One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese
by Chungah
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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!
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One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese
Video
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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I doubled everything other than the beans and it was perfect! Everyone in the family loved it which means a lot when your toddler is super picky.
I’ve been making this for YEARS.
My oldest daughter loves this and she requests it every year for her birthday dinner, which happens to be today! Thought i should finally say how much we love this recipe in our home!
Excellent with a couple of changes. I used on can of beans in chili sauce instead of the two kinds of kidney. I also added a teaspoon of beef better than bouillon and some barley to soak up some extra liquid and add additional protein. Husband loved this!
Made this tonight after having it saved forever. I found it a little bland but that just means room for some personal creativity 🙂 I will make again, I’m sure, since it’s so easy and i pretty much always have the ingredients on hand. I have some powdered cheese I bought off Amazon (mac daddy, I think) that apparently chefs use to amp up the cheese flavor in things like cheese soup, so here we go! I liked the addition and will probably also add something for some heat next time as well. Getting enough salt is key too or it doesn’t matter what else is in there. Lol. Really amazing how that works.
Recipe is ok. I added two cans of mild green chilis for flavor. Take the pot off before 13-15 minutes or the elbows will turn to mush.
I made this tonight and just had very minor alterations. I used 12 oz ground beef instead of 8oz since that was the size I had in the freezer. I accidentally opened a can of diced tomatoes with mild chilis instead of plain diced tomatoes. It worked well though since this has Mexican flavors anyways in the recipe. And although I was a bit reluctant to use chicken broth with beef, I trusted the recipe and it just works!! Also I used a whole can of kidney beans instead of half kidney and half white kidney beans. I had them. But it would’ve meant wasting half can of each. I just wanted to avoid wasting and used all red kidney beans. This was so hearty and tasty. We thoroughly enjoyed it! I might cut back a bit on the elbow macaroni next time just to have more broth. Maybe 6oz instead of 8oz. Either way, it’s simple, fast and VERY good!!! We liked the spice level but if serving to kids maybe cut the chili to one teaspoon. I’ll definitely be making this again!
At our house we call this mac & chili!
Thank you for sharing all your delicious recipes! You new puppy Butters is Absolutely ADORABLE! I wish you many years of happiness with him.
Butters is adorable!! I love Corgis! All the best with him!
About this recipe, I personally feel that Chili Mac, or Mac & Beef, whatever you want to call it, shouldn’t have beans. I like beans in my Chili, I know some people don’t, but I think this recipe would be better without beans. Just my personal opinion!
Love you! Thanks for all the recipes!
Truly one of my family’s fav – specifically my kiddos!! I try to pack it full of protein and extra fiber so I follow the recipe but then add 1 can of black beans, sometimes an addition!al can of pinto beans, use protein noodles & instead of chicken/beef broth, I use bone broth to up the protein, too! 🙂 I just add a bit extra of the spices that are in this recipe since I add extra things.
Made this today, used beef bone broth and a full 14 oz can of Dellalo Italian bean medley (my only adjustment). Turned out delicious, my only adjustment next time will be to use half the amount of pasta that it calls for, it soaked up all of the delicious bone broth.
This makes a delicious chili that my whole family enjoys. The one thing that bugs me is the weird amounts of ingredients. Instead of using whole cans of beans, for example, you call for 3/4 cup. Please adjust the recipe to use up the whole cans… I never seem to use up the remaining dribs and drabs leftover.
Love all your recipes
This is one of our family’s favorites! I make it again and again, everyone loves it!
Made this last night. We loved it. I used a lb of ground beef rather than 8oz and put a little less pasta. Came out super good and a nice easy dinner.
Whoa! This is a winner and is being added to our monthly rotation. Thank you!
I love this recipe and have made it so many times! It’s super simple and a family favorite. Comfort food to the max.
You listed the beans twice
There are two types of beans in this recipe – white kidney beans and kidney beans.
I cut the broth to just one cup and cooked the macaroni separately to al dente. I increased the chili powder by a few sprinkles. Topped with Parmesan cheese too.
Sooooo good! We added a bit more chili powder and cumin. I used cavatappi noodles. Delish!!!