Green Chili Macaroni and Cheese

Green Chili Macaroni and Cheese video – scroll down for recipe

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After all the Valentine’s Day lovey-dovey, romancy-pantsy, French, Italian, aphrodisiac and chocolate recipes have come and gone their merry way, all I want to eat in February is old-fashioned American grub. This green chili macaroni and cheese hits the spot and then some.

If you want to substitute 8 ounces of caned green chilies that will work fine; just skip the saute step and add them (drained) when you add the garlic. Any kinda cheese’ll do, too. I like pepperjack and asadero. You might like cheddar. An aged cheese will work better in the cheese sauce than a fresh cheese like cottage cheese – young cheeses get stringy and don’t melt smooth. And that ain’t right.

Green Chili Macaroni and Cheese recipe

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Green Chile Mac\’n\’Cheese

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5 from 4 reviews

  • Yield: 6 1x

Ingredients

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  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • 1 poblano pepper, or 4 jalapenos, seeded and diced
  • 1 teaspoon garlic
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup grated cheese
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 pound macaroni
  • 1 cup pasta cooking water

Instructions

  1. Start a pot of water for boiling the pasta. Cook the pasta only for about 80% of the suggested time on the package for al dente.
  2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and saute the onion and pepper until softened, about 5 minutes over medium-high heat.
  3. Add the garlic and stir 30 seconds.
  4. Add the flour and combine well. Cook for 60 seconds.
  5. Add half the milk and reduce heat to low. Whisk to combine.
  6. Add the remaining milk and simmer a minute or so until thickened.
  7. Add 1/2 cup pasta cooking water, salt, pepper, and sour cream. Mix well.
  8. Add half the cheese at a time and stir until completely melted.
  9. Drain the pasta and combine with the sauce. Add the remaining 1/2 cup pasta cooking water if it seems too thick.
  10. Cover the pot and simmer 5 minutes to get the sauce absorbed into the pasta and pasta is completely cooked.
  11. Serve as is, or put it into a casserole dish with buttered bread crumbs on top and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes for a crispy topping.

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31 Comments

  1. simmy on February 28, 2012 at 10:46 am

    looks delicious






  2. Bev Weidner on February 28, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    Um, OMG. I have to have this in my mouth pronto or I’ll freak.

    And your hair looks really good. It’s long!

    • Hilah on February 29, 2012 at 9:57 am

      That’s what I said! But then my stupid long hair got all in the way of my mouth. 🙁

  3. cooking lady on February 28, 2012 at 3:07 pm

    This looks really good, creamy and really like comfort food I think.

    • Hilah on February 29, 2012 at 9:55 am

      It is very creamy thanks to the sour cream!

  4. Great Stone Face on February 28, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    I see this in a light meal with tomato basil soup, buttered toast points, and maybe some steamed or roasted cauliflower.






    • Hilah on February 29, 2012 at 9:49 am

      Oh yes! Sounds like a great lunch. Have you ever done a whole roasted head of cauliflower? We’ve been experimenting with that and are going to do an episode soon.

      • Great Stone Face on March 1, 2012 at 3:18 pm

        No, I’ve never roasted a cauliflower whole. I’d be afraid it wouldn’t get uniformly roasted.

        What brought cauliflower to mind was that we were at book club two weeks ago, then at a dinner party last weekend; and I made roasted cauliflower flowerettes for each. I tossed 1-1/2 cut-up heads in a little olive oil, salt & pepper, then roasted them on trays at 400 F for 25 minutes until they were browned on the edges. I mixed them with rehydrated raisins and chopped parsley, then tossed the mix with an olive oil, vinegar, and shallot vinaigrette. It’s a Bittman recipe. I had to modify a little the first week, since it called for red wine vinegar, but there are some Mormon families in the book club — so I substituted raspberry vinegar. The second week, I used the wine vinegar, which I preferred, since it has more zip.

  5. Annie on March 1, 2012 at 12:24 pm

    This would be good with bacon.

    That’s all I got.

    • Hilah on March 1, 2012 at 2:33 pm

      Indeed.

  6. Shane Franklin on March 1, 2012 at 11:45 pm

    Hey, roast the cauliflower and then make roasted mashed cauliflower! Add a little butter and salt and pepper and milk!! Mmmmmm

    • Hilah on March 2, 2012 at 11:08 am

      Yum!

  7. Brady on March 3, 2012 at 12:29 pm

    Sounds Great!
    Luckily I live in New Mexico and have a freezer full of green chili….am making this today to go with some catfish.

    • Hilah on March 3, 2012 at 3:02 pm

      Oh, you are so lucky! Enjoy!

  8. Patrick Soltis on March 5, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    I made this for dinner on Saturday and loved it.

    • Hilah on March 5, 2012 at 3:03 pm

      I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know.

  9. Katie on March 23, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    Hey Hilah!! I tried this mac n cheese twice and absolutely loved it!:):) It was super simple and delicious! Thanks for the recipe:).. Can you also teach us more vegan recipes like potatoes and cheese etc?????






    • Hilah on March 26, 2012 at 10:10 am

      Hi Katie! I’m so glad you like this recipe!
      Are you looking for more vegetarian main-dish kinds of recipes?

  10. Emo on August 5, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    Hi Hilah!
    First of all I’d like to say I’m in love with your webiste, and I’m only 15 and I’m a boy 😀 Such great recipes can’t wait to try them. So today we made these delicious macaroni and I have to say they are just AMAZING!! My whole family loved them 🙂 I did them with my mom and the final result was unbelievable. I’m definately looking froward to some recipes from you.
    Keep up with the good job 🙂 Greetings from Bulgaria 🙂

    • Hilah on August 5, 2012 at 5:28 pm

      Hi Emo!
      That is great news! Congratulations! I love hearing from young cooks. So happy you had success with the recipe. благодаря! 🙂

      • Emo on August 6, 2012 at 12:41 am

        Haha, you’re welcome 🙂

  11. kerry on August 17, 2012 at 7:39 pm

    I had it for my dinner with a side of watermelon

    • Hilah on August 18, 2012 at 12:43 pm

      Ooh, yummy, Kerry! Good summer supper.

  12. Harold on November 16, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    Thank you for this. I don’t remember how I found your site, but I try and find a show to watch at least daily. I saw your Brussels Sprouts show. Never had Brussels before. I want to try them now. At my grocer they were up there at $4.99/lb on a stalk. A 2 ft stalk weighed in at 3.5 lbs. Ouch. Don’t want to spend that much on a cooking experiment.

    I did make a Mac and Cheese though. Mine is quite different then yours. I used sauteed fresh chopped bells, onions, minced garlic. Seasoned with a Mrs. Dash Salt Free seasoning and some frozen asian vegetable mix. Italian bread crumbs on top and bake for 30 minutes. WoW. Nice. Easy. Delicious. I forgot to slice up a Chorizo sausage link to add to this wonderful mixture.

    I wish there was a Mac and Cheese cook off. You would come in second place. I would be in first 🙂

    Is there a way to find your most recent shows? Now, I just go through and see what interests me. I would like to see your recent cook videos..

    • Hilah on November 17, 2012 at 1:52 pm

      Hi Harold!
      Yeah, those on the stalk sprouts are ridiculously pricey. I can always find them in little mesh bags, off the stalk, about a pound of them for $4 or less. you might try asking the produce department if they can order them like that.
      Your mac and cheese sounds great! Especially the chorizo bit. I’d gladly submit to second place to that recipe. 😉
      The most recent episodes are always on the home page, hilahcooking.com, and they go backwards in order from there. Thanks for writing!

  13. janni on February 14, 2014 at 2:31 pm

    This sounds amazing and would like to cook for a large dinner party but need to prepare ahead of time. How would you suggest I do that. Also, does the jalapenos make it pretty spicy?

    • Hilah on February 15, 2014 at 11:00 am

      Hi Janni!
      Great idea. You can cook it as directed, then spread into a greased casserole dish and cover and refrigerate. Then bake at 350, covered, for about 30 minutes. Uncover, top with a little more cheese and bake until melted and warm throughout.
      If you’re worried about the peppers making it too spicy for some of your guests, use canned green chilies instead. They have a milder and more consistent heat level than fresh jalapeños, which vary from not-too-hot to very-hot.

      • Janni on February 16, 2014 at 10:58 pm

        Hilah,

        It turned out great! I used the pablono peppers instead of the jalopeno’s. We could have used the jalopeno’s. I don’t think it would have been too hot plus I used a different cheese so I missed the heat not having the pepper jack. I can’t remember what it was. Maybe grueyere. Something like that. Anyway the dish was delicious. This is my favorite cooking sight! Your fast, entertaining and good quality videos. One of my sons is at Texas State and I told him to look up your website for cooking ideas.






        • Hilah on February 17, 2014 at 4:52 pm

          Hooray! Thanks for the update, Janni! Poblanos sound fantastic. Glad you are enjoying my site and recipes and thanks for sharing with your son. 🙂

  14. julia` on February 17, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    I am excited to try the Mac & Cheese!!!! Have you found any pickled egg recipes? Just curious… Luv your show…jk

    • Hilah on February 18, 2014 at 9:30 am

      Hi Julia!
      So far just pickled eggs and beets which are good, but probably not what you are looking for… Hope you love the mac and cheese!

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