Easy Dinner Idea: Silly Chili Macaroni
Looking for an easy dinner recipe that children will love? Give this simple Silly Chili Macaroni a try! It’s a favorite of kids and adults alike, and it’s easy to customize! It’s also a perfect pantry, stockpile, or food storage meal.
Hey y’all, it’s Tiffany, and you’re going to love this Silly Chili Macaroni! It’s the perfect pantry stockpile meal!
I’m the oldest of 10 kids (6 biological, 4 adopted). As you can imageine, life growing up in my house was a bit chaotic at times.
I’d love to say I was the stereotypical oldest daughter who helped her mom with housework, cooking, etc. But I wasn’t. I am the least home-ec person out there. I hate cooking and baking – don’t even ask about the time I made coffee cake with salt instead of sugar.
The helpers were my next two oldest sisters, who seemed to be born to be amazing stay-at-home-moms.
Anyway, I digress.
Our favorite brand of chili is Nalley’s chili. When I was a kid, it was only sold in Utah – and we were growing up in Denver and West Virginia. So every time we visited family in Utah, we brought back several cases. One time we bought a ton, but we weren’t going through it very quickly because we were getting a little tired of it. My mom decided to jazz it up with some elbow macaroni noodles and cheese.
And voila! Silly chili macaroni was born.
Much to everyone’s surprise, this has become a huge family favorite. I’m pretty sure each of kids lived off of it in college, and I made it for my own kids frequently because they love it.
Ingredients for Silly Chili Macaroni
- 12-16 oz elbow macaroni
- 3-4 cans of chili (we use Nalley’s chili or Bush’s chili beans without meat – they basically have the same, mild flavor)
- 1-2 cups shredded cheese
Directions for Silly Chili Macaroni
Cook the macaroni noodles according to instructions. (I cheat and cook mine in the instant pot).
Drain the noodles and add the chili, stirring to warm.
Add cheese as desired and stir until melted. And there you have it – Silly Chili Macaroni!
Sometimes I like to add hot dogs or ham to have a bit of variety.
Silly Chili Macaroni
Ingredients
- 12-16 oz elbow macaroni
- 3-4 cans of chili (we use Nalley’s chili or Bush’s chili beans without meat – they basically have the same, mild flavor)
- 1-2 cups shredded cheese
Instructions
- Cook the noodles according to direction.
- Drain noodles and add chili, stirring on the warm stove on low
- Add cheese and stir until melted
- Add hot dogs if desired
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Have you tried this Silly Chili Macaroni yet? What do you think?
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Very yummy and delicious macaroni recipe you shared with us. I really like it. Thank you for sharing it.
It seems yummylicious!!! Definitely, I am gonna try this.
What type of shredded cheese? Cheddar? Not mozzarella?
Yes, cheddar!
You hotdogs but the pic looks like burger! Which is what I’ll do anyways! Delish!
The chili we use to make it has hamburger in it, and then we also add hot dogs sometimes.