Name: Chili Mac
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 lb lean ground beef; 1 medium onion (diced); 1 ½ tbsp chili powder (+/-, to taste); ½ tbsp cumin; ½ tsp salt; 1 tbsp granulated garlic; 1 tbsp brown sugar; 15 oz tomato sauce; 14 oz diced tomatoes; 2 cups beef broth; 8 oz elbow macaroni; 1 cup frozen corn; 4 oz diced green chilies; 1 ½ cups Monterey Jack cheese; 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese

Jump to Recipe

Chili Mac is the combining of two classic favorites, homemade chili and homemade macaroni and cheese into one deliciously hearty meal. The brilliance of this meal is you don't have to cook the macaroni separately. It cooks with everything else truly making this Chili Mac a one pot meal.

If you can't get enough chili, you'll love our Chili Cheese Dog Bake and of course the blue-ribbon, award-winning Awesome Chili.

Easy cheesy chili mac in a dutch oven garnished with freshly chopped cilantro and a dollop of sour cream.

Jump to:

Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ingredients for this Recipe
Variations
How to make Chili Mac
How to serve
Expert Tips
More Meat Cheese, and Pasta Recipes
Get the Recipe

Why You'll Love This Recipe

If you're of a certain age, you probably grew up eating the helper dinner in a box by simply adding some cooked ground beef and water. Basically, fancied-up mac and cheese.

They were convenience food at its best having dinner on the table in about 30 minutes or less. There was a whole range of flavors from cheeseburger mac, stroganoff, lasagna and of course, Chili Mac.

Unfortunately those dinners in a box have lots of things we no longer want to serve our families but we still want dinner to be convenient and on the table as quickly as possible. That's where this Chili Mac recipe shines; everything cooked in one pot and ready to serve in about 30 minutes.

Ingredients for this Recipe

Ingredients to make the chili mac: corn brown sugar, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, salt, cumin, kidney beans, macaroni, onion, diced green chilies, chili powder, granulated garlic, cheddar cheese, Monterey jack cheese, and ground beef.

Pantry staples — kidney beans, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, mild diced green chilies, beef broth, and elbow macaroni noodles.
Seasonings — salt, granulated garlic, chili powder, cumin, and brown sugar.
Cheeses — we used freshly grated Monterey jack and cheddar cheeses.
Meat — lean ground beef is the best for this recipe.
Veg — frozen corn and a yellow onion.

See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.

Variations

Pantry staples — black beans or pintos beans instead of the kidney beans. Use fire roasted tomatoes for a bolder flavor. Spicy diced green chilies to turn up the heat. Use your favorite small pasta like shells or orecchiette.

Seasonings — fresh garlic or garlic powder instead of granulated. Chipotle or cayenne powder for extra spice or half chili powder and half paprika for a more mild flavor.

Cheese — use Mexican blend, pepper jack, or mozzarella.

Meat — any ground meat would be delicious, ground turkey, chicken, or even pork.

Veg — Add freshly diced bell pepper, jalapeños, poblano, or any other pepper. A sweet onion is a wonderful substitution for a regular yellow onion or the bolder white onion. Canned corn will work in place of frozen.

How to make Chili Mac

Ground beef and onions cooking in a dutch oven.

Step 1 — Over medium high heat, brown the ground beef and onions in the dutch oven until the meat is no longer pink. Drain any renderings.

Seasonings added to the cooked ground beef and onions in the dutch oven.

Step 2 — Return to heat and add all the seasonings expect the brown sugar. Mix everything in well.

All the remaining recipe ingredients except the cheeses added to the dutch oven.

Step 3 — Add all the remaining ingredients except for the cheeses.

Everything combined except the cheeses and ready to cook.

Step 4 — Stir well, cover, and cook until the pasta is done, about 15 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid the pasta sticking to the bottom.

Half of the cheeses added to the dutch oven.

Step 5 — Once the noodles are cooked, stir in half of the cheeses over the heat for an additional 2-3 minutes or until the cheeses have melted.

Remaining cheeses sprinkled on top before serving.

Step 6 — Remove from heat, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, replace the lid, and allow to rest for about 5 minutes.

Don't skip the resting time and serve immediately or you won't have a melted top and it will be molten when you bite into it.

Just done Chili Mac in a dutch oven with cilantro and sour cream.

How to serve

Finish the dish with freshly chopped cilantro, sour cream, diced green onions, chives, hot sauce, and of course, more cheese.
The macaroni and cheese portion screams Garlic Bread but the Homemade Chili portion wants Cornbread, so until we create a Garlic Cornbread to accompany this delicious Chili Mac, you'll have to pick.
Sure, there's lots of goodies in that Dutch oven Chili Mac but a crisp green salad would be a wonderful side dish.

Expert Tips

If you use extra lean ground beef or ground turkey, you may want to use a tablespoon of cooking oil before adding the meat to brown. Extra lean mean doesn't produce much renderings.
Do not leave or store Chili Mac in the cast iron Dutch oven for a long period of time. While cooking tomato-based dishes is perfectly fine in bare metal, extended exposure to the acidity isn't great for the pot.