Skinny One Pot Chili Mac & Cheese
on Feb 06, 2017, Updated Jun 06, 2024
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This skinny one pot chili mac & cheese is a long time fan favorite among our clients and their kids! I’ve loved getting tagged in images of your kids eating this one over the years! This is macaroni like we all know and love, but packed with lots of protein and flavor!
Ingredients
- lean ground turkey
- onion
- diced tomatoes
- tomato sauce
- diced green chilis
- taco seasoning
- pasta noodles
- bouillon cubes
- cream cheese
- shredded cheese
Nutritional Information / Macros
Makes 12 servings
Serving size: 1 cup (250g)
346 cal / 25P / 39C / 10F
How to Find in the MyFitnessPal or MacrosFirst App
Search the food database in either app for, Stay Fit Mom Skinny One Pot Chili Mac & Cheese
Add Some Veggies
This is great with and extra can of diced tomatoes, spinach, diced or shredded zucchini, and more!
Reheating Instructions
This skinny one pot chili mac & cheese reheats so well! This makes a lot and is great for meal prep! Just reheat in the microwave 2-3 minutes!
Freezing Instructions
If needed, you can freeze the leftovers. Make sure to let it defrost well before reheating so you don’t have mushy pasta!
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Skinny One Pot Chili Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs lean ground turkey , (or 96/4 ground beef)
- 1/2 medium onion
- 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
- 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
- 3 tbsp diced green chilis
- 3 tbsp homemade taco seasoning
- 16 oz. Whole wheat pasta noodles
- 5 cups water
- 2-3 beef bouillon cubes, optional
- 8 oz. 1/3 less fat cream cheese
- 8 oz. reduced fat shredded cheese, (I like the Mexican cheese blend)
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium high heat cook chopped onions and ground turkey until turkey is browned and onion is tender.
- Drain fat then add taco seasoning, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chiles, water, bouillon cubes and bring to a simmer. Stir in the pasta and cook uncovered for 10–12 minutes, until pasta is cooked and liquid has reduced down.
- Toss in the cubed cream cheese and shredded cheese and stir until melted.
Notes
Nutrition
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on Instagram: @stayfitmom_tracy and @stayfitmom_Krista
Hi Krista, I’m so looking forward to making this up for the family this week. Can I ask what spices & ratios you use for you taco mix?
Hi Ann,
I just use the taco seasoning blend from McCormick. You can use any brand though or make it yourself if you’d like. The macros will be similar.
Thanks Krista!
This is the first recipe of yours that I attempted to make and I was blown away. It was incredibly delicious and easy to make. Thank you for sharing that with us. Now I am looking through your other recipes trying to figure out what to make next!
Thanks Jamee! I’m glad you loved it.
This was one of the best things I’ve ever made. I was meal prepping for the week and couldn’t figure out a simple, delicious dish to add to the mix. This… this was a home run. I loved it and seriously craved the leftovers for days to come. I will definitely be over making this until I’m tired of it… and then probably after.
If you can’t find greek yogurt cream cheese do you think you could just add a little greek yogurt??
Yes. My local Smith’s no longer carries it so I just use the 1/3 fat cream cheese.
Is there a replacement for thr bouillon cubes? Not really something I keep in the house so could i replace the water with like chicken broth or something? Are they just to add flavour?
Feel free to leave them out. Not necessary if you don’t have any lying around!
When to use greek yogurt?
You add it in at the very end once noodles have cooked.
This is delicious and super easy to make.
Hi Jen! We’re glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for stopping by!
Have you tried freezing this? Wondering if it would hold up well
I actually put some in the freezer a few days ago to use post vacation for lunches. I’m crossing my fingers it defrosts just fine. I’ll let you know if I have any problems.
How did freezing work out with this dish? I followed the amounts from the meal prep book for dinner tonight. We still have a lot left over but so yummy!
when you typically create a receipt, how to you calculate how much it will yeild? do you determine the weight in grams of one serving, weigh the remaining and divide it out? I struggle with this aspect of cooking and counting macros and as a result cook pretty boring food 🙁
Hi Kaila!
I do it 1 of 2 ways:
1. Figure out how many 1 cup servings there are and set the servings that way.
OR
2. I figure out the total weight of my cooked food in grams, and then input that total in as the serving size. So if the total weight of the mac & cheese is 2500 grams, I put 2500 servings in the recipe as the serving size. Then when I put it on my plate, if it weighs 400 grams, I log it in my diary for lunch/dinner as 400 servings of mac & cheese.
I hope that was easy to understand!
When you say “one serving” how much would that be? I’m fairly new to macros and I’m learning how to enter recipes in My Fitness Pal, but I have a hard time with the “number of servings” part of a recipe!
Hi Emily! I measured my whole recipe out into 1 cup servings once it was cooked. So the macros I listed using my exact ingredients are for 1 cup.
Mac and cheese is my favorite comfort food, especially during the winter. Your version looks really interesting, I must say my mouth watered seeing the pictures! haha. I’ll try it tomorrow and I’ll let you know how it went. Thank you!
Enjoy!!