Chef Cayt has taken your primary mac n cheese and dressed it up with inexperienced chiles and pepper jack cheese. We love this elevated consolation meals for its excellent steadiness of creamy, tacky goodness and smoky, peppery warmth. Made in solely 20 minutes, this straightforward meal is ideal for busy weeknight dinners!
For extra scrumptious inexperienced chile recipes, attempt our Slow Cooker Green Chile Pork Stew.
Why Our Recipe
- Prepared in solely 20 minutes and made in a single pot for simple cleanup.
- Make it an entire meal by including leftover pulled pork or ham.
- Inexperienced chiles and Pepper Jack cheese add simply the correct amount of spice and smoky warmth.

When you do this home made mac n cheese, you gained’t return to boxed! Critically, this recipe is so easy and simple, and it’s made in solely 20 minutes. This creamy cheese sauce is made in the identical pot that the noodles prepare dinner in, utilizing the pasta water as the bottom. This easy hack not solely retains cleanup to a minimal, however the starches from the pasta water give the sauce the right velvety consistency.
Ingredient Notes


- Elbow Macaroni: Any brief pasta like fusilli, penne, or shells work nicely however elbow is a mac n cheese traditional!
- Diced Inexperienced Chiles: In order for you a spicier kick, you’ll be able to go for sizzling inexperienced chiles
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese: Cheddar offers an ideal base taste to this mac. Freshly shredded melts higher than pre-shredded cheese, which accommodates components to forestall clumping.
- Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese: The peppers on this cheese add simply the correct amount of warmth paired with the inexperienced chiles. Substitute with Monterey Jack for much less warmth.
- Heavy Cream: You may substitute with half-and-half, however the sauce gained’t be as thick and creamy.
- Rooster Broth: Utilizing a low-sodium choice permits you to finest management the flavour. It’s an ideal chef tip.
- Floor Mustard: Simply discovered within the spice part of the grocery retailer. In case you don’t have floor mustard, you need to use Dijon mustard as a substitute.
Add a Protein
This smoky mac n cheese pairs completely with leftover pulled pork. You may as well use leftover or store-bought ham, and even bacon.
In case you’re not a fan of pork, shredded hen or beef are nice choices as nicely. Serve on the facet or combine it in to beef this dish up.
The Proper Pot
As a result of this recipe makes use of one pot to prepare dinner the noodles and make the sauce, we use a 6 quart pot with an 8 inch diameter, which boils the liquid simply lengthy sufficient to prepare dinner the noodles leaving you with sufficient water to make the cheese sauce.
Use whichever massive pot you might have readily available, however needless to say with a tall and slim inventory pot, there will probably be much less evaporation on account of much less floor space, which can depart your sauce a little bit extra runny. Then again, for those who use a large braising pan, the water will evaporate too rapidly, leaving not sufficient pasta water to make the cheese sauce.
Make it possible for when the noodles are achieved cooking, the liquid simply barely beneath the noodles. If this isn’t the case and an excessive amount of liquid has evaporated, add a couple of 1/2 cup extra of hen broth earlier than making your sauce.


Regulate the Warmth
Inexperienced chiles are thought of to be reasonably sizzling—spicier than inexperienced bell peppers, however not as spicy as jalapeños.
For much less warmth: You may go for gentle canned inexperienced chiles and use Monterey Jack as a substitute of Pepper Jack cheese.
For extra warmth: Swap out the gentle inexperienced chiles for decent inexperienced chiles or canned diced jalapeños. Add a splash of sizzling sauce of a contact of cayenne pepper for additional warmth.
Storage and Reheating Directions
Refrigerate leftovers in an hermetic container for 4-5 days.
For finest outcomes, reheat leftovers in a saucepan on low warmth. Add a splash of milk to maintain it from drying out, and stir sometimes to make sure that they warmth by way of evenly.
If utilizing a microwave, cut back energy to 50% if potential and reheat in 30 second increments till warmed by way of.
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