Beef | Green chile | Main Dishes | Weeknight dinner

30 Minute Chili Mac

Name: 30 Minute chili Mac
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 1 pound ground beef; 1 small onion, minced; 1 Anaheim chile pepper (or 1/2 green bell pepper), minced; 1 tablespoon chili powder; 1 tablespoon cumin powder; 3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce; 2 cups chicken broth; 8 ounces elbow macaroni; 1 (8 ounce) package of shredded Mexican cheese blend

March 22, 2018September 12, 2023

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Make 30 Minute Chili Mac if You Need a Large Dinner on the Table Fast

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30 Minute Chili Mac is one of those great go-to recipes that you can easily make just from scrounging in your pantry. You need dinner on the table like, yesterday, for your ravenous children who are complaining they are starving to death? (Mine certainly give me this treatment on a regular basis, even if they’ve just stuffed their faces an hour before…) Look no further than The Goldilocks Kitchen for the answer! (Man that’s cheesy! Hahaha!)

You may think my hamburger is looking a little funky in the picture below, well you have a good eye! I cooked this up and made everyone sick.

Hahaha Just kidding!!! It looks funny because it’s not beef it’s ground elk. We have a freezer full, so I’m trying to cook it up as often as I can. It’s about as lean as you can get as far as red meat, and doesn’t taste bad as long as you cook it with some great flavorings. Which you will find in this recipe for 30 Minute Chili Mac!

How to Make 30 Minute Chili Mac

You’ll cook up a pound of ground beef with diced onion and green chile (or bell pepper if chile isn’t available in your area) along with cumin and chili powder. I also add a generous pinch of salt.

Then pressed garlic and brown sugar are added and cooked just long enough to bloom the flavor of the garlic (about 30 seconds is all it needs).

Then chicken broth, tomato sauce and macaroni are poured in and stirred into the ground beef mixture. Bring to a good simmer, then cover and turn the heat to medium low, adjusting to keep the mixture at a good simmer.

When all is said and done, stir in a cup of shredded Mexican cheese blend to make it extra ooey gooey delicious!

Here’s a closeup of the ooey gooey deliciousness of 30 Minute Chili Mac!

I highly recommend you use a 12 inch deep-sided skillet to make this meal. I started out with the 12 regular skillet and it could have held all this food, but it would be pretty tough to stir it without major spills and cleanup afterwards…which nobody wants….

Don’t forget to pile more cheese onto individual servings of 30 Minute Chili Mac and watch it melt over the hot food. My kids gobble this up, and I bet yours will too. As always, I love your comments and please rate this recipe, it’s super helpful to me. Enjoy!