Green Chili Chicken Mac 'n' Cheese

I rarely share recipes on the blog because my food photography is less than stellar (and my food rarely looks like something out of Martha Stewart anyway), but I had to share yesterday's recipe. I took my favorite mac 'n' cheese recipe, added a few items, changed out a few things, and turned it into green chili chicken mac 'n' cheese. It was a huge hit and my usually all-night-grazing toddler ate a whole bowl in one sitting. This is going to be on the regular recipe rotation.

Note: We try to be wheat free in our household, so I subbed rice macaroni for regular noodles and rice flour for wheat flour.  We've been doing it with our mac 'n' cheese for a while and truly can't taste the difference (my parents couldn't either).  But if you do wheat, then just sub them back.  Easy peasy.

Ingredients:

16 ounces (rice) macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons (rice) flour 

2 cups whole milk (or split with cream)
sea salt, to taste

fresh ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded 

3/4 cup tomatillo/green salsa

1 can (4 oz) fire roasted green chili, drained

2-3 chicken breasts

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F.
 

2) Cook and drain macaroni according to package directions; set aside.
 

3) Put chicken in a pan on the stove with a little oil to cook. 

 

4) (While chicken is cooking, start sauce) In a large saucepan melt butter. Once fully cooked, shred and set aside.  (Tip: If you have a stand mixer, 2 minutes with the paddle attachment will result in perfectly shredded chicken.)
 

5) Add flour mixed, using a whisk to stir until well blended.

6) Pour milk/cream in gradually; stirring constantly.

7) Bring to boiling point and boil 2 minutes (stirring constantly).
  

8) Reduce heat and cook (stirring constantly) 10 minutes.

9) Add shredded cheddar little by little and simmer an additional 5 minutes, or until cheese melts.  Stir constantly.
 

10) Stir in salsa, green chili, salt, and pepper. 

 

11)  Stir in chicken until fully coated.

 

12) If your saucepan is large enough, add macaroni as well and toss to coat with chicken cheese sauce.  If not, layer bottom of casserole dish with cooked macaroni and poor chicken cheese mixture over top.

13) Bake 30 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Serves 4-6.  Total prep time: ~30 minutes.  Total baking time: 30 minutes.

If you make this, I'd love to hear how it turns out for you!  I'm trying to hold off on the leftovers until tomorrow night so we can eat quickly before David's back-to-school night.  But it's so hard to open the fridge and see the casserole dish and not take just a tiny bit. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!