Beef and queso mac and cheese
Beef mince simmered low and slow with smoky paprika and cumin until it tastes like it's been cooking all afternoon, then folded through macaroni in a queso sauce built from blended low-fat cottage cheese and a light tasty cheese instead of a block of full-fat cheddar. Silky, a little smoky, and just as rich as the diner version it's copying.
Notable for: calcium, iron, antioxidants
Ingredients
- 600 gprime beef mince
- 400 gmacaroni
- 150 gbrown onions, diced
- 15 gcrushed garlic
- 100 gtomato puree
- 10 gsmoked paprika
- 10 gground cumin
- 5 gchilli powder
- 150 glow-fat cottage cheese
- 50 greduced-fat grated tasty cheese
- 150 mlstandard milk
- 2spring onions, sliced
- 10 mlolive oil
Method
Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the macaroni.
Heat the olive oil in a wide, deep pan and cook the onion over medium heat for 5 minutes until soft, then add the garlic for 30 seconds.
Add the beef mince and break it up as it browns, then stir through the paprika, cumin and chilli powder so the spices toast in the fat for a minute.
Add the tomato puree and 100 ml water, bring to a low simmer, and cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beef is dark and rich and smells like it's been cooking for hours.
Cook the macaroni to the packet instructions in the boiling water, then drain it and set it aside.
Blend the milk and cottage cheese together with a stick blender until completely smooth, since cottage cheese won't melt in on its own the way cream cheese does, then reduce the heat under the beef to low and stir the blended mixture and the light tasty cheese through until it comes together into a smooth queso sauce.
Fold the drained macaroni through the sauce until every piece is coated, then serve scattered with the spring onion.
Let the beef reduce before the cheese goes in
The 20 minutes the beef spends simmering in tomato puree is what gives it that slow-cooked, brisket-style depth. Adding the cheese before that reduction finishes leaves the sauce thin and the beef tasting underdone, even though the meat itself is cooked.
Storage
Keeps four days in the fridge and freezes well in individual portions.
Reheat gently with a splash of milk stirred through, since the cheese sauce tightens considerably once cold.
Cost per serving is indicative, based on New Zealand supermarket prices as at September 2026. Batch prices your own week against your own store on the day. Nutrition figures, including calories, are estimates rather than label readings, so always check the packet if you have an allergy. "Notable for" reflects well-established qualities of the ingredients used, not a lab measurement of this exact dish.