One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese

What do you get when your favorite comfort foods hang out? Simple and delicious One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese! An easy weeknight dinner without any extra dishes or mess!

What do we want?! One Pot Dinners!

When do we want them?! Every single day!!!

That's right friends, it's what we want and today, it's what we get. Too many dishes to make one dish for dinner is just not something we want to deal with. If a meal can do it all without making extra clean up, then you know I am in.

And this One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese is the latest recipe to add to your simple dinner collection.

Our toddler ate this meal by the fistful so technically I should be able to write that and then say "The End," but if you know me, then you know that it's never that short and sweet. Ha. It is getting late though so I won't stick around too long today.

What you will need to make this recipe:

• onion: I have used red and yellow onions in this recipe. Both are great. I tend to have red onions in the house always so that's what I had on hand the day I took these photos.
• Ground chuck or sirloin are what I use most often when making this chili mac and cheese.
• I often use no salt added kidney beans, broth, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. I don't like my food too salty so this allows me to make this recipe to taste. The salt content in the recipe is higher in the calculations than it would be if using no salt added ingredients.

How to make this recipe:

• Heat up a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat. Add in peppers and onions and cook until the onions start to become slightly translucent. Push the veggies to the side and add the ground beef. (steps 1 and 2)
• Break the meat into smaller chunks and stir regularly to brown. Depending on how much grease you have in the pot, you may want to drain the excess. If so, feel free to do so. The type of ground beef you use may not produce too much and you won't need to drain. (steps 3 and 4)

• Add in tomatoes (I do not drain the liquid from the tomatoes), tomato sauce, broth, kidney beans and spices and stir to combine. Cover and allow to heat for several minutes to bring to a low boil. At this point you are heating the liquid part up to prep for the macaroni. You will want the liquid to be hot enough before you add the pasta. (steps 5 and 6)
• Add pasta and stir to combine. Cover once again and cook for about 13 minutes or until pasta is al dente. During this time, stir several times. Keep an eye that the liquid doesn't come above a low boil. You don't want too much liquid to boil down. If it does seem to be boiling too much, lower the heat slightly. (steps 7 and 8)

• Once the pasta is al dente, turn the heat to low, stir in the cheese and allow to melt. It will thicken up a bit more if it sits to simmer for several minutes, or you can serve it up with some extra cheese on top! (steps 9 and 10)

Pro-Tips and Notes:

• The measurements are based off of using regular elbow macaroni pasta. If you decide to use another pasta, it's likely that you may need more or less liquid. Just keep a close eye on it after adding the pasta.
• You don't have to use ground beef for this recipe. You could certainly use ground turkey, chicken, or even a vegetarian ground meat substitute. Any should work just fine!
• Feel free to play around with the heat on this one. I tone it down a bit for Sam, and then add some extra hot sauce or red pepper flakes when the hubby and I dive in.

Try these other simple dinner recipes:

• Simple Turkey Pepper Skillet
• Slow Cooker Brisket Chili
• Parmesan Crusted Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner
• Mediterranean Steak Bites with Yogurt Sauce
• Parmesan Crusted Steak and Potato Sheet Pan Dinner
• Sweet and Smoky Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas

Did you make one of my recipes? Leave a comment and let me know! I also love to see your lemons + zest recipes on social media--tag me @lemonsandzest on Instagram or Facebook!