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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you show 2 kinds of kidney beans. white and “red” I assume?
Looks yummy. will definitely make. thanks for sharing!
Yes! The recipe calls for 3/4 cup canned white kidney beans, drained and rinsed and 3/4 cup canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed.
I made this tonight, with ground turkey, whole wheat pasta, & low fat cheese. Absolutely delicious! Toddler & husband approved.
dont like tomatoes, can I substitute for tomato sauce and how much?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot advise an appropriate substitute that will not alter the overall taste/texture of the dish. Using a substitution may also result in a mediocre outcome. But if a substitution must be made, please use your best judgment.
Made this last night, and it was a hit! Didn’t put beans in, for two reasons. One, a picky eater who won’t eat anything with beans in it, and two, the canned beans (and tomatoes) have a lot of sodium. Our picky eater spends a lot of time at his dad’s house, so we will probably do this one with freshly cooked beans in the near future. It came out beautifully even without them though! Thanks!
Does the ground beef in this recipe account for a lot of the saturated fat? I’m trying to lower the amount of saturated fat in my recipes, but this looks so d* delicious!!!!!!! I have extra lean ground turkey meat I could substitute it for. Just trying to figure out where it all the saturated fat is from in the nutritional count. Thank you for all your delicious recipes!!!
Yes, the saturated fat would come from both the ground beef and cheddar cheese.
I’m relatively new to your blog and am so happy to have found it! This recipe was delicious, flavorful, and warm – perfect for this cold winter! Can’t wait to make it again!
Just found this on Pinterest, had to make it right away it looked so delicious, came out absolutely amazing!
Looks likes like a great dinner recipe!
Outstanding. I made this tonight. I left out the beans and added extra noodles and cheese.
I just found your website, and I’m already obsessed!! This recipe looks really amazing, and not too complicated, which are two important things in my book. And you have a corgi! I’m jealous, they’re seriously the cutest dogs in the world.
Love the puppy picture, he is adorable!
Is this more like a soup?
Not really – it’s more of a thick pasta dish.
i am damn hooked on all your food thanks!!!!!!!!
My after 20 years of wanting a Ceramic Dutch Oven, I bought one it will arrive 1/16/15. After searching all day for the perfect recipe. I have chosen this one and I’m so excited!
Wish me luck…..
Good luck! I hope this recipe turns out for you. It’s a favorite of ours!
Can this be frozen?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! I recommend using your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
This was so good! I mashed some of the beans to make it a little thicker and also added extra chili powder and a little cinnamon for extra flavor. Will definitely make it again.
Thanks for putting this recipe out.
Looks really delicious.
Just made this for dinner. Delish!!!
I made a few additions .
I added more chicken broth, 1 can tomato sauce and 2 tsp of tomato paste.
My version probably tasted more like a hearty soup rather than chili but yummy none the less!!
Is ok to make in a crockpot? And I need to make it for at least 10 people any suggestions on how to adjust for a larger group.
Please understand that it is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional stovetop recipe to the slow cooker method without further recipe testing. I recommend using your best judgement to convert this recipe to utilize a slow cooker. Also, this recipe yields about 4-5 servings so please make the adjustments accordingly.
This meal is packed with protein and perfect for a cold evening. I love that cooking it in one pot keeps it hot for a long time. I have braces which forces me to eat slowly, but this stayed warm the whole time and was easy to eat. We probably used more than twice the recommended amount of cheese and it still turned out great. Would it hurt to use a whole pound of beef next time without adjusting the amount of chicken broth? I’m assuming only half a pound is used to keep it healthier.
The recipe really only needs half a pound but if you do decide to add more, the amount of chicken broth will have to be adjusted to compensate for the addition.