While Slow Cooker Chili is an amazing and easy dinner by itself, sometimes you have to up your game just a bit! This Slow Cooker Chili Mac is a hearty, filling dinner that your family will request again and again!
Slow Cooker Chili or Slow Cooker Chili Mac?
I’m going to make a disclaimer before we get any further into this post, because I do want you to be aware this is not a toss everything in the slow cooker and totally forget it until dinner time kind of meal, like a traditional chili might be. This does have a couple of steps, but I’m going to go through how you can do the extra steps ahead of time, some tips I have for making it easier, and why it’s still better to make this than not to use your slow cooker at all. Plus, end game? You end up with a totally family friendly, delicious meal that makes amazing leftovers. Slow Cooker Chili Mac is the kind of meal that’s worth a few extra minutes of work for extra amazing results.
For myself, I was able to save the extra step of an added pan because I used my multi-cooker to brown my ground turkey before starting the chili. Then the nice part comes in that the rest of the chili IS just adding things to your slow cooker so they can cook all day into a delicious, rich and spicy chili that pairs perfectly with pasta.
Tips for making the pasta for this Slow Cooker Chili Mac:
- I’ve done many pasta recipes where I’ve cooked the pasta right in the sauce and it turns out amazing, but I decided not to do that here.
- I’ve made this recipe several times, and I’ve just used the Barilla Pronto noodles which don’t need boiling/draining so it was pretty quick. I may try adding them one of these times without cooking to see if it makes a difference, but to me it just made it actually come together a little easier because I wasn’t worried about my noodles getting clumpy.
- Cook them to al dente if not using the pronto noodles so that they will hold up once adding them to the slow cooker chili
Time saving tips for this Slow Cooker Chili Mac recipe:
- You could also make up the pasta the day before and have it in a baggie ready to add on the day you are making the meal which would save a little time too.
- The one thing you do have to make at meal time, though, is the cheese sauce. But again, you could grate your cheese ahead of time, which is what I did, and then making homemade cheese sauce takes all of about 5 minutes. Worth it, in my opinion.
One other quick note about making cheese sauce. Shred your own cheese from the block. Super important because if you use pre-shredded cheese your sauce will be grainy. Nobody wants grainy sauce. I use this handy dandy little tool and have shredded cheese in just a few seconds. I get it out a couple of times a week and shred the cheese I will need for the next few days and it works out perfectly.
On yet another quick little side note, my husband rarely gets terribly wordy over any of our meals, but did say he would take this slow cooker chili mac over a steak dinner at the nicest restaurant in town any day. I take that to mean he liked it! Plus, he asked me to make more for him to take to work for lunches, so I think that officially makes this meal a winner!
While Slow Cooker Chili is an amazing and easy dinner by itself, sometimes you have to up your game just a bit! This Slow Cooker Chili Mac is a hearty, filling dinner that your family will request again and again!
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 15 oz canned light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
- 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
- 12 oz dried elbow noodles
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 cup shredded colby jack or cheddar jack cheese (4 oz)
Brown ground turkey in skillet over medium high heat (or use multi-cooker)
Transfer to slow cooker
Add beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce and seasoning and stir to combine
Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8
Cook noodles according to package directions, ensure they are fully drained of excess water and add to cooked chili in slow cooker
Melt butter in saucepan over medium high heat
Whisk in flour until smooth
Slowly pour in milk while whisking to ensure a smooth mixture, then continue to whisk as the sauce simmers for about 3-4 minutes, becoming slightly thick
Stir in cheese until smooth and remove from heat
Pour into slow cooker and stir to combine everything
Put the cover back on and let it all sit on low or warm for about 20 minutes to thicken before serving
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If my kids do not like spice, can we take out the ancho and chipotle chili powders?
You could leave out the chipotle chili powder. Ancho is more smoky than spicy but you could use regular chili powder instead although you may want to reduce the amount a bit to your taste.
Such a nourishing bowl like this is always my cup of tea ❤ Best treatment during chilly days, isn’t it? xD – Natalie
Just wondering if it will cook down and juice will form? Mixing all my ingredients it seems very thick.
It will end up being pretty thick, it’s really more like Mac and cheese.
Can this be frozen?
Yes, it’s great for freezing in individual portions and reheating.
Made this yesterday and it was excellent. But I did change up things a bit. Well alot. I intended sll along to add minced veggies—peppers, onions, mushroom, celery, and carrot. Then you inspired me to jump off the rails. You see, at the point when I had a pot of plump macaroni in one hand and a pot of the most excellent cheese sauce in the other, I started daydreaming about mac & cheese. I could not resist. I blended them together with a shake of onion and garlic powders and turned out into a loaf pan, then set aside while the chili finished. At dinner I breifly baked the mac & cheese till a bit crusty around the edges. I cut it into slices and laid them on pasta plates/bowls then ladled the wonderful chili around it. Sprinkled with cheese, scallions, and cilantro and it was extraordinary! The two textures paired perfectly and the flavor! Excellent mac & cheese meets the most amazing chili! Highly recommended variation.
That’s really awesome! I love it when people start with a recipe and turn it into their own creation. I’m going to have to try this one soon, because it does sound amazing!
If I need to make this gluten free is it okay to use a different type of flour?
Making this tonight
What would you say the serving size is?
Yikes…I’m sorry. I didn’t measure it all out. This makes a lot of food, though.
do you think this could be made on the stove instead of a slow cooker?
Hi Carolyn! Yes, I’m sure it could, although I haven’t tried or tested it yet so I don’t have any specific instructions to offer. If you give it a try let me know!
It works on the stove pretty well! The cooking times were a little faster, but that could also be because my stovetop is unusually hot.
I just made this and it was very yummy! I thought the kids might not eat it just because it had a little bite to it but they didn’t seem to mind. I also use the pre shredded cheese because I didn’t see the note about shredding it yourself until after I got back from the store but it turned out just fine.
That’s great Tiffany! So glad your family enjoyed it!!