ritz cracker

This silky, creamy cheese dip recipe with crispy bacon is a must for an appetizer. but I suppose you could spread it on a sandwich, too!

Cheddar and Bacon Dip

mayonnaise

t finely chopped white onion

Tabasco sauce

oz sharp cheddar cheese, About

Cook bacon with your preferred method. I always microwave whole strips, but it you are chopping it, probably better to do it on the burner.

Transfer 2 T of bacon drippings to a 4 cup measuring cup and stir in mayonnaise, hot sauce and onion. Whisk until well blended.

Now add your freshly grated cheese. Get out your immersion blender and pulse until everything is silky and blended. An alternative is to use a food processor.

Chill if you have time and serve with crackers or celery!

Sounds like a bowl of deliciousness I could hurt myself on! Hope you had a wonderful Hanukah and wishing you a very Happy New Year!

Bobby just bought a 2 pound block of cheddar Costco.  this is going to be a New Year's snack!  YUM!  I'm already craving it.  Hope you and your family are having an absolutely wonderful holiday season.

In this casserole, a homemade cheese sauce that’s good enough to toss with pasta replaces the canned creamed soup. When you mix in broccoli florets and cooked rice, then top the whole thing with crushed crackers and more Cheddar, you get a gooey holiday side with a crisp top. Use white or orange Cheddar or a mix of the 2, aiming for a range of 4 to 5 cups, based on how rich and cheesy you’d like it. And while this does contain a lot of broccoli, you’ll probably want to serve a salad on the side.

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

unsalted butter,

Kosher salt

broccoli

red-pepper flakes

scallions

black pepper

all-purpose flour

milk

Cheddar cheese

white rice

Ritz crackers

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a deep 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli florets and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bright green. Drain immediately and set aside.

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter with 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes over medium heat. When melted, add the scallions, 1 teaspoon salt and the black pepper, and cook until scallions have softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the flour and stir to combine. Stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes, until the flour streaks are slightly golden in color, then add the milk in a slow stream, stirring continuously.

Continue to stir the milk until the mixture is thick and creamy, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and add 4 cups of the cheese, stirring vigorously to melt it down into a smooth sauce. Taste and season with salt.

Add the cooked rice and parboiled broccoli to the pot and stir until evenly coated with sauce.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared dish and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup grated cheese, Ritz crackers and remaining 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until bubbling. For more color, cook under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes, watching carefully. Serve warm.

This cozy creamy baked pasta has a unique miso-laden béchamel base and a buttery, crushed Ritz cracker and scallion topping. The triple-cheese sauce combines sharp Cheddar, tangy Gruyère and nutty Parmesan, but feel free to use all Cheddar, if preferred. The mac and cheese gets a kick from spicy Dijon mustard, which cuts through the rich sauce. Pasta shells have great pockets for catching the cheesy sauce, but classic macaroni will also work great. Serve the full-bodied dish with a crisp bitter green salad on the side.

Scallion-Miso Mac and Cheese

pasta shells

Salt and pepper

unsalted butter (2 tablespoons melted plus 4 tablespoons unmelted)

buttery crackers (preferably Ritz), finely crumbled (1 cup)

white miso

Dijon mustard

cheese

¼ cup 1 ounce freshly grated Parmesan

NYT Cooking

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/11/05/multimedia/05FD-KC-Scallion-Miso-Mac-and-Cheese-zgbj/05FD-KC-Scallion-Miso-Mac-and-Cheese-zgbj-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600.jpg

Kate Sears for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/11/05/multimedia/05FD-KC-Scallion-Miso-Mac-and-Cheese-zgbj/05FD-KC-Scallion-Miso-Mac-and-Cheese-zgbj-googleFourByThree.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/11/05/multimedia/05FD-KC-Scallion-Miso-Mac-and-Cheese-zgbj/05FD-KC-Scallion-Miso-Mac-and-Cheese-zgbj-mediumSquareAt3X.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/11/05/multimedia/05FD-KC-Scallion-Miso-Mac-and-Cheese-zgbj/05FD-KC-Scallion-Miso-Mac-and-Cheese-zgbj-facebookJumbo.jpg

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water according to package directions until a few minutes shy of al dente. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and crackers and mix until well blended.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large Dutch oven, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium. Add flour and cook, whisking frequently, until well incorporated and flour is no longer raw, about 1 minute. While whisking constantly, add milk in a slow, steady stream. Add miso, season with salt and pepper and bring back to a simmer, whisking occasionally and mashing the miso to help it dissolve. Cook, whisking frequently, until mixture is smooth and slightly thickened, 3 minutes.

Turn off heat and add mustard, Cheddar, Gruyère and Parmesan. Whisk until smooth and season with salt and pepper.

Add pasta to the cheese sauce and mix well. Stir scallions into the cracker mixture, then scatter it over the top of the pasta in an even layer. Bake until golden brown, 20 minutes.

Serve warm in shallow bowls. Garnish with more scallions and pepper, if desired.

V good with the following mods: 

1) double the dijon 
2) diced shallot, cooked in a little olive oil prior to making the roux 
3) onion, garlic, and porcini powder in the sauce (scant teaspoon of each) plus little pinch of cayenne
4) more cheese on top along with the crackers for a nice top crust

This was my girl dinner for tonight! I wanted to test the recipe before making it for my bf who is an adventurous and picky eater. Crazy combo but it’s true. 

The flavor fell flat and I didn’t love how grainy the sauce ended up being once it was served. I saw some comments say to add less milk so I’ll do that but I think extra seasoning like rubbed sage or even Korean chili pepper would be good. Probably won’t make it again unless my mother wants to try it

This is the best mac and cheese I’ve ever made. So perfectly creamy and delicious without being greasy. I used 2% milk instead of whole and it was so good. My husband and I cannot get enough of it.

Cooked garlic + onion (finely minced) in 2 tbsp of the butter before making the roux and it added a lot of flavor. Also added paprika! Pretty good recipe overall, would make again :)

do not need that much milk... used about 3/4 of what they said

This was very good; I’ll do it again with panko + salted butter. The ritz didn’t add much for us and isn’t something we usually have on hand. The servings are very, very generous if you’re cooking as written for 4. I’d say at least it serves at least 6, if you’re serving with a salad or green veg, and we have pretty healthy appetites.

Try drizzling some sesame oil on top (not too much) after it comes out of the oven or on an individual serving.

@nick m. Agree! We didn’t have that much milk so only used 3 cups. Plenty!

this african american household can offer some ways to improve the blandness to which some have referred. (let me also say that i believe that the ritz cracker-scallop crust to be a genius technique)

first: where it says season with salt and pepper, i recommend sprinkling onion and garlic powder LIBERALLY. compliments the creaminess with some needed savoriness to complement the umami of the miso 

second: learn from the vegans. a tablespoon of nutritional yeast goes a long way in complementing the nuttiness of the gruyere without adding gruyere cost. 

three, and i cannot recommend this enough: you do not need that much milk. makes sauce too watery. i did two cups milk and one cup of BROTH. flavor was hitting. 

fourth: maybe this will be tacky to the more refined palate, but combine sharp and smoked cheddar. 

follow my african american household technique and this recipe will slap, as we say in oakland, california.

Would a pinch of cayenne spice it up a bit?

A delightful Mac and Cheese, with the miso and mustard adding really deep flavor. We found ourselves adding Sriracha to our bowls for the heat. Definitely can add heat as the bechamel gets going if you like, with chili flakes a good suggestion. We did make sure to get the full cup of scallions and that helps the texture and a nice punch throughout. It is a touch oversauced for just one pound of pasta but that's kind of the decadence of it.

Didn't have enough scallions for this so fried some leeks beforehand and added back to the pot before it went into the oven. Used more miso as others suggested, panko instead of crackers, topped with chopped walnuts and cilantro at the end. Served some cauliflower on the side...for our health!! Delicious and would make again!

Rich and creamy mac and cheese for adults although next time we make this we will add a head of chopped up cauliflower to the end of the pasta cooking so it isn’t quit so saucy

I used panko because I didn't want the butteriness of the Ritz crackers. Put a generous helping of red pepper flakes in the sauce, and included some other fun spices in the panko+scallion topping. It was divine!

We made the recipe exactly as written and it was just a bit underwhelming. Next time I would use more scallions and add them into the cheese mixture. A bit of hot sauce worked wonders.

NYT must have some BIG scallions! 4 scallions gave me a scant 1/3 c. Ended up chopping about 8 scallions to get 3/4 c. Made for a very scallion-y topping which I think is the intent. Added some parm to the topping too.

Increased miso to a healthy 3 TB bec everything is better with miso!

Overall a 5 star dish! A big upgrade from traditional Mac n cheese.

@Marc Wortsman maybe GF panko for the Ritz sub

Just made! Good but tastes slightly flat to me. I added chili flakes after baking and if I make again, would increase scallions by 1-2.

@Sarah agreed! Could be more flavorful for sure. I think less milk, more miso & definitely chili flakes.

@Marc Wortsman You can use gluten-free flour (I use King Arthur brand). Not sure of best substitute for the Ritz crackers.

Flour and cracker substitutes for making this gluten free? I already use GF pasta.

Miso is great for adding flavor, but its real strength is all the healthy bacteria for the GI tract that it contains. So healthy. But boiling miso kills all that bacteria, so it should never be boiled. In this recipe, after taking it off the heat, before adding mustard & cheese, once the temp goes below boiling the miso can be safely whisked in.  Get all the incredible health benefits of miso that you are paying for.

Because this is so rich, I think it’s closer to 6 servings than 4.

@Marc Wortsman I agree that GF Panko would be a good sub for Ritz crackers. Schar also makes a Ritz-like GF cracker - they call them “Entertainment Crackers.”

@ds Doesn’t matter.  You’re baking it in the oven.

I followed the recipe except: (1) I added 1/8 tsp red pepper into the milk mixture and (2) mixed some of the breadcrumb/scallion mixture into the pasta pre-baking. Really good! Make sure to use *at least* 1 lb. pasta, it’s pretty saucy.

@Daniel Starr because a bechamel makes it creamy and rich and not dry and gummy

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Cheddar and Bacon Dip

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

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Top 3 ritz cracker recipes from across the web

The most viewed ritz cracker recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Cheddar and Bacon Dip

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

Scallion-Miso Mac and Cheese

The most viewed ritz cracker recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine