With this, three ingredients are a must in my book – canned tomatoes, macaroni, and bacon grease. Canned tomatoes make it easy and perfect as a year-round dish. And I actually prefer the flavor of the canned variety in this one. Macaroni is obvious. And the bacon grease, while it can be replaced with butter, is required for me because it gives the dish it’s signature savory, smoky flavor.
Some folks add onions, some add green peppers, and some add cheese on top. I like it pretty simple and straightforward.
Which brings me to another ingredient… sugar. In all my time eating this dish, sugar is probably the most common other ingredient. And while I don’t care for it with the sugar myself, many folks say it helps to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes. I happen to like that acidity, but if that’s not your thing you can certainly add some sugar to the mix.
I’d start by adding about 1 teaspoon of regular ol’ white sugar at the end with the salt and pepper and then add more to suit your tastes. In this case I think it’s just a matter of what you’re used to and if you’re used to this dish being sweet, then by golly you should add in some sugar.
Classic Macaroni and Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked macaroni
- 1 tablespoon bacon grease
- 1 (20-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- sugar (optional - see note)
Instructions
- Cook the macaroni in salted water to al dente according to the package instructions then drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.
- In a large pot, melt the bacon grease and pour in the tomatoes with the juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally - about 10 minutes.
- Add the macaroni to the tomatoes and mix well. Add the salt and pepper. Mix well then adjust seasoning to taste. (See my note about sugar below.) Serve warm.
Notes
2 cups macaroni measured before cooking or after?
Measure before cooking. Enjoy!
I would say before cooking
This dish is very good and filling no matter what you may like to add. My Mom always added some shredded cheese on top and put it into the oven until the cheese was melted and the dish was bubbly. We had this many a night when there wasn’t much food left in the pantry or freezer until payday. She only add a little sugar to take the tartness out of the tomatoes if they needed it. Our Moms could really stretch a dollar and always had something hot and filling on the table for us to eat, didn’t they. We never went hungry and we didn’t realize how poor we were. I still fix this dish and the family always wants it during the holidays.
Thanks, Stacey for sharing this recipe.
Claudine in Fort Worth, TX
I love how recipes like this remind us of all those things!
This was one of my favorite side dishes growing up in the Midwest!!!! Thanks for sharing this!!!!!!
Absolutely! 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! Such fond memories of my mother making this and everyone loved it! She had an incredible talent for making a delicious, filling meal out of nothing. 😊 We were very poor but honestly didn’t realize it until many years later. She had a huge garden, did lots of canning and we always had wonderful meals!
My background is very similar and I too didn’t realize how much we did without until later in life. Like you, it never felt like we were at any disadvantage. I think it’s all in how were were raised.
When I was a kid, my Grandmother used to make this, no bacon, and she used sugar!! I use stewed tomatoes, next time I make this will be trying bacon!!
I love the flavor that the bacon grease gives it!
One of our families’ favorites of our Granny Mac. She sauteed a little finely chopped onion with half butter and half bacon grease. Yum! Thank you so much for the reminder of my wonderful Granny!
I’m so fortunate to be able to share these recipes and bring these memories back!
I remember eating this at my grandmothers and at my mom’s also. It was a wonderful dish and very filling. We lived in the plains of Texas and the grocery store was a long ways into town. They both had huge gardens and canned all kinds of stuff that we ate through out the year.
Thanks for the memories!
I do love it with those home canned tomatoes!
I grew up in Indiana with three brothers and my mother used to make a similar dish but it was just macaroni and tomato sauce and lots of butter, salt and pepper . When my children came along I continue to make the same recipe as my mother. My sons, now both grown, still to this day will ask when they come home “mom will you make me some macaroni and tomato sauce”. This is a little twist to my mother’s recipe but I am going to try it. I do wish that my mother were still here so that I could share this recipe with her. I wonder what she would think about adding the tomatoes and the bacon grease. Looking forward to trying it.
I sure hope you’ll enjoy it!
I truly thought this was my grandmother’s creation. That woman could make something out of nothing. Here biscuits were amazing. Fried bread. But I loved her macaroni and tomatoes. We ate them a lot as lunch. Lots of salt and tons of black pepper.
I’m sure she was an amazing lady!
My mom made this also! Love it! Also, added ground hamburger meat or pork sausage! My husband does not like it so, I make for myself! My mom made what we called breaded tomatoes, canned tomatoes with sliced bread torn in pieces and heat, maybe add salt, pepper and a tiny bit of sugar!
I’ve heard several folks mention the bread and tomatoes. Love the idea of the pork sausage, too!
My mother-in-law added a pound of hamburger and more macaroni to make this dish feed a family of six on not very much money. Her four children have now all raised their kids on it. Once, when we were short on regular 15 oz canned tomatoes, we used one can labeled “with lime and cilantro”. It contained a few green chilis, not obvious on the label, but they gave it a wonderful mild zing! We make it that way all the time now. As is evident by the comments, this is a true comfort food, both by it’s taste and the memories it evokes. Thanks!
Love hearing these stories! Thanks for sharing, Susan!
I love this recipe! Mama made this when I was a child and it was and still is one of my favorite meals. Thinking back now, I know it was something inexpensive and would go far, but to me, kings couldn’t eat better. Sometimes Mama steamed hotdogs on top of the macaroni or added some leftover hotdogs to the pot. She is now 89 and just the other night, we were talking about when she used to make it. I can’t wait to show her this recipe. And yes, she always added white sugar and some margarine or butter to the mix. Thank you for sharing.
I sure hope you’ll enjoy it, Patricia!
Good stuff, we never added bacon grease but will try, we use to call this, when we can’t came up with what we wanted to eat, and we fried potatoes and put macaroni and tomatoes over them ,
That sounds amazing!!
I still make this often, without bacon or sugar. Just home canned tomatoes and elbow macaroni. Sometimes we’d top with some kind of cheese. In fact, this dish is probably why I had my mother teach me how to can tomatoes, which I do every summer.
It is SO good with those home canned tomatoes!
I make this all the time with sliced mushrooms and soy sauce. Lots of black pepper is a must!
That sounds great!
My Grand Mother use to make this dish on Saturday nights and serve it with pan fried sirloin steak and she also added a of clove or two of garlic to the tomatoes. I still make it this way and will add some bacon grease for the hell of it. Can’t beat it!!!!
I couldn’t agree more! Sound delicious!
I grew up eating this, although I use butter, “my grandmother used bacon grease”, I love this. I always leave some juice on mine. I always make a skillet of corn bread, to go along with it. Good eating on a cold winter’s night.
Cornbread is perfect with this!