Healthy Chicken Chili Mac

As soon as the temps drop into the 40s in Florida, it’s chili mac time in this household! I never grew up eating a lot of chili in Europe but found this magical concoction at Wendy’s one day in college (lol!) and it has evolved from there. I make it with healthy veggies and substitute some things vs. the good ole chili recipes. This is a perfect meal to use leftover protein for as well. I had shredded chicken from my last recipe, so I threw that in there. Which cut my prep and cook time down to 30 minutes. Check it out below and let me know your thoughts!

Ingredients:

• 15.5oz can diced tomatoes
• 10oz can rotel
• 15oz can of chili beans
• 15oz can of 3 bean mix (Or can do kidney/pinto beans etc. Or omit if you don’t like a lot of beans)
• 10oz-15oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 cup of diced onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 2 cups of shredded chicken or protein of choice
• 2.5 cups of chicken broth
• 16oz of preferred noodles (Elbow/ditalini/orzo etc)
• 1/2 cup of your favorite cheese
• 2-3 tablespoons of EVOO or avocado oil

Instructions:

• Dice all vegetables and open all cans
• Put oil in dutch oven or deep skillet/pot on medium heat
• Add onions,garlic,carrots and celery
• Cook for about 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally
• Add the cans of beans, tomatoes and sauce and simmer on medium/med low for 5 minutes, stirring frequently
• Add the noodles and chicken broth and bring heat to high
• Bring it just under a boil and continue to stir on medium high until noodles are al dente (8min or so depending on noodle)
• Add shredded chicken or protein of choice and turn stove on low and let flavors marinate.
• Turn off stove, grab yourself a bowl and add your cheese and enjoy!
• We also like to eat this chili with a side of tortilla chips (The scoopable ones!)

This freezes really well and also stays good in the fridge for up to 4 days. I swear chili tastes better the next day anyways! Enjoy and let me know what you think!