The perfect one-pot pasta & cheese dish! Cavatappi noodles coated in a delicious spicy southwestern cheese sauce with bits of corn, bacon, and hatch chiles! Easy, cheesy, and there’s no draining required!
This post is being sponsored by my friends at Hoosier Hill Farm featuring their amazing Spicy Southwest Cheese Sauce Mix. As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting partnerships with brands I trust and believe in.
The BEST One-Pot Cheesy Pasta Recipe!
We love this dish so much. We’ve literally eaten this every single day for the past 2 weeks because we both are so obsessed with it.
It’s so easy to make – seriously, there’s zero straining of pasta, and it’s unbelievably cheesy and delicious! Mr. Fantabulous doesn’t cook often or well, ever, but this is something he could easily throw together if I wasn’t home to cook.
Grab Your Ingredients
This recipe requires only a handful of ingredients however the only item you may not yet have on hand is the Hoosier Hill Southwest Cheese Sauce Mix. This is from their new cheese sauce line (there are 5 sauce mixes) and y’all – these sauces are PHENOMENAL!!!
- Hoosier Hill Spicy Southwest Cheese Sauce Mix
- Pasta – I prefer cavatappi noodles or cellentani
- Dairy – heavy cream, white cheddar cheese, a drizzle of crema
- Veggies – fresh or thawed flash-frozen corn kernels, chopped and de-seeded hatch chile
- Crispy Bacon
- Seasonings
- Water
Hoosier Hill In My Kitchen
I’ve been using their products for gosh, almost 20 years. From their buttermilk powder to fruit pectin, and white cheddar cheese powder to their latest cheese sauce mixes – I simply love them! I know every batch I open I’m going to get the same amazing quality. I trust in their products and so should you!
This midwestern company creates wholesome products. Simply put, “Wholesome starts with Hoosier”.
Let’s Make This Dish!
Since this is a one-pot dish, you want to make sure you have a large enough pot to handle all of the liquid, the pasta, plus other items.
- To the pot, add the water, heavy cream, pasta, corn, bacon, and hatch chiles.
- Bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, add in the Spicy Southwest Cheese Sauce Mix and mix until fully incorporated. Boil per your pasta’s package instructions (mine was 11 minutes), stirring frequently.
More Cheese Please!
- Once the pasta is fully cooked, remove the pot from the heat and add in half of the cheese, stirring constantly and slowly adding in the rest until it’s fully incorporated.
If it’s too thick, add a bit more cream. The mixture should be super creamy and luscious. It will thicken up more as it sets.
- Drizzle over the crema and stir it in.
Let’s Eat!
So the first time I made this (the test recipe), I set it on the counter and asked Mr. Fantabulous to taste it to see if it was missing anything. As he reached for my fork to taste I gave him his own as I was all too consumed with shoveling it in my mouth.
He gave me a confused look but stuck his fork in and took a bite. As he tasted it, his eyes got super huge (fork still in his mouth), and as he pulled it out he said, “Holy S*** honey!!! This is incredible! Can I have another bite, as his fork had already dug back into the bowl for another scoop?!”
There we stood, at the kitchen counter like 2 starving kids who hadn’t eaten in weeks crowded around the bowl of this mac ‘n cheese devouring it like it was our job. His verdict “Do not change a single thing! It’s perfect as-is!” and I couldn’t agree more.
The Real Star Of The Recipe
For real, this cheese sauce is INSANE! Seriously it’s a must-buy! I have all 5 of their cheese sauce mixes and I am DEEPLY obsessed with them. This sauce mix has a hint of heat and is truly perfect!
But then again, every single thing I’ve ever purchased from Hoosier Hill Farm is exceptional! I’ve yet to ever get something I didn’t like. They truly are masters of their craft!
A Bowl For Me & A Bowl For You
Look at the pic below… which is your bowl? LOL Yep, I’d grab the big one too! That’s okay, I’ll make sure!
Recipe Substitutions & Additions
I so love this part of my blog posts, don’t you?
Recipe Substitutions
- Dairy – You can use half whole milk and half heavy cream or all half and half. I tried it with all whole milk and while it works, I found that it wasn’t as rich as I prefer
- Pasta – go with any pasta that is larger and has ridges and or holes that the cheese sauce can ooze into
- Cheese – I prefer the white cheddar but you can add any melting cheese like mozzarella (it will give you that cheese pull), Monterey jack, pepperjack if you want more heat, and so forth.
- Meatless – omit the bacon
Recipe Additions
- Meat – add cooked chicken or pulled pork to the dish for a full entree
- Seafood – I’ve added grilled shrimp to this after it’s done. Don’t add raw shrimp to the pot as the the shrimp will be way too overdone.
- Veggies – broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and so forth are great in this. Depending on the veggie, you may need to par-boil them first as they may not be soft enough when the pasta is done
Ultimate One-Pot Spicy Southwestern Cheesy Pasta
The perfect one-pot pasta & cheese dish! Cavatappi noodles coated in a delicious spicy southwestern cheese sauce with bits of corn, bacon, and hatch chiles! Easy, cheesy, and there’s no draining required!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Category: bar foods, cheesy, comfort food, One Pot, pasta, south western, weeknight dinner
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: bar foods, cheesy, comfort food, one pot, pasta, south western, weeknight dinner
Ingredients
- 1 lb cavatappi pasta
- 3 cups water
- 3.5 cups heavy cream
- 1/2–1 whole hatch chile, de-seeded and minced
- 1/2–3/4 cup fresh or flash-frozen corn
- 1/3 cup crispy bacon, chopped
- 3/4 cup Spicy Southwest Cheese Sauce Mix
- 1 1/2 cups freshly shredded white cheddar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup crema
Instructions
- To a large pot, add the water, cream, pasta, hatch chile, corn, and bacon. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, add in the Hoosier Hill Spicy Southwest Cheese Sauce Mix and mix to combine. Boil for 11 minutes (or what your pasta package says), stirring frequently.
- When the pasta is done, remove from the heat and add the cheese in slowly, stirring as you add it in. Once it’s fully in, taste and add in the salt, and pepper if needed. Drizzle on the crema and stir gently.
- Store leftovers in the fridge for up to a week.
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