I needed to make a hearty meal for my family using cupboard ingredients because I was running low on groceries. This soup is mine, and it has since become a family favorite. I occasionally substitute a can of evaporated milk for the standard milk in the recipe for an even creamier consistency. To make it heartier, add shredded rotisserie chicken or leftover taco meat.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 (7.25 ounce) packages macaroni and cheese mix
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ¾ cup sour cream, divided
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and stir in macaroni from the packages, retaining cheese mix packets for later use. Cook macaroni at a rolling boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender but still slightly firm, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and rinse macaroni with cold water. Return cooked macaroni to the pot.
- Mix butter, chicken broth, and tomatoes with macaroni and bring mixture to a simmer over medium heat; stir in garlic powder, cumin, dry mustard, pepper, and contents of cheese mix packets. Stir in milk and reduce heat to low; heat soup almost to a simmer. Do not boil.
- Serve soup in bowls and top each serving with about 2 tablespoons of sour cream.
- Leftovers refrigerate well for three or four days, but the macaroni will soak up at least some of the liquid, so you may want to add extra chicken broth when re-heating.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 430 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 54 g |
| Cholesterol | 47 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 15 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Sodium | 910 mg |
| Sugars | 10 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
We really enjoyed this soup. It had just the right amount of spice and worked nicely with the sour cream. I sliced up some franks and added them along with some ketchup for an extra tang. Very good!
I didn’t think it would be good at first, but it’s super good! Gotta add ground beef next time!
I liked this. I’m not a fan of mac-n-cheese, so this really spruced it up. I used chunky salsa because I was out of Rotel. I thought it was a bit heavy on pepper and garlic powder, so I just sprinkled those in to taste. I’ll probably make this again.
It is not a soup as all the liquid is soaked up by the mac and cheese.
I made this recipe as written at first (with the exception of adding a beans for protein) and it was way too garlicky. I usually like garlic, but it was too much. So I added a can of cream of chicken soup (cream of cheese would have been better, but I didn’t have any). Then it wasn’t spicy anymore so I added a little hot sauce. I may make this again out of necessity, but it’s not something is plan out making.
Definitely cut down on the garlic if you make this, but otherwise, it’s great! Great concept, but looking at the garlic, I thought 1 Tbsp seemed like a lot… I used 1/2 Tbsp, and it’s still WAAAAAY too much. Nigh inedible.
I only used 1 cup milk and 10.5 oz macaroni and cheese. I will make it again. It was very easy and fast to make.
I followed the recipe exactly and all I got was a spicy, over cooked pot of hardly cheesy glop. The pasta kept absorbing all the liquid I put in. There was way too much spice (for my taste.)
This was a great way to use up pantry items…my family dug into it before I pulled out the sour cream. Even hubby had some and didn’t say nothing about the tomatoes in it. One thing to remember as I didn’t watch this like I should was making sure not to over cook your noodles or it will make the batch taste watered down. That was solely my doing. But with a quick adjustment with broth and milk it was fine. Will make again. TY Keri
Really surprised how good this is! I love making soups and usually make soup in the crock pot with lots of goodies and that means lots of chopping! Not this time! I did makes some additions such as diced smoked sausage and a can of corn and I sauteed an onion with the sausage. Added lots more milk and a packet of dry chicken gravey mix. I often add this to soup for flavor and gives it some body. I will be making this again! Thanks!
So simple and so great tasting! I made it as directed except I couldn’t resist throwing in a can of cheddar cheese soup for extra cheesy goodness.
Wonderful on a chilly night. However, I don’t rinse the macaroni, I just drain it. The ‘starch’ makes for a thicker soup. I’ve also added bite sized chunks of browned ground beef to make it even heartier!!
“Souper” easy and delicious. I cut the recipe down to half for the 2 of us and proceeded as directed. It was the perfect amount to go with a huge tossed salad for our dinner with just enough left over to go to work with DH for his lunch. Who doesn’t love mac n cheese and to put it in a soup? Perfection!!
I made this right away for the boys for lunch after I saw Keri talk about it on Facebook. I did not have tomatoes with green chili peppers (aka RoTel), I used one can of diced tomatoes and one half can of diced mild green chilies. I also used reduced fat sour cream. I did add a little fresh ground pepper. My kids and husband were skeptical that they would like this but I’ll tell you–they absolutely loved it. What the kids didn’t eat, my husband inhaled. EXCELLENT way to use up pantry items everyone has to make a filling and cost-effective lunch. Next time, I’ll take Keri’s suggestion and throw in some leftover taco meat or maybe use homemade taco seasoning in place of the seperate seasonings. Thanks for the winner–this one’s going in the wooden recipe box.