One-Pot Cheesy Chili Mac
This lightened up One-Pot Cheesy Chili Mac is a comfort food lover’s dream. The whole recipe cooks together in one pot, making for super easy prep, less cleanup, and a rich, thick, flavorful chili sauce. When pasta cooks right in the sauce, the starch from the pasta will thicken the sauce a bit, and in this case that truly makes it even better. Once you stir in the melty cheddar cheese at the end, you have a big pot of pasta, meat, beans, and tomatoes smothered in a luscious cheesy chili sauce. What’s not to love?? My husband and daughter both gobbled this dish up, so it’s definitely family-friendly. This One-Pot Cheesy Chili Mac may taste super indulgent, but it’s only 325 calories or 6 WW Points per serving! To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Speaking of a serving, when I measured out the whole pot of Cheesy Chili Mac I got 8 ¾ cups. I wanted to make it 6 servings so I was somewhere between a 1 1/3 cup and 1 ½ cup serving. I decided to err on the side of less, so I listed a 1 1/3 cup serving size, but it’s more like a slightly rounded 1 1/3 cup if that makes sense. This meal is sure to be a huge crowd-pleaser and I am excited for you to try it!
Looking for more tasty one-pot comfort food recipes to warm up to this winter? Check out my One-Pot Turkey and Veggie Spaghetti, One-Pot Cajun Chicken and Sausage Pasta, One-Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese, Lemon Garlic Chicken and Beans Skillet, One-Pot Creamy Garlic Chicken Pasta, One-Pot Spicy Dirty Rice with Chicken and Sausage, Spanish Chicken and Rice Skillet, White Chicken Chili, Turkey Sloppy Joe Pasta, Chicken Pot Pasta, Beef Enchilada Pasta Skillet, Mexican Chicken Cauliflower Rice Skillet, and so many more in the One-Pot Meals category of my recipe index!
One-Pot Cheesy Chili Mac
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 lb raw 99% lean ground turkey breast
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, do not drain
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
- 1 (15 oz) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
- 8 oz dry wheat macaroni or small pasta shells
- 4 oz 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I used Cabot brand)
Instructions
- Drizzle the oil in a 5 QT Dutch oven or large pot and bring to medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and stir to coat. Add the ground turkey and stir together. Cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up the turkey into small chunks, for 5-6 minutes until cooked through. Add the garlic and stir together. Cook for an additional minute.
- Add the chili powder, cumin, salt and cayenne to the meat and stir to coat. Add the diced tomatoes with their juices, tomato sauce, kidney beans, broth and dry pasta and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a strong simmer and cover. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for 12-13 minutes until the pasta is cooked.
- Uncover the pot and stir, making sure nothing is stuck to the bottom. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, for another 3-4 minutes to thicken the sauce. Sprinkle the cheese over top and cover the pot. Cook on low for another 2 minutes until the cheese is melted. Stir together before serving.
Notes
8 per (1 & 1/3 cup) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info below) Adapted from Dinner at the Zoo
One of my favorite lazy, guilty, comfort meals is Amy’s Chili Mac, and this is giving me those vibes! This will be much healthier and hopefully just as tasty, and since it’s a one-pot meal, it’s right up my lazy alley. Can’t wait to try!
Did you try to make it with brown rice pasta or whole wheat pasta (0 sp on purple)? I wonder if it’s still good and turns out the same…? I might experiment with it this weekend!!
Realized it says “wheat”’pasta!!! Hahaha thanks!!
Would this freeze well?
A very mouth-watering recipe.
So easy to make and the kids love it!
This is amazing! It’s going to be one of my new favorites. Great flavor and so easy to make.
Made this last night for dinner.It was great and so easy!! Thank you!
Made this dish tonight ! So delicious !! Thanks for all your delicious recipes !! ❤️
Made this lastnight and Omg!! Sooo good!! My son at all the leftovers in middle of night—next time it will be a double batch!!
I made this last night and while I really liked it last night and thought it tasted like goulash, it is even better today!! Thanks for this!!
This was so good!!! I subbed black beans for kidney beans- since that’s what I had, but oh so good! I’ve been a fan of your recipes for so long- but this is the first time commenting. Keep them coming! <3
Made this for dinner tonight. It came out really well. Family approved!!! Even our super picky eater enjoyed it. Thanks for the great recipe. We will make again.
Absolutely delicious used whole wheat elbows as that’s what I had and by mistake I added 16 oz. of tomato sauce and so so good!!!
Wow this was a big hit. I even my small children devoured it. This will be going into heavy rotation in cold months!
This is amazing!! I followed the directions exactly. I can’t believe how easy and how quick it was to makes.
Hi Emily is there something I can use in place of diced tomatoes? I don’t mind tomato sauce but really don’t like diced tomatoes but I don’t want it to come out dry
I’m sure you could probably use tomato sauce instead!
Made this tonight and it was SO good! Followed directions to a “T” and it came out great! Thanks for good, ww friendly, comfort food recipes!
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS RECIPE! It’s rare to find someone where you just want to keep making it and don’t get sick of it. This is delicious with a dollop of sour cream, avocado and tortilla chips on top.
How many servings is the entire recipe?? Does anyone know?
Serving information is located directly below the recipe title in the recipe section of each post. Hope that helps!
We love this recipe at our house! It is on a bi-weekly rotation and we never get sick of it! We love pasta and chili in our house and this is the perfect combination. Thank you so much Emily for the recipes!
Made this today, it was Amazing!! Thank You for more WW friendly recipe options!
I am on the purple plan and this is not 2 points. When I input the quick add into the WW app, it comes back at 7 points. Which is very disappointing. Can you please verify this?
Hi Amy, You can’t calculate points for a recipe by inputting the nutritional information, because it won’t account for zero-point foods. Zero point foods of course still have calories, fat, sugar, etc. To calculate points for a recipe you’ll want to use the WW recipe builder as I have. Hope that helps.
Hi.. can you freeze this?
Very good, filling and easy to make!
I made this for dinner tonight. Delicious and do easy. I will definitely make this again!
This looks very good please send me the website thank you
This was soooo good!! I was able to reduce the points to 3 per serving by substituting fiber gourmet pasta and using fat free cheese! This is a keeper and I will definitely be making this again!!
Delicious! I used what I had. 1/2lb ground chicken breast and 1/2lb ground beef. I only had 2 cups stock and used penne and we all loved it!! Definitely will make again.
Made this last night and it was a huge hit! This will be in heavy rotation in my house from now on. Thanks Emily for another great recipe! You’re quickly becoming my favorite site for dinner ideas!
Can I make this in a crockpot?
This looks amazing! Do you have any tips on how I canI make this in a crockpot? TIA!!!
Loved this so much, I made it again for a work pot luck. Nobody guessed it was “light”. I also use either Carba Nada or Fiber Gourmet for the pasta, saves 1 point/serving.