Sausage + Pepper Boxed Mac + Cheese
I love this recipe because it makes boxed mac and cheese into a complete meal.
A complete meal complete with the mouth-watering flavor combination of sausage, peppers, and cheese.
You sauté up the peppers and sausage while the pasta cooks up, so there's minimal extra time involved in hacking this mac!
Then it all gets mixed together into one cheesy, porky mess.
Vegetables, protein, cheese, and carbs—not bad for something that (mostly) came out of a box!
Sausage + Pepper Boxed Mac + Cheese
servings: 4
Ingredients:
- 4 cups beef stock
- One 14-ounce box macaroni + cheese with liquid sauce packet
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 medium bell pepper, coarsely chopped
- 1 link sweet Italian sausage (about 4 ounces), coarsely chopped
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Directions:
- Add the stock to a large pot over high heat for cooking the macaroni. When the water boils, add the macaroni and cook until al dente—8 to 9 minutes, stirring occasionally; drain when finished, but do not rinse, then return to the pot.
- While the pasta cooks, heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pepper, sausage, paprika, and salt and cook until the sausage is browned all over and cooked through—about 5 minutes, stirring to break it up.
- Return the pot with the cooked pasta to a burner set at medium heat. Add the cooked peppers and sausage along with the cheese sauce packet, then stir to combine.
- To serve, divide evenly among 4 bowls.