Baked Mexican chili pasta is an easy weeknight comfort food

As fall sets in and the weather gets cooler, comfort food cravings will soon be here. If pasta and chili are some of your go-to cold-weather foods, we have a recipe that you’re sure to love.

This recipe for Bush’s Baked Mexican Chili Pasta pretty much has everything you could want in a comforting weeknight meal. It takes just 10 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook, has a variety of flavors and it makes six servings, so you’ll likely have leftovers to make the next night’s dinner even easier.

The recipe calls for Bush’s Chili Magic, which just returned to store shelves in Classic Homestyle and Campfire Style as well as a new Hearty Heat variety. If you don’t have a can of Chili Magic, however, you can substitute a can of pinto chili beans and chili powder. The Chili Magic beans are vegetarian, so if you’re wanting to make the entire dish meatless, simply leave out the ground beef or replace it with a plant-based option.

The only actual cooking you’ll need to do is browning the ground beef and boiling the macaroni. Other than that, you simply mix everything together and bake it. Take a look at the full recipe below:

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 15.5-ounce cans Bush’s Chili Magic Chili Starter (If you don’t have Chili Magic, use pinto beans and add 1 tbsp of chili powder)
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
½ pound elbow macaroni
1 4.5-ounce can chopped green chilies
4 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
3. In a large skillet, brown the ground beef with the onion over medium heat; drain if necessary.
4. Add the Chili Magic and diced tomatoes; cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Meanwhile, cook the macaroni according to the package directions; drain.
6. In a large bowl, combine the chili, macaroni, green chilies and 3 cups cheese; mix well and spoon into the baking dish.
7. Top with the remaining 1 cup cheese, then bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese melted.

MORE: This easy Mississippi Chicken slow cooker recipe is perfect for weeknight dinners 

While the recipe is obviously pretty easy to whip together, if you don’t even have time for that when you get home from work, take a look at these Crock-Pot recipes for fall or these 10 “dump dinners” that you can prep before you even leave the house in the morning.

You may also want to check out this recipe for skinny Crock-Pot chicken chili, which calls for chicken, tomatoes, corn, cilantro, taco seasoning and other chili ingredients,like beans, onion and green chili peppers.

What is your favorite cold-weather comfort food?