This spicy Hatch chile macaroni and cheese recipe has hatch chiles, pepper jack, cheddar, cayenne pepper, and a small amount of Velveeta added for creaminess. Instructions are included in the recipe notes to make this a gluten-free dish.
Shred the Cheese
This recipe uses three kinds of cheese to make the sauce: cheddar, pepper jack, and Velveeta. It is very tempting to use bagged pre-shredded cheese but for the best taste, try grating your own cheese!
Advantages of Shredding Cheese Yourself
There are a couple of advantages other than taste to consider. For one, blocks of cheese usually offer cost savings over bagged cheese. Another reason to grate your own cheese is to avoid the cellulose added to prevent clumping and mold growth because cellulose can hinder cheese from melting smoothly. This is usually not a problem with freshly grated cheese.
How to Make the Sauce for Hatch Chile Macaroni and Cheese
This recipe uses a cheese sauce as a base which consists of adding flour to melted butter to make a roux. Then add the milk and dissolve the flour. These two tips are helpful for making this sauce:
- Whisk any lumps in the flour and milk mixture to make a smooth sauce.
- Save at least two cups of pasta water for thinning the sauce. If you forget and drain it, you can always use water; however, the pasta water will give the sauce more flavor, help thicken the sauce, and help the sauce stick to the pasta.
Saute the chopped pepper and then add flour. 
Combine the flour and peppers. 
Add the milk and whisk to breakup any flour clumps. 
Add the 3 cheeses and stir until the sauce is smooth and thick. 
Add the pasta. 
Stir to combine the sauce and pasta.
Add a Topping to Your Hatch Chile Macaroni and Cheese
This macaroni and cheese dish is garnished with a buttery topping and then baked. The topping is easy to make and contains crushed Chex Rice cereal because it maintains a crunchy taste when baked. You can substitute panko for crushed Chex unless you are making a gluten-free dish. Follow these tricks for crushing the cereal:
- Place Chex cereal and cayenne pepper in a resealable bag.
- Squeeze out all of the air in the bag.
- Use a rolling pin to crush it.
Place Chex cereal and cayenne pepper in a resealable bag. 
Use a rolling pin to crush the cereal.
Gluten-Free Option
This macaroni and cheese dish contains gluten from the pasta and flour in the sauce. However, you can make this pasta dish gluten-free by using gluten-free pasta. I have tried a lot of gluten-free pasta, and some hold up better than others when boiled in water. I have found that Barilla Gluten Free Elbows maintain their shape in boiling water and taste similar to regular pasta. In addition, they are more readily available in grocery stores.
Reheating Hatch Chile Macaroni and Cheese
There is a trick to reheating macaroni and cheese. Add milk and stir and then heat it in a microwave. Or, to reheat on the stovetop, add leftover macaroni to a saucepan with a large splash of milk. Stir and heat on low. If you love cheese and don’t want the extra milk to alter the cheesy taste, add a small amount of cheese before heating. I prefer microwave and stovetop heating methods to oven heating because oven heating tends to dry out leftover macaroni.
Other Pasta Recipes You Might Like
If you like this macaroni recipe, you might enjoy trying these other pasta recipes. Click on each name to link to the recipe.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 25 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 16 ounces pasta seashells (or similar pasta)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 Hatch chile (or 2 jalapenos)
- 1/3-1/2 all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 cups whole milk (or 2%)
- 2 cups pepper jack cheese, shredded
- 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
- 4 ounces Velveeta Cheese, cubed
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3/4 cup Rice Chex cereal (or panko crumbs)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Ingredients
Pasta
Sauce
Topping
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- Cook the pasta according to the package directions in a pot of water with 1 teaspoon salt. When cooked, drain the water, reserving 2 cups for the sauce.
- Melt the butter in an extra-large pan, add the chiles, and cook until they wilt. Add 1/3 cup of flour and stir to make a roux. Add more flour, if necessary, to make a paste. Cook, constantly stirring, until the flour lightly browns. Whisk in the milk, stirring until the sauce thickens.
- Stir in the black peppers, mustard powder, and cayenne pepper. Add the Velveeta cubes and stir to melt them. Add the pepper jack and cheddar a little at a time while stirring.
- Then add some pasta water to thin the sauce. Pour in the cooked pasta and mix. Again add pasta water (if needed) to make the macaroni easy to stir.
- Taste the sauce and add salt if needed. Pour the pasta into a 9 x 13-inch dish coated with cooking spray.
- Place the cereal, salt, and cayenne pepper into a resealable bag. Squeeze out the air and seal. Use a rolling pin to crush it into crumbs.
- Add the butter and squeeze the bag to mix it with the crumbs. Spoon the topping evenly over the macaroni.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the topping is lightly browned. If the topping starts to brown too much, add a sheet of aluminum foil (sprayed with cooking spray) to the top.
Reheating
Add milk to the leftover macaroni and stir. Then reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Gluten-Free
To make this recipe gluten-free, follow these steps:
- Use gluten-free pasta, such as Barilla Gluten Free Elbows.
- Use gluten-free flour such as Cup4Cup in the sauce.
- Use only crushed Rice Mix in the topping.
Gluten-free pasta needs more pasta water added to the sauce because it absorbs more water (than regular pasta) when the macaroni bakes.