Homemade Chili Mac
Easy Homemade Chili Mac is a hearty, real-food weeknight dinner. This 35-minute comfort food is made with freezer and pantry staples - cheese optional!
Servings: 4
Calories: 670kcal
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 8 ounces dry pasta
- 12 ounces tomato paste
- 2 cups beans (rinsed and drained; from a 15-16 ounce can)
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons table salt
- 1 ½ cups pasta cooking water
- shredded cheese (optional; for topping)
Instructions
- Start heating water to boil your pasta. Meanwhile, brown and drain the ground beef.
- Return the ground beef to its pan, with the heat off. Add tomato paste, drained beans, 2 tablespoons of chili powder, garlic powder, and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Wait for the pasta to be done cooking.
- Boil the pasta, cooking it 1 minute less than the minimum cooking time on the package. (If the package says 9-11 minutes, cook it for 8.)
- Once the pasta is cooked, turn off the heat. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pasta (but not much liquid) to the pot with the ground beef.
- Add 1 ½ cups of the pasta water to the ground beef mixture. Mix to combine and soften the tomato paste into a sauce.
- Heat gently over medium heat, until everything is well mixed and hot, adding more pasta water as necessary. Taste and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of chili powder and ½ teaspoon salt if needed.
- Spoon into bowls and serve. Stir in shredded cheese while hot, if desired.
Optional Additions
- Saute chopped onion or peppers with the ground beef while you brown it, if desired.
- Add corn or extra beans to increase this to serve 5 or 6. As a bonus, this adds more vegetables to make it a healthier meal.
Gluten-Free Option
- Boil gluten-free pasta for 1 minute less than the package says. Remove the pasta from the water, but do not add to the pot with the ground beef.
- Stir pasta water into the ground beef mixture. Heat and adjust the water and spices to the right consistency.
- Once the sauce is how you'd like it, add the cooked pasta to the pot. Reheat and stir gently; gluten-free pasta can turn mushy. Serve immediately.
Notes
How long this recipe takes to cook depends on how long it takes to boil water for pasta. I boil 8 ounces of pasta in a smallish, 2-quart pot, and my ground beef is often cooked before the water boils.
I use red beans or white beans to make chili mac. You can add an extra can of beans if desired. I often toss in additional leftover cooked beans.
Chili powder is not the same as chile powder, which is a single ingredient. Chili powder blends contain chile peppers, cumin, garlic, and salt, and may contain other spices. How much you add, and how much salt you add, depends on the brand.
I'd use onion powder in this if I kept any on hand. Start with ½ teaspoon and go from there.
If adding frozen corn, thaw or heat it first so it doesn't slow down the cooking time.
I developed this recipe to be cooked from scratch with only pantry and freezer ingredients. Cook fresh ingredients (onion, peppers) as desired.
Calorie count calculated in MyNetDiary and is an estimate only. Calorie count assumes 80% lean ground beef and does not include cheese.
Nutrition
Calories: 670kcal
