Print
Mexican Mac + Cheese
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tbsp Mexican taco spice
- 400 g tin black beans (drained)
- 400 g tin lentils (drained)
- 400 g tin corn kernels (drained)
- 400 g tin diced tomato
- 400 ml water
- 250 g macaroni pasta
- 125 g shredded cheese
- 200 g cherry tomatoes, diced
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1/2 bunch coriander, finely chopped
- 1 avocado, cut into cubes
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
Instructions
- Combine oil, taco spice, beans, lentils, corn, tin tomato and water in a large saucepan on a high heat and bring to the boil.
- Once boiling, add pasta and cook with the lid off per pack instructions. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine fresh tomato, onion, coriander and avocado to make a salsa, season with salt and squeeze of lemon juice.
- 2 minutes before pasta is cooked, add ½ the shredded cheese into the pot, stir to combine.
- Serve macaroni, topped with remaining cheese and salsa to serve.
Notes
Looking for a healthy and affordable midweek meal? This Mexican Mac + Cheese is perfect for a vegetarian meal – like Meat-free Monday, perhaps! You can freeze the mac + cheese so use it for meal prep (but make the salsa fresh).
- If you can’t eat gluten, use gluten-free macaroni.
- You might be able to make this recipe without the cheese (it would still taste very good) if you can’t have dairy or are plant-based. Parmesan has a lower lactose content.
- This is a really affordable, mid-week vegetarian recipe. It’s perfect for meat-free Monday.
- It’s slightly spicy – but the spice is dependent on how much taco seasoning you add so add less if you’re sensitive (you can always add more later). If you’re making it for kids, you could wait to add the spice at the end. Or you can swap taco space for a non-spicy spice like Lemon, Garlic, Herb seasoning.
- This recipe will freeze well. Except, not the salsa. That needs to be made fresh (but only takes 2 mins :)
- Serve with hot sauce or add hot chilli (pepper) flakes if you like it spicier!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
