Easy Chili Mac is a one pot recipe made in minutes. It’s flavorful ground beef chili cooked with macaroni noodles and topped with cheese.
How To Make Easy Chili Mac
Note: This is a summary. The full printable recipe card is at the bottom of this post.
- Add ground beef and chopped onion to a soup pot.
- Break the beef apart and cook.
- Add beef broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, sugar, and pepper.
- Stir.
- Bring the liquid to a simmer.
- Add the macaroni.
- Cook until the pasta is tender, about 12 minutes.
Quick Tip
Be Sure To Stir
One Pot Pastas have a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pot if they are not stirred often enough. Be sure to stir the pasta every two to three minutes to prevent sticking.
The pasta will soak up most of the liquid but it should still be a little saucy.
I like to serve my chili mac topped with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream.
HOW TO STORE
Keep leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator. They will last 3-4 days.
You could freeze leftovers for up to 3 months, but the texture won’t be as good. The noodles will be very soft. Place in the refrigerator to defrost the day before you want to reheat it.
HOW TO REHEAT
I like to reheat the chili mac in a skillet over medium heat. Heat it until it is warmed through, occasionally giving it a gentle stir.
More One Pot Pasta Recipes
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Easy Chili Mac Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound 90-93% lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 4 cups beef broth
- 15 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni about 2 cups
- For serving: shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, etc.
Instructions
- Add the ground beef and onion to a large soup pot and place it over medium-high heat. Break the beef apart with a wooden spoon. Cook for 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beef is browned and the onions are soft.
- Add the broth, diced tomatoes (with their juices), tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, sugar, and pepper to the beef. Stir well. Bring the liquid to a simmer.
- Add the macaroni. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 12 minutes.
- Serve topped with shredded cheddar, sour cream, etc.
Nutrition
Try all my great ground beef recipes.
Like others said, I like this recipe because it is without cheese inside. I can replace the beef with Impossible Meat to make it vegetarian/vegan (with veggie broth) and the spice blend keeps the taste. My kids love it!
I have made chili Mac three times. The first time with kidney beans. LOVE,LOVE,LOVE it. I was looking for chili Mac made with macaroni and finally found the PERFECT recipe. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
I was looking for a recipe like this one and without cheese in it. The cheese on top was good but I prefer the chili Mac without it. My husband and I liked the chili Mac VERY MUCH. I’m trying out your recipes and like what I see.THANK YOU!!!!
I tweaked this a little based on what I had on hand. Eating the pantry time. Used pork/beef mix(meatloaf mix), fire roasted tomatoes and beef stock. Not a fan of chili mac, but this turned out delicious. I like it less soupy, so I threw in a handful of instant rice to thicken. Seasoning was spot on. Served with shredded cheese, sour cream, guac and crushed Fritos. It’s good cold, too!
So good!!!! My first time making something like this, it turned out more just like chili with noodles (a Midwest thing adding noodles to chili) but I was wanting the Mac and cheese flavor represented more, so I added about 6 oz. (Maybe more?) of shredded cheese to the chili and that was the ticket for my taste!!! Will definitely make again! Thank you 😘
Five stars 🌟! Very easy & quick, DELICIOUS
First time making this! I used ground turkey and red kidney beans. The cheese and sour cream was delicious on the dish. Try it !!!
FINALLY found the BEST Chili Mac soup recipe like my great aunt made while I was growing up. Absolutely delicious!
Delicious! I added light red kidney beans and black beans. Very good. Thank you for sharing this recipe 😁
I seriously love this recipe. I have a family of 3 and the 1x recipe is perfect for us plus leftovers! I wanted to eat this weekly when I first made it!
This meal was absolutely delicious! It was so easy to make and took almost no time to cook. Super easy weeknight supper. So glad I tried it. Thank you!
This is so good! All the flavors are perfectly balanced, and my husband loved it. I made it with GF pasta, so I didn’t simmer it as long with the pasta in it. I simmered it a little before putting the pasta in, but was concerned it would be more like soup. To my surprise, it only had a little extra juice, but that was absorbed over time, and it ended up perfect. Topped it with Mexican Crema and shredded cheese. Yum!
Thanks for leaving a reply!!! My guy is GF, and I was just pondering how the noodles would turn out. As we know how finicky GF pasta can be. Thank you!!!
Your recipes are bomb
Easy to make, easier to consume! Next time I am going to add sliced jalapenos for some heat and texture.
This is absolutely amazing. Make this recipe. Doesn’t even need cheese or sour cream !!
If you’re searching for a good one ho weight this one! I love this recipe. It’s delicious and EASY! I can prep, cook and serve all within the same hour, I love it.
This is SO good! I made the vegetarian version of this. I replaced the ground beef with impossible meat (I’m sure any frozen faux beef crumble would work as well or beyond meat) and added green bell pepper and kidney beans. Also used vegetable bouillon cubes because I didn’t have enough vegetable broth. Followed the rest of the directions and it turned out great. Loved it and bookmarked it for later! Thank you!
This recipe is so yummy, and very easy to make. Thank you!
I made this tonight and my husband and I loved it. I will be making this recipe again and again. Thank you.
What is a can of tomato sauce please?
You can find it with the rest of the tomato products. It will say tomato sauce. It won’t let me attach a picture to show you
This is so good and so simple! 😋👏🏻👏🏻
I added white pepper and some of the Diced tomatoes are Rotel. Thank you for the recipe 😊.
Excellent! Even Grandma loved it!
This is an easy and very tasty recipe. I made it for a family gathering for the kids and all the adults ate it instead, then asked for the recipe. 😂
Good and simple. I adjusted the seasoning to taste. Also added frozen corn. Thank you for the recipe, will be making it again!
I cooked this tonight. My family loved it. Will be cooking again. Thank You for sharing.
Very quick and great that it only requires one pot! I added kidney beans, corn, celery. I did not have tomato sauce but it still came out delicious
Excellent, my family loves it. Quick, easy and delicious!
I just tried this recipe tonight and it turned out great!! I did reduce the broth to 2.5 cups as opposed to 4 but everything else was followed to a t.
Awesome
Easy, even for a guy who only makes our dinner once or twice a month.
My husband made this for dinner. Yummy! This will definitely be in the dinner rotation
Really delicious and super easy one pot meal I added a can of kidney beans for the chilli effect. Recommend!