Southwest Beef Cavatappi Skillet
with Poblano & Smoky Red Pepper Crema
- Wheat
- Milk
- Soy
This Southwestern-meets-Italian inspired skillet supper has bold flavors that’ll warm you from the inside out—there’s twisty cavatappi, bites of flavorful ground beef, and sautéed poblano. It’s all topped with a Mexican cheese blend, smokey red pepper crema, bright sour cream, and hot sauce for a little kick. Plus a sprinkle of scallion greens adds an extra pop of color. Yes, one skillet has all that.
Ingredients
1 unit
Poblano Pepper
2 unit
Scallions
10 ounce
Ground Beef
1 tablespoon
Southwest Spice Blend
1.5 ounce
Tomato Paste
6 ounce
Cavatappi Pasta
(Contains: Wheat)
2 unit
Beef Stock Concentrate
2 tablespoon
Sour Cream
(Contains: Milk)
4 tablespoon
Smoky Red Pepper Crema
(Contains: Milk, Soy)
½ cup
Mexican Cheese Blend
(Contains: Milk)
1 teaspoon
Hot Sauce
Not included in your delivery
1 tablespoon
Cooking Oil
1 tablespoon
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Salt
Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Wash and dry all produce. • Halve, deseed, and thinly slice poblano into strips. Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens.
• Once water is boiling, add cavatappi to pot. Cook until al dente, 9-11 minutes. • Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water (2 cups for 4 servings), then drain. • Meanwhile, heat a large drizzle of oil in a medium pan (large pan for 4 servings) over medium-high heat. Add poblano and season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, 4-5 minutes.
• Add a drizzle of oil to pan with poblano; add beef* and scallion whites. Season with Southwest Spice, salt, and pepper. Cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until beef is browned and cooked through, 4-6 minutes. TIP: If there’s excess grease in your pan, carefully pour it out. • Add tomato paste and cook, stirring occasionally, 30 seconds.
• Add ½ cup reserved pasta cooking water (¾ cup for 4 servings) and stock concentrates to pan with beef mixture. Season with ½ tsp salt (1 tsp for 4) and a pinch of pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until thickened, 2-3 minutes.
• Reduce heat to low and stir in drained cavatappi, sour cream, smoky red pepper crema, half the Mexican cheese (you’ll use the rest in the next step), 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings), and hot sauce to taste. Season with salt and pepper to taste. TIP: If needed, stir in more reserved pasta cooking water, a splash at a time, until pasta is coated in a creamy sauce.
• Top beef cavatappi with remaining Mexican cheese; cover pan until cheese melts, 1-2 minutes. Top with scallion greens and serve.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the bold, smoky flavors; some found it reminiscent of an elevated Hamburger Helper with a Southwestern twist 🌶️.
- Ease of prep: Customers praised how quick and easy this dish was to make, with several mentioning it's great for beginners.
- Suggestions: Consider adding extra vegetables like zucchini or tomatoes; some preferred less pasta or more sauce for better balance.
- Portions: Generous servings often yielded leftovers, which many reported reheated well for lunch the next day.
- Spice level: While tagged as spicy, most found the heat mild and adjustable; consider offering extra hot sauce on the side.
Reviews from our home cooks
Absolutely loved this one. Quick, easy and fabulous flavor. Delicious. Did modify to suit my husband's dislike for anything too hot or spicy. Omitted the poblano and the hot sauce, but convinced him to try it with all the smoky red pepper crema and he loved it. Also only rubbed a very small dab of oil on the bottom of a nonstick pan and totally omitted the butter to lessen oily or greasiness. I honestly was feeling very exhausted after a long stressful day and really didn't feel like cooking, but so glad I did as we really enjoyed the ease of preparing this flavorful and satisfying dish. Really hope to see this in the choices again.
We loved this! I actually subbed with thinly sliced steak that I needed to use up & threw the ground beef in the freezer for another recipe another day. Everyone really enjoyed this southwestern flavored change up for a pasta dish.
Really tasty! Southwestern food rarely has pasta and this one turned out great! A good combination of pasta, beef, and pepper, with very good southwestern flavor.
Made it veggie, no beef. Used the ground beef for something else. Was really good and easy. I roasted the poblano over the gas flame on the stove and then put it in a paper bag for 15 minutes. Rinsed off the black outside and diced it up. It was really good and flavorful.
You need more like this. Easy prep. However, you need to DOUBLE the poblano pepper amount, and also not cook it ahead of the meat. Starting it ahead of the meat caused it to be overcooked.
We were worried the poblano would be too spicy, but it was quite good. I did cook it a bit more than I would have a bell pepper because that's supposed to make it milder...dunno. :-)
Very good, easy to make. Suggestion have the person taste the poblano pepper to see how spicy before putting it all in the dish. We used half and it was wonderful.
OK...so 'Amazing Chili Mac' wouldn't be the best title...but that's exactly what this was. I've never had it so flavorful and perfectly balanced with meat, cheese, and spices. The poblano peppers MAKE it! This is definitely a favorite at our house.
Too much poblano. I will use 3/4 we like spice but the poblano is a little overwhelming
So delicious! Next time I will blanch the poblanos and peel the skins. The skins came off in the pan and it looked like hairs in with the pasta. Still tasty.
