Everything Bagel Mac and Cheese
Cream cheese is somewhat common in mac and cheese, and extremely common on an everything bagel. That realization was all I needed to come up with the idea of doing an everything bagel mac and cheese! This creamy cheese sauce flecked with bits of onion, garlic, sesame, and poppy was a dream coating for pasta!
As I explained this idea to people, they didn’t seem to really get it. I say what’s not to get? Cream cheese sauce, bagel breadcrumbs, and everything spice running through the pasta. Seemed like a pretty logical idea to me. The only thing was that I didn’t think I would be able to really drive home the everything bagel flavor in the final dish. The good news is that in the end, this mac and cheese really screamed everything bagel. All of the elements melded perfectly to form exactly what you would expect out of everything bagel mac and cheese.
Making the homemade everything spice
First I slowly cooked the garlic and onion to brown and make them crispy, then I added sesame and poppy seeds to just toast up a bit. The everything spice was complete! This whole process takes a few hours. If you don’t want to do it, store bought everything spice works great! I originally made this recipe when everything spice was a little harder to find.
Everything bagel breadcrumbs
I grabbed a few everything bagels at the store to use as breadcrumbs. Cut them up, toast them, and then add them to the food processor to create the breadcrumbs!
The cheese mixture
This is an easy style mac and cheese that uses a soft cheese (cream cheese in this case) to bind everything without the need for a flour based roux. I love when it makes sense in a recipe to go with this method cause it’s easy and delicious!
Baking the everything bagel mac and cheese
When the pasta is about done, stir some pasta water into the cheese to start melting it. Then add the pasta and it melts up perfectly! Finally, stir in the everything spice and top it with the breadcrumbs! Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes.
Oh yeahhhhhhhh.
I made an effort to really get everything nicely browned because it mimics the flavor of a well toasted bagel.
Serving the everything bagel mac and cheese
Allow it to cool for about 10 minutes before digging in!
The combination of flavors was so good! The everything spice is bitter but it is mellowed out by the creamy sauce.
Twists on this dish
If you want to make this ahead, you can mix everything together but leave the breadcrumbs separate. Add the breadcrumbs just before baking, and bake it at 350 instead of 450 for about 45 minutes.
If you want a more simple homemade everything spice, check this one out.
Looking for more unique mac and cheese ideas? Check out my spanakopita mac and cheese, pork belly mac and cheese, or this spoonbread mac and cheese!
Everything Bagel Mac and Cheese
Equipment
Ingredients
Homemade everything spice
- 2 onions diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1.5 tablespoons poppy seed
- 1.5 tablespoons sesame seed
Mac and Cheese
- 2 everything bagels
- 12 ounces cream cheese
- 8 ounces fontina
- 8 ounces jack cheese
- 1 cup cream
- 12 scallions
- 1 pound elbow pasta
- 2 tablespoons everything spice store bought or homemade
Instructions
Everything Spice
- On a large baking sheet mix the onion and garlic with a small amount of oil and salt. Bake at 250, stirring occasionally, until browned and crispy. Should take about 2 hours. When just about browned, mix in the sesame and poppy seeds, and cook another 5-10 minutes to lightly toast.
Mac and Cheese
- Preheat oven to 450.
- Cut the bagels into 1 inch cubes. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until toasted. Process in the food processor until you have large breadcrumbs.
- Mix together the cream, fontina, jack, and cream cheeses. Chop the scallions and add to the mixture.
- Boil some salted water and add the pasta. When the pasta has a few more minutes of cooking time, scoop about 1/2 cup of pasta water into the cheeses. Mix well to get everything to start melting. Finally strain the pasta and add it. Mix well and all the cheeses should have melted and formed a sauce.
- Pour into a baking dish. Mix in the cooked everything bagel spice mixture(you may not want all of it in there, use discretion and taste). put the bagel breadcrumbs on top of the pasta. Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes until bubbly, browned, and delicious.
OMG! My two favorite things! This may be on our menu this week!
This looks like it came out awesome, but honestly, no shout-out to the person who gave you the idea? Damn, homey…
This looks amazing. I love when you post mac and cheese!! But i’m also sad that I can’t eat this right now.
I’ve been asking around cause I totally forgot who gave me this idea!!! Sorry Rich
It’s ok. I see how it is. 🙂
ERMAGERD.
ERVERTHERNG BERGERL MERC ERND CHERZ!!!!!
THERT WERS SURPERS TER BER ER REPLER TER ERLIE, NERT RERCH.
This looks amazing! Don’t know that I can take over an hour of prep time . . .
Hey did you know they make everything pasta? As in the pasta has poppy seeds an onion flavor built right in.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/04/everything-bagel-pasta-sfoglini_n_2791912.html