How is everyone doing? The world is a very stressful place right now. The grocery store shelves are almost cleared out, people are having to practice social distancing, and people are making many adjustments with work and school. Everyone could probably use budget-friendly meal ideas and ways to stretch meals. One of the ways I like to stretch a meal is by adding pasta. Pasta is cheap, easy to make, and filling. I always keep a box or two or three in the pantry. One of my favorite meals is our Chili Pasta Bake. It combines ground beef, chili beans, pasta, and a yummy sauce made with condiments straight from the refrigerator or pantry. The entire dish gets topped with shredded cheese and baked until the cheese is melted and gooey. I can easily feed six people with this meal. If you don’t have that many people eating at once, the leftovers are great!
Ingredients:
1lb ground beef or ground turkey
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
Salt
Ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 can (15 oz) Mild chili beans (include the sauce-don’t drain it)
¾ cup ketchup
1 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4-5 cups dry pasta, cooked and drained (penne, or ziti shape, or another you have on hand. I measured the pasta before cooking it).
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
In an oven-safe skillet on medium heat, brown the ground beef until cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for another minute or until the onion and bell pepper have softened.
Add in the beans, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, and garlic powder. Gently stir to combine. Cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and gently stir to combine. Make sure the pasta gets coated with the sauce.
Top with cheese.
If your skillet is oven-safe, move the skillet into the oven (caution, it’s hot, use your oven mitts). If your skillet is not oven-safe, carefully spoon the mixture into an oven-safe casserole/baking dish then top with the cheese. Bake on 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.
I like to top my bowl with extra ketchup and oyster crackers!
- 1lb ground beef or ground turkey
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 can (15 oz) Mild chili beans (include the sauce-don’t drain it)
- ¾ cup ketchup
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 4-5 cups dry pasta, cooked and drained (penne, or ziti shape, or another you have on hand. I measured the pasta before cooking it).
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In an oven-safe skillet on medium heat, brown the ground beef until cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for another minute or until the onion and bell pepper have softened.
- Add in the beans, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, and garlic powder. Gently stir to combine. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and gently stir to combine. Make sure the pasta gets coated with the sauce.
- Top with cheese.
- If your skillet is oven-safe, move the skillet into the oven (caution, it’s hot, use your oven mitts). If your skillet is not oven-safe, carefully spoon the mixture into an oven-safe casserole/baking dish then top with the cheese. Bake on 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.
- I like to top my bowl with extra ketchup and oyster crackers!
