recipe, although I found I needed to stir it periodically to make sure everything cooked evenly.
But the flavors are just awesome. Spicy, smoky, creamy, cheesy – all the flavors I love in a jalapeno popper!
So give this a shot and let me know what you think. Did you make any changes? I’d love to hear!
Until next time. X
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Bacon Jalapeno Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
Bacon Jalapeño Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
A creamy, cheesy side dish made in a slow cooker, Bacon Jalapeno Cauliflower Mac and Cheese has all the flavors of a jalapeno popper!
- Total Time: 3 hours 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 - 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, chopped into bite size florets
- 1/2 medium white onion, diced
- 1 jalapeno, finely diced
- 1 serrano, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 4 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded
- 6 slices of bacon, fully cooked and chopped
Instructions
- Grease a 4 to 6 qt slow cooker.
- In it, place the cauliflower, onion, jalapeno, serrano, cream cheese, butter and heavy cream.
- Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.
- Stir in the salt, pepper, cheese and bacon.
- Continue to cook on low for another 30 minutes or until the cheese has fully melted.
- Stir everything together to form a cheesy, creamy sauce.
- Serve immediately or keep the slow cooker on warm until ready to serve.
Notes
Tools
- 4 or 6qt slow cooker
Save extra bacon to top the cauliflower mac and cheese, or garnish with chopped Italian parsley. It doesn’t have a huge effect on the dish, but don’t we all love more bacon?!
Serving size is based on side dish. If an entree, it serves more like 3-4
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Recipe adapted from A Sweet Life
Hi! Do you think frozen riced cauliflower would work for this?
If you follow the instructions as-is, only replacing the cauliflower with frozen riced cauliflower, it will turn to mush and thin the sauce by the time it is served. You can definitely try it out! I would cook or at least thaw it separately first, then drain it before stirring it in to the finished sauce.
Thank you for sharing this! Your mac and cheese looks amazing, can’t wait to give it a try!
Tasted yummy but my cauliflower was really crunchy. I’ll try cooking it on high or in the Instant Pot next time, or maybe adding some stock to soften it up. Thanks for the great recipes!
This was DELICIOUS! I made it as a casserole and baked it because I didn’t have time to slow cook it. It is a definite favorite 💕