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
By Nichole
Cheesy Chili Macaroni Soup - This hearty dinner combines cheesy chili and macaroni soup right in your crockpot or instant pot! The most flavorful macaroni soup loaded with beef, beans, and cheese!
Prep 10 minutes mins
Cook 8 hours hrs
Total 8 hours hrs 10 minutes mins
Servings 6
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
NOTE ON COOKING TIME: The time listed above in the recipe card is for the slow cooker. For the Instant Pot, this will take approximately 10 minutes to come to pressure, then, 5 minutes to cook the soup.
INGREDIENT 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
Serving: 1.5Cups, Calories: 400kcal
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Additional Info
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
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Beef Dinner Instant Pot Recipes One Pot Pasta Slow Cooker Soup
Hey! Nice to meet you! I'm Nichole!
Welcome to The Salty Marshmallow! I'm a mom, animal lover, photographer, & kitchen mess-maker. Here you will find the result of my decades-long passion for chasing the best flavors in the kitchen, all meant to be cooked by regular people with busy lives just like you and me.
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