Tastes like beef Chilli Con Carne – with the added cheesy goodness of Mac ‘n Cheese! My Chili Mac and Cheese is on the table in just over 20 minutes – and it’s all made in one pot. It’s truly fabulously delicious!
I love a cosy one-pot pasta like this, a firm favourite alongside Cheeseburger Casserole (Homemade Hamburger Helper!), One Pot Vegetable Pasta and Bolognese Orzo!
Chili Mac and Cheese
I’ve seen plenty of food mash ups in my travels on the world-wide-web. Like pizza – it seems like there is a pizza-everything: tacos, casserole, dips, soup, pie, pasta, cake.
I’m not above doing mash ups. I’ll do them when combining two recipes brings something else to the dish, rather than doing them just for the sake of being “cool” or “out there”. I’m beyond the years of playing with food for the sake of being cool, I just want it to be tasty!
Enter – Chili Mac and Cheese. A cross between Chili Con Carne and Mac and Cheese, all made in one pot. The sauce flavour is like beef Chilli Con Carne, with the addition of macaroni and cheesy goodness stirred into it as well as on top. SO GOOD.
In America, you’ll find most Chili’s are made using a generous amount of what America calls Chili Powder. In actual fact, American Chili Powder is made with more than just ground chilis. It has other flavourings in it, so it’s more like a seasoning than a plain spice.
Because American Chili Powder isn’t sold here in Australia, and also because I have noticed that the flavour and saltiness of American Chili Powder varies from brand to brand, I like to make my Chili using a homemade mix of spices. I can control the flavour better for my own palette, and also more consistency of flavour for those who use my recipes. 🙂
Down Under here in Australia, we spell “Chili” with two l’s – Chilli. Also, it’s more commonly referred to as Chilli Con Carne, and no one knows whether it’s pronounced “Carneeeeeeee” or just “Carne”.
To keep life simple, I chose to stick with one “L”. And I pronounce it “Carne”, without drawing out the “eeeeee”… 😁 – Nagi x
The Mac & Cheese Collection
- Chili Mac – this recipe
- Baked Mac and Cheese – huge reader favourite!
- Shrimp Mac and Cheese – outrageously delicious!
- Stovetop Mac and Cheese – one pot, 20 minutes
- Chicken and Broccoli Mac & Cheese
And more One Pot Ground Beef / Mince recipes
- Cheeseburger Casserole (Homemade Hamburger Helper)
- Chili Mac – mash up of Mac and Cheese with Chilli Con Carne, so good!
- Asian Beef and Ramen Noodles – one skillet, 15 minutes
- Beef and Veggies with Rice
- Bolognese Orzo (Risoni)
- Taco Soup – don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, it’s amazing!
- Browse all One Pot recipes and Ground Beef / Mince recipes
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Chili Mac and Cheese recipe video!
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One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 1 red capsicum / bell pepper , chopped
- 500 g / 1 lb beef mince (ground beef), I use lean
- 800 g / 28 oz crushed canned tomato
- 420g / 14 oz can red kidney beans , drained
- 2 1/2 cups / 625 ml beef broth (chicken broth also ok)
- 250 g / 0.5 lb elbow macaroni pasta (elbow pasta), uncooked
- 2 cups / 200g shredded cheese (cheddar, Monterey Jack, tasty cheese)
- Coriander / cilantro finely chopped , for garnish
Spices (Homemade Chili Powder):
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper or pure chilli powder (adjust spiciness to taste) (Note 1)
- 2 tsp paprika powder
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 1/2 tsp onion powder (can sub garlic powder)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¾ tsp salt
Instructions
- Heat oil in large pot over high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 1 minute. Then add capsicum and cook until onion is translucent.
- Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go.
- Once the beef turns from red to brown, add remaining ingredients except cheese. Stir, bring to simmer, then turn the heat down to medium. Cover and cook for 10 - 12 minutes or until the macaroni is al dente, meaning just cooked, still a tiny bit on the firm side.
- Turn the stove OFF but leave the pot on the stove. Stir through half the cheese – it should be a bit saucy. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Top with remaining cheese, put the lid back on and leave until the cheese melts - about 2 minutes.
- Sprinkle with coriander, if desired, and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Usually when I travel, Dozer goes to stay with his “family” with a golden retriever boarder. He thunders around the house, rumbles with his friends, and generally completely forgets all about me.
Unfortunately, he’s a bit lame at the moment (nothing serious, just pulled a muscle from excessive beach craziness) so I left him with my mother for some quiet healing time.
Apparently, this is how he’s spending his day. 😂
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Loved this recipe. Was looking something quick and easy online and stumbled upon this while searching. With a very picking family they ate it all up. We ate ours with Jasmine white rice and sour cream mmmmm……so good.
Yum that sounds awesome!! – N x
I have cooked almost exclusively from your recipes for the last month and have been so incredibly impressed. So, when I made this last night I am sad to say it was a mega fail! My Mac n cheese loving son and Chili loving husband concur. I have checked the recipe over several times to ensure that I followed it to the letter. There was so much liquid it was soupey, the amount of cheese made it oily, there was too much oregano, and the ingredient/flavour combination odd. I feel awful giving such a low rating as I can say without a doubt every other recipe I have made has been nothing short of AMAZING! We lived in North America for a period and I know sometimes their flavour combinations are a bit different to ours – may be just not suited to our Kiwi palette?
Hi Debbie – I’m sorry to hear that, but can I just ask – did you definitely use UNCOOKED pasta?? Because if you did that then there definitely should not be too much liquid by the time it is cooked, as shown in the video??? N xx
Hi Nagi, yes definitely was uncooked pasta. Did the beef fajitas last night … amazing 😊
thanks so much for the amazing recipe, Nagi!! It came out great! Not enough cheese though for my taste 😉