High Protein Crockpot Chili Mac

What happens when you slow cook lean beef in a chili sauce until it’s so tender it falls apart before adding a couple boxes of high protein mac and cheese and jack cheese? You’re left with a Crockpot chili mac that has 37 grams of protein, 31 grams of carbs, 13 grams of fat, and 375 calories per serving. That’s what!

If you’re a fan of Tex-Mex flavors, mac ‘n’ cheese, and beef chili, you will love this recipe. I’ve included a walkthrough below with tips for selecting lean cuts of beef, high protein pastas, and cheese sauces. And you will find a full recipe card at the bottom of the post to save or print.

Best Cuts of Beef for Lower Calorie Pulled Beef

When it comes to making pulled and shredded beef, it’s hard to beat chuck roast. But if you’re trying to make a low calorie chili mac, the high fat content of chuck roast makes things difficult.

That’s why this recipe calls for top round roast or steak, which is much leaner and has nearly 5x more protein than fat. If you have trouble finding top round, I’ve used other lean beef cuts like eye of round roast, bottom round, chuck tender roast, and beef shoulder roast to make things like pot roast and beef tacos with tons of success.

The recipe calls for cutting the top round into three smaller pieces to speed up the cook and make shredding the beef much easier. Since the muscle fibers on lean roasts like top round are long and thick, this ensures you’ll end up with short pieces of pulled beef perfect for chili mac.

If you use another cut of beef, I would still recommend cutting it into smaller pieces.

I tested this recipe in a standard Crockpot and found the beef shredded easily after six hours on high. My beef enchilada casserole uses the same top round beef and cooked for 9-10 hours before the beef would shred easily. Be sure to give yourself enough time to extend the cook in case you buy top round from a stubborn angus.

What About Chicken?

Slow cooked shredded chicken would work perfectly here. I have a recipe for pressure cooker chicken birria you could play around with. (You may need to add a bit more pasta to get the ratio of pasta to broth just right.) My Crockpot Mexican chicken would also work great, though it would make more of an interesting mac and cheese than chili mac.

High Protein Pasta Options for Chili Mac

While the recipe calls for two boxes of Goodles, any boxed mac and cheese should work fine. There are other high protein and high fiber options like Banza and Annie’s but don’t sweat the small stuff. If you’ve seen my protein mac and cheese recipe, the difference between plain old pasta and the high protein options is very minor.

Side note: I used Goodles’ hatch chile flavor to make a great one-pan ground beef mac and cheese, in case you’re interested.

Being a Crockpot recipe, I think cooking the pasta right in the pot with the pulled beef is the move. But I know some pasta purists think this makes dishes too starchy. If that’s you, simply cook the pasta on its own and add to the pulled beef and sauce.

Cheese Sauce Options

If you go with another pasta instead of boxed mac and cheese, you will need to figure out a DIY cheese sauce mix with something like cheddar powder (or a seasoning mix like this). And you won’t need as much milk since this remaining beef broth will need to be thickened.

You could also try using other cheese sauce options like reduced fat cream cheese or the blended cottage cheese queso I mentioned in my slow cooker chicken enchiladas casserole.

This is a good time to highlight the 37 grams of protein in one serving of this chili mac. It’s a very beefy chili mac that already packs a ton of protein into every serving. That’s why I kept the mac and cheese components simple with boxed mac. It’s easy, tasty, and plenty anabolic.

Oh, and let’s not forget there’s real cheese! You can’t replicate a top layer of melted cheese that’s been freshly grated. The recipe calls for four ounces, but you could get away with less (maybe two ounces) if you’re looking for somewhere in the recipe to cut calories.

If you wanted to increase the volume of your chili mac or just squeeze a few extra veggies into your diet, you could add freshly diced or sliced peppers at this stage. The cheese takes 15-20 minutes to melt, which is just the right amount of time to make the peppers tender without turning to mush.

Serving, Storing, and Reheating

Like any mac and cheese recipe, this slow cooker chili mac is best served fresh. It’s a hearty dish that really benefits from garnishes that add some brightness. Things like Mexican crema (or nonfat Greek yogurt for a low calorie swap), fresh cilantro and/or scallions, diced white or red onion, pickled onions and peppers, hot sauce or salsa macha, and queso fresco are all great choices.

And the redneck in me loves a bit of crunch with Tex-Mex flavors. A gourmet topping of crushed chicharrones or tortilla chips accomplishes this in seconds.

This recipe refrigerates and freezes as well as any other chili mac or macaroni and cheese recipe. I would recommend portioning any leftovers into the number of servings you will reheat at any given time. Microwaving 1-2 servings for 3-4 minutes, stirring halfway through, should get the job done.

And I always like to mention packaging most garnishes separately so you can reheat a dish without them. Microwaved herbs and pickled vegetables are for losers, and you’re a winner. I’m sure of it.

Another thing I always like to mention is how much recipe reviews are appreciated. If you love (or hate) this chili mac, I’d love to hear about it. How else am I supposed to make improvements to my little corner of the internet? Onward!