Crock Pot Easy Cheesy Chili Mac

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 in Adaptetarian, Carnivores, Cheese, Food, Gruntworthy for Guys, Kid Friendly, Main Dishes, Pasta, Vegetarian

Hearty, spicy, and cheesy, this one is an easy chili mac recipe that’s equally delicious with meat or without. And, of course, the bulk of the work is done by your Crock Pot while you’re off going about your day. Gotta love chili macaroni – especially with lots of cheese!

Some dinners lack a little, shall I say, class… but more than make up for it in tasty, dig-innable, comforting pure deliciousness.

I think we can all be pretty clear on which side we’ll find Crock Pot Easy Cheesy Chili Mac. Elegant it’s not. Yummy? Oooooh yes. It’s comfort food at its best, perfect for a blustery rainy night after a long, long day. If you’re feeding others, I can almost guarantee there will be happy mid-bite groans and proclamations of your amazing kitchen talent; and then lots of happy full-bellied cuddling on the couch after dinner. Actually, this will also happen when you’re by yourself. It’s practically involuntary.

Hearty, spicy, and cheesy, this Cheesy Chili Mac is equally delicious with meat or without (my guy gives both versions One Grunt Up). It’s an adaptetarian recipe that can go either way – or both. And, of course, the bulk of the work is done by your Crock Pot when you’re off going about your day. Gotta love it.

I made The Pioneer Woman’s wonderful skillet cornbread to go along with it, and highly recommend it.

Here’s the recipe!

Print this recipe Print this recipe

Crock Pot Easy Cheesy Chili Mac

Yield: 6 – 8 large servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound (2 – 3 cups) fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped (or one 16-ounce can diced tomatoes)
  • 3 16-ounce cans black, kidney, or chili beans, drained (I like to use a couple different varieties)
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use 1/2 teaspoon for a milder version)
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • OR instead of the cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, and oregano simply substitute 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder.
  • Add for full-on meat version: 1 pound lean ground hamburger
  • Add for half meat and half vegetarian: 1/2 pound lean ground hamburger
  • 8 ounces (1/2 pound) macaroni noodles
  • 1 pound cheddar cheese, grated (I love love love Tillamook medium cheddar) (Oh, and you can use less if you want. I just like to go for it with this recipe.)

Directions:

  1. Combine the tomatoes, beans, onion, garlic, and spices in your Crock Pot. If you’re going for the full-on meat version, go ahead and brown your pound of hamburger in a separate frying pan, drain, and add that now, too. You’ll add meat later if you’re going half veggie/half carnie.
  2. Cook on low for about 7 – 9 hours. But it’s pretty forgiving if you need to cook it for longer.
  3. Boil the macaroni according to package directions, but cut the time short by a minute or so to make sure it’s just nice and al dente, or else the noodles might swell up to epic and less appetizing proportions in the finished product.
  4. Stir the macaroni, along with half the cheese, into the Crock Pot with the chili.
  5. For the half veggie/half carnie adaptetarian version, here’s where you split it. If you’re going all vegetarian or all meat, ignore this step and move on to Step 6. Move half of the cheesy chili maccy goodness into a medium casserole dish. Brown your half pound of hamburger in a separate frying pan, drain it, and stir the hamburger into the mixture in the casserole dish. Sprinkle over the top with half the remaining cheese, and bake the meaty version at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
  6. Sprinkle all the remaining cheese over the Crock Pot mixture, cover with the Crock Pot lid, and cook for another 20 – 30 minutes, until the cheese is melted.
  7. Now get cozy, and enjoy!

More goodies like this:

Tags: , , , , ,

Share or bookmark this post - and share the love!
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Add to favorites
  • Google Bookmarks
  • FriendFeed

Post Author

This post was written by who has written 267 posts on The Hazel Bloom.

9 Responses to “Crock Pot Easy Cheesy Chili Mac”

  1. Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen Wednesday, October 13, 2010 at 2:08 PM #

    This looks so good right about now!

    [Reply]

  2. Cristina @ TeenieCakes Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 12:59 PM #

    What a great looking dish and luv that it’s using the crock pot!

    [Reply]

  3. roclafamilia Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 4:15 AM #

    Helpful blog, bookmarked the website with hopes to read more!

    [Reply]

  4. GreenGoblin Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 10:21 AM #

    Really nice information, thanks!

    [Reply]

  5. Anna Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 8:34 AM #

    Yum…this looks delicious! I’m going to try it.

    [Reply]

  6. simple crock pot recipes Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 8:01 PM #

    Hello! I know this is sort of off-topic however I needed to ask. Does running a well-established website like yours require a lot of work? I’m brand new to blogging but I do write in my journal everyday. I’d like to start a blog so I will be able to share my own experience and views online. Please let me know if you have any kind of recommendations or tips for new aspiring bloggers. Appreciate it!

    [Reply]

  7. Tube Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 2:54 PM #

    Nice blog. Pretty interesting and very impressive..Do you have any other pages like this? but anyways.. I’ll forsure be coming back again. if you like follow us on twitter @tube4x thnx.

    [Reply]

  8. ゴルフ用品 Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 2:10 AM #

    http://d.hatena.ne.jp/vickyce2011/

    [Reply]

  9. Susan Monday, February 13, 2012 at 2:05 PM #

    What a wonderful way you present your dishes. I just love it. I am not a very good cook at all so the way you have presented your recipes and pictures helps me out so much. I just made the recipe…I always follow recipes exactly because I have no idea about spices and what to add and what not to add. It smells amazing and can’t wait till dinner. I used 3 different beans…Kidney beans, chili beans, and black beans. I also added some green pepper to it. I might need to add a little bit more tomatoes because it looks pretty thick at the moment…I am going to wait to see if it gets a little soupier. So far So good….looks and smells amazing. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to making some more of your recipes.

    [Reply]

Leave a Reply