A savory treat is most welcome in my house. The familiar smell of bacon and eggs over cinnamon is a welcome change for me and breakfast for everyone is extra special. The original recipe was plain and simple cheese muffins and my first instinct was only to add bacon. A cheesy bacon muffin is the recipe for a Monday morning.
And I improvised further… upgrading to mac and cheese muffins. Of course I still added bacon, that dream could not be let off. But I restricted it to only half the batch in consideration for my vegetarian friends. Apart from that, I added a dash of freshly ground pepper.
A couple of these creamy and cheesy muffins is an entire meal by itself. They could also be served along with a bowl of warm soup or a nice pasta. It surely is the perfect treat to satiate all your mac and cheese cravings without feeling the guilt of an entire bowl.
I do want to try these with more mix-ins. Some of the ideas I want to try the next time include:
- Adding a handful of caramelized onions to the batter sans the macaroni and bacon. - Adding tiny bits of crispy spinach. - Add diced ham or prosciutto. - Tiny bits of parsley or basil. - I imagine roasted peppers would make a great addition.Or of course, just eat them as plain cheese muffins.
Over to the recipe: Bacon, Macaroni and Cheese: Comfort food at its best.
- 1½ cups flour
- 1½ tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 3 cups shredded colby-jack cheese
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup (1/2 stick) melted butter (I used salted)
- 12 cooked pasta shells (I used jumbo shells)
- Preheat the oven to 375F and grease or line a 12 hole muffin pan
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and pepper. Stir in 21/2 cups of cheese.
- In a separate bowl, whisk egg, milk, and butter together.
- Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a spoon to combine.
- Scoop about 1 tablespoon of the batter into the muffin pan and add one pasta shell in each cup and then fill with another tablespoon until the cup is ⅔ full. Top with the remaining cheese
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Muffin Monday: Round Up
Kate | Food Babbles | Rosemary Asiago Muffin
Stacy | Food Lust People Love | Smoked Sausage Cheese Muffins
Happy Baking!
Look amazing and delicious!
I’m so in love with these comfort food muffins! And it’s so great that it’s served in individual servings – makes portion control more possible for me! :)
Mac and cheese in a muffin! You are a genius! This is right up my savory alley.
Yum!! Those are the greatest mac n cheese muffins I’ve ever seen!
The muffin queen has done it again! What a fun, yummy new version…and I love all your ideas on how to tweak these :)
ooooo…I’m a mac n cheese fiend and these are absolutely going in my mac n cheese recipe arsenal. I think that adding the spinach or ham/prosciutto (or both at the same time) would be a great addition.
these sound great, and YES to the caramelized onions!
Hmmm – this is one savory muffin I could eat an entire batch of! Looks incredible!!!!!
You are so clever! What a brilliant idea for a savory muffin – how I wish I could have one for lunch right now!
Hello! This is the best thing to come across my eyes today! Lovely! I’ll take 7 :)
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant, An! These look amazing. Now I’m craving mac and cheese.
Wow! This is amazing! I was wondering if you put shells in it or not, and you did! It’s a true mac n cheese muffin. Seriously, you’re amazing at this. You should start selling your delicious muffin creations!
Savory muffins! I’m in love. We are having guests in the next two weeks, and I’m thinking of adding these to the menu. Would they be good as appetizers or as a side dish?
Thanks in advance,
Alaiyo
Of course! It would be great either ways. Make mini muffins. Would make for great bite sized finger food. Just remember to reduce the time of baking if you’re making mini muffins. :)
such a creative muffin! i’d love to have these for breakfast!
I’m loving your muffin mondays! I’ve never had a savoury cupcake.. yet, would you believe? But I’m going to have to change that soon because these look [and sound] amazing!
Also, I love how you’ve got your comment box before the actual comments. How did you do this in WordPress? Or is it part of the theme? If you could email me to let me know, that’d be great. Thanks!
P.S. Just to let you know I changed servers on my blog so if you were subscribed, you may need to re-subscribe. See this post.
Thanks Lisa! Will email you the details shortly. :)
These look so amazing and filling–a perfect savory breakfast. Every week I wonder what you’re going to come up with for Muffin Monday and am always impressed.
Yum!! How creative! I adore this recipe. Great idea!
I love the sound of this combination… you’ve got me curious as to how it would taste… Might have to try it out:)
Okay, these muffins are wacky. I still like them a lot! :) What an interesting muffin.
This vegetarian friend will stick to the mac and cheese muffin, with caramelized onions. How delicious! :)
Mac & Cheese MUFFINS!?! Sooooo creative! I’ve never seen anything like it and this is just creazy. :D Can I have some please? I can totally have this any time of the day!
You never let me down with your creative Monday muffins! These look comforting and delicious.
This is such a gorgeous idea my friend, I am obsessed with mac n cheese so carrying in my pocket is almost dangerous :D
Love it!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I need to make more muffins. They look so delightful!
Hi Anuradha,
You are so talented and creative! I have never heard of this before but would love to make this for my daughter who would just LOVE it!
Thanks for the recipe. Looks so yummy!
These look fantastic and I love all your add in ideas. I am going to make these.
macaroni in a muffin?!?! how the hell do you think of this stuff!! brilliantly creative!!! :)
Now this is the most creative muffin you have made!! This would be wonderful as a side dish with dinner! I have to make this for the family, they would love it!
My kids would jump for joy if they saw these muffins!! What a clever idea. :) Well done my friend.
OH. MY. WORD!
I never thought I’d see the day! Mac and cheese muffins, yum! This looks incredibly irresistible. Wow, I won’t stop thinking about these for a while. =]
Mac n cheese muffins? You are truly a genius!
It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to eat the entire batch, huh? :)
Wow, those look amazing! Dangerous, too–too easy to eat them all in one sitting!
These look super yummy, especially with the bacon bits. I bet kids would love having the hand held mac and cheese treats. Moms too!
Mac & Cheese Muffins? What are you trying to do to me? This may be the greatest muffin on the planet. I’m pretty sure I could down the whole recipe on my own, no sweat.
I love mac & cheese and love this savory muffin idea. Super fun for a party appetizer. :)
Tasty and cheesy muffin!
Ooh this is a great idea! So creative and I bet you get that carb induced bliss :)
I’ll take mac and cheese in any form. Your muffins are mac and cheese perfection! I love that you upgraded and I there’s 3 cups of cheese in them!
How cool is that?! Very interesting concept. I love the individual portions. Definitely a great idea.
What a fun idea for a muffin!
Mac and cheese in muffin form? Oh yes I think so!
absolutely perfection for a hungry kid and adult! I love this idea. Different than my mac and cheese muffins because more dense and bready! I love it
How delicious do these look!!!! Seriously-YUM
Great idea. Muffins are wonderful, but sometimes too sweet. I love the idea of savory muffins! Terrific idea – thanks.
I love all these hand pies and small bite creations everyone has come up with. Especially with dishes like this, then you feel like you can indulge a bit without the guilt.
There’s a restaurant in St Louis that sells strictly mac and cheese meals. You might like to check out their site to get some other ideas for fillings. Here’s the link:
http://www.cheese-ology.com/
Thanks for sharing this, I can’t wait to make them.
Thanks for sharing the link, Vicki! Off to check it out now! :)
I love your upgrade! Macaroni and cheese is quite possibly my favorite ever food, and I am always game for a new adaptation :)
I would have been so content with the cheesy bacon version! But how creative to add the macaroni! I really love savory muffins. And this looks just fabulous! I think I will take you up on one of your suggestions and add the caramelized onions to my batch! These are awesome!!! : )
I’m not sure the whole guilt-free thing would work for me… I’d just eat more of them!
Mac & Cheese.. why didn’t I come here sooner, it would have been a quick fix to get rid of my Monday blues. Never had then in muffin form before and I bet my sis in-law will be fighting with me over these. I will make sure I bake extras ;) xoxo
I saw this the other day and did try making it. Mine did not turn out like yours, I didn’t quite follow the instructions so am going to give it another go, LOL. I like that idea of the jumbo shells in there too. Love it.
I love these! And I know my son will too–his favorite pizza is mac & cheese pizza.
My mouth is LITERALLY watering. I’d like 10 of them.
Can mac&cheese get any better than this? Brilliant idea!
Macaroni and cheese muffins? I’m so in.
You many have converted me into becoming a savory muffin person! These look SO good!!!!
What a great idea! My daughters love mac & cheese sooo much. Having it in muffins will definitely make them go nuts!
these are delicious cheese muffins. btw i cannot see your about page. it is there or i cannot find it on the page.
Ha! Mac and cheese in a muffin! I love it! :)
OMG … I could totally eat this right now … fabulous :-)
One word. Yummalicious!
WOW this is SO creative! I’m defiitely going to try my partner is always annoying me about baking him savoury food!
How did I forget to comment here, that is just crazy:-) A hearty mac n’cheese muffin sounds pretty fantastic to me!!! Hugs, Terra
mouthwatering, must try recipe
My nephew is a macaroni and cheese fan. This is a must make for him. He’ll love them!