One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese
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Two favorite comfort foods come together in this super easy, 30 min one-pot meal that the whole family will go crazy for!
So after 2 long months of waiting and waiting, I finally brought our new puppy home today. Here is the newest member of the Damn Delicious family – Butters, our 10-week old Pembroke Welsh Corgi.
It’s been a very long day as I sit by hyperventilating each time he whines, but apparently that’s quite normal in the puppy world. So forgive me for today’s short post!
So about this mac and cheese. Now it’s definitely not your ordinary mac and cheese. It’s mac and cheese combined with a super easy homemade chili using pantry ingredients, combining two of your favorite kind of comfort foods in a single one pot meal. It’s quick, easy and sure to be a hit with the entire family. You can’t beat that!
One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces ground beef
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- ¾ cup canned white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- ¾ cup canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon cumin
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 10 ounces elbow macaroni
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add ground beef and onion, and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in chicken broth, tomatoes, beans, chili powder and cumin; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in pasta. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until pasta is cooked through, about 13-15 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Top with cheese and cover until melted, about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Thank you so much for this recipe!!! I LOVE the concept. I even won 2nd place (tied for 2nd :)) at the chili cook-off last weekend. My only concern is that it really lacked in kick. What do you recommend? I found it to be quite bland.
Thank you for everything!! I really enjoy your site and recipes. 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that! You can always increase the amount of spices, as needed.
I love chili Recipe. My mom already know about how to cook but your article i find different type to cooks.
Thanks for your articale
ONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW ADDITION.
Your puppy is adorable and love the name. You might consider a “heartbeat” toy for Butters to keep him company. Also loud ticking clocks help. Just get him started on a daily routine and the sooner the better. 🙂
This turned out even better than I was expecting! (And I expected it to be good!) My picky toddlers liked it – except for the meat, so I might make a meatless version for them. They normally won’t touch chili at all, so this was great! I thought the flavours came together nicely and the cheese added a nice, mellow flavour. I accidentally added cilantro instead of parsley on top (was rushing and didn’t notice which one I grabbed from the fridge) but it was really tasty. I’ll definitely make it again!
I played around with the recipe a bit, and here’s what I came up with:
I doubled the ground beef, used full cans of beans, chili powder to taste. Then I made a white sauce (1tbsp each of butter and flour, 1 cup milk), and grated enough cheese in it to make it the way I like it. I mixed this into the pot after the macaroni was cooked. It came out great.
This recipe is great! We like sweeter chili so I added 6 Tbsp of brown sugar with the broth -AMAZING! My brother and boyfriend both went back for seconds.
I just have one question. What size of Dutch oven did you use? I have a 5 Qt. So, I can make the adjustments needed in the ingredients. Thank you!
I used a 3.5qt Dutch oven.
I just made this tonight! Crazy!
It was delicious. Even my kid who HATES chili loved it.
One of the best I have ever tried my self. Loved how easy it was to make. Thumbs up for this fantastic recipe.
This was great and easy I did add green bell peppers and extra garlic but liked it with crusty bread!
I can’t wait to make this today, perfect for a chilly fall Sunday while we watch some football!!!
This looks like a winner. Especially since I’m looking for comfort food this time of year. Many thanks for posting.
We had 2 or 3 helpings each (just the two of us) and it was so delicious! I’m sending it to my daughters. I know my grandkids will love it! Thanks so much.
This is in our regular rotation (I make it at least once a month)! It makes a lot…way more than the 4 servings that is indicated in the nutritional information.
This is completely delicious. Can I substitute turkey meat for the ground beef?
Yes, absolutely.
I’m thinking of making this with fake (veggie) ground “beef” (Quorn brand). Has anyone tried this? Does it still work? Thanks in advance!
I was going to give this a try in my crock pot – i tried looking through the comments but didn’t see anything, do you know if anybody has tried it that way?
Would I totally ruin this recipe by using while wheat elbows?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Do you think left over pulled pork would work instead of the ground beef?
Yes, absolutely. What a great idea!
Hi! We made this tonight without meat and subbed veggie broth. It was great! Thanks for sharing the recipe.