This queso mac and cheese is super easy to make, picky eater approved, and loaded with 27 grams of protein per serving thanks to a chipotle seasoned ground beef. Pair it with a side salad, roasted vegetables, or just an extra serving or two and everyone will be full and happy. And this dish reheats really well, making it a great recipe to double for meal prep!
I’ll run you through the recipe below and cover ingredient substitutions as we go. You’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Step 1: Cook Banza elbows or your choice of pasta in salted water.
Banza makes chickpea based pasta that’s gluten free and a bit higher in protein. It is one of my go-to pasta substitutes, and I’ve used it in recipes like my BBQ chicken mac n cheese and cajun sausage pasta bake. You may also like the Goodles that I used in my green chile ground beef mac n cheese and Crockpot beef chili mac.
Two tips for cooking the pasta for your queso mac and cheese:
- Cook the pasta for about 4-5 minutes and let the time in the queso ground beef finish it off. This will prevent overcooking the pasta.
- If you start the pasta right before cooking the beef, the timing should be perfect. If you for whatever reason get sidetracked and need to drain the pasta before the beef is ready, drizzle a little oil over the drained pasta to prevent sticking once it cools.
Step 2: Cook extra lean ground beef with a chipotle pepper spice blend.
I know you’re wondering, so yes, you can probably skip the olive oil if you use a nonstick skillet. That would save some calories for more cheese to partially makeup for the lost flavor from cooking the beef and spices in oil.
The only other ingredient notes I have here would be on the white pepper and kosher salt. If all you have is black pepper on hand, that’s perfectly fine. And if you’re using table salt instead of kosher, cut the amount in half.
If you’re new to my recipes and have never heard my spiel about allowing your ground beef to develop a crust before fully cooking, check out my sweet chili ground beef or hamburger steak recipes to learn more about cooking ground beef like a pro.
Step 3: Add hot sauce to the cooked ground beef.
Since the recipe calls for ground chipotle chili powder, it only makes sense to stick to the chipotle theme with hot sauce. But if you have trouble locating this blend of Cholula, any hot sauce will do. The hot sauce is in the recipe to both deglaze the pan (help you scrape off any crispy bits stuck to the pan) and add flavor. So keep it in!
If you wanted to really up the spice level, though, you could use canned chipotles in adobo like in my chipotle beef sweet potato nachos or milder diced green chiles like in my green chile mac and cheese with chicken.
Step 4: Add queso to the ground beef.
Trader Joe’s queso is kind of a magical ingredient that has 165 calories per jar. If you’re making a shopping run, you’ll want to grab an extra jar for my queso mac and cheese with ground beef.
That said, you can use any jarred queso for your mac and cheese, but you’ll need to adjust the nutrition information slightly. Also, there’s always the option to make your own cheese sauce like in my chicken bacon ranch mac and cheese or cajun mac and cheese recipes.
Bonus tip: If you want extra cheesy queso mac and cheese, you could try extending the queso by mixing it with a bit of chicken broth like in my chicken fajita pasta bake.
Step 5: Add cooked pasta to the queso and ground beef.
Be gentle folding everything together. Even if you slightly under cook, sometimes chickpea pasta can be a delicate flower.
Step 6 (optional): Top with your choice of cheese and broil to melt.
In the photo above, you’re looking at shaved cheddar with crushed chipotle pepper on top before broiling. The recipe calls for monterey jack, however, since it’s much better for melting. You can skip this step, but it’s a grate idea not to.
Well, that’s it. In case I missed anything about this queso mac and cheese, you can ask a question in the comments below or join my free Facebook group to get some help from the 12,000+ home cooks there. And when you try this recipe, don’t forget to come back and let me know how it turned out!
Queso Mac and Cheese with Spicy Ground Beef
Ingredients
- 1 lb Lean Ground Beef, 96/4
- 1 Tbsp 16g Olive Oil
- 2 tsp Ground Chipotle Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp White Pepper, or black pepper
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 C 60g Chipotle Cholula Hot Sauce (or your choice of hot sauce)
- 8 oz Banza Pasta Elbows
- 12 oz jar Queso Dip, I used Trader Joe’s
- 3/4 C 84g Shredded Monterey Jack, optional topping
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil to cook the pasta. Cook the pasta for 2-3 minutes less than instructed on its packaging.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the olive oil. Once hot, add the ground beef.
- Mix the spices in a small bowl and add to the top of the ground beef. Stir the ground beef and continue cooking until no pink remains.
- Add the chipotle Cholula and cook until no liquid remains, about 30 seconds.
- Reduce the heat to low and add the queso. Stir to fully incorporate before adding the cooked pasta.
- Top with cheese and place under a high broil in your oven for 3-5 minutes to melt the cheese. (Or you could stir in the cheese with the queso before adding the cooked pasta.) Top with crushed chipotle peppers and fresh cilantro, if desired.
Made this recipe this weekend and loved it! We do not have a Trader Joe’s close by, so we used regular queso and stretched it with chicken broth. Absolutely delicious, and will he making again soon!
I came to this page for the mug cakes because I was looking for an easy quarantine dessert to curb my sweet tooth…and stayed for everything else! This recipe is very quickly becoming one of my favorites. I did substitute the pasta for chickpea pasta (you can hardly tell the difference with all the cheese tbh), and I did throw in some steamed broccoli as well. But it was easy to make, and even easier to finish! 5/5, would make again and will probably do so this week.
so so good! I have been trying to find a way to still fit mac and cheese into my diet and this is the best one I’ve had yet! I used tastefully simple queso! It has only 40 calories and tastes amazing
Okay I can’t be the only one that is married to a man that loves boxed hamburger helper… gosh it’s horrible and I’ve always refused to make it. Well long behold this mason fit recipe right here is sent from ABOVE. ITS OH SO YUMMY and it’s not that garbage box crap!! This is in my banza pasta rotation. New FAV. 👏🏻
Sounds like your hubby and I could be bros because I LOVE me some hamburger helper!
Love this dish! My husband is picky because he doesn’t like healthy food. However he put this as “one of the best things I’ve made!” This time i made it, it was soooo spicy. I like spice but not everyone could have palette that. Idk what i did wrong. What is the spice level suppose to be?
WOWOW. That’s all I have to say. I’ve never really liked any Mac and cheese recipe I’ve tried, but THIS. This is different. So comforting and delicious. We used a garlic hot sauce and it worked perfectly with the garlic powder seasoning. Definitely recommend
Made this for my family and everyone LOVED IT! My dad who even *hates* eating anything healthy or any recipes I try to make healthier loved it and had me make it again!
This has been one of my favorite staple recipes of mason’s! Very macro friendly. I was nervous with leftovers because I feel like sometimes banza pasta really soaks up sauces but this reheated perfectly the next day. The flavor is out of this world. I followed the ingredients/directions to a t and didn’t make any changes and it’s perfect every time. Thank you Mason!!
I enjoyed this recipe, especially how fast and easy it was to cook. My husband and I both loved it, but it was too spicey for the kids to eat. This was a bummer for me because normally a recipe like this one (kind of hamburger helper-ish) is normally a perfect family meal that all will love. So to make it again next time, I will modify it not include so much spice. Otherwise, a great recipe!
This recipe combines my two favorite foods- mac n’cheese and queso. I specifically got the Trader Joe’s queso for the first time and the second time I made it did half with the TJs queso and half with the On the Border- I couldn’t taste a difference. If you like spicy, this has a kick!
I loved this dish! It was very filling & cheesy:) I substituted the ground beef for 99/1 ground turkey to cut the fats down a little bit more! Overall a fantastic meal, especially great for picky eaters!