Chili Cheese Beef n’ Mac
WARNING: Comfort food ahead! This dish contains pasta, beef, and cheese. It’s hearty and delicious. Proceed at your own risk! ;)
Say you grew up on Hamburger Helper (no shame), but now that you’re an adult and all classy and stuff, you just can’t bring yourself to buy one of those cardboard boxes with the mystery powdered cheese sauce. THIS recipe is your grown up “I actually know how to cook now” substitute!
This recipe is still really easy, really fast, and only requires one pot. Like Hamburger Helper, it’s hearty and rich, so I would suggest serving it with a sizable side of something green. I’m going for some simple steamed broccoli with just a pinch of salt and pepper. Broccoli pairs famously with both beef and cheese, so it’s a natural.
If this recipe is still too rich and cheesy for your tastes, stay tuned. I’m sure that by the weekend I’ll be in the mood for something super light, fresh, and uber healthy! It’s the yin and the yang y’all!
Chili Cheese Beef n’ Mac
Chili Cheese Beef n Mac
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.19)
- 1 lb. ground beef ($4.13)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.10)
- 1 small onion ($0.55)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
- 1 Tbsp chili powder ($0.15)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.02)
- 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce ($0.48)
- 2 cups beef broth** ($0.22)
- 2 cups 1/2 lb. dry macaroni ($0.65)
- 1 cup 4 oz. shredded sharp cheddar ($1.25)
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a large pot over medium along with 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Once browned, drain off the excess fat. While the beef is browning, dice the onion and mince the garlic.
- Add the diced onion and minced garlic to the browned and drained beef. Continue to cook and stir over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent. Once the onions have softened, add 2 Tbsp of flour and cook for one minute more while constantly stirring. It’s okay if it coats the bottom of the pot, just make sure the heat is not so high that the flour burns.
- Add the chili powder, smoked paprika, oregano, tomato sauce, and 2 cups of beef broth (or beef base/bouillon cubes and water). Stir to dissolve any bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pot.
- Add the dry pasta, place a lid on top, and allow it to come up to a simmer. Once it reaches a simmer, reduce the heat to low, and let simmer for about 15 minutes or until the pasta is soft and has absorbed all of the liquid. Stir every few minutes to make sure it’s not sticking on the bottom of the pot. If it gets dry before the pasta has fully softened, add a touch of water.
- Once the pasta has finished cooking, turn the heat off and stir in the shredded cheese. Serve hot.
Notes
Step By Step Photos
This is the ground beef that I used. You can use a leaner ground beef if you’d like, you’ll just have less fat to drain off.
Brown the ground beef in a large pot. Use about 1 Tbsp of olive oil to keep it from sticking. If it does stick a little, it’s okay because the liquids added later will dissolve it off of the bottom (this is called deglazing). Drain the beef well once it is fully browned.
While the beef is browning, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Once the beef is browned and drained, add the onion and garlic to the pot and continue to cook.
Once the onion and garlic have softened, add the flour. The flour will combine with the residual beef fat to create a roux that will help thicken the sauce. Stir the flour in and cook for one minute while continually stirring. This will slightly cook the flour to get rid of that “floury” taste. It may coat the bottom of the pot, but that’s okay. Just make sure it doesn’t burn (turn the heat down if it starts to smell burned).
Also add the chili powder, smoked paprika, and dried oregano.
I took this picture before adding the liquids so that you could see how the flour (and spices) kind of coat the bottom of the pot. The liquids in the next step will dissolve all of that off of the bottom.
The liquids that create the sauce (and cook the pasta) are tomato sauce and beef broth. I like this brand of beef base because it tastes better than the beef bouillon cubes and is far less expensive than buying cans or cartons of beef broth. But, you can use the cubes or broth if you’d like. Just make sure to have 2 cups worth.
Add the 8 oz. of tomato sauce and two cups of beef broth. Stir this mixture until all of the flour and spices are dissolved off of the bottom of the pot (you should be able to feel it with your spoon).
Stir in two cups of dry pasta. Place a lid over the pot and allow it to come up to a simmer. Once it reaches a simmer, reduce the heat to low and let it continue to simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir every so often to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom of the pot.
After about 15 minutes, the pasta should be very tender and have absorbed most of the liquid. If you use a different pasta shape (especially a smaller one), it may soak up more liquid than mine did. If you find that the mixture becomes dry before the pasta is soft, you can add a little water as needed.
Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese. I like sharp cheddar for this because I feel it has more cheesy flavor.
And then it’s creamy, cheesy, and delicious!
It’s Hamburger Helper’s older, more mature cousin.
Are you drooling yet?
Super easy and foolproof recipe, still worked after butchering unit conversions (I ended up using almost 400ml = ca. 17 oz of tomato sauce instead of 4 oz, but it still ended up tasting great). It definitely gets a spot in my favourites. Only thing that was not so enjoyable was burning my tongue because I was so greedy…
This. Is. Delicious. Fool proof recipie. Perfection.
Thanks so much! Since discovering this recipe I now fix it at least twice a month. For a change-up, I sometimes use an equal amount of ground Italian sausage, skip the chili powder, and use shredded mozzarella instead of cheddar.
This was outstanding. I don’t know if my portions were too large, but I don’t think this will cover 6 servings, but I couldn’t help myself, it was so good, so comforting, I was out of control. I used beef broth from a carton. It was a $1.99 for 4 cups worth of broth, instead of bouillon cubes due to all the preservatives in them. Can’t wait to try your next BUDGET BYTE$. It’s either going to be Homemade Broccoli Shells n’ Cheese or Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta.
My family loves this recipe the only thing I add is a can of chili beans liquid and all. Â This requires it to simmer a little more and gives more time for the noodles to cook!
This is one of my favorite recipe because we always have the ingredients on hand. Quick meal to make in a pinch!
Both my boys loved this recipe…making it again for dinner tonight…
This is my new favorite Budget Bytes recipe. I’ve made it twice in the last month, and it’s going on my menu for next week, as well. Quick, easy, and makes enough to last me for a few meals. I substitute ground turkey for the beef, and you would never tell.
Very tasty. I used ground chicken and boosted the veggies by using “riced” cauliflower and broccoli mix and diced tomatoes.
My grandsons 8 an 9 ask for this at least once a week, better than hamburger helper.
This was fantastic! Mild, easy to make, all in one pot, no boiling of pasta separately. Completely filling and full of fibre. This recipe is a forever keeper for me, thank you!
I made this today. Super yum! I used chicken broth because I had it on hand and I used a box of kraft mac and cheese which I made before and added to the pot when I was done. I did add more cheese in the mix. We love cheese super good will make again
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another win for budget bytes (and me)! super easy and foolproof. my husband is gluten free, so i made the following changes:
i used trader joe’s brown rice penne for the pasta. i added approx another 1/2 cup water and had to cook it 5 min longer. i’m not sure if this is because i’m at a higher altitude or the gluten free pasta. i also used bob’s red mill gluten free flour. i have the veggie version of “better than boullion” and it is not gluten free! it has soy sauce in it, so i used trader joe’s veggie broth — it is gluten free. i also just threw the onion garlic and ground beef all in at the same time and didn’t drain the ground beef and it still worked great!
easy, tasty, filling! i couldn’t ask for more.
thanks for another great recipe!
It’s the GF pasta you usually have to cook it longer than regular pasta. Mueller’s and a few others make elbow macaroni that is GF
Cant u use cheese sauce