Easy Chili Mac and Cheese – One Pot, Stove Top
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Looking for a quick and easy chili mac recipe for dinner? Look no further because our stove top chili mac and cheese recipe is one of our most popular comfort food recipes and best of all, kids love this!
Easy Chili Mac and Cheese Recipe
You can make it on the stove top and not even have to heat up your oven! It’s a big pot of cheesy chili macaroni and cheese that can feed a whole family. The flavors of the homemade chili with cheese and macaroni always hits the spot. If you don’t want to add beans, just remove them from the pot. There’s someone for everyone! Every bite of this amazing pasta dinner is comfort food for chili lovers.
Video: Best Chili Mac and Cheese
Can you freeze Chili Mac and Cheese?
Yes! It’s the perfect make ahead dish too. Just assemble it a day ahead and when you’re ready to bake you can combine the cooked macaroni with the chili and cheese. Or you can assemble the whole thing and before you heat it up on the stove top or in the oven. If you have leftover stove top mac and cheese, you can easily freeze it. When you’re ready to eat, thaw it a day ahead of time and just re-heat. Add some extra cheese if you like after freezing and re-heating because it’s so good with more cheese.
How to Make Stove Top Chili Mac and Cheese
- We like cooking with the small macaroni pasta because there’s more chili in each bite. But you can cook with the larger macaroni if you like.
- Make sure to season the pasta well with salt and pepper. The salt really brings out the flavor.
- The best part about our recipe is that you can make it all on the stove top and in one pot. You can add beans if you like.
- Don’t like beans? You can easily omit the beans and it’s still a great tasting chili Mac and cheese with no beans. We love sautéing everything on the stop top for more flavor.
- Add as much cheese as you like!
- The full recipe is in the recipe box below and you can print it out.
One Pot Chili Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 oz. (227 g) Elbow Macaroni Pasta , uncooked
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) Olive Oil
- 1 pound (4534 g) ground Beef
- 1 small (1 small) Onion , diced
- 4 cloves (4 cloves) Garlic , minced
- 30 oz. (850 g) Tomato sauce , (two 15 oz. cans or @ 4 cups) crushed, diced or regular
- 15 oz. (425 g) canned Beans (black, pinto, cannellini, etc…), drained and rinsed
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Chili Powder
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) ground Cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) Oregano leaves
- Kosher Salt , to taste
- fresh cracked Black Pepper
- 1-2 cups (113-226 g) grated Cheddar Cheese
Optional Toppings:
- Additional cheese
- sour cream
- red onions
- green onions
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season well with salt. Add pasta and cook until al dente, usually about 8-12 minutes or according to package directions. Drain and set pasta aside.
- Return pot to stove on medium-high heat. Add olive oil, then add ground beef. Break up beef into small chunks and cook until browned. Add onion and garlic. Cook onions and garlic until fragrant and soft.
- Add tomato sauce, beans, chili powder, cumin and oregano. Bring to a simmer, give it a good even stir and lower heat to continue simmering. Cook for about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir the cooked pasta and cheese into the chili. Cook for another minute or so until the pasta is warmed through and cheese is melted. Serve with your favorite toppings.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Here’s more great macaroni and easy one pot recipes for you:
- Popular cheeseburger mac and cheese recipe
- Check out more of our—> Easy One Pot Recipes
- Easy one pot macaroni and cheese recipe that can be as cheesy as you like.
- This recipe was originally published in 2019.
5 Comments on “Easy Chili Mac and Cheese – One Pot, Stove Top”
Thanks a bunch for this recipe. The kids are absolutely in love and they’re always asking me to make this. I always add extra cheddar cheese.
I was looking at alot of different recipes and I must of got mixed up I thought this was a goulash recipe Lol ! I made the recipe anyway. I was a little worried though, my elderly mom was having dinner with us. Everyone liked this recipe even mom too. Thank You so much for this recipe.
So glad Mom loved it! Thanks for sharing Kat.
My husband gave this a big thumbs up and will be on our rotation more often. I added some extra cayenne pepper because we like our pasta a little spicier. So good, thanks!
This is the best chili mac and cheese recipe ever. Thanks so much for the awesome recipe.