Baked Bacon Chorizo Macaroni and Cheese

Boiling the macaroni

In a saucepan, add water and elbow macaroni to boil. Add a teaspoon of salt and cover with a lid. Boil for 20 minutes until macaroni is soft.

Macaroni and cheese

Fry bacon until crispy and let cool on some paper towels to soak up excess oil. Once cooled to room temperature, chop the bacon into small bits.

Fry the chopped chorizo in the same pan as the bacon to give it flavor. Usually takes 10-15 minutes to fry through. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F/175C.

In a large pan or skillet melt the butter frying butter. Add in flour and stir in a circular motion with a ladle to remove clumps.

Add in milk and stir. It will become stretchy.

Then pour in 2 out of the 3 cups of cheddar cheese, the 2 cups of shredded mozzarella, Parmesan, and stir. Once melted, the cheese will become thin and stretchy. Add in boiled macaroni and mix.

Season with basil, salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning. Let simmer and stir occasionally for another 5-6 minutes. Add in chorizo sausage and bacon. Let cook for about 5 minutes to gel completely with the cheese and macaroni.

Get a 10-inch pie pan or a 13x9 inch casserole pan and scoop half the macaroni and cheese into the pan. Top with the remaining 1 cup of cheddar cheese and then pour the remaining macaroni on top. 

Even out the surface of the macaroni with a ladle and add breadcrumbs. If your skillet is oven-friendly you could use that instead of the pie pan.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for about 30 minutes until the top is a crispy brown.