Have you ever misunderstood what someone in your family wants for dinner? This version of Cheesy Chili Mac is one of those recipes.
My husband asked what our dinner options were and I mentally went through our fridge, freezer and pantry options trying to think of the easiest choices. I finally told him we could have chili, mac & cheese, tacos or spaghetti.
His response? “I’ll take chili mac & cheese”
My response? “No sir, you only get one choice – this isn’t a diner”
He just sat there staring at me, completely confused because he thought that was an option I offered. After a few minutes I told him, “Well chili mac does exist but I don’t think it’s what you think it is… but we can try it out.” I ended up looking for some ideas online, but ultimately tweaked everything to fit with what we had on hand. And when I tell you it was good… it. was. GOOD! We are both really good about eating leftovers, but these were ones we were willing to battle over.
The ingredients are really simple and took only 25 minutes to whip together.
I started by dumping a can of tomato sauce, a can of kidney beans (rinsed and drained) and a cup of water into a large saucepan. To that I added a pound of cooked ground beef. If you know me, you know I always have cooked ground beef crumbles in the freezer. It’s so easy when it comes to dishes like this since it is ready to toss in. I also added a spoonful of minced garlic, a beef bouillon cube, and 2 tablespoons of chili seasoning mix. And of course, you can’t have chili mac without the mac, so I added a cup of uncooked elbow noodles.
Give this a good stir and place a lid on the pan, cooking on medium heat for 20 minutes. The noodles will start to soak up all the delicious sauce, so be sure to stir often or else it could start sticking to the bottom of the pan.
After the 20 minutes is up, your noodles should be perfectly tender. Now it’s time to get cheesy! I added about a half cup of cheese to the top and put the lid back on to melt. Mmmm!!
Serve this with some fresh baked garlic bread and a side salad and you’ve got yourself a pretty great meal! Not to mention it is frugal, only one pan and ready in under 25 minutes!
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Cheesy Chili Mac
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 1 cup Elbow Noodles
- 1 can Kidney Beans 15 ounces, drained
- 1 can Tomato Sauce 15 ounces
- 1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
- 2 Tablespoons Chili Seasoning Mix
- 1 Beef Bouillon Cube
- 1 cup water
- Shredded Cheese For Topping – optional
Instructions
- Brown and drain ground beef (I already had some cooked and crumbled in the freezer so that is what I ended up using)
- In a large saucepan, add all ingredients (minus the shredded cheese) and cover with lid.
- Cook on medium-high heat for 20 minutes or until noodles are tender. Stir often so noodles don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Spoon chili mac into a bowl and immediately top with shredded cheese before serving.
