Cheesy Chili Macaroni Soup – This hearty dinner combines cheesy chili and macaroni soup right in your crockpot or instant pot!
We originally published this recipe back in February, 2018! It became one of our most popular, so we are adding directions for the instant pot along with the slow cooker. As well as updating a few photos, but the tasty recipe stays the same! This macaroni soup is the best of both worlds, mac and cheese, and chili! Two things nobody can get enough of around here. If you haven’t be sure to try out our Chili Recipe too!
Making Chili Macaroni Soup:
SLOW COOKER: If making in the slow cooker, you will simply brown your ground beef along with your diced onion, drain and add to the slow cooker. Then, you’ll dump everything else in except the macaroni and the cheese. After 6-8 hours, you can cook your pasta and add to the slow cooker, along with the cheese. I don’t recommend trying to cook the noodles in the crockpot. I’ve never had good luck with this as they tend to get very mushy.
INSTANT POT: Very similar to the slow cooker. You’ll cook your beef with onion in the bottom of your pot on saute mode. Drain if you need to. The difference is, now, you can add everything else along with the macaroni noodles. You will cook on the manual/high pressure setting for just 5 minutes. Then, you can mix in your cheese as you wish. Note that I have not tried doubling this in the instant pot, and this recipe has been tested in my 8 quart pot.
Recipe Tips for Chili Macaroni Soup:
- I love this recipe for it’s simplicity. Of course, it’s not entirely a crockpot recipe because you will need to boil your macaroni noodles and add them along with the cheese before serving. If making in the instant pot, you can boil the noodles along with the liquid.
- As far as the diced tomatoes, if your family doesn’t go for that sort of thing, feel free to swap them out with another can of tomato sauce. But, please know that they do really cook down into the sauce, so you won’t have any big chunks of tomatoes.
- As far as seasonings, I give my recommendations in the recipe card. However, please feel free to season to your taste. If you really like things spicy, give your chili a few extra drops of hot sauce!
- Make sure to only cook your macaroni to al dente as they will continue to cook a tad in the hot chili when you add them into your slow cooker.
- Freshly shredded cheese will taste best and be less likely to clump. But, pre-shredded is just fine if that’s what you have on hand!
Enjoy!
~Nichole
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Crockpot Cheesy Chili Macaroni Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Pound Lean Ground Beef
- 1 Large Onion, Diced
- 1 15 Ounce Can Tomato Sauce
- 1 15 Ounce Can Diced Tomatoes
- 3 15 Ounce Cans Chili Beans
- 3 Cups Beef Broth
- 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
- 2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Hot Sauce, Optional
- 2 Cups Macaroni, Cooked if using slow cooker
- 1 1/2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
SLOW COOKER DIRECTIONS:
- Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium high heat along with the diced onion until no longer pink. Drain grease if neccessary.
- Add the beef mixture to the bottom of your slow cooker along with the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chili beans, beef broth, and seasonings.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
- Before serving, add the shredded cheese and cooked macaroni and stir well, until the cheese is melted. Serve immediately.
INSTANT POT DIRECTIONS:
- Turn the Instant Pot on to saute (high) mode. Once hot, add the ground beef and diced onion and cook until no longer pink. Drain any grease if necessary and return the beef to the pot.
- Add in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chili beans, beef broth, seasonings, and UNCOOKED macaroni and stir to combine.
- Place the lid on the pot and seal the valve.
- Set the pot to manual (high pressure) for 5 minutes.
- Once the cooking time is up, do a quick release. Remove the lid and stir the cheese into the soup. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- For the slow cooker method, make sure you add COOKED macaroni noodles. For the Instant Pot method the macaroni should be UNCOOKED when added to the pot.
- You do not need to drain the beans for this recipe. The liquid should be added with them for flavor.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
And this fits in a 4 Qt. Right? Since you didn’t bother to mention it.
I think it would be a tight fit in a 4 quart. I used a 6-quart crockpot for this recipe.
May be a strange question, but when you say chili beans do you mean the beans with chili sauce in them or do you mean plain kidney beans?
Hi! Yes, they should be canned chili beans in sauce.
I’m so glad you asked this question! Whenever I see chili beans listed in the ingredients I wonder if that means kidney beans which I always have or something that I never have! Now I know…thanks!
Very, very good! I cooked it on the stovetop and added another cup of cooked macaroni. Hubs said he would like rotel in it next time
Dumb question…I always forget how this goes. Macaroni, two cups of cooked macaroni or two cups of macaroni then cook it?
HEllo! When you say the beans make up some of the liquid, does that mean you do not drain the beans before putting them in? Thanks!
That’s right, the beans do not need to be drained 🙂
On a healthy kick but a few small tweaks and this could be a winner for us!
I don’t care for beans so will it mess up the flavor if I omit the beans are just put a few like maybe a half can?
Hi! That’s a little tough for me to say because the beans do make up some of the liquid as well as flavor in this soup. I’d say you could do it, but, I’d add an extra can of tomato sauce, and definitely a bit more seasoning to make up for the missing beans. Hope that helps 🙂
Thought I had a can of beans and didn’t…still tasted good…also forgot to turn the crock pot on…cooks well on stove top for an hour too!!!
Ooo! This looks so good! I’m thinking a big bowl would satisfy comfort cravings, for sure!
Can I just eat it from the ladle? ?
We both loved this dish. It has great flavors and loved it with the pasta.
DH must have said 5 times last night how much he loved it.
Awesome! I’m happy you enjoyed it 🙂