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Classic Macaroni and Tomatoes

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Macaroni and tomatoes

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Simple Macaroni and Tomatoes is a classic dish many folks remember from their childhoods.  And while there are tons of variations, the basic recipe pretty much stays the same.  

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.

Macaroni and tomatoes in closer photo

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.  

Macaroni and tomatoes with serving spoon

Macaroni and tomatoes in closer photo
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4.7 from 13 votes

Classic Macaroni and Tomatoes

Cook Time25 mins
Servings: 4
Author: Stacey Little | Southern Bite

Ingredients

  • 2 cups uncooked macaroni
  • 1 tablespoon bacon grease
  • 1 (28-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

While it isn't my preference, many folks remember this dish with a marked sweetness.  If that's you, simply add some sugar after mixing everything together at the end. I'd start with about 1 teaspoon and then add more to taste.  
Making This Recipe?Tag me on Instagram: @SouthernBite using the hashtag #SouthernBite, so I can see how it turned out!

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Comments

  3. 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

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  5. 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!

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    • 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.

      Reply

  6. 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!!

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  7. 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!

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  8. 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!

    Reply

  9. 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.

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  10. 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.

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  11. 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!

    Reply

    • Your description of “breaded tomatoes” is what my Grandma and Mama made and served on top of black-eyed peas… eaten anytime but especially for New Year’s Day. They made Stacey’s mac & tomato recipe, too, and I make them sometimes just to enjoy something that reminds me of them and their love to cook something they knew I loved to eat. Love on a plate all around!

      Reply

  12. 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!

    Reply

  13. 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.

    Reply

  14. 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 ,

    Reply

  15. 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.

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  17. 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!!!!

    Reply

  18. 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.

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  20. Oh my gosh!! Just made this the other night although my reciepe is a tad differant. My mother got it from my stepfather’s mother Virgina Knight, in Upstate NY, and boy could she cook!! My mother continued to make it and then myself and now in their 30s, my kids love to make it too. My reciepe is called Baked Macaroni and Cheese. We use elbow macaroni (about 5 cups), stewed tomatoes(2 cans, cut up or crushed with hands)and white curd cheese, about to to three bags cut into small to medium pieces, little salt(not much needed because of the cheese) and some pepper, baked in my roasting pan(cover off at 350 for about 30- 40 min. so it gets a little crisp around the edges and served with meat loaf and corn!

    Reply

  21. We have always made this casserole but we also put a white sauce in it to thicken it some and gives great flavor. I also put meatballs on top and I bake it. So yummy.

    Reply

  23. I love the recipe and used it as a side dish not a main dish. I have copied down the variations of this dish. Going to try the one with the white curd tonight. The best think about this dish is that it has always gone over well at potlucks. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  24. Feb. 19, 2020. With the cupboards and fridge getting low on food I went on the internet to see what I could find for recipes with; Macaroni, Canned Diced Tomatoes and a Package of Bacon. I came across this site and this recipe. Just what I needed. I cooked the bacon in the microwave and put the macaroni and canned tomatoes in a pot. I added salt, pepper, a dash of Cayenne Pepper, a couple tblsp of onion salt and gave it a stir. I cooked the bacon until it was crispy and cut it into smaller pieces and added it to the pot. I brought it up to boiling and then reduced the heat and simmered until about half of the liquid had boiled away. It passed my taste test and my wife’s. Yummy. I toasted a couple of burger buns and put chunk of that on top when dished up with some Parmason cheese sprinkled on top. It was delicious. I found a definition years ago to describe my cooking; I’m a Fusion cook. I don’t follow recipes most of the time and when I do I modify them a bit to suit my own taste preferences and of course my wife’s. Thank you for helping me cook supper with only a few ingredients. Appreciate these simple recipes that don’t require expensive ingredients. Very important when living on a fixed income. Old Age Pension for me and a Disability Pension for my wife. Just a note: We live in Nova Scotia, Canada where the snow is beautiful this time of year. I don’t have to shovel it anymore living in a seniors complex so I can appreciate the beauty of it.

    Reply

    • So glad that you enjoyed this super simple, but filling meal, Byron! Happy to hear I could help. I’m sure not having to shovel all that snow makes it even more beautiful!

      Reply

  26. I love this dish. We had it frequently when I was young. We used 16 oz of pasta though and a large can of diced tomatoes and a smaller can. It is so delicious. I still make it today. We just cook the tomatoes 15 minutes first and then cook the pasta in the tomatoes mixed with a can and a half of water. We cook it another 15 minutes and and make some very crisp bacon. We break up all the bacon and sprinkle it on top. It’s great.

    Reply

  27. Before we had to give up pasta, this was a staple in our house. Always had to have it on snowy days.

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  28. This reminds me of when I was a child growing up. My mother prepared this often. I love it then and still do. Plan to make me some.

    Reply

  29. Make this with macaroni and cheese; cooked, add your diced, drained tomatoes and a can of drained tuna and bake in the oven at 350 degrees, covered.

    Reply

  30. Love this. My Mom added onion and chopped up and added the bacon she fried to get the grease . Gives it great flavor.

    Reply

  31. My parents go-to comfort food but my mom used canned stewed tomatoes and shell shaped macaroni. Add some Parmesan and voila! Yummy memories!

    Reply

  33. My mom and grandma made a variation of this using elbow macaroni strewed tomatoes diced onions and velveta cheese put in a casserole topped it with browned pork chops they would pour the grease from the pork over the top and bake best meal ever

    Reply

  34. We always had this when I was growing up in eastern North Carolina. We used a large and small can of diced tomatoes and cooked the pasta in the tomatoes with the bacon grease. We use a whole box of pasta and we make bacon very crispy to sprinkle on top of it! We love it so much!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

  37. Very good…… we had it about once a week when I was growing up. Mom added a pound of ground beef so it was a meal in our house. Went a long way with 5 mouths to feed. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

  38. I still make this but I actually cook bacon cut up small with green pepper and onion and add to it, sometimes I add beef broth and make in to a soup.. delicious any way you want to make it … yummy

    Reply

  39. I grew up with this dish and you are right one about the usual sugar added at the end. My mom didn’t like real sweet so she used the sugar lightly. While she cooked often with bacon grease, as I do also, she always used butted in this dish. She made this for me not long before she passed. What a great memory.

    Reply

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