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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This is a great one pot meal! Next time I would add a bunch more salt and pepper, and will definitely double the tomatoes and up the spices a bit.
Once a year, in the depths of a -40, (-50 with the wind chill factor) Canadian Prairie winter, THIS IS THE BEST THING TO EAT. Thank you, Chungah.
Made this today and loved how easy to make, loved how quick the recipe was made and really loved the taste!
This recipe looks really delicious and easy to make on busy work nights ! I’m a vegetarian and will alter this recipe to replace the ground beef and add Quorn meatless & soy free grounds and use vegan cheese. I love all your one pot meals and I so thank you for all the effort you have put forth with all your recipes!!!
This was so easy and so yummy! I actually stirred the cheese in instead of sprinkling it on top. It’s good and hearty and great with corn muffins.
I’m from Brazil and I can’t find those beans here. Can I replace it for something else? Can I just do without it?
Anna, the beans are one of the main ingredients of this dish so I do not recommend omitting it completely. Do you have access to any other types of beans in Brazil?
I’ve tried three of your recipes, this one being the third and which I made last night.. Each one has knocked it out of the park. I am so happy to have stumbled across your food blog. Wishing you a wonderful day!
This is very good, easy to make and can be adjusted to your tastes. I use less beans and more ground beef, plus a little more cumin and chili powder. So good 🙂
SOOOO good! comfort food at its best! I added a little garlic salt as well!
1. i forgot to buy an onion, but have a bunch of shallots. Do u think I could use those, and would you omit garlic then if so?
2. We have a busy night where we have to eat in 2 shifts. Do u think I could make it now and then reheat it, or even later individually microwave their own serving with cheese?
Thanks!
Yes, shallots should work just fine. As for the garlic, that’s really up to you! This recipe also reheats beautifully.
You are right, if anyone else has the same question… I just packed it for my daughter’s lunch (by request!) and it looked even better the second day! Thanks!!
Not many ingredients and so very easy to prepare. My husband and I just had to have seconds…it’s so delicious. Because we’re nesters and had enough for leftovers (darn!) I topped our servings with shredded cheese instead of adding the cheese to the pot. Wasn’t quite sure how the cheese would hold up. Beans/pasta ratio was fine for us….will add extra chili powder/cumin next time.
I tried this tonight. I found it lacked in flavor. Maybe I’m just used to more flavorfull food, but it was very bland to me. Maybe I did something wrong, although I followed the measurements and directions perfectly (except the beans, added 1 can of each). Maybe next time I’ll buy flavored tomatoes instead of just plain diced tomatoes.
Stephanie, I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. Did you make any kind of substitutions here? Also, did you season with salt and pepper, to taste? It’s amazing how much of a difference a little bit of seasoning makes!
looks deliciious. Can you possibly guide me how to make this in a crockpot? The chili mac cheese. Thx. Also Butters is too cute
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional stovetop recipe to be used in a slow cooker without further recipe testing. However, here is an article worth checking out on a possible conversion guide: http://www.thekitchn.com/5-tips-for-converting-recipes-to-the-slow-cooker-189343.
I made this the other night and it was super good! My hubs is a bit of a carnivore, and is not crazy about tomatoes, so I increased the ground beef a little and used a smaller can of Rotel tomatoes. We had the leftover for lunch today – delish!
Butters is just too dear. Happy Day!
Is this kind of like a soup? I love all the ingredients, but am wondering if I could modify it to be more like a casserole instead of a soup? Would I just add less chicken broth?
Yes, it is more like a thick soup rather than a casserole. Please feel free to reduce the amount of liquid as needed to suit your preferences.
Made this with gf pasta…Brilla brand. So good!
Tried this tonight and it was so tasty as well as filling! Thanks for sharing!
I followed the recipe which looks soupy but the pasta soaked up most of the broth. I added more but it soaked up most of that too. It had good flavor but wished it could be soupy. Also it says it serves 4 but it my pot is full, I would guess 10 servings at least.
Tina, unfortunately I’m not entirely sure what went wrong as there is quite a bit of liquid to go around. Perhaps you added too much pasta? Also, this recipe should be sufficient to serve 4-6, unless you have 10 very small eaters!
Is the nutrition information for one serving? What is a serving size?
Yes, nutritional information is always for one serving, which can be roughly about 1-2 cups for this recipe.